16 Facts About ScummVM

ScummVM is a re-implementation of the part of the software used to interpret the scripting languages such games used to describe the game world rather than emulating the hardware the games ran on; as such, ScummVM allows the games it supports to be played on platforms other than those for which they were originally released.

ScummVM is a program that supports numerous adventure game engines via virtual machines, allowing the user to play supported adventure games on their platform of choice.

ScummVM provides none of the original assets for the games it supports, and expects the user to properly own the original game's media so as to use the software legally.

The ScummVM team consider this an improvement over simply running the older games and their executables through an operating system emulator, such as DOSBox, since ScummVM's implements are more lightweight and require less processing power and memory, allowing use on more limited processing environments like mobile devices.

Ports of ScummVM are available for Microsoft Windows, macOS and a variety of Unix-like systems including Linux, members of the BSD family and Solaris.

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ScummVM has been ported to gaming machines such as the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii, and to handheld consoles including the GCW Zero, GP2X, Nintendo DS, Pandora, PlayStation Portable and the PS Vita.

Platforms supported by unofficial ScummVM ports include the Microsoft's Xbox gaming console, BlackBerry PlayBook, Zaurus, Gizmondo and GP32 portable device platforms.

Work on ScummVM started in September 2001 by computer science student Ludvig Strigeus.

News of ScummVM was picked up by the tech news website Slashdot in November 2001, drawing a large interest to the project, and several other developers became part of the project to help support other games.

ScummVM continues to add new games or game engines, though the process to create these is relatively slow.

Since around December 2017, ScummVM had been working support for Macromedia Director in coordination with some of the original developers.

ScummVM has had difficulty in bringing games using the Adventure Game Studio, which is used frequently in indie adventure games, such as the Blackwell series.

ScummVM has been a participant in the Google Summer of Code every year since 2007 except for 2015.

Revolution Software helped the developers with source code and technical advice for its games, and once ScummVM supported the company's Virtual Theatre engine, Revolution released Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a Steel Sky as freeware and provided assets from its first two Broken Sword games in an open media format.

TrollVM has been integrated into ScummVM adding support for three pre-AGI games: Mickey's Space Adventure, Troll's Tale, and Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood.

In December 2008, the ScummVM team learned that the recently released Wii ports of three Humongous Entertainment Junior Adventure titles, Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds, Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside, and Spy Fox: Dry Cereal, have all used the ScummVM engine without proper attribution.