Core Game Loop Release

18 Nov 2021

Version 0.7

After a long time in development, the Core Game Loop Release, version 0.7 is finally available. All of the weapons, items, and AI has been integrated. Dark Forces can be completed from beginning to end user The Force Engine. TFE continues to support the original, 320x200 fixed-point renderer but now properly supports high resolution rendering, and widescreen (including Ultrawide). TFE can load mods directly from ZIP files, you can drag and drop them onto the executable. It also has a built-in Mod Loader, accessible from the main menu.

To get mods to show up, simply create a Mods folder in your TFE directory, the Dark Forces game data directory, or under /ProgramData/TheForceEngine. In that mods folder you can put the zip files, one per mod, or extract them to one sub-directory per mod.

Below is a video that marks the release of version 0.7 - the Core Game Loop release. This video shows part of Detention Center, and then small parts of three user levels from “back in the day.”

Note that mod support is currently in “Beta”, not all mods fully work, and some may even crash. However, these issues will be resolved in future versions. There are still bugs and issues, but the Dark Forces can be finished from beginning to end using TFE.

Click to watch.

What’s Next

Now that the CGL release is done, it is time to move to the next milestone on the Roadmap - Cutscenes, Mission Briefings, and completing the in-game UI (PDA). That will be version 0.8. The rest of this year is dedicated to finishing version 0.8, 0.9 (sound and iMuse) and finally version 1.0.