What you're referring to is called abandonware. This term and concept has no legal weight in American courts. I can only guess about other countries (like Denmark). If you proceed, then you do so at your own risk.
The safest solution is to track down the current owners of the original intellectual property (the game) and lay out a clear and well thought out plan for making a free of charge, fan made 'homage' to the original. Unfortunately, finding the current owners of the IP will, in some cases, be very difficult or impossible.
A few individuals and groups have been granted permission to develop such projects. Some of those have persisted and done well, while others went strong for several years, released some demos and then died out.
An alternative to all of this, however, is to carefully analyze what elements of the classic game made is "remake-worthy" in your eyes. During this review, you may discover that the game elements you identify can easily be built onto a world crafted from your own imagination. However, if your analysis suggests that it is the specific characters, vehicles, weapons, mecha or locations that are essential to a good remake, then you may not have any options but to abandon the idea and move on.
If carefully planned and built, these independently created "spiritual successor" games are more likely to be legal and safe to distribute. Also, you could also feel free to charge a reasonable price for your resulting game.
One notable spiritual successor game is Devil Whiskey, which is 'strongly' influenced by the old Bard's Tale game series. It's small, but very nice.
I've been in contact with Chris Kaday recently, so I'll send him an email. (If you didnt know Chris Kaday was managing director of Commodore / Amiga). He might know the answer :)
Torque Owner Aaron E
Default Studio Name
What you're referring to is called abandonware. This term and concept has no legal weight in American courts. I can only guess about other countries (like Denmark). If you proceed, then you do so at your own risk.
The safest solution is to track down the current owners of the original intellectual property (the game) and lay out a clear and well thought out plan for making a free of charge, fan made 'homage' to the original. Unfortunately, finding the current owners of the IP will, in some cases, be very difficult or impossible.
A few individuals and groups have been granted permission to develop such projects. Some of those have persisted and done well, while others went strong for several years, released some demos and then died out.
An alternative to all of this, however, is to carefully analyze what elements of the classic game made is "remake-worthy" in your eyes. During this review, you may discover that the game elements you identify can easily be built onto a world crafted from your own imagination. However, if your analysis suggests that it is the specific characters, vehicles, weapons, mecha or locations that are essential to a good remake, then you may not have any options but to abandon the idea and move on.
If carefully planned and built, these independently created "spiritual successor" games are more likely to be legal and safe to distribute. Also, you could also feel free to charge a reasonable price for your resulting game.
One notable spiritual successor game is Devil Whiskey, which is 'strongly' influenced by the old Bard's Tale game series. It's small, but very nice.
Good luck. Keep us posted.