Case study
Nanolathe: a documented Total Annihilation engine reimplementation
Reimplements a Total Annihilation-compatible strategy-game engine in Go, with public file-format research and separate gameplay profiles. It distinguishes intended retail 3.1 behavior from community-patch research and deliberate modern changes, and separates synthetic checks from tests requiring original game data.
- Targets
- Game
- Category
- Independent reconstruction cases
- Relationship
- Independent reconstruction project
- Sources reviewed
Requirements & limits
- Prerequisites: Native use requires the user’s installed Total Annihilation HPI archives. The reference installation includes Core Contingency, Battle Tactics and patch 3.1; other combinations remain under testing.
- Prerequisites: The pinned source requires Go 1.27.1 or newer and Ebitengine 2.10.5. Native targets include Windows, macOS 13+ and Linux with graphical/audio libraries; the browser build remains experimental.
- Scope: The project is beta. Modern rules intentionally change behavior, while Strict 3.1 expresses a compatibility aim.
- Testing evidence: Synthetic tests run without retail assets; the separate retail tier requires an installed game.
- License: Original engine code is MIT; original game assets and dependency licenses are separate. The publication note describes curated integration snapshots, omitted raw research and unresolved attribution questions.
About this entry
The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Primary sources
- README.md GitHub · nanolathe-gg/nanolathe · Revision 5007ba7
- go.mod GitHub · nanolathe-gg/nanolathe · Revision 5007ba7
- NOTICE.md GitHub · nanolathe-gg/nanolathe · Revision 5007ba7
- docs/PUBLICATION.md GitHub · nanolathe-gg/nanolathe · Revision 5007ba7
- research/retail-executable-spec/README.md GitHub · nanolathe-gg/nanolathe · Revision 5007ba7
- LICENSE GitHub · nanolathe-gg/nanolathe · Revision 5007ba7
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