The ScummVM community has just made possible a wish of many people: to make games accessible on CD-ROM . For five years, many people have worked to make all Macromedia Director games playable on a current system. Well, that day has finally come.
Director was a vital component in the first CD games that were made and it could not be scaled as Windows versions progressed. But you can already play old PC classics using current hardware. For example, games like Spaceship Warlock or Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou.
It is now possible to play 90s games
Phil Salvador, a historian and archivist of ancient video games spoke about this event. He assures that there are currently different platforms that sell old games that can be played, but that they are emulated by a program.
However, Director games use features from their Windows 3.1 operating systems or other external plug-ins such as QuickTime, so there has been no way to get these games re-released on the commercial market to this day.
If the ScummVM team continues to develop support for Director games, it is likely that we will be able to see how different old games are marketed again.
One of the problems old CD-ROM games used to have is that they used songs that were copyrighted. This causes that there are in between a series of legal obstacles that can be interposed at the time of relaunching different games.
Even so, if today you have an old CD with one of these original games, you can play it through a current system. It does not matter if you use Windows or Mac, since it is valid in both.
The team keeps working hard
The project is not just about video games , as Director was used for much more than just making these virtual adventures. For example, it was also used for digital magazines or education programs.
The ScummVM team is expected to continue to improve their system for better optimization and greater support for more games, whether Director or otherwise. This could also result in not only the games being preserved, but also the software.
In fact, work is already underway to make post-Director games work. For example, the L-Zone, a Director-3 game, is already supported without any problem.
Therefore, it is no longer necessary to use a computer with an old Windows operating system to run these games. Having the latest version of ScummVM updated will be enough.