LINUXGAMES

Wolfire has noted the latest requisite update to their latest Humble Indie Bundle:

We’ve added Dungeons of Dredmor as a beat-the-average game to the Humble Introversion Bundle! If you’ve already purchased the Humble Introversion Bundle, check your download page to access it! Otherwise, you’ll have to pay more than the average price on the site in order to receive Dungeons of Dredmor (as well as Aquaria and Crayon Physics Deluxe).

In addition, all Humble Introversion Bundle customers now have access to the source code for Darwinia, Multiwinia, DEFCON, and Uplink! Introversion has distributed their source code before by offering “developer editions” of their games — and they’re doing so on an unprecedented scale with the Humble Introversion Bundle. Not only do all purchasers get access to the source code for Darwinia, Multiwinia, DEFCON, and Uplink, but they also get access to developer forums and wikis exclusively for those interested in making cool modifications to the games.

Dungeons of Dredmor is a fresh yet faithful take on the “roguelike” genre, featuring deep character customization, turn-based gameplay, and unrelenting difficulty that makes each victory sweeter than the last. Dredmor’s randomly generated levels and huge roster of items, skills, and abilities make for a vastly replayable dungeon-crawling experience. If you’ve already purchased the bundle, the game should already be on your download page.

We’re used to seeing cool stuff from arrangements like this — after the first Humble Indie Bundle went open source, the intrepid developer and hacker FrozenCow patched the physics platformer Gish to include the ability to grow and shrink the protagonist, a neat update that demonstrated new gameplay possibilities.

There are only seven days left to pay what you want for the Humble Introversion Bundle: Darwinia, Multiwinia, DEFCON, and Uplink and beating the average gets you Dungeons of Dredmor, and the award-winning Aquaria and Crayon Physics Deluxe as well! Support charity and DRM-free, cross-platform gaming by picking up the Humble Introversion Bundle today!

The Humble Bundle crew (hey Wolfire!) has a new bundle!

Be sure to pay what you want for Darwinia, Multiwinia, DEFCON, and Uplink — the complete catalog from the British indie studio, Introversion! If you beat the average price, you also receive Aquaria and Crayon Physics Deluxe!

I’m pretty sure this is the first Linux release for Multiwinia, and all of the games are AWESOME, so go get it!

Eurogamer has posted a retrospective review of Uplink, the black hat hacker-themed game from Introversion first published in 2001.

I had forgotten this, but Uplink was set in the year 2010:

This is a time when gateway computers would be able to handle as many as eight CPUs. Which is, um, pretty accurate. What’s slightly less accurate is Introversion’s optimism that by now they’d be running at 200GHz. I’d like me one of those 200Gig Octo-cores very much. I’m also not entirely clear what a Gq is, and therefore can’t figure out if 32Gq of RAM is good.

The article skillfully examines what made the gameplay compelling, and ultimately concludes that the game is still “properly great”. I need to revisit it myself, as I’ve played it off and on over the years without ever nearing the endgame.

Linux-friendly indie developer Introversion has made the source code to their games Darwinia (available for Linux) and Multiwinia (not ported to date) available for a fee:

The code is distributed via an online subversion repository, where you can not only access the vanilla sources, but also create your own branches to share with other developers. Purchase of this product also grants you access to the Darwinia and Multiwinia development forum and wiki, where you can discuss mods with other developers.

For those specifically interested in modding Multiwinia, we are running an entirely separate Metaserver for multiplayer testing. Each copy of the Soure Code includes five authentication keys, meaning you can code changes to Multiwinia and test with 4 players and still have a key spare.

Note: You will need Windows and Visual Studio 2008 to build the games. We have tested that the code compiles correctly on the PC, but you will need to put some effort in to compile for Mac / Linux. There is no Xbox code in this release.

[...]

This continues Introversion’s long term plan to eventually release the source code to all of its games, a process started with the Uplink Dev CD several years ago. We hope to continue doing this in the future!

