Ion Maiden

EDuke is some kind of incarnation of the Build Engine from 3D Realms.  This brings back a lot of memories for me when I played the early FPS's in the 90's - Wolf3D, Doom, Duke, Cat3D, ROTT, Heretic, etc in the 90's.

Is this a thing now?  Making new games on old school engines?  It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how this would gain acceptance among the younglings today.

By the way, is this going to be in VR on the rift or something?

Build has the most fun level editor I've ever used. Even today it's hard to beat it.

Rob_In_Phoenix said:

EDuke is some kind of incarnation of the Build Engine from 3D Realms.  This brings back a lot of memories for me when I played the early FPS's in the 90's - Wolf3D, Doom, Duke, Cat3D, ROTT, Heretic, etc in the 90's.

Is this a thing now?  Making new games on old school engines?  It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how this would gain acceptance among the younglings today.

By the way, is this going to be in VR on the rift or something?

I know - I grew up playing all those games. I can still remember the first time I booted up Duke3d - I was blown away by the interactivity in the world. I love the Build engine in particular for this - I mean there were lots of games even before Duke that were doing much cooler things (System Shock), but Duke was the first game where I felt I was actually in a logical representation of a place.

I hope this does well - because I'd love to see more Build Engine (eDuke) games. Duke3d/Blood/Shadow Warrior all still look very good today - there is a visceral over-the-top feeling to the violence that does not really translate to polygonal 3d games (though the new Doom came close). Whether or not the current / upcoming generation of games may have some effect on if 3d Realms continues with releasing games like this - but I think there is a large enough demographic of people that were around when these games were first coming out that miss this kind of game to hopefully at least make this outing successful. I know I will be buying it.

As for VR - I am just hoping it is compatible with the DukeVR engine - http://www.malcolm-s.net/dukevr/ - as I find that these older games look surprisingly awesome in VR.

kojack said:

Build has the most fun level editor I've ever used. Even today it's hard to beat it.

Exactly - apparently when the full version of this release it is going to with full mod support - I may even get back to making a few levels with the assets in this game.

This looks amazing. Doing a new game on a retro engine is a really cool concept.

cybereality said:

This looks amazing. Doing a new game on a retro engine is a really cool concept.

I think so too - I have always wanted to make a game in the Build Engine, but I don't have the resources or will power to do it (music takes a much more prominent part of my creative time).

I'd love to see the build engine used to create an immersive sim type game - I mean the scene interactivity is already there, and I have seen other total conversions add things like dialog trees, voice acting and rpg elements. With Ion Maiden apparently it has level transitions (like Half Life / Deus Ex) so open-ended level design is possible, it would just be a matter of implementing non-combat sections to the game.

Tried the early access last night. The game is definitely cool, and really hard too. Like the retro vibe.

I am super excited - I want to buy it early access, but I am saving the last $50 of my b-day steam money for Far Cry 5.

I don't know if I should wait for the full released game though - because from what I understand the early access campaign is separate from the main game and there is nothing to say it will be available when the full release comes out.

I know I am buying it at some point whether early-access or not - I want to do my part so that maybe we see a resurgence of build engine games if this is successful enough. I mean stranger things have happened - I never thought I would see the resurgence of Point 'n' Click adventures, but there are a ton of goods ones that have been released in the last few years.