Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by SAEH_93 »

Trespasser Resurrection is a reimagining of the original game. Goals of development include fixing plot holes where possible through audio edits and through the designs of levels.

As it stands I have an almost completed beach level and a large portion of the Burroughs mapped. As anyone can imagine getting the feel just right can be difficult. Along with the addition of having to populate square miles of trees rocks and shrubbery is time consuming, especially when you have to tweak what doesn't look right.

The physics of the game are so close to where I want them. I am finding small bugs where object can be flung 100 yards across the map. Some guns are now available and functional. I have some basic animated dinosaurs but no AI as I haven't ventured to that realm yet.

As far as it goes the hardest part for me this far has been optimisation of the Burroughs level. I find that it runs slowly and becomes difficult to work on. This has to do with the communications centre. It is by far one of the most detailed models to date.

So it runs, the game isn't dead or abandoned as of about a month ago I started to continue on it. I was stressed trying to advance in the project and feeling like I was getting no where but I have started modelling terrain for jungle road.

Pine valley will be included.
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by TheIdiot »

As far as it goes the hardest part for me this far has been optimisation of the Burroughs level. I find that it runs slowly and becomes difficult to work on. This has to do with the communications centre. It is by far one of the most detailed models to date.
Hmm, I did notice that the framerate looks a bit low in the preview videos (I know it's still early development, after all). Is it being made from scratch on a brand-new engine? I'm glad to hear you've got the physics working properly, I think that's a key element that a lot of fan remakes tend to miss out on.
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by Double_G »

SAEH_93 wrote:Trespasser Resurrection is a reimagining of the original game. Goals of development include fixing plot holes where possible through audio edits and through the designs of levels.
Nice to hear that the project is alive :) There's something visually pleasing about it and i like some of the changes you've made to the terrain, such as the bridge where we encounter our first raptor. In your version there's a ditch in that spot and it looks a lot more interesting that way.
SAEH_93 wrote:As far as it goes the hardest part for me this far has been optimisation of the Burroughs level. I find that it runs slowly and becomes difficult to work on. This has to do with the communications centre. It is by far one of the most detailed models to date.
I wonder what can be done to fix this issue
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by Stevokenevo »

I released a demo of the first two levels on the steam workshop. If you have Half-Life:Alyx you can play through it.

If not I also did a no commentary playthrough of the levels. There is still a lot of work to be done with them but I'm happy with the progress so far. Started work on IJ now.

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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by Double_G »

I wish i had a VR set so i could play through it myself. Great job so far :)
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by Stevokenevo »

Thanks, I'm really enjoying making it. I should hopefully have all the levels mapped out by june/july and then I can focus on improving the dinosaurs and gameplay. Definitely going to need some help with modelling and animations so if anyone knows anyone good at that stuff that might be interested in helping out, let me know.
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by It'sEmpty »

The main problem I see with any remake I have seen is the project is either moving at a snails pace or is so slow it might as well be dead the game does not seem to be any close to being remade the farthest is the main one Trespassing Petrolia and that I have been following for nearly a decade now with no major updates

I am willing to start work on something akin to a remake soon but other projects have to come in ideally I am looking to be the most focused on remaking the game as I am not gonna bother building it myself but rather getting a small team of indie developers and paying them to work on the game as an incentive to get it done, I have been looking for a remake of this game for years and no projects I have seen have showed the push to really turn it into a reality.

The problem is securing the funds which is something the project idea is something I am keeping in the back of my mind the game itself is not that complicated by today's standards the only problems I see that require major work on solving is as follows.

-Dinosaur A.I
-Handling of Arm Physics (as far as I am concerned it is not trespasser without a controllable arm)

Physics systems nowadays come baked into stuff like the unity engine as so are as easy as making a pie to implement the game itself will not require too much effort to remake I can imagine just 2 years of dev to get the game to a playable state with a hardcore and dedicated small team of developers which will be incentivized by payment to get the project going and into playable.

I have waited far too long for someone to remake this game and all the projects that showed promise are moving so slowly that I cannot begin to imagine this game ever getting remade within this century (no offense to the hardworking developers of these projects) I am hoping to secure some funding soon and will update the forum when I have anything to show for it.

Concept wise I am imagining remaking the full game and then reworking it into an open world game as a long term project.

