I dunno if its just me, but I died of laughter reading that.
First... the source engine is DirectX, while Darwinia is OpenGL. The diffrence there is like saying you can convert a McLaren into a Ferrari. It just won't happen.
Secondly the Source Engine is chunky for a game that doesn't need its features.
Where does Darwinia use Version 2.0 (and below) shaders, bump mapping, LOD on models and world? (more LOD wouldn't go amiss in Darwinia however
). Why does Darwinia need HLSL and HDRL when its trying to replicate a retro feel? Since when does water in Darwinia reflect?
The Source Engine is great and all, but thats like trying to use a sledge to kill a fly. Its really uneeded and will cause more damage than needed.
thats a load of crock. if small mod team had 3 months to seriously recreate the game in source it would be done, and run better at that. and with mp in there as well.
Misinformation, misinformation, and more misinformation!
The "key gameplay" (I assume you mean gestures) isn't being removed. They are adding a simpler way to play the game. Since IV are not tied down to some money sucking corperation, they can make such intresting changes as they please without giving any higher management heart attacks. If it gets Darwinia to those who hated the gestures system, then great.
NeoThermic
where exactly do you get the idea that iv would lose any control over their game? talk about misinformation. steam is there for independant developers to use to distribute. valve has no interest in mucking around with others games, they have enough on their plate as it is. lets not forget valve is an indepentent developer themselves. a highly successful one at that.
if you seriously think "adding" a simpler way to play the game is going to magically make it into a retail success you are fooling yourself. the gestures are the key gameplay element. any other control scheme that deviates from the gestures just rips the soul out of the game. so instead of a fun, short, original game, with a unique control aspect, you end up with a boring, short, point and click kinda been there done that game.
it might as well be doom3. pretty, but pretty boring.
its funny you think iv making the change is innovative, its actually exactly the kind of thing a money sucking corperation would have had them do. i cant imagine the game has sold particularly well, especially with all the hoops one had to goto to get a legal copy. the delays with the store havent helped either, and is still dodgy to buy something from. they would have been better off setting up an ebay store. judging by the 20,000+ downloads of the game illegally, iv have lost a ton of customers by releasing in the manner they did.
the point of the thread wasnt to port to source, that was just a side thought i had while creating the thread. maybe you missed the
after the source comment? the point is, putting the game on steam would have many advantages for an indepedent dev like iv.
1. huge base of gamers to sell directly to
2. huge amounts of free publicity
3. secure online payment options
4. no hassle and headaches of setting up and maintaining an online store
5. piracy made much more difficult