I can’t say I’ve ever seen this particular mode of source access before; Ryan Gordon had this to say about it on twitter:

I’m not sure it qualifies as “releasing your source code” if you charge for access to the Subversion repository. Interesting idea, though.

We’ll keep watch for interesting projects that utilize the source, such as a Multiwinia port.

Digital: A Love Story is a retro interactive tale experienced through a pseudo-simulation of a 1980′s computer system.

TIGSource has more to say:

Parallels can be drawn to Introversion’s Uplink but Digital is very much its own experience. While Uplink was driven by the game elements of upgrading your deck and breaking into systems in a cool cyberpunk-esque world, Digital keeps its focus on characters and storytelling and draws instead from the unglamorous nerdy reality of the pre-internet digital world. The tools at your disposals are primitive, but are interactive enough that it doesn’t just feel like passive story.

Download: [ scoutshonour.com ]

vadi4 pointed out that exosyphen studios posted on the Ubuntu forums to announce an upcoming Linux client for Hacker Evolution: Untold:

The game is for Windows, but it installs and runs perfectly using WINE under Ubuntu. A native linux build will also be available shortly.

The game seems similar to Introversion’s Uplink, so I look forward to checking it out.

Introversion Software, the developers of Uplink and Defcon, have been posting tutorials for Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest, the upcoming multiplayer sequel to their real-time strategy game Darwinia, in their weekly Multiwinia Mondays feature. The first installment describes Domination mode, where the player must battle for spawn points, while the second gives an overview of King of the Hill, which adds additional point-laden zones.

Introversion Software, the developers of Uplink and Defcon, have announced a release date for Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest, the multiplayer sequel to their real-time strategy game Darwinia:

That is correct we can now confirm the release date for ‘Multiwinia’ to be 19 September 2008.

Pre orders will be kicking in shortly so watch this space.

We will also be celebrating the release of ‘Multiwinia’ by producing a small batch of Multiwinian Limited Edition Tins exclusively for our online store.

Details of the Limited Edition Tins will be Coming Soon.

Introversion Software, the developers of Uplink and Defcon, have launched the official website for Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest, the multiplayer sequel to their real-time strategy game Darwinia. There’s no demo yet, but you can read the game’s backstory and view media for now.

Two of Linux gamers’ favourite indie developers, Introversion Software and Frictional Games, have recently published first snippets of information on their future game projects.

Chris Delay, the creative force behind past Introversion titles Uplink, Darwinia and Defcon, as well as Darwinia’s upcoming multiplayer sequel, Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest, shared some details about Chronometer over at Introversion’s blog. The game has been in early phases of development for three months now and is co-funded by the UK broadcaster, Channel 4:

It’s one of our more recent ideas, and was first written down during Defcon’s beta phase. I specifically remember the moment I explained it to Mark – in a KFC in London of all places, and he just stopped and stared at me while I was speaking. He genuinely couldn’t continue eating. By the time I’d finished I went back to my food and Mark just sat there silent for a few minutes before uttering “fuck me”, slowly shaking his head in disbelief. [...] Ultimately we don’t know for certain if Chronometer will be going into full production – the conditions would have to be right for Introversion and for Channel 4, although they’ve been fantastic to work with during pre-production.

Introversion hired a new writer, Chris Hastings, to work on the game. With Multiwinia (coming mid 2008) and Subversion (coming 2009) still in the works, the UK-based company is now apparently working on three titles simultaneously.

In the meantime, Frictional Games, an independent game company based in Sweden, while still at work on Penumbra: Requiem (an expansion pack to their horror adventure game Penumbra: Black Plague, coming August 2008), had this to say about their next project, given the working title of Lux Tenebras:

It is for sure a typical Frictional Game – creative, moody and filled with new and bright ideas. It runs on a new inhouse developed game engine, it has been granted a 300,000 DKK from the Nordic Game Program and it is slated for maybe a 2009 release.

Those with fondness for substitution ciphers are recommended to head over to the Lux Tenebras website.

Also released was Unbirth, an early project by one of Frictional Games’ co-founders, Thomas Grip. The project never got past alpha stage, as it was deemed too unstable to run even on its native Windows platform, and was abandoned back in 2003. Daring young men and women with Windows compatibility layers might nevertheless want to give it a shot.

