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Command & Conquer Remaster in works

Dark Drakan

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Originally posted this in the RTS Fans thread but now its official and news has been verified I thought it deserved its own thread.

EA are actually going to remaster some classic Command & Conquer Games for the franchises 25th Anniversary. Ive been a fan of this franchise for 23 years and some of my best gaming moments and memories were with this franchise from an early age and seeing Westwood Studios close down and the franchise die was also one of my worst gaming memories.

However Jim Vessella from EA has been posting about a remaster on the OpenRA Forums and on the Command and Conquer Reddit page and they want to hear fans thoughts on the idea. I urge all fans of the franchise to stop by and give thoughts and feedback and lets help bring Command & Conquer back to the forefront of RTS genre.

Statement from Jim Vessella

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Dark Drakan

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The best thing they have done for this franchise since CnC 3.(Excluding the freeware versions of the first 2 games)

Which would you say your favourite in the series was? I think I would go for Red Alert 2/Yuris Revenge as mine (first game I properly played competitively online) and many fond memories with @Steve playing it for MANY years. I still play it and the freeware ones, even bought an extra PS1 and another TV solely to play system link on Red Alert: Retaliation.
 

Dark Drakan

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For me it was CnC Tiberian Sun.(My first CnC game)

Thats a great game, loved that and its expansion Firestorm and like that you can get both as freeware now (still have them running on my Windows 10 machine). I kind of hope EA and developers who do the remaster go through and patch up some of the older ones and maybe bring back some of the online features too. Make it so we have to jump through less hoops to get the older titles running on modern systems.
 

xMobilemux

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I played a lot of Generals and Tiberian Wars and a little bit of Renegade back in the day, I even went against my "never buy an EA product" policy and purchased the Ultimate Collection on Origin so I do revisit it now and then(it's the ONLY product I own on Origin by the by).

But I don't trust this at all, EA WILL f**k this up somehow.
 

Dark Drakan

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I played a lot of Generals and Tiberian Wars and a little bit of Renegade back in the day, I even went against my "never buy an EA product" policy and purchased the Ultimate Collection on Origin so I do revisit it now and then(it's the ONLY product I own on Origin by the by).

But I don't trust this at all, EA WILL f**k this up somehow.

Tiberium Wars was surprisingly good and took me a while to get around to playing it. I dont trust EA but with it being a remaster of a classic (they say) and already a promise of no microtransactions (awful we have hit a stage in games industry where devs actually have to deny containing them now) its off to a good start.

So long as its not just a simple rushed cash grab that modders have already outdone a decade ago I will be happy. The guy spearheading it is active on Reddit and on the C&C modding sites and so far has been in active conversation with fans & the modding community that has kept franchise going all these years. Just hope someone at EA finally listens to what fans and that community want. Bring Petroglyph in and some of the old Westwood Studios team!

It is EA so if there is a way to mess this up they will find it but im really hoping its one of the things they FINALLY get right. Im not one for entitlement of gamers but EA owe the C&C fans a lot after shutting down Westwood Studios, cancelling Generals 2 and then giving us a slap in the face with that mobile game after fans have given them so much support with the franchise and keeping it and its services alive all these years.
 

Dark Drakan

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Finally got to a PC to post this amazing news in full, they actually did it....

ea-blog-image-cc-remastered.jpg.adapt_.crop16x9.1455w-640x360.jpg


Original Command & Conquer Developers Remastering the Classic 90s Games

Jim Vessella, EA Producer

Fellow Command & Conquer fans,

A month ago, we let the Command & Conquer™ community know we were bringing the franchise back to the PC, starting with a remaster initiative. The reaction from fans has been amazing, with many of you sharing your favorite C&C moments from the past 23 years. We have been reading these comments and listening intently. And now, we are ready to reveal our first PC offering and how your suggestions are already influencing our approach.

Today, I’m thrilled to tell you we are going back to the beginning. We have decided to remaster Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn. And while this is incredibly exciting on its own, we’re also aware of how passionate the community is about the Red Alert universe. So, we will also remaster the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert™. But what about the classic expansion packs you may ask - Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and Aftermath? Well, C&C and Red Alert wouldn’t be the same without them, so all three expansion packs will be bundled with the base games into one remastered collection - without microtransactions.

