The Daedalus Encounter

[MetalSnake]

Is The Daedalus Encounter in the scope of ScummVM?
I really liked the game back in the days, so I wonder if there is some hope that I will eventually see this game supported by ScummVM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daedalus_Encounter

[DrMcCoy]

That depends greatly on whether someone will pick up the work needed to do that. Do you happen to know such a person?

[Morden]

There should be something about this in the forum rules. Every so often people will ask "Is it possible for ScummVM to support *game title here*?", and the answer is always the same.

Technically, it's possible to support any game, as long as you have the proper resources and someone willing to do the actual job. It doesn't even have to be an adventure game.

ScummVM team has enough on their plates as it is. Support for Tinsel was added just recently, and now even SCI games will be supported [sooner or later], so there's plenty of work to be done.

I'm guessing that unless someone comes by, offering the engine sources of a given game, and a blessing from the software developer, there's very little chance to spark any interest among the ScummVM team members.

[fingolfin]

You mean, something like an FAQ?

http://scummvm.org/faq/#2_2

[ezekiel000]

On the other hand The Junkyards description invites these questions:
"All the inane chatter goes in here. If you're curious about whether we will support a game, post HERE not in General Discussion "

[MetalSnake]

@Morden
Well, I don't know the rules for which games are allowed and which not, like 3D games aren't allowed (well, with some exceptions if only partial stuff is 3D and whatnot). So it's really hard to tell from an end user point to know if a game is in the scope of ScummVM or not.
I would love to work on that one, but I never could do it alone, (never did any reverse engeneering, but always wanted to).

[Morden]

Well, I don't know the rules for which games are allowed and which not

It's not about what's allowed and what isn't. Like I said, every once in a while someone will ask "Can ScummVM support *GAMENAMEHERE*?".

It's ok to ask, but before you do, you should think about what the possible response may be, and when it comes to games that are not at all supported, the answer is always the same.

You need people to reverse engineer a title or you need to obtain the engine code from the company [if they're not opposed to the idea]. Then, the whole thing has to be integrated into ScummVM code, so on and so forth.

Adding a new engine, especially one that has to be reverse engineered, is not a simple task and you'll never get an answer "Sure, we'll support it in a month or two".

Then there's the matter of status of the game. I'm just guessing here, but I don't think anyone would want to reverse engineer a game that uses an engine built specifically for this single title. On top of that, the chances are even slimmer if the game isn't all that popular.

There is a whole lot of games that use SCUMM engine and same goes to AGI and SCI. So unless a developer donates the code or someone among the developers is really passionate about supporting a title, I don't think you can count on new games being supported just like that.