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Linux Game Publishing...are alive?
By Brandon Smith, 5 May 2011 at 3:55 am UTC
It better be Disciples 2
FLARE 0.13 Released!
By Brandon Smith, 5 May 2011 at 3:50 am UTC
I would like to get my Diablo on.
Linux Game Publishing...are alive?
By Hamish, 4 May 2011 at 5:50 pm UTC
Sounds good, was wondering about them recently, especially with the sale on Tux Games.
Monster Rpg 2 Full Linux Port
By Hamish, 4 May 2011 at 5:48 pm UTC
We Fedora and other alternative distro users appreciate the effort Trent. Keep up the good work!
Monster Rpg 2
By , 4 May 2011 at 5:31 am UTC
The generic Linux port is available now at http://www.nooskewl.com/buy_m2.html. Of course testing every distro out there is not possible, but I think it should be compatible for the most part. If it's not we can work on it.
Voxatron New Progress Video
By , 3 May 2011 at 2:54 pm UTC
Helena The 3rd
By Liam Dawe, 28 April 2011 at 7:40 pm UTC
Added a link to the demo in the news post.
Helena The 3rd
By Brandon Smith, 28 April 2011 at 1:14 am UTC
Hahahaha, I will forever love that video Venn.
Nebulous
By , 27 April 2011 at 7:51 pm UTC
Just tried it.. what a great game! Really well done. The music is really nice, too!

...looking forward to the final game! Thanks for making it for Linux!
Want to win a copy of the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle?
By Liam Dawe, 27 April 2011 at 8:56 am UTC
I try to run these types of things now and then but it seems it hasn't prompted anyone to chat, so another failure :
Want to win a copy of the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle?
By Brandon Smith, 27 April 2011 at 4:00 am UTC
Hey Liamdawe, this is a great idea, I hope it gets some more discussions going :)
Anyway, I've got this, so I'd like to be excluded please.
Voxatron New Progress Video
By Hamish, 26 April 2011 at 5:25 pm UTC
Another Voxel based engine? Ken Silverman would be pleased. :D
The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle
By Hamish, 26 April 2011 at 5:19 pm UTC
I just got my copy last Sunday, will not bother to download it until I get my machine fixed up a bit, and even then it will have to be done at either my father's or brother's work as it is WAY to huge to download with our (should be illegal) bandwidth limit.

At any rate, here are some interesting comments by Joel from Frozenbyte that he posted on the Phoronix forums:
QuoteHi guys,

Yeah we're happy about the sales, no question about it. There's a lot of ifs one can throw around but at the end of the day we have got enough to cover the remainder of Trine 2 development. So that's good.

Just to set some facts straight:

- Jack Claw can be played on keyboard & mouse now (v2, F1 toggles between kb/mouse and the gamepad)

- Jack Claw Linux/Mac ports are coming very soon - Mac is already up and running but has some crash issues and doesn't look as good, and Linux isn't far behind

- There's a playable teaser flash of Splot available from the bundle download page (but of course not the same thing as an actual game)

The source codes use a custom license, as these are our first source code releases ever and we weren't quite sure about how to do it, so we went the route we thought was safest for now. We may move Jack Claw to GPL later (SGs maybe not, but who knows).

I hope this helps. Also a big thanks to everyone who's supported this.

- Joel, Frozenbyte


QuoteYes I think we'll get the games to the Ubuntu Software Center soon after the bundle. There's a gazillion things to take of first, but hopefully in a month or two we'll have them up there.

From our side I can say that we will deliver on our promises - the Mac/Linux of Jack Claw will be out soon and Splot should be out in 2-3 months. Of course schedules can always get messed up and we don't want to sacrifice quality for deadlines, but in any case we are not talking about too many months here. We've been doing this for a while (10 years actually) and I think we're professional enough to make it happen - and that was probably one problem for many purchasers. Some could say we're not as indie as the other companies/teams in the previous bundles, and maybe they're right - but I like to think that we very much have that same spirit here, despite being bigger and perhaps focusing on more "traditional" story-driven games.

