[1+1=2]
OneAndOneIs2

Tue, Jul 24, 2007

[Link][Icon]Linux has no games

This is a well known fact. There are no "proper" games for Linux, and the only 3D-accelerated software available is Tux Racer.

So last night, I wasn't bored of Mah jong and I didn't go looking through my drawers for something more exciting to play, and I didn't rediscover an old favourite. Nor was it the first time I'd played said game (because there wasn't one) on my new flatscreen monitor with a higher resolution (1400x1050) than my old CRT.

The game in question wasn't Darwinia, one of the few games I've actually considered worth spending money on. It isn't (I'm sick of all these negatives, that's the last one!) a 3D strategy game with a somewhat Tron-like feel to it. It's multi-platform, running on Windows, OS X, and Linux.

The object of the game is to wipe out the invading virus and save the little green men, AKA Darwinians. You can't directly control the Darwinians, but you can create "squads" and "engineers" - squads shoot things, engineers reprogram infected machines and gather up "souls" of dead Darwinians, infected or not, so they can be reincarnated.

You get more things as you go through, as you find "research" cubes scattered around. The first one upgrades your squads so they can lob grenades as well as fire lasers. Others let you drop bombs, arm the Darwinians, and do other such fun things.

The good thing about the game is that, although there's only so many levels, as you learn more about the various upgrades & strategies, you can play them different ways.

For instance, the first level, instead of slowly fighting your way through half the viral infection to get to the grenades, you can instead send an engineer on a rather circuitous route around the infected areas so you gain the grenades before you go anywhere. Then your squads can quickly wipe out the infection and get on with the game.

Second level, you have to disinfect as many Darwinians as possible. This can be awkward, as you have to fight your way through hundreds of infected individuals before you can reach the reincarnation machines, and you only have a short time to rescue the "souls" of dead infected Darwinians before they float away and you lose them.

So whilst fighting your way through seems the way to go, a better ruse is to use decoys: Send a couple of engineers straight through the infected area. They will be killed as the viruses follow and destroy them. But they'll leave a clear path behind them that you can use to send an engineer right the way around the island, where it can reprogram a reincarnation unit for you, before you've killed a single infected Darwinian.

Then you can put a squad there, and attack from the rear, and almost every Darwinian can thus be saved.

My next goal is to upgrade the Darwinians as fast as possible, because the sooner they upgrade, the sooner they'll be armed with guns and lasers. When that happens, you can use them as a fairly intelligent attack squad that takes the burden off you having to use squads, which only work when you actively direct them.

If you fancy a go on the game, download the free demo - it's how I got started!

15 comments • Categories: Omni, FOSS, Technology, My Life

Comments:

Comment from: hari [Member] Email · http://hari.literaryforums.org
This is a well known fact. There are no "proper" games for Linux, and the only 3D-accelerated software available is Tux Racer.


What about OpenArena? A FOSS version of Quake III arena and just as good?
http://openarena.ws/

And what about games like Unreal Tournament and Quake III (even if they are proprietary)?

There are enough 3d games for Linux if one looks around. A lot... in fact.
PermalinkPermalink 24/07/07 @ 16:19
Comment from: hari [Member] Email · http://hari.literaryforums.org
There are actually plenty of 3d accelerated games for linux (a bit of research can go a long way)

http://www.3ddownloads.com/index.php3?directory=/linuxgames/

I know there aren't *that* many as Windows, but there are enough to keep any gamer entertained.

