Unofficial Tex Murphy

Given that the engine we're getting, at least as indicated by trailer #2, is essentially an FPS engine, is it possible that like other FPS engines that fans will be able to develop their own mods and maps? I've just been thinking about the potential fan fiction this could give rise to, not to mention a Blade Runner mod. Better still, a complete fan remake of UKAM/PD/Overseer with the original cinematics added in would be awesome!

The Unity engine is not a FPS engine. It's probably the most versatile engine out there these days. I've got some experience with it from my time in game development.

And if you've got some knowledge of creation of 3D assets; textures; level design, voice acting, scripting, hard programming, basically; the whole kit and kaboodle, then yes. No problem at all in creating fan fiction in the same engine.

See, the Unity engine is just a toolset for creating... anything, really. There's virtually no built-in assets worth using. At least not for a proper, good-looking game.

If you're asking if they're going to release these assets to the community? Without speaking for anyone and just pure guessing on my own: No. I don't see that happening.

As to the versatility of the Unity engine, I've seen it used to make 2D platformers, isometric view RPGs... A snowboard game And a whole heap of easy to understand children's games for the iPhone and Android.

You can rig up anything with Unity, if you've got the requisite amount of skillsets to bring to bear.

-Fred

I have to agree with Fred. It's not likely that the game will be mod-able. Maybe tweakable if you know what you're doing.

A remake of UAKM or Pandora would be difficult. I'm not sure anyone has been able to extract the video files from those games. Even then, it would be painstaking, trying to recreate the branching conversations, environments and ensuring all of the "look ats" are there, etc. it would require a very dedicated team and a lot of time. Also, considering copyright, I'm not sure it would be releasable.

From a legal standpoint, it's questionable. Companies known for being fan-accessible HAVE let fans work on and release remakes/fangames, Black Mesa comes to mind, as does TimeSplitters Rewind, but you could never sell it, only give it away for free. And considering Big Finish gets some of its funding from sales of the old games on Gog.com, giving away a free copy of an upgraded version would be counter-productive in the extreme.

If I wanted to pursue a project like that, I'd ask permission first, and suggest that they could throw in the game as an additional download available for those who buy the original game on Gog.com. Or hell, if the finished product were good enough, I'd sign whatever was necessary to allow Big Finish to sell the game I'd made, and the only thing I would ask in return would be that they consider me for a position, should any open up at BFG.

Unfortunately, my skills at programming are negligible, my art skills are nonexistent, and the only real skills I have, writing and acting, are overshadowed by the people they already have. Still, this trailer makes me want to try anyway - I have so many ideas about stories that could run alongside the Tex games - in the same universe, but elsewhere. I wonder what post-apocalyptic Buffalo would look like? (Probably the same way it looks now.)

I even drew up the beginnings of a design document years ago for a game about a guy in modern day who's framed for murder, and chased by the police and the bad guys, has to figure out what the connection is between time travel and the trinket at the center of all his problems. It could probably easily be converted to work in Tex's universe....hmmm....you know, I might have to dig up that old thing.

Sorry I wrote so much, it's late and I'm tired,
Aaron