Fan-Made Remakes

Technology and Gaming
#1

Black Mesa is a game made by a private team of modders. It is a full remake of Half-Life, an IP not owned by the BM team, but by Valve.

I had an egging curiosity about how fan-made remakes are received by IP owners. BM is only allowed to exist because Valve decided to leave it be, they’re cool like that. But how would other IP owners respond to groups of fans remaking their old classics? What if some skilled fansstarted to remake the early Thief games or something? Would Square Enix sue them for every dollar they have, or benevolently let it happen as Valve has?

#2

There was a fan project remaking Chrono Trigger a few years ago. Square Enix shut it right on down.

#3

It depends on the owner of the IP. There are numerous examples of it being disliked as well as accepted. I’ve heard of teams getting made to stop as well as BM with Valve taking interest. I’m too lazy to look up the examples though.

#4

For some reason i feel like somebody made this thread already a month ago.

#5

I visit often, I’d probably remember it… I could be wrong.

#6

Depends on the owner, and whether or not the owner sees the remake of potentially drawing away any profit.

Ex.: Valve is pretty laid back about BM because they know they’re not really making any money off of Half Life 1 (Old fans either had it before HL2 and Steam, bought it with the Orange Box back in '07, or aren’t interested in buying it) so they do not feel threatened in that regard.

– Also, Valve’s repetoire of games and franchises is relatively large. Half Life 1 is only a brick in the Valve wall. Smaller and newer developers with less IPs and games in their franchises may feel more threatened by said remakes.

It’s really all basic economics at the core of it. That, and Valve knows how to handle their public image and fans most of the time.

#7

I thought so.

What about a game like System Shock? I’ve personally never seen a hard copy. The only practical way to acquire and play it right now is to pirate it. A fan-remake wouldn’t make any financial difference. It’s a game that nobody is presently making money off of. Yet, EA may see fit to zap a remake if one popped up, in spite of their hundreds of other successful, grossing publications.

I just see BM as a testament to the potential of fan-remakes. They’re doing something that no one else was ever going to, with explosively excellent results that accomplish virtually nothing but respark public interest in the IP, potentially even gaining the owners money.

#8

I remember seeing a remake of Star Wars Dark Forces in the Jedi Academy engine, but they haven’t updated in at least a year. And it’s not like here where you know the devs are working on BM through their forum posts, it’s a wasteland in their forums, and I have an inkling LucasArts gave them a cease and desist.

#9

https://s2hd.sonicretro.org/
Dead as shit imo, most likely lack of motivation.

#10

I remember there was a Quake II mod that was pretty awesome, where they tried to combine Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, and Quake II. It got shut down by id because they ported the Quake weapons and the maps from the demo directly into the Quake II engine, instead of remaking them.

That mod could have been awesome, had it gotten more time.

#11

Look up generations arena bro. It’s the Quake 3 version. They remade the stuff themselves with this mod instead of ripping.
Also, I don’t think the DF remake got a C&D because the downloads are still up on their site.

#12

highly doubt

#13

At the time of typing I don’t think there is a fan remake of either system shock game except for the ‘rebirth’ mod for SS2, which isn’t so much a remake as it is SS2 with better quality, albeit questionably redesigned, character models.

I’m speculating that Irrational’s silence regarding the System Shock series as them simply wanting to move on. Most of their target consumer base is either exclusively console and is largely ignorant of the IP before Bioshock or too young to remember. Because Bioshock is the more well-known IP that has more or less all of the same elements ripped from it’s predecessor I’m guessing System Shock is dead unless demand for a System Shock sequel were to skyrocket to the point at which they could not ignore it.

Because of that I would be surprised if they saw a fan remake of SS1 or 2 as negative.

#14

I seem people try to make their own Silent Hill based mod on different engine. Which all of them getting shut down for good.

#15

for the love of god and all that is good in the universe: System Shock 2 Remake please :’(

I’ll by 20 copies

that is all

#16

Duke Nukem: Reloaded got shut down by Gearbox because they felt they could make more money from DNF.

Its sad because the Duke Nukem Reloaded team was moving in leaps and bounds.

#17

^this. Except I’ll only get 1 copy, -maybe- 1 more for a friend if Coop is built or modded in.

#18

I’ll check it out, thanks for the suggestion.

#19

There was Starfox:Shadows of Lylat

Not sure if alive. I think it may be in a BM kind of situation. Plus it’s not so much a remake as it is a vidya gaem fanfic kinda thing.

#20

I’d love to see a SS remake. I’ve heard so much about this game but I couldn’t get a copy that worked last time I tried. If anyone linkis me a copy they can vouch for I’ll try it out.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.