The sims whose source code got out have generally done very well for themselves – thinking of Falcon 4.0 and Enemy Engaged. You might want to try releasing the source for a recent iteration on github and see if any dedicated fans pick it up and modernize it + remove bugs. Might even be a good way to fish for future employees if you do want to make a new iteration.
Source code for Jaggad Alliance 2 was released ~15 years ago, and several new commercial games utilizing the same IP/characters have been published in the meantime. Granted, all those subsequent games flopped pretty hard…
LOL! Not really. And I don’t have to release the source code for that, since it’s a separately compiled set of binaries which have zero dependencies. I did have some major hassles building it under VS2017 (f*ck Microsoft) and expecting to do the same song and dance very soon with VS2019 depending on what they’ve broken/added this time around.
I actually ended up enjoying BC3K, at least once Derek patched it a bit. But that was a side-effect of reviewing it. I was forced to learn a user interface that would have had me screaming back to the return counter at Software Etc. if it hadn’t been my job to play it.
Once you got past the UI, it turned out that Derek actually delivered the game he was promising. And in many ways, it did things in a much deeper way than any other games at the time.
But that UI showed that Derek’s brain processes things in a different way that mine. (Or most UI designers. ;-)
Still pretty feisty though.
Feisty more than pretty.
I waited until v 2.0 before I dove in. Reportedly it was in a much better state by then. At any rate, I had some good times with it. Still have my box, manual, CD, and jewel case, all in pristine condition, as required by law.
LOL!! Yeah man, that UI was a pain. No matter how much or how I tried to simplify it over the years, it just got worse. In the end, since those who liked the game got used to it, I just quit trying to do anything with it. I did make it prettier when I transitioned the Battlecruiser series to Universal Combat though; so there’s that. :) And even with the on-going refresh that I’m working on, I am still not dumb - or brave - enough to mess with it. Life’s too short, and I’m too old for that level of abuse.
I’m not sure this is what he’s saying, but it’s not about designing a GUI: after all, the game has one right now. It’s about designing a good user interface (now called user experience, UX), which requires experience, testing and a lot of iteration. Which, sadly, is something lacking in free software projects.
Also, the game’s inherent complexity somewhat limits the choice of how a UX could be designed while still being usable. It’s why, after the core audience learned and got used to it, I opted not to mess with it beyond minor tweaks and improvements.