And while looking in the Debian repository, I think can find a lot more.
PermalinkPermalink 24/07/07 @ 16:22
Comment from: hari [Member] Email · http://hari.literaryforums.org
This seems to be another great source of Linux games:

http://www.happypenguin.org/

(drat, your blog prevents posting urls, just copy the urls and paste)
PermalinkPermalink 24/07/07 @ 16:31
Comment from: oneandoneis2 [Member] · http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/
Yup. I was being facetious. Hell, Doom 3 should have been the end of the "There's no decent 3D games for Linux" nonsense but you still see it raised as an argument by every MS fanboy when there's any hint that Linux might make it big on the desktop anytime soon.
PermalinkPermalink 24/07/07 @ 16:35
Comment from: oneandoneis2 [Member] · http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/
P.S. The URLs thing - I'm ambivalent about re-enabling it, as spambots love posting comments with links, so leaving it set to the default "no links" has genuine advantages.
PermalinkPermalink 24/07/07 @ 16:37
Comment from: hari [Member] Email · http://hari.literaryforums.org
I want to create a comprehensive collection of Linux games sometime...
PermalinkPermalink 24/07/07 @ 16:37
Comment from: hari [Member] Email · http://hari.literaryforums.org
I meant a *list* of Linux games.
PermalinkPermalink 24/07/07 @ 16:38
Comment from: oneandoneis2 [Member] · http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/
http://www.tuxgames.com/ used to have some good links, no idea if it's still any good tho..
PermalinkPermalink 24/07/07 @ 16:39
Comment from: andrewtheart [Member] Email · http://www.freewebs.com/andrewtheart/
You could have cut the sarcasm in this post with a knife. I'm surprised you guys didn't pick up on it.
PermalinkPermalink 25/07/07 @ 04:04
Comment from: sokuban [Member] Email
But I do think that Linux doesn't have enough games. Darwinia is for Linux, but it also is for Windows. A lot of the above listed games are also for windows too. (It sounds boring to me though, we all have are own different tastes when it comes to games. Most native Linux games aren't that interesting to me either.)

I'm really into Japanese games, and there are tons of Japanese games that have no Linux version, and almost none are native to Linux. Can any of you name a Japanese visual novel game that is native to Linux or has a Linux version? I can't.

Luckily for me I don't play much PC games so I lived. The only PC games I really got into are the Touhou (Shanghai Alice) games and Key/Visual Arts games.
PermalinkPermalink 25/07/07 @ 07:06
Comment from: hari [Member] Email · http://hari.literaryforums.org
I'd love to see a Train Simulator for Linux similar to Microsoft Train Simulator.

Now that's one Microsoft product I love (actually it's programmed by somebody else, but marketed by MS game studios).
PermalinkPermalink 25/07/07 @ 14:02
Comment from: oneandoneis2 [Member] · http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/
There's a train simulator??

One can only assume it's not modelled on British Rail...
PermalinkPermalink 25/07/07 @ 14:10
Comment from: hari [Member] Email · http://hari.literaryforums.org
Seriously never heard of it before?

See this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Train_Simulator

There is talk about a new version of MSTS based on the Flight Simulator engine coming soon.

I just love taking a train on a long ride... pointless to some people, but I'm a train addict.
PermalinkPermalink 25/07/07 @ 16:21
Comment from: oneandoneis2 [Member] · http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/
Seems a bit odd - I mean, flight simulators you have to steer through all three dimensions. A train just trundles along its tracks..
PermalinkPermalink 25/07/07 @ 16:39
Comment from: hari [Member] Email · http://hari.literaryforums.org
It's based on the same underlying 3d Engine, but I think they'll probably code it differently... obviosuly :-p
PermalinkPermalink 26/07/07 @ 03:20

Leave a comment:

Your email address will not be displayed on this site.
Your URL will be displayed.

Allowed XHTML tags: <p, ul, ol, li, dl, dt, dd, address, blockquote, ins, del, span, bdo, br, em, strong, dfn, code, samp, kdb, var, cite, abbr, acronym, q, sub, sup, tt, i, b, big, small>
(Line breaks become <br />)
(Set cookies for name, email and url)
(Allow users to contact you through a message form (your email will NOT be displayed.))

Categories

August 2008
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
 << <   > >>
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Search

Misc

XML Feeds

What is this?
eXTReMe Tracker

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional

Valid CSS!

[Valid RSS feed]

powered by
b2evolution

blank