We shall see :) I love building projects as I own a profitable little website and am looking to expand my ventures to include more websites so hopefully the funding will be secured for developing one of my most beloved childhood games and hopefully bringing the game the mainstream attention it deserves.
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by TheIdiot »

Fixed your accidental double-post, It'sEmpty. :)
getting a small team of indie developers and paying them to work on the game as an incentive to get it done
I know Trespasser is effectively abandonware at this point, but actually paying people to remake the game is almost certainly going to result in some form of copyright infringement, because then you'd also have to likely charge to play your remake - otherwise how else do you continue to pay them? Donations sounds like a better idea to me, even if it isn't a certain way to get the developers paid it's safer than potentially infringing on the Jurassic Park brand or Dreamworks itself. Otherwise you're probably begging for a cease & desist letter.
The game itself is also very niche so finding anyone interested in remaking the game would likely be somewhat challenging. Obviously you're not the only one who wants a remake as made clear by all of the other projects that fizzled out, so it might be wise to look around for those working on such projects and see if they'd be willing to collaborate.
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by It'sEmpty »

TheIdiot wrote:Fixed your accidental double-post, It'sEmpty. :)
getting a small team of indie developers and paying them to work on the game as an incentive to get it done
I know Trespasser is effectively abandonware at this point, but actually paying people to remake the game is almost certainly going to result in some form of copyright infringement, because then you'd also have to likely charge to play your remake - otherwise how else do you continue to pay them? Donations sounds like a better idea to me, even if it isn't a certain way to get the developers paid it's safer than potentially infringing on the Jurassic Park brand or Dreamworks itself. Otherwise you're probably begging for a cease & desist letter.
The game itself is also very niche so finding anyone interested in remaking the game would likely be somewhat challenging. Obviously you're not the only one who wants a remake as made clear by all of the other projects that fizzled out, so it might be wise to look around for those working on such projects and see if they'd be willing to collaborate.
Not necessarily I am only infringing copyright if I profit from the intellectual property paying someone for their labour is an entirely separate matter and has nothing to do with the intellectual property so no hiring a team of developers to work on the game does not constitute copyright infringement as who works on the game and why is an entirely separate matter from the game itself that being said at any moment for any reason if you work on a remake of a game you can get a cease and desist letter because you are 'technically' infringing on their IP by making your own version and could be asked to cease and desist but considering how forthcoming and open the developers of trespasser are with the community i doubt it will be a problem.

EDIT: What I essentially hopefully plan on doing is paying or incentivizing some developers to work on the game and then open source the assets and the game itself I would never try to sell their IP of course then that WILL get me a cease and desist but who works on the game and for what reason has nothing to do with it, the only people that will be profiting are the people working on the game and they are profiting off of payment for their labour not the IP itself which means they are not legally liable in any copyright infringement the only person that is liable is me and I will not be profiting in any way infact I will be losing money considering the game is already being remade and none of those projects have gotten a cease and desist I can't imagine it will be different
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by TheIdiot »

If you don't mind me asking, how do you intend to pay developers full-time without seeing some sort of profit from the game, or at least donations? It took the original development team around two to three years working full-time and going over-budget as well as behind schedule to create the original game, and that was a large number of developers working full-time for Dreamworks. It seems unrealistic to expect to crank the entire remake out in a couple of years (especially considering that modern standards take more time to execute) paying the developers soley out of pocket, especially since it might be difficult to find folks willing to work full-time on a remake of an obscure game such as this, considering the overall scale of the game world, assets required, programming, etc. Yes, you could outsource or freelance assets, which would certainly help, but that's quite a lot of work to recreate all of the game's assets, and that's aside from also having to update everything to modern visuals.
I'm not trying to be pessemistic, but the project simply doesn't really sound feasible to me at the moment, especially without some source of funding which could potentially drag the game into infringement territory. :?
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by It'sEmpty »

TheIdiot wrote:If you don't mind me asking, how do you intend to pay developers full-time without seeing some sort of profit from the game, or at least donations? It took the original development team around two to three years working full-time and going over-budget as well as behind schedule to create the original game, and that was a large number of developers working full-time for Dreamworks. It seems unrealistic to expect to crank the entire remake out in a couple of years (especially considering that modern standards take more time to execute) paying the developers soley out of pocket, especially since it might be difficult to find folks willing to work full-time on a remake of an obscure game such as this, considering the overall scale of the game world, assets required, programming, etc. Yes, you could outsource or freelance assets, which would certainly help, but that's quite a lot of work to recreate all of the game's assets, and that's aside from also having to update everything to modern visuals.
I'm not trying to be pessemistic, but the project simply doesn't really sound feasible to me at the moment, especially without some source of funding which could potentially drag the game into infringement territory. :?
I will be paying for it out of pocket as a pet project we are talking about a very solid but not groundbreaking game here like a small indie game so the development costs will remain low and as far as the source of funding goes well that comes from my various investments I am somewhat of an online entrepreneur and am always building up new investments so the project itself would be just a small side project that I pay for with the profits that I get from my other projects that being said it is not something I can do right now but it is something I might be able to do within the next year or two we will see

Never say never anything is possible and unless you have a better suggestion I think this is the best bet as one person working on a trespasser remake for a full decade at this point and still nowhere close to finishing it is just downright a waste of time not to say that the work he has accomplished is not impressive, I am not just some rando with an idea I actually am an entrepreneur and make money off of taking ideas and turning them into a reality so this is a personal project of mine that I am willing to spend some of my money on and who said anything about paying them full time rather pay them for weekend work etc... cuts costs but keeps consistent work on the project going..

