ScummVM

ScummVM is a software and scripts collection, in which numerous replica game engines are grouped under a common graphical user interface. Many older computer and console games are thus capable of running on much more modern or even completely different platforms, as the original developer foresee or could be taken into account when programming.

Initially developed only for Adventures based on the scripting language SCUMM the provider LucasArts, ScummVM supports (acronym for "Script Creation Utility for Maniac mansion - Virtual Machine " ) today a whole series of other games and manufacturers, such as Revolution Software, Adventure Soft or Sierra Entertainment.

ScummVM is even released as free software under the GNU General Public License. The individual thus playable titles, however, are still protected with few exceptions, by the rights of the respective manufacturers.

Platforms / ports

There are implementations for platforms including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Unix and Linux systems, BSD, iOS, Android, Windows CE, Symbian OS, bada, or console systems Dreamcast, AmigaOS, Atari, Nintendo DS, Wii, Gamecube, PlayStation, Xbox.

Since version 1.2.0 "Fascinating release " the first purely English interface are also displayed in other languages ​​.

Technology

ScummVM is not an emulator or a runtime environment, but interpreter for various scripting languages ​​, such as those developed for older adventure games.

For ScummVM different game interpreter are analyzed by reverse engineering and then developed new implementations. Care is taken to largely compatible and behave same effect. Thus, direct access to the original game resources, such as backgrounds, images, graphics, animation, characters, sound effects, music and videos. Their link with the user interactions as gameplay / action but are not platform-independent controlled by written by the game designers scripts by the interpreter, but - hence the name the " VM " for the virtual machine.

ScummVM allows you to improve the graphics display in comparison to the original. Since many old Adventures run by default only with a resolution of 320 × 200, so a pleasant gaming is possible on monitors with a much higher resolution. ScummVM offers many different graphics modes that use different techniques to optimize the quality of representation. Here, especially techniques such as blur, anti-aliasing and filters are used. It is also possible with ScummVM, various games to play with audio and music output, even if not specified by the manufacturer sound hardware is used, since the operating system 's own sound functions. As a music output can also directly FluidSynth be used if the operating system does not support MIDI output. ScummVM is written in C and used for graphics and sound spending the portable program libraries SDL, MAD, Vorbis or tremor, FLAC and libmpeg2. In addition to the source code are binaries for most operating systems supported on the homepage of the project available. Some Linux distributions provide ScummVM already, and also in the FreeBSD / NetBSD / OpenBSD distributions are included.

Development

Behind ScummVM is a very active group of developers. Approximately every six months to see new versions that always bring next error correction and improvements to the playability support for more games with it. The project has been represented since 2007 regularly at Google Summer of Code.

First, the development focused exclusively on developed by LucasArts SCUMM scripting system and all the games that have been developed with the associated game engine SPUTM. Besides the LucasArts adventures, such as the first three Monkey- Iceland - games also make use of various games from Humongous Entertainment this system. Meanwhile, however, the number of supported Adventures grows increasingly securities which have been developed on entirely different engines.

The developers of the projects Sarien and FreeSCI have decided to introduce the results of their work in the ScummVM project or jointly develop it further. Until then they had been successful, but regardless of ScummVM, today dedicated to the playability of older Adventures of Sierra On -Line, Sierra Entertainment. Numerous Adventures, with TrollVM ( preAGI ) and Adventure Game Interpreter been developed (AGI ) are supported for some time by ScummVM. Since version 1.2.0 ScummVM includes the long- awaited addition to the Sierra Creative Interpreter ( SCI). For further Adventures of the Leisure Suit Larry series, the Quest series King's Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest and other well-known classics, not least numerous, also in SCI developed fan games through ScummVM playable.

Availability of games

ScummVM itself does not contain any games. The user therefore first need to buy a separate copy of the supported games. Due to their advanced age, however, some of the games are inexpensive collections, such as the " LucasArts Classics " available.

There are now some Adventures that have been released by the developers: " Lure of the Temptress " and " Beneath a Steel Sky" by Revolution Software, " Flight of the Amazon Queen" by Interactive Binary Illusions and " Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back" by Alcachofa soft / Digital Dreams, " Sołtys " by LK Avalon. Their developers decided not only to the ScummVM team to provide insight into the source code, but both publish the performance data of the CD and the floppy versions as free software, which makes them available on the ScummVM site to download and about addition, free Linux distributions may not be attached.

More Adventures are "Dragon History" by NoSense, the newly revised for ScummVM and whose source code has been placed under GPLv2 and " TeenAgent " Metropolis Software House / CD project that can be downloaded to Good Old Games as Freeware.

ResidualVM

ResidualVM (previously only " residual ") is a side project of some ScummVM developers, which aims to make 3D graphics Adventures also run on different systems. It focused initially only on Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Iceland, both of which are based on the Lua scripting language, as well as the game engine GrimE. Meanwhile, Myst III: Exile support. In the current version of ResidualVM Grim Fandango is considered relatively stable; The support of the other title is still in an earlier stage of development, but they are already executable.

On March 9, 2014, the developer announced that ResidualVM was accepted under the auspices of ScummVM as a project for the scholarship Google Summer of Code.