OpenBioForge

OpenBioForge Aims To Bring Origin System's Cult Classic Adventure Title "Into The Modern Era" With enhanced graphics and physics

OpenBioForge Aims To Bring Origin System's Cult Classic Adventure Title "Into The Modern Era". (Repost)

On the radar, but not the initial focus
bsky.app/profile/open...

Been heads-down coding #OpenBioForge for months and forgot to post updates!

Latest: Quake-style console, motion-linked sfx and events, 168/188 script interfaces complete, Linux compatibility, and heaps more.

Back to coding! #BioForge #GameDev

Bioforge (1995)

Developed by Origin Systems.

@banditloaf.wcnews.com Hey Ben, I stumbled across this www.portasouthjetty.com/articles/ste... and thought it might be of interest to you and the WC community. I believe Steve did some voice acting for Wing Commander IV and was the voice of the evil Dr. Mastaba in BioForge.

Bioforge-ing the Super Wing Commander Shuttle https://wcne.ws/16892

Deep Cuts Rob and Patrick explore the strange detours their favorite developers have made over the years.

Time for @robzacny.bsky.social and @patrickklepek.bsky.social to explore the strange detours their favorite developers have made over the years. In other words, an excuse to talk about BioForge. Time to Remember Some Games, people! remapradio.com/articles/dee...

Cheers Ben! Origin's technical DNA spreading across their titles created something special in that era.

YouTube video by Tim Comport BioForge Engine Recreation | 30th Anniversary Showcase

Today marks 30 years since BioForge's release!

From playing it in '95, reverse engineering in the 2000's, to recreating its engine - check out this anniversary showcase of OpenBioForge, bringing this DOS classic into the modern era. #BioForge #GamePreservation

youtu.be/YZFhfYX1uVk

Scan of magazine advertising for BioForge by Origin in the issue #3 of Electronic Entertainment, in March 1994

Magazine advertising for BioForge by Origin in the issue #3 of Electronic Entertainment, in March 1994

EA took a battle-axe to Origin's spinoffs around that time. Here's a similar print ad for Bioforge Plus... I believe a build of this one is floating around out there. They also killed the planned (but not advertised AFAIK) Ultima 8 enhanced CD-ROM (alongside its constituent expansion, Lost Vale.)

These DOS games are turning 30 years old this year:
----
Full Throttle
Hexen
Abuse
Worms
Terminal Velocity
Dark Forces
Command & Conquer
BioForge
Need for Speed
Hi-Octane
Destruction Derby
Witchaven
Descent
Stonekeep
Crusader
Heroes of Might & Magic
Warcraft 2
Phantasmagoria
Discworld
MechWarrior 2

Thanks for the offer! The project isn’t ready for playtesting yet, but I’ll keep you in mind when it reaches that stage.

That's awful, I'm so sorry that happened. The BioForge big box in good condition is indeed a rare treasure - glad you at least still have the manuals and CD.

6/6 After many iterations, it's working great! There are areas that rely on the root motion implicitly that can't be avoided, but the hybrid system is as generic/elegant as I hoped. What other BioForge aspects should I consider improving? Let me know!

5/6 Pros: Better responsiveness, consistent speed, acceleration support, simpler collisions, future analog control. Con: Potential foot slippage, which I'm minimizing with careful tuning and blending.

4/6 Solution? A smart hybrid movement/animation system. Player-controlled movements now use the physics system, not animation root motion.

3/6 BioForge uses root motion for all movement - animations drive character movement directly. This explains issues like unresponsiveness and faster backward walking.

2/6 OpenBioForge aims to faithfully recreate the BioForge engine with QoL improvements. BioForge's most criticized aspect? Controls and combat. I'm tackling that head-on. #RetroGaming

1/6 Significant refinement of movement/animation in #OpenBioForge! Most complex cut-scene now working (minus projectiles & some details). Check it out. Interested in a tech deep dive? Read on... #BioForge #GameDev

It's ALIVE! Good progress on "AI" for NPCs. First question from my 9yo - what happens if you turn off his cell bars whilst he's alive?... well... nothing... but we can fix that now by modding the script in C#! 👇 What would you change / fix? #BioForge #retrogames #retrogaming

#BioForge is a highly scripted game, and so after reversing, much of the effort has been reimplementing the proprietary script API. Of the 188 subroutines and functions used by the f1.01 scripts, there are only 43 remaining to be implemented! #devlog #retrogames #retrogaming

BioForge turns 29 today! 🥳 Could the upcoming 30th be the start of something new for this classic? 😉 #OpenBioForge #BioForge #retrogames #retrogaming
https://openbioforge.com

Dressing up to go outside! 👨‍🚀 Physics system progress (Gravity ✅ Root motions ✅ Stairs ✅) #bioforge #devlog #retrogames #retrogaming

Scroll all the text! 📖👀 All monitor text is complete, including scrolling, highlighting, dynamic content, and all languages (English, French, German, Spanish, except Japanese fonts) #bioforge #devlog #retrogames #retrogaming

Testing OpenBioForge compatibility with all of the #BioForge releases I can find (four so far: b1.14, b1.83, f1.01, f1.02). #devlog #retrogames #retrogaming #pcbigbox

Playing around with AI upscaling of pre-rendered backgrounds from #BioForge (1995)! From 320x200 to 2560x1600😲 #retrogames #retrogaming @Magnific_AI

I caught Roland sleeping on the job! 😴😂 ... Levels are loading! Also progress on sfx e.g. ambient sounds, cued by distance, perf optimisations, etc. #bioforge #devlog #retrogames #retrogaming

A fork! ... is ... invisible in my hand?! 🤔 ... because hierarchical transforms aren't implemented yet🤦 Progress continues. #bioforge #devlog #retrogames #retrogaming

PIM (Personal Information Manager) is now functional. Good progress on in-game monitors, item pickup/drop/use, and inventory. #bioforge #devlog #retrogames #retrogaming