This Game Needs a Remake Badly

[timws]

I know there are several games out there that are similar to Dungeon Master, like the EOB series, Legend of Grimrock, and several others, but they are not at the same class as Dungeon Master.

So, a modern remake is desperately needed to upgrade game mechanics and quality of life concerns, like the obvious- better graphics, in-game mapping with the ability to make notes, multiple saves (having just one save sucks), in-game description of items\weapons\objects, and other stuff.

Anyone know of any current or soon to be released games which would be as enjoyable as this classic? And, if you were upgrade this game, what suggestions would you have?

[Prince of Elves]

I see a lot of issues with that, and that's probably why there's still no "modern" DM.

I agree that some QoL might be nice (what do you mean: one save? As far as I know you get four save slots).

Just trying to imagine what a modern version would look like and how it would handle. And either you'll end up with a very pimped-up clone of the original - or you'll end up in "not the same class" like the games you mentioned that did try and make stuff different (at least Grimrock did).

Also when I think about unleashing anything remotely like DM, let alone CSB (with modern graphics, mapping and some tooltips, but all of the challenges) to a modern audience you'll probably get a shitstorm like "I don't know what I need to do/where to go/whatever".

[timws]

I am running DM using winuae64, it allows a single save file, as did the original back in 1988.

I think a modern enhancement is feasible, look at all the successful series such as Ultima, M & M, and Wizardry, each one building on the one prior to it. It is baffling how a company could produce a masterpiece like Dungeon Master and follow it up with a stinker like CSB with an absurd difficulty. Then Interplay produced the disastrous Dungeon Master II.

Dungeon Master III would instantly be a success if the original was mainly preserved but with enhanced graphics, and everything else mentioned. It is not my concern for inexperienced role-players to complain about how to progress through a game like this- they should stick with consoles and the cartoony graphics.

[slickrcbd]

On the Apple IIGS version for stupid reasons you can only have one save per 3.5" diskette even though with how quickly the game loads the same there is no way it is using up the entire disk. Photonix II takes considerably longer to read a 3.5" disk and when it was released people were amazed because they didn't think it was possible to copy a disk that fast given the hardware limitations.
However, if you use the "format disk" option and have a 10-pack of 3.5" disks (which was how they were sold back in the day, 50-packs only appeared in the '90s or rarely in mail-order), you can have 10 separate saves.

That said, somebody did make this:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/7171 ... r_Ace_RPG/

[Gambit37]

Games are of their time. If you "remake" DM from a modern perspective, it won't be DM. Even doing something as "simple" as updating the graphics immediately changes the sensibility of the game. I tried it, and it felt all wrong.

There's plenty of modern dungeon crawlers out there with better graphics and quality of life improvements. Why not try those?

[slickrcbd]

I guess some disagree.
It's when the remake tries to do too many changes that I have issues, but if they limit it to some updated graphics and a few simple QOL improvements that don't drastically change the gameplay I wouldn't mind a remake.
It's when they decide the interface needs a massive overhaul and maybe some of the mechanics need to be retooled that I start to dislike the remakes.

[Ameena]

There have already been plenty of more "modern" games like DM - Legend of Grimrock was explicitly a homage to it, for example, even if it wasn't exactly identical in terms of mechanics and stuff. You can think of later first-person party-based Fantasy games (like Stonekeep or the Might and Magic series, for example) as being DM's descendants, games that built on its original mechanics in order to do their own thing.
In the Atari (and presumably therefore Amiga) version of the game you did get four save slots, not just one, so if some other version of the game only let you have one, that's an issue with that version, not the original ones.
I certainly would not call CSB a "stinker" - it's fine. It's hard, but so what? When me and my dad played both games back in the day, CSB was actually the one we didn't have a guide for (we had the Adventurer's Handbook for DM - scans of our exact copy are on the Encyclopaedia website ), yet we both still finished it.
FTL also doesn't exist any more as a company, and hasn't as a long time, so I'm not sure who would produce this remake. I don't see the point, anyway - this happens a lot, with companies remaking/rebooting stuff they already did (presumably because it made them a load of money and now they need some more) rather than trying to come up with something new. DM is DM and if you try to change it, it won't be DM any more.

[ChristopheF]

Some facts:

• All original versions of DM/CSB allowed only a single saved game per disk. Only hacked versions added support for 4 slots.
• DM2 was fully developed by FTL Games and not by Interplay. It was released in Japan in 1993/1994. Graphics already looked dated for the time, but the game was still successful in Japan. Interplay, distributor of the English versions for Amiga/PC/Macintosh in US & Europe, provided artists to redesign lots of the graphics and that delayed the release until August 1995. The better or worse nature of the new graphics was already discussed elsewhere on this forum. Anyway, if you did not like DM2, that's probably more on FTL Games than on Interplay.