Let's Kickstart an Open Source DM Engine

[dolligan]

Ok so you have all probably seen that there have been lots of successful crowdfunding projects where classic games or types of games have been brought back to life.
I know there have been things like Legend of Grimrock which trade heavily on their association with DM. But what I am thinking about is an engine rather than a game.
Something like the open source versions of Doom that are available, which work with the old Doom mod but also allow new mods to be designed with new features.
Specifically what I am thinking about is a whizzy, shiny new interface for playing DM games. Taking advantage of, for example, touch screen controls.
My vision is that the user would be able to download the engine, which would come with some new dungeons created by the team. If they wanted, they would be able to load in classic dungeon.dat files from DM, CSB, DM2, or those given away on this site, and play them.
It would be released free of charge as open source software, and we'd create some nice packaged versions with artwork and collectables, for people who backed it. The crowdfunding would only have to cover the cost of development, because as we aren't making a commercial project we don't have to worry about marketing, packaging, distribution etc.

From my understanding, this would involve doing two things - one, creating the new engine and interface, and two - recreating the assets from the original games so we wouldn't be in breach of copyright by distributing it.

As far as the engine goes, as long as it recreates all of the features of the original DM I would be happy. This has obviously been done already multiple times by people on this site, and I've had many hours of fun playing different versions, and am indebted to their creators for that. If any of them are reading this and would like to be involved, I'd be overjoyed. It's obviously very possible to do this. If possible I'd also like to build in more advanced features - improved enemy AI, more complex NPC interactions. I am sure this is all possible too.

Recreating the interface - DM's interface is amazing, even after all these years its highly intuitive and that's more than you can say about just about any RPG engine of its era. But in 2019 there's definitely room for improvement. The viewing window could be made bigger, the position of character portraits and icons could be re-thought to make something that "flows" more like how modern gamers expect a game to work these days. Ideally this would all be highly user configurable. Icons and buttons could be re-arranged as the player (or dungeon designer) sees fit.

Recreating the assets would be essential as DM is still copyrighted IP. This wouldn't be a small job, as a minimum I'd like to see all of the monsters, items, scenery etc from DM, DM2 and CSB recreated in high definition. I imagine this might be where the majority of the funding would go.

Regarding the issue of copyright, if this was going to go ahead I would make efforts to contact the original creators as well as the current copyright holders. Of course it would be great if we could get their endorsement - if anyone involved back then wanted to get involved with this now, then that would be a huge benefit. But I'm not in any way counting on it. Getting backing from the rights holders might let us, for example, use assets such as the artwork or even the name "Dungeon Master".It would also be a publicity boost for the project and help us put together some cool backer incentives for those who are putting up money for something that will eventually be a free product. All of which I'd love to do - but I think the project is viable without it.

So what do you guys here think? I know you are the DM hardcore - those who have kept the flame alive for the last 30 (!) years - do you think this is a good idea? Is there anyone who'd be willing to be involved? Personally I can bring to the table experience of UI design, planning Kickstarter campaigns, as well as games industry contacts. I'd need team members able to help with programming, artwork and sound effect design. Anyone up for it?

[Chaos-Shaman]

"If possible I'd also like to build in more advanced features - improved enemy AI, more complex NPC interactions. I am sure this is all possible too."
Count me in. Nice to read a heart given piece like this, thank you. It is exactly what this forum needs. GLUE!

Money, don't care. I can certainly help a little there. I think your zest is what is needed. There are artists, programmers and writers that exist in the forum. glue them together, that would be the biggest gift to all of us. The creators of DM, might as well give up on that, they don't care anymore pity. Thank you doll, you made my day. There are a few people who already agree with you.

[Paul Stevens]

So what do you guys here think?

You're nuts.


( I could be wrong! )

[terkio]

Is there anyone who'd be willing to be involved?

Not I.

[Gambit37]

Wow, ambitious! I barely have enough time for my own hobbies, so I wouldn't be able to help with this. Good luck though!

[dolligan]

So what do you guys here think?

You're nuts.


( I could be wrong! )

Actually, you'r right!
What was I thinking?
I have far too much on at the moment to be able to coordinate a project of this scope.
I still think its a great idea. If anyone is reading this and likes the sound of it, feel free to pick it up and run with it.
Oh well. One day, maybe.

[Chaos-Shaman]

I like crazy people, they're a lot of fun.

[zeech]

As a way of testing my own ideas regarding combat in a DM-style game, I was fantasizing about making a DM style game in Godot Engine.

But my next planned project is a Dark Souls style fighting game. Just need to stop procrastinating but now that Devil May Cry 5 just got released....

[amdp]

I'd kickstart a movie about DM..

[Zolaerla]

As far as a game engine, I was working on a puzzle/map generator for a project I called Web Dungeons, but never finished, in HTML/CSS/JS. The graphics engine works separate from the generator. It was fairly well along, though I am trash at making graphics. This is set in "long corridor" mode which I wrote for sewers-type levels, but it just generates the "rooms" without adding the puzzles/fiddly bits. Click on "Rebuild" for a new random dungeon, use arrow keys to move, with L/R turning:
http://dev.webdungeons.com/Plugin/MG-Du ... ilder.html

As for a "movie about DM", do you mean a "Dungeon Master" movie? Or a movie ABOUT Dungeon Master? I've already made one of those... it was no small amount of work. I even called it "Dungeon Master: The Movie":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzAMcSaMRy8

[Chaos-Shaman]

As far as a game engine, I was working on a puzzle/map generator for a project I called Web Dungeons, but never finished, in HTML/CSS/JS. The graphics engine works separate from the generator. It was fairly well along, though I am trash at making graphics. This is set in "long corridor" mode which I wrote for sewers-type levels, but it just generates the "rooms" without adding the puzzles/fiddly bits. Click on "Rebuild" for a new random dungeon, use arrow keys to move, with L/R turning:
http://dev.webdungeons.com/Plugin/MG-Du ... ilder.html

As for a "movie about DM", do you mean a "Dungeon Master" movie? Or a movie ABOUT Dungeon Master? I've already made one of those... it was no small amount of work. I even called it "Dungeon Master: The Movie":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzAMcSaMRy8

That's cool man. I find a lot of older movies relate to DM quite well, items being very similar and the bad guy known to us as Chaos shows up in many forms. All the best to you dude.

[Wismerhill]

Hi,

That would be nice. May I suggest a few points to consider:

• I'd put the game design on paper first. The original code has been reverse-engineered, yes, there are clones which implement their own rules, yes. But you need to put down on paper the game design. I wouldn't start coding until all game design mechanisms are clearly defined: NPC AI, damages, movement, interactions, etc. It would be a different story If you were alone, hacking a quick prototype, but if you want to go the open-source/community driven way, I think it's crucial to define your target as much as possible right from the start. I'd start with a wiki, with lots of empty sections for all major game design subjects, with links to available documentation of other projects (the original games of course, plus CSB and so on).

• Pick a full blown game engine, don't waste time. I'd go with Unity3D, b/c there's a free edition, it's cross-platforms (console/pc/mac/mobile), and you can leverage the editor to create a dedicated game editor for non-technical people. And the community is huge, it's easier to find help, assets, contributors. There are already tools to graphically create state machines, connect them via events and so on. Big time saver.

• I would clearly separate the core engine from the UI. I mean to make it so that the UI communicates with the core via events/commands, so that you can easily swap the UI for another implementation, see MVC or Game Code Complete.

Hope it helps, cheers.