Also Known As: banshee_revora (Steam) Joined: 15 Aug 2002 Location: Brazil
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:17 am Post subject:
Another update from Jim Vessella on the C&C remaster
Subject description: 3D modern game with the old tiberium vision... and bugs!
Jim Vessella, the current producer from the upcoming remasterizations of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 1 has posted a very interesting update confirming that they still have strong portions of the source code of the first two Command & Conquer games in their headquarters and how Petroglyph's GlyphX engine will be used together with it. Here's the whole text he has posted few hours ago in the reddit:
Quote:
Remaster Update and Source Code
Fellow Command & Conquer fans,
We hope you had a good holiday season and that your New Year is off to a positive start. On our side, pre-production is continuing in earnest and we completed our first Milestone about two weeks ago. This Milestone included many of our documentation plans for how we want to build the game, and effectively laid the foundation for the rest of our pre-production cycle. Our next step is to begin translating those plans into a first playable prototype, which will hopefully help validate many of those initial concepts.
One of those key items is how we’re going to approach the game from a technical standpoint. We know one of your core questions has been around the game engine, and we’re ready to reveal some of those details below. Now, it’s worth noting that as with all software this early – plans can change – so please understand this is a snapshot of our thinking in January 2019, and does not necessarily guarantee how the game will eventually ship.
To kick things off, one of the most important questions from the community has been the following:
Do we have access to the original source code?
We’re excited to say the short answer is “Yes.” Over the past few months we have been able to acquire the majority of the source code for both the original C&C and original Red Alert. I say majority, because what we have is not a complete archive, and it’s going to continue taking some work to validate the full re-usability of the code. Thankfully, there is no better team than the individuals at Petroglyph to go on this R&D journey.
So what does all this mean?
Well, it means we’re aiming to re-use parts of the source code to try and keep the gameplay feel as close as possible to the original games. Again, our goal is to Remaster the original gameplay, not remake it. That being said, there are many areas where the original source code just cannot deliver the quality or functionality we’re looking for in many of the supporting elements. That’s where the second piece of the puzzle comes in.
In addition to Petroglyph’s unique familiarity with the original source code, they have also spent the past 15 years optimizing their own proprietary RTS engine called GlyphX. This engine has been used to power Petroglyph’s RTS titles, and comes with many of the recent standards the community would expect from a modern RTS engine. So with that in mind, our goal is to utilize both GlyphX and the original source code to gain the combined benefits towards the Remaster.
To provide a quick example (Not guaranteed but purely for illustration purposes), imagine using the original source code to determine the charge-up behavior of the Tesla Coil, but utilizing the GlyphX Audio system to ensure the Sound FX are fully enhanced for when that Tesla Coil fires.
As you can predict, there are more details which we’ll learn as we begin to execute upon this plan. But we hope this provides some clarity in the meantime as to how we’re approaching the Remaster from a technical perspective. We’re eager to share more as we begin to prototype the software, and looking forward to hearing your comments in the thread below.
Cheers,
Jim Vessella
Jimtern
My current understanding of what he has said implies that he will use GlyphX for graphics, sounds and, perhaps, user interface, while the behavior of the units will be determined by the game engine from Tiberian Dawn. It might work in a similar way as seen in an old fan virtual reality project of Red Alert 2 that rendered the game using Unreal Engine while the unit behavior used OpenRA engine. You can see that in the video below:
And that's all for now. Post your opinions about it in a reply.
Also Known As: banshee_revora (Steam) Joined: 15 Aug 2002 Location: Brazil
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:06 pm Post subject:
I have a feeling that you might be right about high system requirements and a potentially dodge net code. Although problems with netcode isn't Petroglyph's exclusivity. Most if not all C&C games also have a questionable net code. QUICK_EDIT
Imagine them all sitting around a desk. Ok guys. EA gave us a 2 dollar budget and a paperclip. Petroglyph team smiles and says, "that was our budget with 8-bit armies after our Grey Goo flop." "Hmm" *Jim says while scratching his chin* that 8-bit armies game looks a whole lot like C&C... *Petroglyph team smiles.* *Jim smiles back.* 6 months later entire C&C fan base is disappointed when they show off their 8-bit armies reskin. QUICK_EDIT
So the system requirements will be absurd for what you're looking at and dodgy netcode? 'cause that's been GlyphX I've experienced so far.
I can't remember UAW being that bad, it ran smoothly for me back in the day and although I did experience disconnects in multiplayer, it wasn't very frequent. Nowhere near as bad as Tiberian Sun's ~15% disconnect rate in matches with AI players. It was less stable than C&C3 though. I have little experience with newer Petroglyph titles. Gray Goo felt maybe a bit too heavy for its graphics, but not massively so.
A lot depends on whether they're using GlyphX's 3D renderer (and remaking all the graphics in 3D) or making a 2D graphics engine / updating the rendering code of the original games to work with modern technologies. Since they keep saying it's a "remaster" rather than a "remake", I'd assume they're building a 2D graphics engine / rewriting the original games' rendering code to make it utilize modern technologies, but they haven't confirmed it yet.
I really worry about damage register from their lastest engine... and I hope they put skirmish mode for TD... Last edited by Holy_Master on Thu Jan 31, 2019 8:05 pm; edited 1 time in total QUICK_EDIT
I would be totally down for an 8-bit armies re-skin, to my mind that's probably the game that best captures the feeling (gameplay-wise) of the original C&C games.
It's also very performant - you can run it in 4K even on integrated graphics. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Yeah the art style really put me off at first too, but I've come to accept it as a budget compromise - I'm glad they put the time and effort into the gameplay and skimped on the art, rather than the reverse. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
You cannot post new topics in this forum You can reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
Another update from Jim Vessella on the C&C remaster
