I was introduced to Outpost at an early age, I remember seeing it in a magazine and wanting the game bad. As soon as I saw it, I bought a copy and had one of the first floppy versions. It was so demanding, I had to play it on my dad's laptop which was a slow 386 and the only computer in our house with Windows. The game was so complex that I set it aside, despite being enthralled with the concept and the graphics. The game is still beautiful to me. Now I have the CD version and a cluebook.
I've slowly been working on an Outpost remake but it's still really early in development. I'm writing it in C++ and using a couple of SDL libraries to handle the graphics. I even have some code to play FLC movies, it's the only thing untested but whether it works or not is not a deal breaker. What I think will be hard is the mathematical models and making the game feel similar to the original while the player progresses through the game. The models are gonna be tough, I mean some NASA dude had a say in them! The cluebook provides some insight and even talks about the three programming phases that commenced in making the model. This will help immensely but I'm still fearfully and the model is the only thing that makes me hesitant of success. What a challenge! My plan is to keep everything original and implement some missing features from the original, like support for widescreen resolutions and using some of the unused graphics on the CD, like the animating the AI's icon and the little planet/moon icon when a turn is pressed. Also, I love how there was a 'Not Implemented' graphic on the CD. I'm pretty sure this wasn't used in the game. I think it was there as a form of silent protest from the team, their proof of what really happened.
I haven't played a lot of OP2, which is a good thing because I like the game. I hated it when it first came out but in light of the big picture, it's one of the best-themed RTS games out there! I still need to do the tutorials and figure everything out before I try any competitive play, but some day ... some day your bases are ours!
Anyway, greetings to you, similar minded human.
