icemann on 9/4/2007 at 05:03
In theory thats completely possible. But in practice it would never happen. Remakes just dont receive THAT kindof level of public attention.
Bjossi on 9/4/2007 at 13:41
What if the remake was commercial rather than done by volunteers?
I think John Carmack wanted to remake Quake 2 in the Doom3 engine for example.
Vigil on 9/4/2007 at 14:20
1. he already owns the copyright
2. the result was Quake 4
Bjossi on 9/4/2007 at 15:06
Quote Posted by Vigil
2. the result was Quake 4
Does Quake 4 look like a Q2 remake to you...?
Vigil on 9/4/2007 at 21:38
Yes.
Specifically, it's the kind of remake that commercial developers do, because they're canny enough to realise that straight remakes are boring self-conscious exercises in mimicry which don't sell and get roundly derided by fans of the original.
Bjossi on 9/4/2007 at 21:39
Then either I'm misunderstanding the word 'remake', or you haven't played Quake 2.
Vigil on 11/4/2007 at 09:57
I grant I was flippant in my previous post, as I can hardly say I have my finger on the pulse of every fan community. Nevertheless I have played many commercial and fan remakes - including the Tierra/AGDI ones you hold up so proudly, which I consider to be ugly amateurish paintovers devoid of charm and visibly lacking in any design philosophy. I'm evidently not "the fans", nor are any of the other people I know who tried them. Vega Strike (and its sister mod Gemini Gold) also spring immediately to mind, as hopelessly crap fan remakes of Privateer. To me these are perfect examples of why fan communities shouldn't try to do straight remakes, but that wasn't the point of my original post (and then there's Black Mesa Source, which I'm hoping will prove an excellent exception to the rule.)
On the commercial side, I suggest
you look up Dune 2000: it was panned by critics for staleness and for not managing to improve on the original game in any way in 7 years. The fans tend to agree: it has a Moby score of 2.9. UFO: Aftermath, while not a straight remake of X-COM, was made by the same designers as the original in conscious imitation of it and was a commercial and critical failure that fumbled its attempt to recapture the original.
In fact to come full circle, Sierra's own SCI remake of King's Quest is a fine example of a commercial remake that didn't sell and was roundly derided by fans. Their remakes of SQ1 and QFG1 were similarly poorly-received (though I can't speak for the LSL1 or Mother Goose remakes), and discouraged the company from attempting to breathe further life into its back catalogue.
I can think of only two commercially and critically successful remakes off the top of my head: Battlezone and Metroid Zero Mission. The former can hardly be called a straight remake, but the latter is faithful (to Metroid III at least, if not to much the original Metroid), very successful, and an excellent game in its own right.
Quote Posted by Me
Specifically, it's the kind of remake that commercial developers do, because they're canny enough to realise that straight remakes are boring self-conscious exercises in mimicry which don't sell and get roundly derided by fans of the original.
Sorry for not including "the testament of numerous commercial and critical failures" in my comment on why commercial developers avoid straight remakes, but this still stands.
My point about them being "boring self-conscious exercises in mimicry" is not so much a comment on the end result (though that is indeed often boring and self-conscious) but on the process. Slavishly imitating something is dull and usually thankless work, and it's one of the reasons why so many fan remakes peter out and die before release (System Shock 1 remake anyone?) Developers would much rather work on something new, and new games with the same IP are attractive to a wider market than straight remakes.
Bjossi on 11/4/2007 at 14:26
Quote Posted by Vigil
(and then there's Black Mesa Source, which I'm hoping will prove an excellent exception to the rule.)
I think it will be great, judging by the pictures & media they have posted.
In a remake I am not necessarily looking for a whole new experience, just the formula I loved with some extra flavor in it, like updated graphics and audio.
icemann on 12/4/2007 at 08:50
Ok this one requires each game to its own paragraph.
Dune 2000: I absolutely loved this one. It was done in an improved version of the Red Alert engine if I remember correctly. Featured vastly improved music, sound effects, and live action cutscenes with popular actors of that time. Of particular interest John Rhys Davies (Sliders, Dwarf guy in the Lord of the Rings movies). Having played it myself, I dont have a bad thing to say about it really. Vastly improved over the original + a few new extra units here and there.
Kings Quest Remake: This particular remake was meant only to be a graphical + GUI update. And as such I`d definately say that its achieved its aims there. Until this thread I`d never heard a bad word about that remake here. And as you can see from the comparison screenshots I posted earlier its a huge upgrade graphically.
UFO Aftermath: Well firstly this one was never intended as a XCOM remake. It definately was not even close to being as good as XCOM so I`m in
agreement with you there. That said though, it still was a fine game in its own right having played it. The battles get ALOT more harder and intense towards the end, incomparison to xcom. It was successful enough to warrant 2 sequels. So the first game couldn`t have done that badly :p.
