o/. Figured I'd start off this tag with an intro to Cosmic Frontier Override, the remaster of the 1998 game Escape Velocity: Override by its original scenario designer on a new engine, which together were funded on Kickstarter in 2020, and its current status.

Kickstarter Updates: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cosmicfrontier/cosmic-frontier-override/posts
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EvocationGames
Discord: https://discord.gg/vnfFSMN

Who?
Peter Cartwright, the original scenario designer of Escape Velocity: Override, is remaking the game with the assistance of Tom Hancocks, a software developer who is developing the new engine that the game will run on. Composer Nolan Markey made a new menu theme for the remaster. There are also four artists (AFAIK) who are contributing artwork to the game. They are Robert Rose (robear), EC Henry, Coraxus, and Angelos Karderinis (Angelos).

What?
A full remaster of the original Escape Velocity: Override, with some bonus content made in cooperation with Kickstarter backers. It will run on the Kestrel Engine, a free and open source game engine designed with legacy Mac OS library reimplementation and Escape Velocity game file compatibility in mind. It is actively being developed alongside the game.

Where?
The game will release on digital distribution platforms for Windows, OS X (Intel & Apple Silicon), and Linux.

When?
Originally announced with a July 2021 estimated release date, development has been slower than planned. The two developers continue to work part time on the project, releasing updates on a generally monthly basis.

Why?
In Peter Cartwright's own words, from a 2020 Q&A:

What prompted you to start working on Cosmic Frontier: Override? Why now, 20 years later?

I’ve always wanted to do more with Escape Velocity, but previously it was impossible to make it a paying proposition, so I had to prioritise other things. Back in '99/2000, I pitched a sequel to Override (a large amount of content for which I’d already produced) to Andrew Welch of Ambrosia — but got no response from him at all. (It became clear later that he was already working with ATMOS on Nova at that time, but I remain baffled at getting no reply whatsoever.)

At certain times I thought that computer gaming was moving in a direction that would leave games like EV completely obsolete and unwanted, but whenever I went looking I always found a lively EV community of fans and creators, and more recently there has been a great resurgence of retro games, remastered games, low-spec games, etc.

The big thing that prompted me to seriously think about this revival was Ambrosia’s site going down, leaving EV: O without a publisher. I wanted to make sure that Override continued to be available in some form. Even then, if I hadn’t been able to link up with Tom, I’m not sure what form the project would have taken.

As the project gets closer to release, I will update this post in turn. Here's to its successful release!

EDIT (2023-10-09): Added artists' names to the "Who?" section

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