January 18th, 2000

[6:00 AM] Bungie Releases Source Code For Marathon 2! by Staff Bungie has announced that they are releasing the source code for their classic Mac game, Marathon 2. The code is available to anyone with the programming experience to work with it. According to Bungie: Today at 7 pm CST Bungie Software releases the Mac source code for their classic game "Marathon 2: Durandal" to the net. This game represented the pinnacle of first-person shooter technology in 1995, and was the most successful of the highly acclaimed Marathon series. Programmers only need apply: the code is in MPW format (Macintosh Programmers Workshop, which can be freely downloaded at developer.apple.com), and because various components had to be removed before public release, devising some workarounds will be necessary before the code will compile. Nevertheless, for those with the skills to manipulate it, the code can form the basis of all kinds of 3D, first-person perspective games, and we look forward to seeing what is done with it. The code is being released under the terms of the GNU public license, and Bungie does not offer technical support with the code. You can download the code directly from Bungie in Stuffed file and a gzipped file. The company is providing more information in the ReadMe file that accompanies the download. The Mac Observer Spin: This is an exciting development for many Mac gaming enthusiasts and developers. Marathon 2 is one of the finest first person shooters to ever grace a computer, and is one of the most successful Mac releases ever. The Marathon series was Bungie's first major release, and, unlike so many first person shooters today, contained intriguing story lines and interesting level designs. More importantly, Marathon 2 was a Mac-only game at a time when most developers wouldn't touch the Mac with a 10 foot SCSI cable. Later it was ported to Windows but did not fare well as Bungie did not have the marketing muscle to push it through. Aside from the Bungie accolades, releasing the source code for Marathon 2 should allow some enterprising coders to come up with some great games. It is also an excellent opportunity for newer developers to work with professional code as they build their chops. We would like to hear from anyone who is going to attempt working with the code. Bungie Software