I think a lot of the value of a total rewrite in C is that it is a buildable executable that should be runable on virtually any system, given that this game predates the popularity of the modern "3D Card". A lot of the friction in these games is dealing with all the peculiarities of getting a DOS game to somehow install on a 30 year newer Mac. A complete rewrite eliminates all of that awkward installer friction, so long as you have the necessary game files.

▲

vunderba a day ago | parent | next [-]

Oh yeah, I completely agree even though DOSBox (or DosBox-X) is fantastic, it’s really nice to be able to potentially run a game natively.

I only mentioned GOG because it’s probably the easiest legal way to obtain the original assets necessary to use OpenTIE.

▲

1313ed01 18 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think it is the exact opposite. Keep remakes running in DOS instead, and they will run everywhere that DOSBox runs, which is pretty much everywhere, and also everywhere that you can boot up FreeDOS (including in QEMU), plus in other emulators, almost guaranteeing that the executable will keep working somewhere for a very, very long time. Versus a port to some modern system that will then require constant updates and ports forever to keep it running, and as soon as no one is around to maintain the project it will be a pain to get it to run anywhere.

It is always good to see open source reimplementations of old games, but sad to see almost none of them keep MS-DOS support. It's easily the most portable and future-safe of all virtual machines you can run games in.

▲

belthesar 16 hours ago | parent [-]

I see merit in both approaches. The emulation approach preserves the original experience, which is valuable when you want to experience the work in its original form. This is great for scratching the nostalgia itch, as well as anyone who wants to study the original work. The porting approach transforms the original work into a form that is approachable to the modern game player. This is great for people who want to play a game but are not as concerned with a "vanilla" or the as-it-was-released experience. This could mean the port surfaces new controls (touch controls for phone/tablet devices), or applies quality of life changes to patch out frustrations.

	▲	15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

▲

Narishma 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> I think a lot of the value of a total rewrite in C is that it is a buildable executable that should be runable on virtually any system

That may be true in general, but in this particular instance the rewrite requires a 64-bit system with a modern GPU for no particularly good reason.