The Intel situation is also a factor and has indeed prevented many people from enjoying the games (you can always get a refund from the Humble guys btw). This is something we most likely will never be able to fix unfortunately.

I think we'll be posting our "postmortem" on the bundle sometime this week on our blog, will be interesting.


Quoteallquixotic, thanks. I see your point (and read it earlier on our forums - thanks for all your insight there btw!). However the problem at the moment is that we have not yet familiarized ourselves with the GPL license or others, so it would be a much bigger risk at this point to go with that than with our custom one (at least we think we know what it allows, but yes I do see the point you make). I'd also say that if there's any license confusion, we are just an email away. Anyhow I hope to be able to talk more about this near the end of the week.

MaxToTheMax, yeah the code is messy, I've been listening to our programmers go off about it for years. It's hack upon hack, and all goes back to 2000/2001 and our RTS strategy game concept ("we don't need multiplayer right? Let's save a few months of work and write singleplayer only code.").

Let's see how the license evolves - hopefully I'll have some news on that later this week or early next week.
Helena The 3rd
By Hamish, 26 April 2011 at 5:15 pm UTC
Good luck on your first foray into professional game development then Rusty, even as only a level designer. ;)
Vertigo Beta
By Brandon Smith, 25 April 2011 at 6:44 pm UTC
If you can play this game, then you don't have epilepsy.
Nebulous
By Rustybolts, 24 April 2011 at 10:16 pm UTC
Welcome to the forums and thank you for pointing out that it will be a commercial product.
Nebulous
By buub0nik, 24 April 2011 at 10:13 pm UTC
Hello! I am one of the developers for this game, and I am glad to see it being spread around! We are currently in BETA, and there is only one level available. We do need as many people to play it as possible, to help us find remaining bugs while we continue to tweak and enhance the experience. The easiest way to give us feedback is through our anonymous feedback form, found here: http://malchemistgames.com/feedback-nebulous
If you really feel like helping out and gaining access to our debug builds and playing the new levels as we march onwards, you can fill out our beta application: http://malchemistgames.com/nebulous-beta

While we do wish we could give the game away, our final release will be for sale at a to be determined price point. Thanks for the listing!
Sorry about the downtime folks! + New interview soon!
By Venn, 23 April 2011 at 3:07 am UTC
Hmm, My comic site gathers 15K+ uniques... I use host gator $9.95 a month :) Then Athens101 gathers a LOT more... ;)
Helena The 3rd
By Venn, 23 April 2011 at 3:01 am UTC
Helena The 3rd
By Rustybolts, 22 April 2011 at 10:38 pm UTC
Ty for the article! The link to the linux demo is at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1538904/Helena3rdDemo.tar.gz
The Windows version if you desire is at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1538904/Helena3Demo.msi
Helena The 3rd
By Brandon Smith, 21 April 2011 at 5:54 pm UTC
You caught this one early Liam.
Anyway, the new demo and game have finally been released on the site.
Voxatron New Progress Video
By , 21 April 2011 at 1:54 pm UTC
An engine like this could really let developers focus on a ton of content and gameplay while still letting the player get immersed without being insulted by the graphics. I think an engine like this is the future of indie and maybe game development. It also opens the doors for game developers who do not have access to graphics artists.
The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle
By Hamish, 19 April 2011 at 5:34 pm UTC
QuoteFrozenbyte has also said they may open-source the Shadowgrounds games if some undefined milestone is hit (likely somewhere above $1M USD), but unless the rate of sales increase, they may have a hard time topping the [URL='http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODk1NA']$1.8M in sales[/URL] achieved by the bundle last December.


http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTM1Mg

I am still waiting on getting my copy until I can get some cash in hand, but I will certainly make sure I get it in time. This is just one more incentive. :D
Family Farm Linux Demo Available
By Rustybolts, 19 April 2011 at 5:26 pm UTC
Well full version is now available to purchase
Interview with Michael Bok developer of The Zod Engine
By Liam Dawe, 16 April 2011 at 3:15 pm UTC
Part 2

GOL: Was it those game design holes that actually led you to remake Z yourself into the Zod Engine?

