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Why aren't there more open-source recreations of classic games?

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Timberwolf

Why isn't the world of gaming awash with opensource versions of almost any classic game you care to mention?

BECAUSE IT'S DIFFICULT. And with that, I've saved the people who take time to read the description any need to watch 30 minutes of me scrawling on a pretend blackboard and battling at least 3 different disassembly programs to conclude that oh right, yes, the reason there is not an opensource version of Test Drive III is because IT IS DIFFICULT.

But then again you might enjoy the journey through what Test Drive III does wrong, how it could have been fixed, and why despite me not bringing a brand new reimplementation to the roster of open source engines the future of such things is looking quite a bit brighter.

mov ds, seg chapter:

0:00 Don't be the thing I mock in this intro.
0:19 I spent so long on this stupid laptop thing.
1:15 You may as well watch Yesterzine instead.
2:35 Test Drive's performance problem.
3:48 I learnt 16bit x86 assembler and DOS for this, I hope you're happy.
6:36 A reminder of happier times.
6:47 I have replicated the problem.
7:42 Why couldn't they be bothered, eh?
8:32 Timberwolf in CGA makes bad life choices.
8:51 Let's talk about reverse engineering for a bit.
10:12 People skipping chapters counts as engagement, right?
17:18 Throw a Chris Sawyer game in, that always gets views.
18:35 IT IS DIFFICULT.
22:28 IT IS DIFFICULT, this time in reference to Test Drive 3.
23:41 An even more disappointing version of Test Drive 3.
24:05 Other people do cool and useful stuff.
26:50 The spice must flow in reverse.
27:44 Arrakis isn't the only option.
29:21 Oh wait, someone already reverse engineered it.
29:41 Do be the thing I suggest in this outro.

Games/Things Featured:

OpenTTD
OpenRCT2
Exult
ScummVM
Gran Turismo 2
Frontier: Elite 2
Captain Amphibio's 3D Frog Arranging Simulator
Test Drive III: The Passion (finally)
Test Drive II: The Duel
A really rubbish version of the DVD screensaver for MSDOS
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Grand Prix Unlimited
Ghidra
DOSBox debug build
Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
Sourcer

Sebastian Macke's Maps: https://simulationcorner.net/td3/td3....
Spice86 Project Page: https://github.com/kevinferrare/spice86
Masm2c Project Page: https://github.com/xor2003/masm2c

There is also a C# version of Spice86: https://github.com/OpenRakis/Spice86

Yesterzine's history of DSI Part 1:    • The Biggest Game Dev you've never hea...  

Comments are prereviewed to avoid spam. I aim to publish all comments, including dissent, but overly pedantic or negative ones may be moderated. Hearing about different experiences and what things were like in other countries adds a lot to the video! Please try to do so in a positive way while remembering that if I had to explain every minor international difference the video would be 2 hours long and boring, rather than 30 minutes long and boring. Failing that, at least make me laugh.

Bonus fact: Hit Squad rereleases of Test Drive III mention the performance problems on faster PCs in the game manual. Hope you've got a Turbo button on your 486 DX2.

posted by aghloitgm