If you attended the Southwest Show back in February, you’ll know that there was a new release of Hexen from R-Comp, which saw some significant updates over the older version – amongst other things meaning it can now be run on more modern RISC OS computer systems. It seems that the programmer responsible for the updated port of the game, Gerph, has been continuing to improve it, because there is now a new version available – 1.07 – which R-Comp’s Andrew Rawnsley says is a major update.
Described as the headline feature, the new version of the game sports a brand new lighting model, designed to more faithfully capture the look of the original game. The reason this has been implemented is that the original model didn’t scale well when the game was played at higher resolutions, as would be more likely on newer systems, and resulted in an excessively bright look – losing some of the more subtle lighting and effects.
The new version also takes better advantage of the full 24-bit colour palette – although still looks good when run with just 256 colours (8-bit). This allows for a more faithful rendition of shadows and light shafts, bringing out the gloomy atmosphere of Hexen on modern displays – and in connection with those modern displays, version 1.07 has much better support for widescreen displays, by subtly extending the artwork.
And as well as the more significant changes described above, there have also been a number of bugfixes and improvements, both to the game and the front-end, including in-game UX changes, such as now being able to run by default and slow to a walk, rather than walk by default and speed up to a run.
Version 1.07 of Hexen is available as a free update to anyone who has already purchased the 2024 version (i.e. at the show, or since) – simply log-in to !Store and download the new version. If you don’t already have it, new purchases via !Store should bring this new version.
Unfortunately, I can’t mention the price at this stage as I normally would, because it wasn’t mentioned in the announcement, and I’m not able to check !Store for the price with the computer I’m using while away from home1. However, Andrew does mention that the game comes with a discount voucher for a forthcoming project.
!ReadMe
- Personally, I always find the !Store website somewhat disappointing. I think all of the software shown in the application should be proudly displayed on the website – if need be without any facility to order from the website, which I seem to recall is a concern Andrew expressed when I last mentioned this. But at the moment, it’s all hidden away, as though we’re tentatively peering through the curtains and hoping those strange people hovering nearby won’t notice us and our collection of toys.