MB: Yes, The goals for the Zod Engine were foremost to be multiplayer driven and cross platform. After that we hoped to break as many boundaries as possible with the engine such and any resolution support, team play, and hopefully scriptable campaigns much like Starcraft.

GOL: Sounds awesome, so are you planning full single player compatibility with the original game, or will you let the community do them via the scriptable system?

MB: Well the original single player really was just a series of levels played out much like a 1v1 red alert skirmish. So that is already finished.

GOL: What would you say are the main improvements over the original game as it stands right now?

MB: Well the main unique feature which we have is the ability to enter and leave a game at any time. At the moment the features which stand out from the original however are the ease of starting a multiplayer game, the ability to have more then one bot per game, being able to replay single player maps as multiplayer maps, new gui, much more improved control system, a map editor, open source, and the ability to tweak any of the unit stats with an easy to read script file. I'm sure there are more I am forgetting...

GOL: Some pretty hefty improvements there, the multiplayer is a very welcome aspect which hopefully a lot of people are taking advantage of!

MB: Actually it seems that most people are mainly interested in single player play. A lot of people who play on our main multiplayer server tend to get discouraged from losing very easily. I believe a lot of people have mixed expectations when they play the game and some might be looking at it as just a modern OS supported version of the original which it is much more than.


A little video to break up the text:
View video on youtube.com


GOL: Anything exciting on the roadmap for future releases?

MB: Well for future releases, aside from ironing out a few of the differences between the original and our remake, some of the bigger possible features would be scriptable campaigns, fog of war, more strategic elements such as the ability to upgrade factories and fortresses and the ability to do team wide upgrades in damage etc.

MB: Also another big idea I've had to to swap all of the unit sprites with small simple 3d models where the original color palette is used for the textures.

MB: I believe this would be a very simple conversion especially consider the engine already supports opengl.

MB: There are also ideas of doing things such as adding another layer above the rts engine where you go from planet to planet conquering a universe.

MB: However for that no one has really brought the whole idea down to something that can really be played and programmed.

GOL: Sound similair to Planet wars from Spring RTS (And previously Total Annihilation)

GOL: So apart from Z any other favourite bitmap brothers games? Personally I remember playing The Chaos Engine on the Amiga!

MB: I've never played any of their other games. But when I look at comments for the Z rerelease they are making for the iphone and ipad I see a lot of people asking for a Chaos Engine rerelease which from my understanding is being done by another company right now.

GOL: Are you planning anymore oldschool remakes?

MB: I would really love to remake the game Constructor. A few other games would be death rally and gangsters.

MB: However I don't think I would make a direct remake of gangsters as I could probably come up with a much better game with the graphics and idea.

GOL: I had that game on the Playstation, was very good, would love to see a remake of it!

MB: Ya constructor is another game i feel came out slightly before it's time and really only needed a few upgrades to make it a particularly awesome game. I have been trying to get in contact with someone I have found who has hacked the assets for that game but he has never responded yet.

GOL: Sounds good, keep me posted on that one!

GOL: Well that concludes the main part of the interview, just a few other smaller questions now :)

GOL: Something that has been burning in my mind since we talked a bit about Linux earlier, What is your operating system of choice and why?

MB: The gentoo distribution is probably my OS of choice however I have come to learn that the visual studio development kit is superior to a linux environment development scenario so I have been spending most of my time in windows again.

MB: I also want to mention that considering the Zod Engine is not my first remake I've noticed some particular things about it's community. The most striking thing is how many professionals follow it. The other is how many others wanted to remake it themselves.