Again I would never ask for donations as that makes no sense I would pay out of pocket for the project and that is not a joke I would drop a lot of money to see this project finally go somewhere.

The way I see it if one person can accomplish that level of polish on a project like Petrolia then it stands to reason a team being hired to work on a similar project would get a lot more done more quickly.

Never say never :wink: :wink:

I might secure the disposable income to pull something like this off soon depending on a few things.

In the meantime I hope to pump out a few levels for you guys to enjoy as something I do in my spare time hopefully that is something I get started on I am extremely busy as I am launching a new project soon with my business partner.
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

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one person working on a trespasser remake for a full decade at this point and still nowhere close to finishing it is just downright a waste of time not to say that the work he has accomplished is not impressive
I wouldn't say that. If I were s1n31, I'd absolutely be proud of what I accomplished with Petrolia, especially if I enjoyed doing it. Not to speak for him but I think a lot of others would agree.
I myself worked for over ten years on the unfinished Return to Jurassic Park mod, and I certainly wouldn't consider it a waste of time. It wasn't about making money or creating a product, it was first and foremost a hobby that I hoped others might be interested in, no matter what state it was released in. Whether RTJP was impressive or not doesn't really matter to me (though I hoped to make at least some sort of impression), what DOES matter to me was the time myself and the team spent having fun discussing and working on it and the people who followed and played it in the end. Enjoying yourself isn't necessarily a waste of time.
Again I would never ask for donations as that makes no sense
Sure it does, artists do it all the time. Perhaps not to fully fund something, but certainly to help out in a secondary sense.
Never say never :wink: :wink:
I didn't, I simply said that it doesn't sound feasible at the moment.
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by It'sEmpty »

Sure it does, artists do it all the time. Perhaps not to fully fund something, but certainly to help out in a secondary sense.
If it potentially brings me into legal hotwater I am not going to risk it.
I myself worked for over ten years on the unfinished Return to Jurassic Park mod, and I certainly wouldn't consider it a waste of time. It wasn't about making money or creating a product, it was first and foremost a hobby that I hoped others might be interested in, no matter what state it was released in. Whether RTJP was impressive or not doesn't really matter to me (though I hoped to make at least some sort of impression), what DOES matter to me was the time myself and the team spent having fun discussing and working on it and the people who followed and played it in the end. Enjoying yourself isn't necessarily a waste of time
I understand your perspective and what I meant was that it is a waste of time for anyone that actually wants a playable Trespasser remake to hope that Petrolia or anyone of these remakes is going to be finished anytime soon.
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by tatu »

The main problem I see with any remake I have seen is the project is either moving at a snails pace or is so slow it might as well be dead the game does not seem to be any close to being remade the farthest is the main one Trespassing Petrolia and that I have been following for nearly a decade now with no major updates
The majority of Trespasser remakes have been made by one person. It take a massive amount of time for a person to take on any project like Trespasser. Even making a small fan level for the game can take weeks, spending full days modding.
I am willing to start work on something akin to a remake soon but other projects have to come in ideally I am looking to be the most focused on remaking the game as I am not gonna bother building it myself but rather getting a small team of indie developers...
I think you in a way give the reason why other people have not succeed in making a full on remake. It is very difficult finding the people with the right skills to even take this on, specially in their freetime. Most people have other hobbies or projects and have a personal life outside of that. Few have even a few hours a day to put into it.
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This will very likely not be possible without at least a few very skillful programmers with a lot of time available. The Trespasser devs never figured it out, and AFAIK there is no other game to this day that succeeded in emotional based, non-animated AI.
Physics systems nowadays come baked into stuff like the unity engine as so are as easy as making a pie to implement the game itself will not require too much effort to remake I can imagine just 2 years of dev to get the game to a playable state with a hardcore and dedicated small team of developers which will be incentivized by payment to get the project going and into playable.
I am unsure if even modern engines have physics that is similar to Trespasser. They have better physics for sure, but I am unsure if you can have physics the way Trespasser does without some heavy coding. Even games with experienced people behind them using these engines today have engine issues, one reason being that they can't fix bugs themselves in the engine when they pop up.

