More details about Command and Conquer Remastered have come out today and one of the new things we've learned is a "special surprise" for the franchise's crazily dedicated community. EA Producer Jim Vessella has revealed that the source code of the original games will be made available at launch.
"Today we are proud to announce that alongside the launch of the Remastered Collection, Electronic Arts will be releasing the TiberianDawn.dll and RedAlert.dll and their corresponding source code under the GPL version 3.0 license," Vessella said. "This is a key moment for Electronic Arts, the C&C community, and the gaming industry, as we believe this will be one of the first major RTS franchises to open source their source code under the GPL."
The open-sourcing of the original games' code is a collaboration between EA developers and the "Community Council" that is working alongside them. The Community Council is comprised of longstanding fans who have been heavily involved with keeping the franchise alive while it's largely been dormant over the last few years.
What Does This Mean for Command and Conquer Remastered Mods?
A key purpose of open-sourcing the original games' code is to make it easier for the more technically-adept fans to create mods for this upcoming Remastered collection. The Community Council has already made some headway in experimenting with these new tools, and Jim Vessella says that they've already cooked up some "fun experiments."
One such example was born from a thought experiment — what would happen if the Brotherhood of Nod captured the Mammoth Tank? That idea lead to the concept (and eventual creation of) the Nuke Tank, a unit that fires tactical nukes with an artillery cannon.
It's not all good news, though — the promised LAN play has been delayed due to COVID-19 forcing EA to work from home. It's a little difficult to test an offline game mode without being able to physically meet up, so this particular feature will have to be postponed until after launch.
You can read more about the Command and Conquer Remastered modding scene in the Reddit submission on the topic. This revival of a classic RTS game is expected to arrive on June 5, 2020. For now, you can pre-purchase Command and Conquer Remastered Collection on Steam for $19.99 or your regional equivalent.
What do you think of the Command and Conquer revival opening up modding? What are your favorite mods from the game's history? Let us know in the comments below!
