Hi, Can Anyone @ ScummVM Make “Someone’s In The Kitchen” Playable On ScummVM?
Information Of The Game:
Game Title: Someone’s In The Kitchen
Year: 1996
Game Publisher: DreamWorks Interactive
OS: Windows 95
Thanks,
videogamefan
Someone's In The Kitchen on ScummVM?
Moderator: ScummVM Team
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Strangerke
- ScummVM Developer
- Posts: 335
- Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:39 am
- Location: Belgium
Re: Someone's In The Kitchen on ScummVM?
I had a look at the game. It's less rare than I expected as I found a copy on ebay.
The first issue with the game is that it's a Win95 game. If you set the appropriate compatibility in recent Windows, it works properly (though a bit slow) so it's still possible to install it and play it (I must confess I didn't play it for long).
The binary itself is quite large (almost 1.1Mb). there's so many strings hardcoded in it I think it contains all the strings of the game, which is a pain in the ass.
The logic of the game is completely hardcoded in a bunch of giant functions, which is a pain too.
It has been written in Visual C and MFC.
So, let me summarize
The Good news
- It's 32bits (we have more powerful tools for 32b binaries)
- The video format is known. The players don't play them properly for a good reason: it's only the delta on top of a transparent layer, so you need the background to be displayed in order to play it as expected.
- The image format is known (WMF). We don't have a decoder for that yet, though.
I haven't checked the containers used (extensions CMF/MDF). The only obvious thing is that the MDF file isn't compressed: they contain WAV files (and I bet they also contain the sprites). The index file (CMF) is less obvious, I would have to work on it a bit to tell more.
The bad news:
- Mostly unknown game (=> not likely to attract many dev)
- Enormous hardcoded logic (=> ditto)
- thousands of strings hardcoded (Super boring)
All in all, it's not impossible that someone jumps in and have a look, but it's very unlikely. If you have some knowledge of assembly, dont hesitate to drop me a line.
The same if you are sitting on the sources
I hope that answers your request
The first issue with the game is that it's a Win95 game. If you set the appropriate compatibility in recent Windows, it works properly (though a bit slow) so it's still possible to install it and play it (I must confess I didn't play it for long).
The binary itself is quite large (almost 1.1Mb). there's so many strings hardcoded in it I think it contains all the strings of the game, which is a pain in the ass.
The logic of the game is completely hardcoded in a bunch of giant functions, which is a pain too.
It has been written in Visual C and MFC.
So, let me summarize
The Good news
- It's 32bits (we have more powerful tools for 32b binaries)
- The video format is known. The players don't play them properly for a good reason: it's only the delta on top of a transparent layer, so you need the background to be displayed in order to play it as expected.
- The image format is known (WMF). We don't have a decoder for that yet, though.
I haven't checked the containers used (extensions CMF/MDF). The only obvious thing is that the MDF file isn't compressed: they contain WAV files (and I bet they also contain the sprites). The index file (CMF) is less obvious, I would have to work on it a bit to tell more.
The bad news:
- Mostly unknown game (=> not likely to attract many dev)
- Enormous hardcoded logic (=> ditto)
- thousands of strings hardcoded (Super boring)
All in all, it's not impossible that someone jumps in and have a look, but it's very unlikely. If you have some knowledge of assembly, dont hesitate to drop me a line.
The same if you are sitting on the sources
I hope that answers your request