Now, in addition to the excitement and support of this remaster initiative over the past month, there has also been a healthy skepticism that we can pull this off. How are we possibly going to remaster these titles while maintaining the authenticity of the original experiences? Bottom line, there is no better way to achieve this than to partner with some of the talented developers who brought these original games to life.

So, after years of the fans asking for their involvement, I am humbled to announce that EA is going to partner with Petroglyph Games to develop the C&C remastered collection.

Petroglyph Games includes many of the original developers from Westwood Studios, and some of the most influential members of the original Command & Conquer development team from 1995. Joe Bostic is known as the co-creator of C&C, having also served as the Lead Programmer on Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert. Steve Tall joined Joe as a Lead Programmer on Red Alert, and Ted Morris was the original community manager on the C&C franchise. And Mike Legg contributed to all forms of audio systems at Westwood, having been an employee since 1986! All four members helped start Petroglyph Games in 2003 after the closure of Westwood and are joined by a veteran group of RTS developers from the past 15+ years.

On a personal note, I can tell you the past few weeks have been surreal. During my first visit to Petroglyph, I was able to brainstorm “C&C feel” with Joe, reminisce about the jukebox with Mike, and gab with Steve about whether we should fix the Tib Dawn Harvester AI. Getting to chat C&C with the original developers has been one of the highlights of my gamer journey, and I can’t wait for all the incredible conversations to come.

In addition to the fantastic team at Petroglyph, we will also be partnering with Lemon Sky Studios to help bring these original games to 4k glory. Lemon Sky is one of the premier art studios around the world, with a unique specialty in remastering classic RTS titles. After meeting their team and hearing their passion for C&C, we are incredibly lucky to have them team up with Petroglyph to develop the highest quality C&C possible.

The exciting part is that we haven’t started development yet. The community is literally getting in on the ground floor of this project and have every opportunity to help influence how we build this remastered experience. Please continue to engage on Reddit and community channels and help us create the best possible remasters of C&C and Red Alert!

To kick things off, be sure to read the message below from Joe Bostic, and then watch the video at the bottom for one more surprise…

Welcome Back, Commander!

Jim Vessella
Jimtern


Joe Bostic (former Westwood Studios/Now Petroglyph) & worked on Dune II and C&C

Command & Conquer community,

It was over 25 years ago when Brett Sperry and I (at Westwood Studios) worked to create a game that mixed together elements of Populous, Civilization, Herzog Zwei, and Military Madness games. Brett Sperry was visionary and I was lead programmer and designer. The result was Dune II. The first game of a new genre -- Real-Time Strategy. The subsequent game, Command & Conquer (C&C), is where the RTS genre really took off. It combined video recorded actors, rendered 3D video sequences, alternate story endings, an enigmatic villain (Kane), free multiplayer for your friend (only 1 CD was required to play and the game came with 2 CDs), context-sensitive mouse control, and two unique factions that didn’t play by the same rules.

C&C didn’t turn out as we originally envisioned. I had initially designed the game to be set in a fantasy world with three factions -- humans, wizards, magical beasts. Some months into development, Brett Sperry decided to redirect the game toward modern military for two main reasons. The gulf war was in the news so this was more relatable to gamers at the time, and also because we believed fantasy was too niche. I saw this new direction for C&C as being closer to turning my childhood experiences of playing with plastic soldiers in a sandbox into “reality” so to speak. Thus Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn was born.

The positive reaction to the game was intense. C&C was the right kind of game that arrived at the right time.

We should have seen the clues that C&C would be a success. The QA department would have difficulty testing for bugs since they could not resist losing focus to play for fun and try to win against each other instead of the more “boring” bug-testing they were actually assigned. The rest of the studio would play the game in the late afternoon and into the early evening. I would take careful notes and then make changes overnight to start the process over again the next day.

As soon as C&C was released, we immediately started working on an expansion pack that would pivot to alternate history with a post WW II feel. We kept adding more units, backstory twists (w/ Kane), more elaborate interstitial video sequences (still campy though), and new gameplay features. It became so massive an expansion that we just had to turn it into a stand-alone game in its own right -- C&C: Red Alert. Players seemed to love this game just as much as the original C&C!

