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ScummVM on the App Store

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51–60 of 197 posts

Re: ScummVM on the App Store

#51
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To turn it around on you: what's wrong with old games? Does anyone ask the same about books?: "What is the appeal with books that are this old?" Not very often from what I can tell. I do see the sentiment you've expressed regarding games much more often. Why is that? I'm not sure. Perhaps it's just a sign of the immaturity of games as a medium (compared to books, anyway).

Well, technology has progressed quite far while humans are still humans with the same (but slightly better maintained) brain. I have a hard time watching old movies where the FX is crap

And many of us who like practical effects feel the opposite. If a movie hasn’t engaged you enough to see past the puppet, makeup, and rigging, there’s probably something else missing.

Re: ScummVM on the App Store

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stand corrected, although from a policy-making perspective ScummVM allows users to run software acquired through ways not sanctioned by Apple (or owners of the original IPs), which I believe is the major part of why emulators are not allowed on App Store and thus bears a similarity to them in that particular aspect.

Is there any philosophical difference in playing your game using ScummVM versus playing a JavaScript game on some website using Safari for iOS?

Since there are literal emulators written in JavaScript, the answer must be no.

Re: ScummVM on the App Store

#55
post #18
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That ship has long sailed. There’s an x86 Linux user space emulator capable of running unmodified Alpine Linux, a shell running WASM/WASI binaries… It seems like the current bar is something like “can it plausibly run something other than pirated Nintendo ROMs”.

What's that x86 Linux emulator app?

a-shell

https://holzschu.github.io/a-Shell_iOS/

Re: ScummVM on the App Store

#56
post #49
post #26

For those who don't recognize Scumm (since it's getting pretty old now...), it was an adventure game engine. Widely used for classic Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts titles. (edit fixed! See below comment) Here's the list of supported games: https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php?title=Category:Supported_... If you're looking for recommendations... - Zork (the OG, and sequels): https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php?title=Zork - Be…

For anyone who still hasn't seen the new Indiana Jones movie, but is thinking about it some time: Go play Fate of Atlantis instead.

I’ve always wondered why they didn’t use the Fate of Atlantis script instead of the awful crystal skull

Re: ScummVM on the App Store

#57
ScummVM 2.8.0 is a pretty big release overall, with the App Store release just being the icing on the cake. The full notes are pretty long![0]

The list of supported games has grown a lot. ScummVM is capable of running the Adibou series now, as well as the first Might & Magic game and Muppet Treasure Island!

A hefty review of the Broken Sword engine has also restored a lot of small missing features.

If you have even a passing interest in classic adventure games, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

[0]: https://downloads.scummvm.org/frs/scummvm/2.8.0/ReleaseNotes...

Re: ScummVM on the App Store

#58
post #6
post #4

Is there a place where I can legally obtain images to run on the vm?

Steam. I bought a ton of these on Steam and just copied the data files over to my sons tablet. Works perfectly, including localisation.

To add to this, the commercially available versions of the first two Monkey Island games are not ScummVM compatible without some hackery. The games are perfectly playable, indeed, but a lot of people don't have much fondness for the visual style choices.

Luckily, the original game data files are included in the homogeneous .pak files for the games, and Monkey Island Explorer[0] can unpack them.

For both games the files are MONKEY.000 and MONKEY.001 (MONKEY2.00{0,1} for Monkey 2) and the explorer program can filter for file types making it easy. Just unpack them, add to ScummVM and away you go.

Caveat is that these are the CD versions of the games. The Secret of Monkey Island was actually "remastered" previously! The colour palette is altered slightly and the UI includes an updated inventory, with images instead of just words for items. The stump joke is removed, too (partly due to the LucasArts hintline getting calls about a missing disk #131!).

Monkey Island Ultimate Talkie Edition[1] is another project that can extract the data from the Special Editions, as well as the music and voice files. The resulting build is compatible with ScummVM, meaning you can play the original games with the updated audio.

[0]: https://quickandeasysoftware.net/software/monkey-island-expl...

[1]: http://gratissaugen.de/ultimatetalkies/monkey1.html

Re: ScummVM on the App Store

#59
post #4

Is there a place where I can legally obtain images to run on the vm?

Steam gog And archive.org some of the games are abandonware and free.

Just note that abandonware is not a legal term, and the ScummVM team consider it piracy/warez. You don't get supported with problems by ScummVM if you play an illegitimately acquired copy of a game.

There ARE some games which are released by the original developers for free. Beneath a Steel Sky can even be found in the Debian and Arch repositories, for example.

Re: ScummVM on the App Store

#60
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s got interpreters that lets it execute arbitrary (?) code, which I thought was verboten. TBH I’m not sure how this got through Apple’s censors…?

Most game engines have scripting languages built in.

Yes, but those game engines are - on iOS especially - locked in to running bundled scripts that drive the specific game you’ve purchased from the App Store. ScummVM is running externally provided scripts.
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