Citadel makes big promises

There's a new big remake effort a-brewing in the Free Software world, this time for prominent shooter/RPG, System Shock. under the shape of project Citadel. According to project description, the goal is to recreate the original game using the widely known GPLed platform Darkplaces Engine, upgrading the game's graphics to full 3D but keeping game aesthetics close to the origianl game. Added modding capabilities and cooperative multiplayer will also be a part of the project. 

Details, however, are somewhat scarce, so far, as development is happening behind closed doors, and creator Josiah Jack just announced the existence of the project itself after months of programming in secret. While the code will certainly be all GPL or GPL-compatible due to Darkplaces licensing requirements, the game appears to rely on original proprietary assets, as well as using its own whose license nature is yet to be disclosed.

With a release date planned for the the 23rd of December, System Shock's CD release anniversary, I guess we'll have to wait and see if this project will deliver.

Annex:CTW RTS version 4.0 close to release

The MegaGlest based RTS Annex: Conquer The World is very close to a major update as version 4.0. Strait from the developer's mouth:

Yes! We are so close we can almost taste it.

He also posted a game-play video of the current development version:


He also recently stated that the new release will be fully FOSS, i.e. not only GPL source-code but also all artwork under a FOSS compatible creative-commons license (most likely CC-by-SA).

It's just a pity that the new much improved GUI code from MegaGlest seems to be not yet ready for the release.

P.S.: Also check out this Tower Defense mod for MegaGlest.

A potpourri of open-source engines for old(er) games

Yep, not much updates on the blog, but I thought I throw up a list of (mostly) obscure open-source news:

• Original Keen Dreams source-code liberated
• Also check out: CloneKeen, Omnispeak & Commander Genius
• CaveExpress liberated (2d physics game)
• Pixel Dungeon RogueLike open-sourced (Android only)
• X-Com: Apocalypse engine reimplementation
• Libre content replacement project for Gish
• Stein's Gate Visual Novel Engine reimplementation

Less obscure: New version of OpenMW (0.32).

Big tease: Icculus works on open-sourcing a game and it seems to be a relatively new title as it includes steamworks support.

Please comment below if you know of other recent open-sourceing efforts ;)