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Classic Games (Games) Programming Entertainment Games IT Technology

Privateer Remake Complete 251

Posted by Hemos from the great-game dept.
flyboy writes "In a similar vein to the remakes of the Origin's Ultima series games reported in 2001 and 2004 a group of Wing Commander fans has remade Wing Commander: Privateer. Unlike the Ultima remakes, the Privateer remake is finished at version 1.0 with 3d graphics and the whole storyline. For the new kids on the block, WC:Privateer was a much loved trading game similar to the more venerable Elite, which appears also to be in the process of a remake. As a linux fan I was most happy with the remake's use of GPL 3d engine software and release of Linux, Macintosh and Windows versions. See Screenshots here."
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Privateer Remake Complete More

Privateer Remake Complete

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  • Escape Velocity? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 07, 2005 @09:48AM (#11865230)
    It looks a lot like Ambrosia Software's Escape Velocity series. I had a lot of fun playing those on my Macs a few years back.

    (oh, and FP ;P)

    • Re:Escape Velocity? (Score:3, Informative)

      by moonbender ( 547943 )
      Note that Escape Velocity was released for Windows last year. I loved it on the Mac, and on Windows I even paid for it... Although IMO the final scenario (Nova) isn't anywhere near as good as the second (Override) or some of the total conversion add-ons available - probably because Nova is fairly linear. Fortunately, Override was ported to Windows, as well, and is available as a free add-on.

    • Re:Escape Velocity? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by worst_name_ever ( 633374 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @11:17AM (#11865891)
      Back in the day when I was just starting to write what later became Escape Velocity, I didn't have a PC, but I did see Privateer at the store and thought it sounded really cool. So, there wasn't really any direct influence, although the phenomenon of parallel evolution applies to open-ended space action/RPG hybrids just like any other game type - certain ideas are just universally fun, so you'll see them crop up repeatedly in different games. Sometimes they cross media types, as evidenced by when I first saw Firefly and said "hey, this is like EV: The Series!" ;)

      Now that I am leet enough to have both MacOS and Windows machines, I should probably download this remake and check it out. It sure looks like fun.

      mcb [ambrosiasw.com]

      • I will say that I loved playing EV back on my old performa. I am thinking about getting a mac mini just so I can play the EV series. Too bad there are not linux ports of the old version. (I know i could play the new Nova under WINE if I really wanted to)
      • That first EV was the game that started me actually registering shareware. Thanks, man. It was a pleasure.

        (Coincidentally, I'm a little bit of a birder, and always identified with kestrels. That was the touch that put it over the top -- all your pirate kestrels, taking down a friend whose game I was overhearing in a shared apartment. Anyone who programs a kick-butt kestrel into something has my vote.)

      • But....but....thats not how you're supposed to react! Where are the lawsuits, and the FUD spreading?!?!?!

      • EV was a great game, I spent many hours playing it.

        As far as influences go, though, EV always seemed to me to be a direct descendent of that old BBS game, TradeWars 2002. Without the online aspect, of course. But there were a lot of similarlities in the commerce part of the game.
        • I admit that I did play a ton of TradeWars when I was in highschool, and some of the inspiration for EV came from saying "gee, wouldn't it be cool if you could actuall see what was going on here?" so there was definitely some influence, at least in a general sense!
  • I thought Digital Anvil release "Freelancer" about 2 years ago...
    • too bad Freelancer didn't get it right. sucked badly, just a point enemies and click excersise.

      • Re:Privateer remake complete? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Txiasaeia ( 581598 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @11:15AM (#11865866)
        Get the Evolutions mod then - more ships, more weapons, the addition of different types of equipment (can't remember off-hand but they help with shield recharging, weapons recharging, heck, even additional armour!) and - the best part - heavier ships move *slower*! It takes longer to move a cargo train around than it does a little fighter. Amazing!
    • Hey, I at least liked it better than X-Wing's remake: Descent Freespace.
    • Nah, EVE Online had it. Those who were around during the age of Elite call it Elite Online--its everything Elite and Privateer tried to be, online, with over 50,000 players on one server (12,800 on at once is the record) in a ruthless, space-based Machiavellian world of politics, crime, scandals, and alliances...

