Thanks for the heads up... we'll explore this as we get deeper into the prototyping phase.
Irrlicht has improved since last year's 0.11 release, it's currently at 1.0. Still, some of the major limitations mentioned might still be present.

Also... we don't necessarily need all of the bleeding edge effects, we just need it to look pretty and have reasonable system requirements.

Forgive me again if I don't undesrstand again. Even if the code of somethign is reimplemented, doesn't graphics and suchlike still have an inherent copyright? I mean ,even though porting SC 2 to a new format changes (I assume) the code beyond recognition, all gfx and suchlike are still originals. Wouldn't this hold true for any title you port?

For clarification on this issue- remember that something can be copyrighted, and released under a copyright license such as the GPL or Creative Commons, which gives permission for specific uses of the copyrighted work.

So for a game like tremulous, the code and the content are copyrighted, but the code is GPL since it's based off the Quake 3 engine, and the content is Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike. They've explicitly granted you permission to copy and make derivative works from the code and the media of the game, under certain conditions.

For UQM, the game is GPL and we have permission from TFB to distribute their copyrighted content with UQM, but not for people to make derivative works. So, you can download and play UQM, but you can't, in the strictest legal sense, take the ur-quan and put them into your new space game. (This is also partly a property rights issue, which I won't go into here.)

For a game like doom, duke nukem, or descent, the code is GPL'd but, as mentioned previously, the content is not under a free license. Thus the "bring your own WAD" requirement for the strictly legal distributions of 'Doom ports' and the like.

I prefer to avoid this when possible, more for the crew costs than out of the goodness of my heart. 
Egg shell cases and the burvix caster are usually enough trading fodder for me to get what I need.

Greetings, hunam!

Cool pics. So now I guess it is Irrlicht vs. OGRE.

Heh, perhaps. Muller finds irrlicht easier to implement than OGRE, although from what I've seen of the two engines, OGRE's a bit more high-end.

Good news, our prototype now compiles flawlessly on OSX:

Hopefully, the only differences you'll see are the title bar and the jpeg compression!

A little update for those interested...
we are currently prototyping a true 3d engine using irrlicht.

Here's a quick hack of a walkaround map with collision detection and a fixed camera angle:

Most of the game will probably be like this. (Not art-wise, the map and the character are just some stuff from quake.)

Here's the "world map" we've been prototyping, which will allow you to travel between 'floating' continents in an airship:

(Muller and I made the crappy looking models, the cool jet is from vegastrike.)

The plan is to finish these prototypes as proof-of-concepts in order to get a better idea of how to pull this off. If we find that we can do everything we need to do with irrlicht, all 2d plans will be scrapped for good.

Although, if you haven't  "activated" the starbase yet (given them the radioactive), the commander will give you one new lander for free.

Arrr tee eff emm, matey.

Open up the included Manual.txt and search for the "GENERAL GAME CONTROLS SUMMARY" section. It'll do you good.

Welcome!

*looks nervously around for flying pillows*

Haha. I don't think "kanal" helps to clear up the matter much either...

Oh, I saw a video from this... the seamless space to planetary flight was impressive. I think it was posted on the Vega Strike forums as an example for what we'd like to eventually have.

It looks like a very interesting project. Are you involved with it?

Haha! Only in Sweden...

Hm, maybe. Our lead character modeller, Lee, (the guy who modelled that) was also a lead artist on blender's project orange, so he could probably get a plug for us. 

What is the average poly count for the character models (currently?)

Very high. They are currently intented to be used in production renders, not in-game. Lots of subsurfing etc.
Here's an example, the main character mesh which i screencapped in blender (click to enlarge):

and an accompanying render.
Clearly this is extreme overkill for an in-game model that's probably not going to be larger than two inches on the display. This is great for cutscenes or sprites, but lousy if you want to render it in realtime at more than 15 fps...

When I used to work in retail, people would tell me I reminded them of Randell. I'm not sure if that's good or not.

Haha... if I were you I'd take that as a complement.