If you like classic adventure games, chances are good that you’ve made use of ScummVM, a program which allows numerous classic game engines to run on modern PCs. While it started with a focus on LucasArts’ SCUMM engine – hence the name – the project has since grown to encompass numerous titles from other developers and engines. Now, it’s about to get even bigger with official support for the Adventure Game Studio engine.
A work-in-progress AGS engine from developer DreamMaster is getting merged into ScummVM, the devs have announced on Facebook. “The engine has thousands of games. So far, we added detection ‘just’ for about 1,200, but much more are coming.” This implementation has been discussed for ages, but it looks like it’s finally becoming official.
AGS is a freeware game development program which originally released way back in 1997. The program has been used to create freeware titles including fan-made King’s Quest remakes and the Chzo Mythos series from Yahtzee Croshaw (yeah, the Zero Punctuation guy), as well as commercial games like the Blackwell series and Gemini Rue.
In its current form, the engine being implemented supports games developed on AGS versions 2.5 through 3.5, though eventually the plan is to support everything up through 3.5, including older titles.
You won’t yet find AGS support in the release version of ScummVM. The devs will announce plans for testing in the future.