My remake of "Castle of the Damned" (E1M2)

[Galyo]

Hello people! I've recently played through the entire singleplayer campaign of Quake again, and I've even played it over multiplayer for a bit with a friend for old times sake.

I have this... 'project' that I'm developing in Leadwerks engine. It's going to be an old-school FPS game in the vein of Quake and Doom (obviously), and because I felt inspired I decided to remake "Castle of the Damned" for it.

I've only remade the first room just now as you can see in the screenshot below, but I intend to recreate the entire map. Just to note: everything in this map is recreated by hand! I didn't copy any map-data from the original Quake!

As I get further into developing this map, I'm going to post more and more screenshots in order to get some feedback from you guys.



One with a comparison:


The textures are just placeholders for now. I'd like to change the textures to my own custom textures. I am an artist / graphics designer by trade, so this shouldn't be too hard for me to do.
I should also add that the screenshot in Leadwerks has a funky FOV, which I didn't notice before when I made them. I have since changed the FOV to 90, so it should look less "blown up" now.

I've also been wondering about the legal side of things... If I intend to release my game someday, will I be able to include my E1M2 remake as a tribute? It's the only map I intend to remake, and I only want to include it as a deathmatch map. As I said, I'm recreating everything by hand, so... I think I should be good? I remember that one expansion pack of Duke Nukem 3D including a remake of Doom's E1M1 and they didn't seem to run into any legal trouble, but I want to be on the safe side just in case.

[DeathMaster]

This is actually one of my favorite maps from Q1. I'm really excited for this.

[R00k]

neat! I never heard of leadwerks until now.looks like a q2 dirivitive...

i have downloaded Lumberyard for sh!ts and grins. yet time is so scarce that i'm only a passerby

if i REALLy had time on my hands i'd keep it in FTE or DP for any future projects...

[Adam]

Like when you are learning to play the guitar,
doing "covers" is the best way to get to grips with it.

Good luck!

[Galyo]

neat! I never heard of leadwerks until now.looks like a q2 dirivitive...

i have downloaded Lumberyard for sh!ts and grins. yet time is so scarce that i'm only a passerby

if i REALLy had time on my hands i'd keep it in FTE or DP for any future projects...

Leadwerks is its own thing. I think they started out as a simple platform written in BlitzMax. The user interface comes pretty close to that of the Hammer editor I think. It's easy to just throw brushes together and play with the geometry in good old Quake fashion.

Leadwerks is not a free engine though, but I got a license when it was cheap on Steam. I got the version that supports Lua, so I'm going to have to use that for the level logic (such as the nail-traps on the walls in Castle of the Damned). I'm a programming novice but I'll manage. :p

[Galyo]

Like when you are learning to play the guitar,
doing "covers" is the best way to get to grips with it.

Good luck!

This is true! No comment about licensing though. Am I to assume everything will be alright if I ever publish a game out of this? I'm also working on my own singleplayer maps, but I haven't showed this because it's not directly related to Quake (even though the game is going to be heavily inspired by it).

[Adam]

This is true! No comment about licensing though. Am I to assume everything will be alright if I ever publish a game out of this? I'm also working on my own singleplayer maps, but I haven't showed this because it's not directly related to Quake (even though the game is going to be heavily inspired by it).

If you make your own version, from scratch using your own textures, models, sound effects etc (all your own assets) then I doubt anybody from Bethesda's legal dept will care.

It really comes down to the fact that you can't sell other people's work as your own but if you craft it all yourself and put a bit of an original spin on it then I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Just a bit of advice tho' I checked out Leadwerks on Steam and I can't find any finished games made with it. I admittedly haven't done much research so I don't know how good or bad the engine is but my advice would be to maybe make your game prototype in DarkPlaces rather than what would appear to be a fairly niche steamworks game engine.

DarkPlaces, as you are probably aware, has been around for years and has a lot of documentation and avenues for you to seek help.

Alternatively, go for something like Unity or Unreal4. New and shiny with big communities also.

It's just my advice and you can take it or leave it.

Best of luck whichever path you decide to take.