Speaking of indie games, Rock, Paper, Shotgun just interviewed Mark Morris and Chris Delay of Introversion Software about their upcoming titles Multiwinia and Subversion:

Chris: One of the problems we’ve always had is with remaking what we’ve already done. Lots of people, including Mark, asked us to remake Uplink, and people wanted more Darwinia, which we’re kind of doing, but not doing. Multiwinia is quite different. We’re not too keen on this because you can’t make that many games. The loophole for us is that we can take our games and release them on every platform under the sun.

Besides the games mentioned above, Introversion also released DEFCON for Linux.

Indie developer Introversion created an Anthology Pack containing their three existing titles: Uplink (future hacking), Darwinia (Tron-esque real-time strategy), and Defcon (WarGames-esque real-time strategy) as a limited-time offer that is now being extended:

Well it seemed a shame to take this offer down as we’ve realised its clearly something that you, the customers, have been wanting. To that end we’ve decided to keep the Introversion Anthology up and running on our Store for the foreseeable future and you can get it from here.

If you haven’t yet seen this offer, we think its quite a steal. All three of our games can be downloaded for just £20 (editor’s note: $39.95 US), or if you’d like boxed copies along with that, its all yours for £30. We can’t say fairer than that!

You may want the Uplink version 1.55 patch that’s linked from the official forums; there’s also a few mod sites:

• Modlink (Uplink)
• Defcon modlist

Finally, Rock, Paper, Shotgun posted a Darwinia-related comic today.

Indie developer Introversion has announced a Christmas Anthology pack:

The Introversion Christmas Anthology is the ultimate box-set for lovers of indie gaming and now available to buy from the Introversion Store. Representing stunning value for money, and for a limited period only, you can download a copy of all three of our award-winning titles, Uplink, Darwinia and DEFCON for just £20! Or why not make this the perfect Christmas gaming gift, with a download and boxed version of each game for just £30 (includes postage and packaging)?

The offer ends on 02 Jan 2008; Introversion’s next title is Multiwinia, a multiplayer sequel to Darwinia.

bit-tech.nethas taken a look at the “World of Indie Games”, which includes several Linuxtitles:

• Professor Fizzwizzle
• Penumbra: Overture
• Lugaru
• Introversion’s titles: Uplink, Darwinia, and Defcon

Introversion has announced the release of a DEFCON beta for Linux on their forums:

We’ve made a beta version of Defcon for Linux available and we’d really appreciate your help testing it.

In order to cut down on downloading time (for future Linux betas or those with an install of Windows Defcon), we’re distributing the sounds.dat (60MB) separately. So you need:

• sounds.dat – Extract it from an installation of Defcon for Windows (or download it here).
• The Defcon files – Download it here

Then extract the defcon files with tar xzf defcon-v1.4-beta2.tar.gz and put the sounds.dat file in the defcon-v1.4-beta2/lib directory.

If you come across any bugs, please can you post them in this forum, using [defcon 1.4 beta 2 linux] to prefix the subject line.

DEFCON is a global thermonuclear war sim with multiplayer support; you can order the retail version online from the Introversion Store (as well as Introversion’s previous Linux titles, Uplink and Darwinia).

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ introversion.co.uk ]

Introversion Software wrote to let us know about the upcoming release of their WarGames-inspired online multiplayer simulation of global thermonuclear war, DEFCON:

“Introversion Software, ‘the last of the bedroom programmers’ and creators ofthe award-winning hit PC game – Darwinia – will be releasing their thirdtitle, DEFCON, at the end of September 2006. DEFCON will be retailed onIntroversion’s online store at £10 for download, and £12.50 for a downloadwith a boxed copy (sent by post). A fantastic pre-order offer will go livemid-September, running for two weeks, where customers will have theopportunity to buy DEFCON for £10 and receive a complimentary boxed copy ofthe game. DEFCON will also be offered in a bundle pack with Introversion’stwo previous games Uplink and Darwinia for £30.”

