Captain Blood

Resurrecting a Lost Classic — Captain Blood

Captain Blood was one of those infamous titles — announced in 2003, nearly completed, then shelved indefinitely. It languished in Development Hell for over a decade. That is, until SNEG partnered with us to finish what had been left behind.

Over 15 months, our team at General Arcade — including producers, engineers, artists, and QA — dove deep into the game’s outdated codebase and tools. We rebuilt, modernized, and optimized the entire experience for today’s players.

Engineering the Impossible

Captain Blood was originally a 32-bit title built around long-defunct tools. Here’s what we tackled:

• 64-bit Conversion — Full codebase upgrade to modern x64 systems.

• Physics Overhaul — Transitioned from PhysX 2.8.0 to PhysX 5.3 for compatibility and performance.

• Graphics Engine Rewrite — Replaced DirectX 9 with our own cross-platform renderer, Rendozer.

• Custom Toolchain Development — Reversed proprietary formats and built new pipelines to upscale and integrate assets across platforms.

We released the game on nearly every major platform: PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series, Nintendo Switch, Steam (including Steam Deck), macOS, GOG, Epic Games Store, and Windows Store.

Bringing it to Modern Players

Beyond technical work, we introduced a wide range of quality-of-life improvements:

• Reworked QTEs for clarity and responsiveness.

• Haptic feedback added for immersive gameplay.

• Full achievement support across platforms.

• Revamped UI — stats, tutorials, an updated shop with combo videos.

• New control schemes and expanded settings menu.

• Widescreen and multi-display support.

• Localization into 17 languages.

Visual Enhancements

We didn’t just modernize the code — we gave the visuals a full upgrade:

• Upscaled over 60 weapon models, 40 characters, 600 environments, and 1,000+ textures.

• Fully redrawn HUD and backgrounds for 4K resolution.

• Added HDR, motion blur, ambient occlusion, and anti-aliasing.

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