Reverse Engineering a Classic Video Game (BioForge)

Reverse engineering can be a great tool to learn something new. Pulling apart the code of more advanced developers is the way most of us learn to code in the first place. But what if you don’t have the original source code? Challenge accepted!

In this session, you will learn basic tools and techniques to reverse engineer a piece of software using a worked example. It will be a nostalgic trip, as we break down my favourite mid-90s MS-DOS game - BioForge (by Origin Systems) - and piece it back together again in C#. We’ll combine computer science fundamentals, curiosity, and a hex editor to learn about file structures, compression, graphics, audio and more. We’ll also cover debugging skills and ideas to make your own software more resistant to reverse engineering.

OpenBioforge is an open-source recreation of the BioForge game engine which I am actively developing. Check out more information and updates at:
https://openbioforge.com
https://x.com/openbioforge
https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@openb...

This is a re-recording of my NDC Oslo 2020 talk and is an updated version of my NDC Sydney 2019 talk of the same name.

0:00 Project background
2:36 BioForge overview
7:13 Getting started
14:46 Fonts
34:26 Sounds and music
43:20 Cameras
50:49 Scripts
53:12 Putting it all together