I contemplated a KF remake before, but there are just some stepping stones that are going to be difficult if not impossible to muster.
KF2 was really quite a bit more involved than KF1.
Things off the top of my head that SOM just cant do or doesnt do well that KF2 had over KF1 -
#1 falling damage, currently we dont have a way to do universal falling damage, i know some scenarios were thrown around to create events for it locally, but to get it right on all maps and areas that have drop offs (which in KF2 was a ton of places) would just be impossible.
#2 bows and arbalests - we have no animation or working weapon to reproduce this feature. it was actually a really cool element in the game.
#3 proper flying creatures - SOM does support enemy flight but the enemies do not dynamically move around in the y direction. Maybe a minor thing, but still something we cant pull off that I am aware of.
#4 multi-tiered areas...I know there are several map sets floating around that attempt to produce a multi-tiered landscape, but really SOM just isnt built for stacking map levels on top of each other. the amount of tricks needed to keep the player from being attacked from below or looting items etc from a floor above or below them is just impossible to reproduce some of the areas KF2 had. Consider all those huge caverns in the big mine, which brings me to my next thing.
#5 - the mine cart. I have an area in DD (for those of you who played through it) where I have a simple mine cart event that transports the player from one end of a chasm to another by 'pushing' the player with invisible objects. It was not an easy thing to do and believe me the end result was quite inferior to KF2's big mine area. I do believe this one would be rather impossible to code to move a player around an area in a minecart without wanting to kill yourself trying to do it.
#6 - ambient sounds and echoing. yes we can do ambient noise cheating by putting invisible npcs/enemies in certain spots, but think about how the audio of KF2 really affected the gameplay. you may not realize it but if you go back and play, you can hear little creaks and scratching, mining, insects and ghosts wandering in the distance, echoing eerily in the halls of KF2. It may not seem like much, but it was a marvel of sound use for its time, and even for today. I think they did such a great job setting mood with their ambient noises that it single handedly lead from software to abandon music entirely for shadow tower, demons and dark souls so that they could focus on setting the eerie and scary tones of their sound effects.
#7 - in game changes based on equipment you are wearing. You couldnt for example modify the player to have the effect of groundal (KF3) if they equip the entire suit, or the aquarion boots. We also cant replicate the blood crown from KF3 where you had a constant find hidden room buff at the cost of health loss depending on whether or not the item was equipped.
I really dont think a replica of the original would be worth someone's time to try to update considering the only main benefit would be a visual improvement...from a gameplay standpoint SOM just is not up to par with the control systems and environments that KF2 had in place since its really more or less a KF1 making tool (amazingly enough).
KF2 was really quite a bit more involved than KF1.
Things off the top of my head that SOM just cant do or doesnt do well that KF2 had over KF1 -
#1 falling damage, currently we dont have a way to do universal falling damage, i know some scenarios were thrown around to create events for it locally, but to get it right on all maps and areas that have drop offs (which in KF2 was a ton of places) would just be impossible.
#2 bows and arbalests - we have no animation or working weapon to reproduce this feature. it was actually a really cool element in the game.
#3 proper flying creatures - SOM does support enemy flight but the enemies do not dynamically move around in the y direction. Maybe a minor thing, but still something we cant pull off that I am aware of.
#4 multi-tiered areas...I know there are several map sets floating around that attempt to produce a multi-tiered landscape, but really SOM just isnt built for stacking map levels on top of each other. the amount of tricks needed to keep the player from being attacked from below or looting items etc from a floor above or below them is just impossible to reproduce some of the areas KF2 had. Consider all those huge caverns in the big mine, which brings me to my next thing.
#5 - the mine cart. I have an area in DD (for those of you who played through it) where I have a simple mine cart event that transports the player from one end of a chasm to another by 'pushing' the player with invisible objects. It was not an easy thing to do and believe me the end result was quite inferior to KF2's big mine area. I do believe this one would be rather impossible to code to move a player around an area in a minecart without wanting to kill yourself trying to do it.
#6 - ambient sounds and echoing. yes we can do ambient noise cheating by putting invisible npcs/enemies in certain spots, but think about how the audio of KF2 really affected the gameplay. you may not realize it but if you go back and play, you can hear little creaks and scratching, mining, insects and ghosts wandering in the distance, echoing eerily in the halls of KF2. It may not seem like much, but it was a marvel of sound use for its time, and even for today. I think they did such a great job setting mood with their ambient noises that it single handedly lead from software to abandon music entirely for shadow tower, demons and dark souls so that they could focus on setting the eerie and scary tones of their sound effects.
#7 - in game changes based on equipment you are wearing. You couldnt for example modify the player to have the effect of groundal (KF3) if they equip the entire suit, or the aquarion boots. We also cant replicate the blood crown from KF3 where you had a constant find hidden room buff at the cost of health loss depending on whether or not the item was equipped.
I really dont think a replica of the original would be worth someone's time to try to update considering the only main benefit would be a visual improvement...from a gameplay standpoint SOM just is not up to par with the control systems and environments that KF2 had in place since its really more or less a KF1 making tool (amazingly enough).
- Todd DuFore (DMPDesign)
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