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ScummVM

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ScummVM
Developer(s)ScummVM Team
Initial releaseOctober 5, 2001; 22 years ago (2001-10-05)
Stable release
1.0.0 / November 15, 2009; 14 years ago (2009-11-15)
Repository
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeInterpreter
LicenseGNU General Public License
Websitehttp://www.scummvm.org/

ScummVM is a collection of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system (the VM in the name stands for virtual machine), it now also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies like Revolution Software and Adventure Soft.

ScummVM is a reimplementation of the part of the software used to interpret the scripting languages such games used to describe the game world rather than emulating the hardware the games ran on; as such, ScummVM allows the games it supports to be played on platforms other than those for which they were originally released.

ScummVM was originally written by Ludvig Strigeus.[1] Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, ScummVM is free software.

ScummVM 1.0.0 was released on November 15, 2009.

Ports

Portability is a design goal of the project.[2] Ports of ScummVM are available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and a variety of Unix-like systems including Linux (RPM Based, Debian based, source based), members of the BSD family (FreeBSD/NetBSD/OpenBSD/DragonFly BSD) and Solaris. It has also been ported to console systems. Less mainstream personal computer ports include those to AmigaOS, Atari/FreeMiNT, Haiku/BeOS/ZETA, MorphOS and OS/2.

Official

A variety of game consoles have official ports; ScummVM has been ported to gaming machines such as the PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube and Wii[3], and to handheld consoles including the GP2X, Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable. Handheld computer platforms supported include Palm OS/Tapwave Zodiac, Symbian OS (UIQ platform, Nokia 60, 80 and Nokia 7710/90 phone series), Nokia's Internet Tablet OS (used by the Nokia 770, N800 and N810), Apple's iPhone[4], MotoMAGX, MotoEZX phones and Windows Mobile.

Unofficial

Platforms supported by unofficial ScummVM ports include the Microsoft's Xbox gaming console, Zaurus, Gizmondo and GP32 portable device platforms. Linux-based mobile phones such as the Motorola A780, and Motorola A680i and those running Android are also supported.

Games supported by ScummVM

GUI of ScummVM 0.10.0 with the "Classic (builtin)" skin

The following games have support built into the current release of ScummVM.[5]

LucasArts SCUMM games

Sierra On-Line games

Games by other developers

Various games by Humongous Entertainment use the SCUMM engine, and are therefore playable with ScummVM. ScummVM also supports the following non-SCUMM games:

GPL violations

In December 2008, members of the ScummVM team discovered that three games for the Nintendo Wii console ("Freddi Fish: The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds", . . . "Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside", . . . and "Spy Fox: Dry Cereal", . . .) made use of ScummVM, without complying with the terms of the GPL license. They sent a warning letter to the German distributor of these games, Atari Deutschland GmbH, who was not aware that ScummVM was used in the creation of the games. Atari Deutschland GmbH established contact with Mistic Software Inc., the developers of the games.

Mistic Software Inc. responded by denying that members of the ScummVM team hold any rights to the particular code they used. The dispute was ultimately settled in May 2009 by Mistic Software Inc. paying all legal fees and making a donation to the Free Software Foundation as a sign of good will, without acknowledging copyright infringement.

—GPL conflict with Atari, cyx, fingolfin, June 19, 2009[6]

In December 2008, the ScummVM team was informed that three games for the Wii console were using ScummVM illegally. Atari had contracted Majesco Entertainment to port these titles to the Wii, who in turn contracted Mistic Software to port the games. Mistic used the ScummVM binary (version 0.9.0), in addition to the games' assets and source code, to port the games, but did not credit the ScummVM team or distribute ScummVM source code as required by ScummVM's license, the GNU GPL. Examination of the binary showed a clear violation; the ScummVM team credits were still in the code, as well as known bugs from that release.

The team contacted gpl-violations.org for legal representation. At first denying the charges, Atari later started negotiating when they learned the ScummVM team only desired adherence to the GPL, and not monetary compensation. However, upon learning that using open source software is forbidden by Nintendo for use with the Wii software development kit, the developers challenged the legality of the reverse engineering methods used by the ScummVM team, claiming that they therefore had no rights over the resulting code. The ScummVM team denied these charges.

Faced with a long court battle, the matter was settled by fingolfin and cyx agreeing to post a press release and no longer speak of the case. The remaining copies of the games violating the GPL must be sold within a set period, after which time all remaining stock copies must be destroyed or high fines will be levied. Now, ScummVM may not be used without the team's knowledge, and Mistic must make a donation to the Free Software Foundation, in addition to paying all expenses incurred by the lawyers working for gpl-violations.org.[7]

Development

ScummVM was a participant in the Google Summer of Code 2007, 2008[8] and 2009.

The following games have been added to ScummVM's Subversion tree. The engines may be in various states of operation.

2

Another World was integrated for a short period of time causing a brief but heated discussion, ranging from emotional to purely technical aspects. Some felt it was more of an action game than an adventure game, others worried that ScummVM, being geared towards bitmapped graphics, really was not the ideal platform for a polygon-based game. The discussion was rendered moot when the raw project was officially closed by its author, at the request of Eric Chahi, the original developer of Another World, who was developing his own Windows-based update.[citation needed]

Operation Stealth and Future Wars support was added by integrating another stand-alone recreation of their engine: cinE.[9]

AGI engine addition

In 2006 the Adventure Game Interpreter engine was added. It is based on Sarien code, an AGI interpreter that was outdated and buggy in some ways, which has been solved in the new ScummVM engine. The Sarien project stopped its development, continuing the development into ScummVM's AGI engine.[10]

TrollVM has also been integrated into ScummVM adding support for three pre-AGI games: Mickey's Space Adventure, Troll's Tale, and Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood. [11].

Game releases

During the development cycle leading up to the 0.5.0 release on August 2 2003, game manufacturer Revolution Software not only helped ScummVM developers add support for their adventure Beneath a Steel Sky by supplying them with the original source code, but also decided to release both the CD and the floppy version of the game as freeware[12], available for download on the ScummVM website.[13] A few months later, the developers of Flight of the Amazon Queen made it freely available in much the same way.

See also

References

  1. ^ history of ScummVM on ScummVM Wiki
  2. ^ ScummVM Portability guidelines
  3. ^ News on Gamecube/Wii ports
  4. ^ Gizmodo news on iPhone port
  5. ^ Not all games are completable or even playable. Some of them are still very much works-in-progress. For a complete, up-to-date list, see the official ScummVM compatibility chart.
  6. ^ Jun 16, 2009: GPL conflict with Atari
  7. ^ GPL, ScummVM and violations
  8. ^ Summer of Code project ideas page
  9. ^ SourceForge.net: cinE - the cinematic Engine
  10. ^ Old Sarien Site
  11. ^ Old TrollVM Site
  12. ^ Revolution Software Website
  13. ^ ScummVM 0.5.0 Out, With Some Official Game Support at Slashdot
Wikimedia Commons has media related to ScummVM.
  • Official site
  • Emulators Answer the Call, Wired, 1 October, 2005.
  • "ScummVM MIDI Music Enhancement Project". jameswoodcock.co.uk.
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