  • Obvious joke (Score:3, Funny)

    by RyoSaeba ( 627522 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @09:52AM (#11865265) Journal
    Guess there's an opportunity to make money by supplying many servers to cope with /. load!
    New business plan:
    * post a privateer story on /.
    * wait for servers to melt on the load
    * come in your ship filled with additional hardware
    * PROFIT!

  • SourceForge Screenshots (Score:5, Informative)

    by MankyD ( 567984 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @09:53AM (#11865275) Homepage
    They link to a Source Forge Gallery [sourceforge.net] of screenshots. They also warn that there are spoilers in the gallery.

  • OT but... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 07, 2005 @09:53AM (#11865279)
    Here [sourceforge.net] is one of the Ultima remakes of which they speak. One of the best games ever made.

  • Torrent for the game (Score:5, Informative)

    by MjDelves ( 811950 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @09:53AM (#11865280) Journal
    http://www.filerush.com/download.php?target=privat eer1.0.exe
  • I know it will confuse people who think BioForge is the open source biology organization but the game came first from Origin.
    • Great game!

      Was I the only one who confused that scene at the beginning with the armless guy where you were trying to help him and he attacks you?

      It SOUNDS like your character is saying "I have no wish to ARM you!" when you beat him with his own arm.

      (For those who don't know, your character is trying to tell him "I have no wish to harm you", because this armless greak jumps out and starts kicking you)

    • Re:Remake Crusader (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Jainith ( 153344 )
      Remake the Crusader games....

      quite possibly 2 of the best games ever.

      Jainith
  • .. to see it's maker. It is an ex-site.

    Mirrors anyone?

  • TASTE RIGHTEOUS FIRE! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 07, 2005 @09:55AM (#11865298)
    Die by the very weapons you adore!

  • Actually... (Score:3, Informative)

    by WWWWolf ( 2428 ) <wwwwolf@iki.fi> on Monday March 07, 2005 @10:00AM (#11865348) Homepage

    ...there have been "finished" Ultima remakes. two complete Ultima IV remakes for Neverwinter Nights, even. Ultima III was remade for Game Boy Color. And Akalabeth has been known to be remade by programmers on their lunch hours. That's not to even count engine remake projects like exult or xu4...

    Of course, uncompleted ones vastly outnumber the completed ones =)

  • was that the original game was pretty linear...

    Was there any attempt to fix this flaw or was the game pretty much kept as is, except for the graphics?

    • Re:One thing I didn't like (Score:4, Insightful)

      by acidrain69 ( 632468 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @10:14AM (#11865494) Journal
      The STORY was linear, but you were free to move around. There wasn't much to do other than trading though.

      It is pretty much a graphical version of the old BBS door, tradewars. Except single play. And non-ASCII.

      • Re:One thing I didn't like (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Yes, there is a new plot. Basically this is Privateer + Righteous Fire + an addon which was never released -- think Wing Commander/Secret Missions/Secret Missions 2.

        Also, we will expand Priv to work with the whole Wing Commander Universe.
      • Ever play that microsoft-published game, wossname... Freelancer? Really linear story, but you can fly all over the place. There's some really interesting stuff out there too, and the game is fairly complex though of course only a tiny bit as complicated as it could be. There are interlinked relationships that cause your actions to have consequences, and the whole thing is pretty darned neat in general.

  • BitTorrent Download Links (Score:5, Informative)

    by doublem ( 118724 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @10:14AM (#11865490) Homepage Journal
    Bittorrent for the Windows Version [mirrordot.org]

    Bittoreent for Linux Version [mirrordot.org]

    Bittorent for MAC Version [mirrordot.org]

    Use the torrent, and make MY download faster! MWHAHAHAHAHA!

  • copyright? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ubergrendle ( 531719 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @10:18AM (#11865531) Journal
    I wonder how the current owners of Origin Systems Inc, or Chris Roberts, feel about this open source work.

