Zero Population Count

[Shadowbreaker]

Who wasn't expecting this.



It is now time that I announce a little porting project of mine. Zero Population Count (ZPC) was one of the games created out of the Marathon 2 engine, like Prime Target and Damage Inc. I've never played Damage Inc. before, but by the looks of things, ZPC seems to be the most similar of the three to Marathon.

It has come to my attention however that ZPC has a few game-ruining bugs, which is why I think this game should not only be ported to Aleph One for the sake of porting it, but so that it will run smoothly on any machine at all.

What is it about?

ZPC has a fairly complex setting, in my opinion... I don't quite understand it yet. Google it if you want. The gist of it is that you play an Exiled War Messiah and must defeat a facist army of Super-Nazis and save the human race.

How do you intend to port it?

Currently, it seems to be a matter of putting a lot of the collections in the right place for Marathon to read them.

The biggest difficulty here is that there are 8 texture and scenery sets, rather than Marathon's 5. I should be able to come up with some creative solution around this though.

Another big problem (the same with Prime Target) is getting the high indexed collections into a readable state as well. All of the monsters are in collections 40-50 or something, so they'll either have to be completely re-sequenced, or patched quickly somehow.

Other things, like the KPM meter just wont work in Aleph One, so this port of ZPC won't be exactly like the original.

I also don't seem to be able to find the guy who actually made the game's email, so I havent been able to ask him for permission... better to ask forgiveness though

What does ZPC feature?

ZPC has a very distinctive art style to most games. Most of it looks straight out of a pulp-fiction comic book, as some reviewers have described it.

It also features background music, 23 levels, 12 netmaps, and a whole original cast of monsters.

How long do you think this will take?

like idk prolly not soon

How far are you now?

Currently I'm still planning on how put everything in the "right place".


I'll post some screenshots up later or something.

[L'howon]

How long do you think this will take?

like idk prolly soon

Enemi soon, or Shadow soon?

[Wrkncacnter]

Why didn't you wait till you were about done with this before announcing it. That way you don't look like an idiot 3 months from now when you decide to give up.

[Meta]

I've actually been looking for this for a while, any chance you could upload it? Isn't there any possibility these problems could be fixed by patch? (Which would probably be better than porting it since a lot of the content from the original would be lost I.E. weapon melees.

[Crater Creator]

Other things, like the KPM meter just wont work in Aleph One, so this port of ZPC won't be exactly like the original.

If all you need is a kills-per-minute readout, a lua script could provide that function.

[Shadowbreaker]

I've actually been looking for this for a while, any chance you could upload it? Isn't there any possibility these problems could be fixed by patch? (Which would probably be better than porting it since a lot of the content from the original would be lost I.E. weapon melees.

Well ZPC is a classic game, after all. The point of this port is to make it playable with Aleph One, allowing it to have the new features and compatiblities of the engine. Also, the faders simply don't work in anything but 256 colors int he classic application.

I may need a bit of help with lua scripting a bit later, but most of what this port will require is just rearranging stuff.

[goran]

I've never heard of this game before. Cool find. I wish luck with this project.

[ukimalefu]

OH! YEAH! PLEASE! DO THIS!

[treellama]

I doubt the guy will give you permission to do this--so it's probably better to ask FIRST, then make your plans.

If he does give you permission, chances are he would be willing to provide the source code, too, in which case I still don't understand the need for this "port"

[john_brine]

why?
because it's a cool game, that's why-the background graphics were especially nice-thanks zombie studios
I used to love playing this, Prime Target and Damage Incorporated © Paranoid Productions
which all used the Marathon Engine, but with some major modifications
SWEEEEEEET
I wish you all the best of luck with this

John B

[Meta]

Probably the best thing to do would be something in the vein of ZPC.

[JohannesG]

in which case I still don't understand the need for this "port"

personal practice in video game development perhaps? sounds like a good enough reason to me.

[treellama]

Shifting a few collections around is video game development? Is that what you do in video game development class?

[Winter_Wolf]

Shifting a few collections around is video game development? Is that what you do in video game development class?

You know there's more to it than that!

Shadowbreaker has to work with the Images, Shapes, Sounds, Map, Physics files, etc. While a lot of it is just porting, you can learn a lot from porting (aside from the fact that porting can be a very hard task at times).

I like the look of this project Shadowbreaker! Good luck.

[treellama]

You know there's more to it than that!

I am trying to understand JG's definition. I know what I consider video game development to be.

Shadowbreaker has to work with the Images, Shapes, Sounds, Map, Physics files, etc.

Just Shapes, by his own admission.

[JohannesG]

Shifting a few collections around is video game development? Is that what you do in video game development class?