Over the years, I’ve received C&C related gifts, fan mail, and anecdotes, and two fans even got matching GDI and Nod tattoos! The most common request is to bring C&C back to its roots like the original Command & Conquer and Red Alert. My answer was always the same: “Yes that would be great! Electronic Arts (EA) is the gatekeeper for C&C though. If they are on board, so am I!”

So here we are 20+ years later and EA has reached out to us regarding C&C. They had decided it was about time to revisit the original C&C games to give the fans what they had been asking for. Petroglyph has many former Westwood employees and is a perfect fit for bringing the original Command & Conquer games back to life. I’m excited to revisit the original Command & Conquer and Red Alert for our legacy fans, along with introducing the games to a new audience! Our battle-plan mission is to “remaster” rather than “remake” the original C&C games. That definition is a little fuzzy around the edges and that is where you come in.

I’m looking forward to re-engaging with the fans of the series as we bring the Command & Conquer franchise back to its roots of “easy to play, difficult to master”. We’re eager to provide an experience that takes advantage of enhanced connectivity, graphics features, and other technology improvements that weren’t around back in 1995. As we begin to craft the plan that will kick off the development phase of the project I’m eager to hear what else fans are looking for. If you could turn back the clock, what would you have wanted in the original C&C games? How true to a remaster should we adhere do? What modern improvements can be added without deviating from the core game? Balance changes? We will be starting development soon, so now is the time to let your voice be heard.

Joe Bostic

FULL LINK TO TOPIC ON REDDIT
 

Dark Drakan

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I hope after this they at least make a sequel to Star Wars Empire At War.(Which petroglyph developed )

I have heard that mentioned in the comments a lot and they did turn the multiplayer servers back on for the old game last year after they went offline in 2014 when Gamespy died & the patch also added mod support via Steamworks and fixes a number of graphical and stability issues too. So there is some hope of that actually happening as Petroglyph have said they would be very interested in many interviews too, I still have a copy of it in the Star Wars PC collection.
 

dg1995

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Yeah I know. They have fixed some bugs and these stuff.(And fixed an issue where in galactic conquest you would end up not being able to select units after 150 galactic days and issues like that)

As for the PC collection, I've heard only the steam version supports the update unfortunately.

Imo EA really should have made that X Wing remake and Darth Maul game.(Even if they don't want that much single player stuff they could make them as mid budget games.)
 

Dark Drakan

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Yeah I know. They have fixed some bugs and these stuff.(And fixed an issue where in galactic conquest you would end up not being able to select units after 150 galactic days and issues like that)

As for the PC collection, I've heard only the steam version supports the update unfortunately.

Imo EA really should have made that X Wing remake and Darth Maul game.(Even if they don't want that much single player stuff they could make them as mid budget games.)

Yeah I heard that about the collection too, almost bought it in Steam Sales last time too but backlog is too large for that.
 

Super90sgamer

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I'm still having fun playing this mod called Mental Omega (Yuri's revenge mod) which is add balance, New Faction, New weapons, New storyline, Extra Game Modes & a load of new maps that keeps you playing the for many hours.
 

Dark Drakan

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I'm still having fun playing this mod called Mental Omega (Yuri's revenge mod) which is add balance, New Faction, New weapons, New storyline, Extra Game Modes & a load of new maps that keeps you playing the for many hours.

I have it downloaded but havent had chance to try it yet, I have heard its really impressive though.
 

Steve

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I'm a huge fan of the C&C series because of DD and I cannot wait to see what the old gang can do with the next game.

@Super90sgamer I played Mental Omega with my son over a LAN a month or two back (took me back to being a teenager again - so many feels) and it was a genuinely fun experience. We played a few comp-stomp skirmish games and the AI really kept us on our toes - I don't think we managed to win a single match until we went 2v1. I personally thought that there were a few too many new additions that overcomplicated things a little (and Yuri's Revenge used to be my online game of choice back in the day) and maybe a little too much tweakage to the base units and structures, but ultimately a very good effort.

We didn't get around to playing the new co-op campaign, but that's something I'm really eager to try at some point.

