SDL2/WebAssembly Port

[Duck in a Top Hat]

Hey all! It's been a really long time since I played any BoE and I definitely never contributed as much to the community, or explored the best scenarios, as I tried to for BoA. Right now I'm spending my summer at the  Recurse Center where I'm free to use my time improving my programming working on pretty much anything as long as it's open source. One of the things I've been researching more is game porting and preservation. I've been playing a lot of Openxcom which I'm really glad exists because the fixed resolution and other quirks of running the original game in DosBox would have stopped me from ever playing such a classic. I've made my own games in SDL2 which I know can be compiled to make web games using Emscripten. So my thought for an (ambitious) porting project is this:

 

• Fork the CBoE repository and set about rewriting the graphics code in SDL2 with a single game window, instead of SFML with multiple windows.
• Compile the game to web assembly and get it running in the browser.
• Host it on a webpage along with the collection of player-designed scenarios so anyone can play any of them online without installing anything.

 

For now I think doing anything with the editor would be beyond my capabilities and scope. Mainly I want an accessible way for folks (such as I!) to play the old scenarios without compatibility issues, and to extend the lifespan of the game perhaps a while longer by porting it to SDL2, which is officially supported by Valve and Steam, which means it's less likely to stop being supported.

 

Anyone thoughts, suggestions, warnings?

Edited June 21, 2018 by Duck in a Top Hat

[Chopkinsca]

Sounds good man. Good luck, and have fun doing it