MB: I was not actually the first to attempt to remake it. From what I can tell I am at least the 4th. One person even spent over $100k in a bitmap brothers licensed remake.

GOL: Sounds like someone who is either really that dedicated...or just has too much spare money :D

GOL: Any favourite open source games at the moment?

MB: I don't actually play games anymore but I do try to follow other similar open source remakes such and openra to see what tricks and features they are using to get the community more interested. There are a lot of complications with trying to get people interested in actually actively playing a remake. It is quite a science of it's own which is most parallel with general game design theories.

MB: I do try to put a commercial spin on my remakes even though they are open source which causes me to work towards commercial quality output and a scientific study of the players and their experience etc. Which is by far the most unique thing about my efforts.

MB: However with the bitmap brothers "unabandoning" Z things have become complicated in that department. I have also seen Death Rally unabandoned in the same way, and technically Constructor still makes sales as it is.

MB: I can't get openra to run on my computer sadly, their graphics requirements are too strick. I think there is a lot I could teach them.

GOL: Well that's it for the questions I have

GOL: This has been the most fun and informative interview I have done so far, but shhh don't tell anyone...;)

MB: haha =) Cool, ya when it comes to projects like this I don't see many other people who do it solo.
MB: So I've experienced a lot more

GOL: Any notes you would like to end on for GOL's readers?

MB: I dunno maybe that open source game projects are very huge things not ment for small teams working together for free. If you see a game or project you are genuinely interested in you need to at least express your interest. If you play or plan to play then you should either donate your time or a few bucks because those developers give up portions of their lifes and a second job or part time masters etc to do these kinds of things.

MB: I could also say a lot on where I see the game industry going and how open source games and open source remakes fit into that but thats a bit more detailed.

MB: When you try to make a game make money you are forced to see how things are really working.

Will put up a few pictures later :)

Remember if you want to be interviewed PM me via the forum or email myself at liamdawe [at] gmail dot com
The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle
By Liam Dawe, 14 April 2011 at 9:08 pm UTC
Yeah i read that, another good reason if more games come to Linux, people who like the games want to improve drivers, we all win!
The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle
By Hamish, 14 April 2011 at 6:25 pm UTC
QuoteAlso worth noting is that there's work on making some of these Humble Indie Bundle games work under the open-source Mesa / Gallium3D drivers. There's already been [URL='http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/commit/?id=a9a02c8a39620515ec9fd0d774ce329cf67ecb4e']this commit[/URL] for exposing GL_ATI_draw_buffers so that Trine will function, assuming your drivers/hardware are fast enough, etc. These driver issues have been discussed at length in our forums.


http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTMyNw

Apparently the games are now working with the addition of some new Mesa patches, which should be included with Mesa 7.11 if I am correct. So the game should be able to run on a stock Fedora 15 now.
Family Farm Linux Demo Available
By Liam Dawe, 13 April 2011 at 7:42 pm UTC
Good to see yet another game coming to Software Centre.

Not sure what to make of the game though, will try the demo and see how it fairs.
Family Farm Linux Demo Available
By Hamish, 13 April 2011 at 6:11 pm UTC
Hmm... keeping that many cows in that little space will mean that the ground underneath them will be bare in no time at all... poor cows... :p

*voice of experience*
The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle
By Hamish, 13 April 2011 at 6:06 pm UTC
I have actually done most of my gaming on free drivers, and these were on classic Mesa and not the new Gallium ones. Granted, my taste for older titles helps, but I am quite looking forward to playing Quake 4, Amnesia, and the like on the free drivers when Fedora 15 comes out defaulting to R600g. When they work they generally work better than the blobs in my experience.

That said I do not blame them for not testing on the free drivers, and considering their progress recently I would not be surprised if Trine is working on them by the end of the year. Last time I tried Shadowgrounds it did not work because lack of S3TC, it should at least go further than that now. :)
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