According to the game’s site, the Linux version should be out in November and even though the team’s confidence in this date is listed as “low”, we rely on Introversion’s resident Linux guru, John Knottenbelt, to bring us this game as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more news about Defcon on LinuxGames.com.

Eurogamer conducted an interviewwith Chris Delay of IntroversionSoftware (the developers of Uplinkand Darwinia,both available for Linux) abouttheir next game, Defcon. Defcon is areal-time strategy game inspired by Cold War strategic nuclear warfarescenarios, such as the simulation depicted by the movie WarGames:

Chris Delay: Points are scored by successfully nuking the enemy civilianpopulation into oblivion. This is an extremely difficult task becauselaunching an attack on the enemy makes you very vulnerable – Ground Silos andSubs and Bombers all give away their positions the moment they launch nuclearweapons.

We’re playing this game every day and people keep coming up with newstrategies – but the bottom line is it’s very difficult to win convincingly.Games often end with both sides obliterated. It’s a fascinating and nervousgame to play.

It’s anticipated that the game will be completed this April.

Version 1.3.0 of IntroversionSoftware’s (who also developed the Linux game Uplink) real-time strategy game Darwinia (screenshots) has been released. Theretail version of Darwinia can be ordered here; there’s also a newdemo available:

The new demo is designed to be two things at once- on the one hand its a blazing introduction to Darwinia for new players who’ve never seen it before, complete with scene-setting introduction andtutorial, but on the other hand it’s also the next chapter in the story of theDarwinians. The action takes place AFTER the full game has concluded, meaningthe new demo serves as both an introduction (to new players) and an epilogue(to old players). So even if you’re a Darwinian veteren we’d still like toencourage you to play the new demo through to completion – there’s stuff inthere for you, and we’re sure you’ll have a good time.

Darwinia 1.3.0 Downloads: [ Demo 2 | Retail Patch ]

Mindware Studios has released a Linux demo of their stealth-action game Cold War (thanks linuX-gamers.net). Here’s the announcement from Mindware’s Patrik Rak:

After some discussions with Dreamcatcher we have decided to release the Cold War Linux Demo ourselves. So I can finally provide you all with the BitTorrent link: http://www.mindwarestudios.com/download/coldwar_demo.torrent. Please note that our uplink is quite slow so I would appreciate if you would consider to help us and seed it.

In case you encounter any problems with this demo, please check this forum first and only if you don’t find any solution for your problem, feel free to post your report here. Alternatively send it to cwlinuxdemo@mindwarestudios.com. Please do not bother Dreamcatcher help support regarding this demo as they won’t be able to help you – this was a condition for being able to release the demo ourselves.

Sorry for having to wait for so long, hope you’ll enjoy it.

The demo features two levels (“Thanks, Mr. Geiger” and “The Halls of Hell”) and is 327MB. Cold War shipped to retailers last month; there is no update yet on if there’ll be a Linux client for the retail game (copy protection software is complicating an executable release).

Cold War Demo Download: [ 3D Downloads | BitTorrent ]

A reader pointed out that Introversion has dropped the price of Darwinia (demo) for European and US residents; the price is now £19.99 in the United Kingdom (+ £1.50 shipping/handling), 29.99 euros in the rest of Europe (+ 2 euros shipping/handling), and $29.99 (+ $3 shipping/handling) in the US:

We are in the process of building a new online Introversion store, which will be coming online soon. We’ve relied on Worldpay for long enough and we all feel its about time we had a proper shopping system with cart, checkout, order tracking etc etc. We actually have a number of different products for sale over the Introversion site now (Uplink, UplinkMac, UplinkDevCD, Darwinia, DarwiniaPoster), and more to come, so it really was a requirement. We’ve seperated the delivery costs out for the first time (normally we include them directly in the price), because the new store will be dealing with seperate delivery costs allowing people to order multiple products and save a little money.

Additional info about ordering the Linux version can be found here. Moreover, IGN recently posted a review of the retro-inspired RTS.