But where the C&C Remaster is concerned - cannot wait. It reminds me a little of the excitement I felt for Sonic Mania when it was announced. Props to EA for re-igniting the inner-child excitement in me. :thumbsup:
 

Dark Drakan

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I'm a huge fan of the C&C series because of DD and I cannot wait to see what the old gang can do with the next game.

@Super90sgamer I played Mental Omega with my son over a LAN a month or two back (took me back to being a teenager again - so many feels) and it was a genuinely fun experience. We played a few comp-stomp skirmish games and the AI really kept us on our toes - I don't think we managed to win a single match until we went 2v1. I personally thought that there were a few too many new additions that overcomplicated things a little (and Yuri's Revenge used to be my online game of choice back in the day) and maybe a little too much tweakage to the base units and structures, but ultimately a very good effort.

We didn't get around to playing the new co-op campaign, but that's something I'm really eager to try at some point.

But where the C&C Remaster is concerned - cannot wait. It reminds me a little of the excitement I felt for Sonic Mania when it was announced. Props to EA for re-igniting the inner-child excitement in me. :thumbsup:

Crazy how something like this can make you feel so nostalgic, took me back to playing against my dad & me and you playing Red Alert Retaliation on my 2 PS1's and 2 TV's in the conservatory and us playing Red Alert 2/Yuris Revenge for so many years with Dekkers online (I was on dial up connection still).

So many good memories tied to the C&C series and so happy to see those titles we remembered from back then coming back. I really want to get my step son into them and GFX was the main thing holding him back from playing the proper old school classics (as hes from THAT generation).

These remasters could help convince him to try them with me & help scratch my RTS title itch that I have had for an age that newer RTS titles just couldnt scratch.
 

Dark Drakan

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Could Kane be making a return to the Command & Conquer franchise...? Frank Klepacki has teased fans after meeting up with Joseph David Kucan recently.

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Dark Drakan

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C&C Remaster & Source Code Update From Reddit

Fellow Command & Conquer fans,
We hope you had a good holiday season and that your New Year is off to a positive start. On our side, pre-production is continuing in earnest and we completed our first Milestone about two weeks ago. This Milestone included many of our documentation plans for how we want to build the game, and effectively laid the foundation for the rest of our pre-production cycle. Our next step is to begin translating those plans into a first playable prototype, which will hopefully help validate many of those initial concepts.

One of those key items is how we’re going to approach the game from a technical standpoint. We know one of your core questions has been around the game engine, and we’re ready to reveal some of those details below. Now, it’s worth noting that as with all software this early – plans can change – so please understand this is a snapshot of our thinking in January 2019, and does not necessarily guarantee how the game will eventually ship.

To kick things off, one of the most important questions from the community has been the following:​

Do we have access to the original source code?

We’re excited to say the short answer is “Yes.” Over the past few months we have been able to acquire the majority of the source code for both the original C&C and original Red Alert. I say majority, because what we have is not a complete archive, and it’s going to continue taking some work to validate the full re-usability of the code. Thankfully, there is no better team than the individuals at Petroglyph to go on this R&D journey.

So what does all this mean?

Well, it means we’re aiming to re-use parts of the source code to try and keep the gameplay feel as close as possible to the original games. Again, our goal is to Remaster the original gameplay, not remake it. That being said, there are many areas where the original source code just cannot deliver the quality or functionality we’re looking for in many of the supporting elements. That’s where the second piece of the puzzle comes in.

In addition to Petroglyph’s unique familiarity with the original source code, they have also spent the past 15 years optimizing their own proprietary RTS engine called GlyphX. This engine has been used to power Petroglyph’s RTS titles, and comes with many of the recent standards the community would expect from a modern RTS engine. So with that in mind, our goal is to utilize both GlyphX and the original source code to gain the combined benefits towards the Remaster.

To provide a quick example (Not guaranteed but purely for illustration purposes), imagine using the original source code to determine the charge-up behavior of the Tesla Coil, but utilizing the GlyphX Audio system to ensure the Sound FX are fully enhanced for when that Tesla Coil fires.

As you can predict, there are more details which we’ll learn as we begin to execute upon this plan. But we hope this provides some clarity in the meantime as to how we’re approaching the Remaster from a technical perspective. We’re eager to share more as we begin to prototype the software, and looking forward to hearing your comments in the thread below.

Cheers,
Jim Vessella
Jimtern
 
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