"...because you are 'technically' infringing on their IP by making your own version and could be asked to cease and desist but considering how forthcoming and open the developers of trespasser are with the community i doubt it will be a problem."
Whatever the devs support the project or not, they have no matter in the say as they have nothing to do with the IP rights. I know for a fact that most Trespasser developers would probably be interested and support any remake of the game fans take on. However, they have no control over IP rights.
There is a recent major JP fan mod that people looked forward to that earlier this year got a letter from Universal forcing them to remove anything JP related in it, which made them decide to not release the mod publically anymore cause it would ruin the whole mod by removing the JP references.
I'm not trying to be pessemistic, but the project simply doesn't really sound feasible to me at the moment, especially without some source of funding which could potentially drag the game into infringement territory. :?
I agree with what TI say in this post.
Even remakes of more "simple" games by fans have taken years or even decades. And there is AFAIK very few fan remakes that have been released for free that are of high quality.
like a small indie game so the development costs will remain low and as far as the source of funding goes well that comes from my various investments I am somewhat of an online entrepreneur and am always building up new investments so the project itself would be just a small side project that I pay for with the profits that I get from my other projects that being said it is not something I can do right now but it is something I might be able to do within the next year or two we will see
In several ways the game is still groundbreaking, as some aspect has not been recreated in a working order yet. See my reply about the AI.
one person working on a trespasser remake for a full decade at this point and still nowhere close to finishing it is just downright a waste of time not to say that the work he has accomplished is not impressive
I wouldn't say that. If I were s1n31, I'd absolutely be proud of what I accomplished with Petrolia, especially if I enjoyed doing it. Not to speak for him but I think a lot of others would agree.
I myself worked for over ten years on the unfinished Return to Jurassic Park mod, and I certainly wouldn't consider it a waste of time. It wasn't about making money or creating a product, it was first and foremost a hobby that I hoped others might be interested in, no matter what state it was released in. Whether RTJP was impressive or not doesn't really matter to me (though I hoped to make at least some sort of impression), what DOES matter to me was the time myself and the team spent having fun discussing and working on it and the people who followed and played it in the end. Enjoying yourself isn't necessarily a waste of time.
What s1n31 has done is massive impressive. No fan remake have come near what he's done.
As TI is saying, if you see that as waste of time, it means any hobby you have is a waste of time. The majority of things you do in a hobby is never shared or ends in a finished "product". And just like with any Trespasser mod I've been working on, I never done them for other people, I've done them for myself to enjoy my freetime. If you see enjoyment as waste of time, you haven't learned how to look at something and what you've learned from it.
Again I would never ask for donations as that makes no sense I would pay out of pocket for the project and that is not a joke I would drop a lot of money to see this project finally go somewhere.
As TI already mention, the devs had millions in the budget and a bigger team. Unless you plan on buying genetic assets, paying someone to remake all of them is a huge cost. Even big AAA companies buy genetic assets and modify them cause the cost of making them from scratch each time is too much.
Donations would make more sense that paying all yourself. It is a massive cost and even small indie games requires several tens of thousands to produce a project that still ends up in Early Access. Of course asking for donations would mean you will risk people hating you if you don't end up with a product.
In the meantime I hope to pump out a few levels for you guys to enjoy as something I do in my spare time hopefully that is something I get started on I am extremely busy as I am launching a new project soon with my business partner.
You just gave another reason why no one have manage to release a full remake, even a simple one. Few people will spend full-time for a few years doing it, it is not worth it.

I am with TI, I am not against a remake, but there have been several people joining in the past thinking remaking Trespasser is so simple. Even porting a game into another engine is a massive undertaking and a reason why you will find very few proper ported games that work well. And it is way to easy and tempting to end up changing stuff you like to change when you get to that point, often resulting in a game that feel and look too different.
Again, I am not against a remake, but people don't understand how big undertaking it is, and even more if you don't have any or little experience with making games or in the gaming industry. It is like people thinking it is easy to get rich on the stock market.

Of course, on other notes. If you do end up starting on something, let us know. We'd happily follow it. :)
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Re: Trespasser remakes - discussion and analysis

Post by TheIdiot »

Fixed up a little quotation error on your post for you, tatu. :)

But yes to everything tatu mentioned. I hope you don't get the impression from us that we're against the idea or anything - far from it - but again there are a lot of facets to remaking a game like Trespasser that are different even from developing a typical indie game. Rushing into such a project is bound to end in failure...just look at what happened to Trespasser in the first place!
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