Awesome work on archiving it! I guess it not having an english version, even if there isn’t much text, makes it significantly harder for non german speakers like myself to have heard of it.
I see that the game was made using Delphi/Pascal, as there’s a number of .bpl files, so maybe it’s possible to attempt a translation using Lazarus. This also probably explains why I could run it straight away on Windows 10, no need to turn on compatibility mode.
Since my last experience with anything Pascal was decades ago and hardly in-depth, please excuse the noobish question: Would it be as simple as modifying the files with the right IDE or is there more to it? I’d totally be down to translating the game.
I’m not the best person to answer, as although I have programmed in Pascal a decade ago, I also never really fiddled with anything outside school. I do have a interest in the language, given it tends to be as fast as C, has object orientation and other goodies, and seems to be able to compile to just about any architecture with minimal fucking around or code wrangling.
Anyway, according to the Freepascal wiki, “The compiled file is called .bpl in Delphi. This is effectively a (special) DLL. In other words its linking is finalized. The needed metadata (.ppu, inline function and weak packaged units (see next point) go into a .dcp file.”
According to Embarcadero Delphi’s help page, the .bpl is a binary file built from source, so it’s probably not a simple matter of just telling Lazarus or Delphi to open it.
Thanks for your helpful answer. I’ll investigate this further, but it would probably be simpler to remake the game from the ground up. I’m hardly the best programmer in the world, but even I could probably pull this off in a relatively short time - I just need the motivation.
If I do, I’ll send you a copy. Maybe this would be a fun first Godot project. I’ve been meaning to look into this engine for a while now.
Awesome work on archiving it! I guess it not having an english version, even if there isn’t much text, makes it significantly harder for non german speakers like myself to have heard of it.
I see that the game was made using Delphi/Pascal, as there’s a number of .bpl files, so maybe it’s possible to attempt a translation using Lazarus. This also probably explains why I could run it straight away on Windows 10, no need to turn on compatibility mode.
Since my last experience with anything Pascal was decades ago and hardly in-depth, please excuse the noobish question: Would it be as simple as modifying the files with the right IDE or is there more to it? I’d totally be down to translating the game.
I’m not the best person to answer, as although I have programmed in Pascal a decade ago, I also never really fiddled with anything outside school. I do have a interest in the language, given it tends to be as fast as C, has object orientation and other goodies, and seems to be able to compile to just about any architecture with minimal fucking around or code wrangling.
Anyway, according to the Freepascal wiki, “The compiled file is called .bpl in Delphi. This is effectively a (special) DLL. In other words its linking is finalized. The needed metadata (.ppu, inline function and weak packaged units (see next point) go into a .dcp file.”
According to Embarcadero Delphi’s help page, the .bpl is a binary file built from source, so it’s probably not a simple matter of just telling Lazarus or Delphi to open it.
Maybe, and this is me being hopeful, using something like this, IDR, will make things simple and straightforward.
Thanks for your helpful answer. I’ll investigate this further, but it would probably be simpler to remake the game from the ground up. I’m hardly the best programmer in the world, but even I could probably pull this off in a relatively short time - I just need the motivation.
If I do, I’ll send you a copy. Maybe this would be a fun first Godot project. I’ve been meaning to look into this engine for a while now.