Nightdive Studios has been remastering cult classics such as Turok, Doom 64, and Quake. In a recent interview, the studio team gave insight as to how they approach remastering games that we all know and love. The forefront of their game philosophy? “If we want to say that games is an art form… then we have to respect our past.”
The beginnings of Nightdive Studios
CEO Stephan Kick of Nightdive begins with a story of where the company came from. After quitting his job at Sony, he went on a trip to Mexico, bringing with him a netbook of various classic games. However, he couldn’t get his copy of System Shock 2 to run. When he stopped by a retailer, it turned out they didn’t have it. This led Kick down a “rabbit hole” to find the game’s original developer and where the rights went. After reaching out to System Shock 2’s license holder, the holders expressed interest in Kick developing the game.
“I was in the middle of the jungle and probably had about $5,000 to my name. So I proposed that we re-released the original games digitally. They hadn’t had that proposal yet, so they took the risk and that’s how Nightdive got started.”
What they stand behind
One of Nightdive Studio’s advantages and self-creations is the KEX engine. They used this engine to remaster Turok. Their goal in remastering games works towards enhancing them and including modern features to make them smoother and more enjoyable for the player.
“We like to make the games as you remember them, rather than exactly as they were.”
Additionally, Nightdive likes to dig into the source code of the original game. When remastering a game, they always run the inherent risk of changing too much of a classic game. By having the source code, they can find things that got cut from the original and restore them. “There’s always a fine balancing act between staying true to the original, and modernising it for today’s audience,” Kick says.
Overall, the studio seeks to respect the original games while making it playable and enjoyable for modern audiences. By remastering games, they’re even able to bring back more niche titles like Shadowman. They are called Nightdive, after all—they “bring back lost treasures and release games that you didn’t know you wanted to play.”
What lies in Nightdive’s future?
Currently, 40 people around the world in two development teams work at Nightdive Studios. They seek to help gamers rediscover lost treasures and experience them in a new light, remastered by people who truly care about them. Kick hints they may develop an original IP in the future, but right now, their focus is on all the great games just waiting to be rediscovered.
If you want to learn more about the inner workings of the game studio and how they got their beginnings, be sure to read the whole interview here.
Via, GamesIndustry.
