Games for modern machines. Tools for the ones everyone else gave up on.
Horrible Dev builds original games for current platforms, reverse engineers old software so it runs on hardware and operating systems it was never written for, and ships the tooling that lets other people build for consoles that lost official support two decades ago. We also port things to an Xbox from 2001, because it is funny and because it works. Open source by default.
What we actually do
Original games
Our own titles for machines people actually own, built on engines we write ourselves. C++ with SDL2 and bgfx, Godot, and the occasional two button OLED board.
Reverse engineering
Working out how old software actually behaved, then making it run on modern hardware and operating systems rather than leaving it to rot on a disc nobody can read.
Tooling for communities
Toolchains and build shims so other people can target platforms that lost official support decades ago, without the original vendor kit.
Ports, mostly for fun
Getting games running on hardware they were never meant to touch, and onto modern systems they long outlived. Sometimes useful, mostly funny.
Work
Theseus and UIX
Rebuilding the original Xbox dashboard from the outside in, and taking it places Microsoft never shipped it. Runs on Xbox and on modern desktops.
Theseus
A from scratch reimplementation of the original Xbox dashboard, built for Xbox hardware and for PC operating systems. Compatible with UIX Lite and the wider UIX ecosystem.
UIX Desktop
A cross platform UIX dashboard preview tool in SDL2 and OpenGL, so you can work on skins and layouts without a console on the desk.
Theseus 360
The Theseus engine brought to Xbox 360, with a platform layer for D3D9, libxenon and XAudio2.
UIX History
The written history of UIX, Xbox dashboard modding and the Theseus engine. How the community reverse engineered, exploited and rebuilt Microsoft's original dashboard.
Tools other people build with
The half nobody sees. Toolchains, debug monitors and content tools that let a whole community target hardware that lost official support decades ago.
OXDK
A cross compilation shim that builds original Xbox XDK projects on macOS and Linux using clang and lld-link. No Windows VM, no MSVC.
Pinecone
A content discovery tool for original Xbox DLC and title updates, surfacing content that was otherwise quietly disappearing.
xbMacson
A cross platform debug monitor for the original Xbox, so development is not tied to a specific host machine.
Xbox Achievements
Adds achievements to real games on real hardware. A PC watches the console and unlocks on events the game was already emitting.
Games
Original titles for machines people actually own, plus the engines under them.
Grayline
A Pokemon Red/Blue style engine in C++ with SDL2, bgfx and Dear ImGui, using Tiled for maps. Grayline Harbor is the game being built on it.
Beautiful Garbage
A deliberately miserable low poly FPS set in 2003 Parma, Ohio, written in QuakeC. Pink lawn flamingos where they should not be.
Cartogotchi
A Tamagotchi style pet for a 128x64 SSD1306 OLED driven by two buttons. Feed it, clean up after it, put it to bed. Neglect it and it suffers.
Ports, mostly for the fun of it
Getting games onto hardware they were never meant to touch, and onto modern systems they long outlived.
Fallout 2 on Xbox
Fallout 2 Community Edition running on original Xbox hardware, built through OXDK with RXDK-SDL2x.
Brazilian Drug Dealer 3 for Xbox
Brazilian Drug Dealer 3 is a standalone game by Joeveno and NoQuarter, built on the Quake engine and sold on Steam. This is an authorised port to original Xbox hardware, running on a fresh Xbox port of Quake DOS married to extensions and fixes from QuakeSpasm Spiked. Boots on real hardware, loads game data, renders, reads the gamepad.
Game by Joeveno and NoQuarter. Xbox port by Horrible Dev.
Brazilian Drug Dealer: Before 4 for Xbox
The Before 4 release given the same treatment, again with the blessing of the team that owns it.
Game by Joeveno and NoQuarter. Xbox port by Horrible Dev.
FreecraftX
An attempt at getting the FreeCraft and Wargus engine running on Xbox hardware. Early, and honestly it did not get far.
On GitHub
MrMilenko/Theseus
Reverse engineered Xbox Dashboard, for Xbox and PC operating systems.
MrMilenko/Pinecone
A content discovery tool, for original Xbox DLC and Title Updates.
MrMilenko/OXDK
Old Xbox Development Kit - cross-compile XDK projects on macOS/Linux with clang
MrMilenko/UIX-History
The history of UIX, Xbox dashboard modding, and the Theseus engine -- how the community reverse-engineered, exploited, and rebuilt Microsoft's original Xbox dashboard
MrMilenko/fallout2-ce-oxdk
Fallout 2 Community Edition on the original Xbox via OXDK + RXDK-SDL2x
Things we run
Side effects of being unable to leave infrastructure alone.
RuneScape Classic
A private RuneScape Classic server with a web client and account portal.
IRC Network
An independent IRC network for builders and retro internet enjoyers.
Mirror
Invite only file host for builds and artefacts.
Get in touch
Porting work, homebrew collaboration, or you want something built for a console that should have been retired two decades ago.