    Personally I would feel honoured and accept the compliment that my work is being resurrected ~10 years hence for people to enjoy, but I can't speak for them. How is this handled in the open source community?

    • As one of the original programmers (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I'd have to say I'm honored.

    • Re:copyright? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 )
      Depends, they might get around it by requiring the orignal game to play. I've seen that more than once, people reimplement the engine, and what data that needs updating (like 3D graphics) but all other data is left orignal and thus you have to have the game. Doomsday, a Doom engine, is this way. You can override most included content with your own so you can add new music, 3d models for enemies, etc, but to play the oringal game you still need the orignal WADs.

      Not sure in this case since their server is su
      • They do, in fact, require the original game to play the remake. The original game provides all of the data files (ship stats, plotlines, etc.). The remake just provides a modern engine to run it.

        To my knowledge, it cannot violate copyright because they do not copy anything; they extend. If anything, the existence of the remake provides a revenue stream for a 12 year-old game that does not run anymore on most PCs. The 'classic' compilations of many of these old games can still be bought in many game stores.
    • In general, that's not the way most owners feel about people using their work without paying royalties (and rightly so..).

      I just wonder why the people doing this excellent project did not put a bit of a twist on the concept to make it their own. Why not set it in the same universe as Privateer, but with a unique story line?

      They would be on much better ground with a derivative work then with a complete copy.

  • Urkh (Score:2, Interesting)

    by offline ( 94346 )

    I hate to say it, but other than a bit of glitz in the combat (The shields look about like they did for WC3, which is a step up on Privateer, at least) this game looks like crap.

    I'm not sure how they can characterize this as 1.0, all things considered. I mean, I get graphics corruption just on the launch screen, not to mention the apparent non-function of the game start menu (is there one? I didn't see one, I just randomly hit keys after the last loaded image until something happened)

    I loved the or

  • no ebuild apparently. I'm assuming some will get to that in not too long.
  • Their site has a link to a tracker, which is showing some interesting stuff regarding what is happening to the site because of the slashdotting.

    Look here [extremetracking.com].

    Looks like slashdot viewers really do use FireFox the most. But looks like they're also using Win XP the most (view the 'System Tracking' section).
  • I can't wait for the Carrier Command [ntlworld.com] remake to be released.

    LK
    • I loved the game on my old Atari ST...

      Other games I wish somebody would 'update' for modern PCs are

      - Midwinter (Atari ST)
      - Stunt Car Racer (Atari ST)
      - Powerdrome (Atari ST, not the nerfed Amiga version)
      - The original X-wing (PC)
      - Ultima Underworld 1 & 2 (PC, I think somebody is working on them)
  • Apparently, this is the "privateer mod" for Vega Strike, which is a good game in its own right. The recent 0.4.3 release shows quite an improvement in artwork, and is certainly worth a try.
  • This just replicates the original game? Are the graphics improved or anything? I've been planning to play this using DOSBox and a download from an abandonware site...what does the remake add, other than the ability for new story lines to be developed?
  • see source code of the page to read the "hidden" (tho looks like old obsolete information) elements
    present atleast on faq page
  • I just installed it, and its asking me to set some things in the settings. Can someone explain the graphics options and the base options please? I hate when game makers put in all these options, and then tell you absolutely nothing about what they do so you're left wondering what the hell they mean.

    • Re:Settings? (Score:2, Informative)

      by graysonburrows ( 865633 )
      Leave the defaults--they're proper for your computer unless you're advanced enough to understand them. The defaults are carefully tested. also the manual gives detailed descriptions if it goes slow, lower the rez and the detail level

  • This is a mod to the Vega Strike Project (Score:3, Informative)

    by ducomputergeek ( 595742 ) on Monday March 07, 2005 @02:51PM (#11868571)
    This game is actually a Mod based around the http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net] Vegastrike game engine. Vega Strike is completely opensource creation of a Privateer like game. The graphics engine is actually quite advance even if some of its other features are still lagging behind.

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