[MadGypsy]

@craft yourself with a spin
2 words... derivitive works

@bethesda ...
One thing you can be sure of... they don't have a department that plays every game ever and to be released. IE you could probably do whatever you want if you stay small. Another thing to consider is the price of your game. Is it free? If so, there Is maybe nothing they could do anyway.

[Galyo]

If you make your own version, from scratch using your own textures, models, sound effects etc (all your own assets) then I doubt anybody from Bethesda's legal dept will care.

It really comes down to the fact that you can't sell other people's work as your own but if you craft it all yourself and put a bit of an original spin on it then I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Just a bit of advice tho' I checked out Leadwerks on Steam and I can't find any finished games made with it. I admittedly haven't done much research so I don't know how good or bad the engine is but my advice would be to maybe make your game prototype in DarkPlaces rather than what would appear to be a fairly niche steamworks game engine.

DarkPlaces, as you are probably aware, has been around for years and has a lot of documentation and avenues for you to seek help.

Alternatively, go for something like Unity or Unreal4. New and shiny with big communities also.

It's just my advice and you can take it or leave it.

Best of luck whichever path you decide to take.

Thanks for the advice! I'm going to assume that it's okay for me to include this map in my game for now.

I've been thinking of using Unreal Engine 4 for my project since that engine already has most of the FPS shooty-stuff build in, but my current PC rig (Intel Core 2 Duo) does not run the editor very comfortably, so I'm going to have to pass on that one for now.

I've been using Leadwerks ever since version 3.0, and it seems that the only finished commercial game to come out of it has been Hoodwink... But it has served me well for the time being, and if I ever decide to switch engines I will probably go with Unreal Engine 4 when I have my new PC (i7). I think Leadwerks is probably a bit more technical than most current engines, but luckily I have a boyfriend who's a proficient C++ programmer. The guy who created the engine (Josh) has always been quick to reply to my questions, so I'm going to give Leadwerks the benefit of the doubt. The fact that he is the only developer on the engine might be a bit of a concern though...

I personally LOVE the DarkPlaces engine, but as far as I know it's based on id Tech 2, and I can't sell my game commercially if I decide to go with that.

I'd like this project to be as oldschool as possible, and with that in mind I'd like to release the first episode of the game for free, shareware style. I don't have any delusions of getting rich from making this game, but it would be cool to have a game similar to Wrack that gives a nice old-school FPS experience for a small price.

But this is all just speculation. I still have a loooooong way to go before I can even consider putting it on Steam or anything like that. Games are not made in two evenings after all.

[Galyo]

@craft yourself with a spin
2 words... derivitive works

@bethesda ...
One thing you can be sure of... they don't have a department that plays every game ever and to be released. IE you could probably do whatever you want if you stay small. Another thing to consider is the price of your game. Is it free? If so, there Is maybe nothing they could do anyway.

Hmm. I would like to release the first episode for free (first ten levels or so, I think. Maybe eight? I don't know), but it's really too early to tell.

I'd like to sell the finished game for a small price. Maybe five bucks or so on Steam, if I ever get lucky enough to get the thing green-lit. It will probably stay under the radar that way. Wrack also didn't exactly make big cash, so I think a game like this is more for fans of the genre, which I'm totally fine with.

[nahuel]

Great work! Don�t worry about license

quake maps (only maps and qc , not sounds or textures or models) are under GPL!
so you can discover "cover" in gpl games like xonotic or open arena

[Galyo]

Great work! Don�t worry about license

quake maps (only maps and qc , not sounds or textures or models) are under GPL!
so you can discover "cover" in gpl games like xonotic or open arena

Good to hear! I'm glad to hear from you guys that I don't have anything to worry about, license-wise.

I'm working on the level again just now. I'm anxious to show more screenshots!

[Dutch]

DarkPlaces is GPL as well, if I'm not mistaken. So if you release the engine source, along with any modifications you make to it, you can still legally sell your game, without having to release all of your other assets that you make personally.

Any updates on this, BTW? E1M2 was one of my favorites. It was one of the only decent SP maps for DM...

[Seven]

Hello Galyo,

I am also interested in your project and if you have any updates to show.

Best wishes.