Case study

OpenGOAL: recovering GOAL code and rebuilding the Jak games

Reconstructs readable GOAL code from the original Jak binaries and compiles it with a new GOAL compiler for modern PCs. Its workflow combines a specialized decompiler, manually supplied type information, asset extraction and an interactive development runtime.

Requirements and limitations

Requires the user’s original PS2 game copy and extracted assets. The README covers retail PAL, NTSC and NTSC-J editions, including Greatest Hits, and excludes later PS3/PS4/PS5 releases.
The pinned README reports Jak 1 as complete, Jak 2 as beta with remaining issues, and substantial work still needed for Jak 3. These are distinct milestones, not a claim that the entire trilogy is finished.
The supported runtime is x86-64 on Windows, Linux and macOS. The macOS guide requires Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon and lists macOS Sequoia; native ARM64 builds are experimental and unsupported. No mobile release is planned.
Development uses C++20, CMake, NASM and platform libraries, then the project’s asset-extraction and GOAL compilation steps. The documented task commands need the corresponding task runner; runtime code editing is a development feature.
ISC license for project work; original game assets and third-party components retain their own rights. REA involvement is not established, and this catalog did not build or run the games.

About this entry

Type: Case study
Category: Independent reconstruction cases
Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
Targets: Game

Sources reviewed 2026-10-17

The description was reviewed against primary sources. This does not establish runtime testing, security auditing or verified compatibility.

Requirements and limitations

About this entry

Primary sources