Video Game development can be split into 3 main categories. It all starts with the concept artists who come up with the general idea, brainstorm & plan the game, they create the skeleton. Then we have the programmers that create the muscles around the bones, the nerves and the brain. Then we got the artists who put the skin & final touches on everything. I'd like to remind you that I still haven't started studying video game development but that's planned to start next winter, and the classes/departments are split up in that fashion like mentioned above. Concept, programming & graphics/sound. I will be taking the graphics/sound class, although there will be of course some basic programming/concept studies so that everyone in the "team" can understand each other better when making a game but my focus will mainly be graphics.

Of course there are people who can do the whole deal. concept, programming & art, but those people are rare and usually people's brain is focused on one thing. Most of the programmers I've met can't do art for shit and most of the artists i've met can't program for shit. (me for example)

Of course there are many definitions of "video game development" just like everything else, it's just a matter of personal opinion. But in my opinion, for example even if I help a guy make a painting. He comes up with the idea, another guy prepares the canvas. (which is by the way hell to do!) and I do the painting. Even if it's just me painting from a sketch (or replicating a decent drawing/painting) by the guy who came with the idea I still consider it art. The question is, is it good art?

on another note, Art should not be judged on how long time it took or how much blood & tears were sacrificed in the process.

yes, this is graphical video game development in my opinion. The question is, on what scale? and is it good or bad?
I am pretty sure there are specific persons in video game development teams somewhere where their job is about taking the art made by the artists, and getting it into the engine, programmed by the programmers, and polishing it so it will look & work well in the game, originally sketched and planned by the concept artists.
And I am pretty sure that their job is referred to as a part of video game development.

edit: when I say "class" I am referring to the whole department, I will be (hopefully) taking more than just one type of class.

[treellama]

I am pretty sure there are specific persons in video game development teams somewhere where their job is about taking the art made by the artists, and getting it into the engine, programmed by the programmers, and polishing it so it will look & work well in the game, originally sketched and planned by the concept artists.
And I am pretty sure that their job is referred to as a part of video game development.

Fair enough, but in this case the artwork is already in the engine (someone has already done that), and doesn't need any polishing to work well in the game (someone has already done that as well). I guess we disagree that the situations are the same.

As for the scale, and whether it is good or bad, it will be the same as ZPC, whether good or bad. There's nothing new, how could it be any different?

[goran]

A port of ZPC to AlephOne is indeed a computer game developement because Shadowbreaker intend to make it run on multiple platforms.
He's evolving the game!!!

[Shadowbreaker]

Apparently it did work on Windoze as well, but right now it doesn't really work on anything.

The project leader and main artist, Aidan Hughes says I need to ask Zombie Sutdios themselves, although he claims he will help me if they let me. Hopefully they'll be able to give me some of the stuff I need.

And obviously, this won't be exactly like the original. Infact, it might be noticably different in some aspects. But, it should play pretty much the same.

[Bridget]

The project leader and main artist, Aidan Hughes says I need to ask Zombie Sutdios themselves, although he claims he will help me if they let me. Hopefully they'll be able to give me some of the stuff I need.

So Zombie still owns the rights to the game? If that's the case, then there might be a chance that they'll support you. Better yet, you could ask them if they could release their changes to the M2 code to the public. If that code could be integrated into Aleph One, there might not be a need to port the game from scratch.

However, I would not be surprised if the rights are still owned by Atari (the publisher of ZPC, GT Interactive, was bought by Infogrames, which later merged with Atari). If that's the case, then I seriously doubt they'll allow you to do this.

[spukrian]

I used play a lot of Doom (in fact, I still do)... this situation reminds of Strife. The source code for Strife was lost, yet we have about 3 or so source ports which supports it. Then again, neither the publisher nor the developer of Strife is around anymore.

Anyways, I think it sounds like a really cool project! Good luck!

[Meta]

Gameplay video and Mac download for anyone who's interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx3M3230Tik

[thedoctor45]

Mac OS X Port for anyone who's interested (requires Intel Mac running 10.5 - 10.7) http://www.mediafire.com/download/gq0il ... lc2/zpc.7z

[john_brine]

so many memories ! tried the Mac OS X port and it started up fine, played okay for a while until it got to the cut scene
(finish of Permashed Potatoes) where you see Arman on an elephant blasting through stone, then it seemed to get stuck on a permanent loop, at least it sounded that way. I tried to use the level select code, but the game quit on me.
I've also tried to install it in Crossover, but the message comes back "sorry, Windows 95 only" then shuts down. same with the autorun (bad autorun argument). so there we are then. I suspect it's a problem with Quicktime. well, it's progress, I suppose....

[john_brine]

sorry didn't read the ReadMe through all the way. Game is okay. only works on 640x480 and that's it.

still, it's better than nothing, and yes, I have the CD's for ZPC, Damage Inc and Prime Target.

Man, do I feel old....