LINUXGAMES

An article has been posted on NewsForge discussing Tremulous, an open source game that blends a team based FPS with elements of an RTS.As ample of the article is posted below:

Linux and open source software lag behind the proprietary market in the number and quality of available video games, especially in the realm of first-person shooters (FPS), a genre dominated by the likes of Doom, Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, and Halo. Here, Linux is an afterthought, if not ignored completely. Tremulous, a mixture of FPS and RTS (real-time strategy) written by Tim Angus, is an exception to that rule.

Trekkies might be interested in the release of Vulcan Chess that has been brought to our attention. The rules for this 3D chess variant can be found here for those who wish to read more about the game.

Download: [ Vulcan Chess 0.2 ]

The 3D remake of the popular DOS classic Scorched Earth, Scorched 3D, has been updated to version 40. This release has the following changes and bug fixes:

• New scoring modes
• In game tutorial
• Performance and security enhancements
• Better 3D positional sound
• Ships and other graphical enhancements
• And many more additions and fixes.

Download: [ Scorched 3D Version 40 ]

Two DOOM Ports, ZDoom and PRBoom have reported updates to their respective projects:

Changes for ZDoom

• Sounds can be specified by full path now in SNDINFO and S_SKIN.
• Decorate replacement is more universal.
• Added NecroMage’s submission for bitwise/shift assignment operators for ACS. (Requires ACC 1.42.)
• Changed PlayAttacking2 to always use the melee state instead of different implementations per player and hard coding it to MissileState+1. Also changed PlayAttacking for the HereticPlayer to use the same animation as PlayAttacking2. Now the special handling for Heretic in the FireWeapon functions can be removed.

Changes for PRBoom

• Move gamma correction tables into prboom.wad
• Clean up light level calculations for walls & sprites
• CheckIWAD uses ANSI C streams for better portability and error handling
• Make screen wipe time independent of resolution
• Applied various small cleanups and fixes from PrBoom 2.3.1
• Fix problems with dehacked substitution of long strings
• End of level sound crash fixed

Download: [ ZDoom 2.1.3 ] [ PrBoom 2.4.2 ]

A new build of VDrift (note: site is down at the moment due to hosting issues), an open-source cross-platform driving simulation game with drifting in mind, was made available recently. Changes since the last version:

• New menu system – works with mouse, keyboard or joystick devices
• Internationalization support with Belgian translation
• Lap timing works again
• New speed-variable steering sensitivity options for joysticks
• Anisotropic filtering option
• Lots of new cars and several new tracks
• Updates to old cars (new textures, better handling)
• Static track shadows, fixed car shadows
• Optimized collision detection
• Updated sounds (improved looping)
• Updated textures (splash screens, reflections)
• Smoke particles system is more efficient
• Track object loading and drawing optimized, so load time is lower and framerates are higher
• Autopackage built for Linux binary distribution

There are both full data (19 cars, 12 tracks, ~140 MB) or minimal data (3 cars, 2 tracks, ~24 MB) packages available for players.

Screenshots:[ View ] Download: [ VDrift 2006-07-08 ]

Croteam have posted news concerning the status of the Serious Sam 2 Linux client and Serious Editor 2 for Linux on their website:

“Linux port of Serious Editor 2 and Serious Sam 2 client is nearing its end. What is left to do is some internal polishing and a few minor issues to resolve.

Here are a few work-in-progress screenshots:

Serious Sam 2 Linux – client screenshot

Serious Editor 2 Linux – editor screenshot

As we are currently preoccupied with implementing new features to the Serious Engine 3, the linux port will be finished and shipped as soon as we catch some breath.”

A reader let us know that the upcoming Texas Independent Game Conference(July 22^nd and 23^rd) will feature an Open Source inGames Roundtable and talk by Roxor Games, the creators of In the Groove, a popular OSS-based arcade game. You can read more about the schedule and speakers at the conference site.

The In the Groove PC FAQ also mentions the possibility of a Linux version of the game:

Will there be a Linux version?

We’ve received a large response from people asking for a Linux version. We are considering a Linux version as part of a pre-order program. Check back soon!

The latest beta of Wine, an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix, has been released. Changelog for this release includes:

• Still more work on Direct3D shaders.
• Now using the Gecko engine directly for MSHTML.
• Better support for apps switching to full screen mode.
• Support for multiple joysticks.

Download: [ Wine 0.9.17]

Version 0.4.1.40 of Legends, a Tribes-inspired multiplayer FPS which utilizes GarageGames’ Torque Game Engine, is now available. Changes include tweaked physics, new gametypes, and the requisite bugfixes. There’s also a map pack available.

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ Legends 0.4.1.40 ]

Version 1.0.3 of Ri-li, an arcade style game where you drive a toy wood engine in many levels and you must collect all the coaches to win, has been released.

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ Ri-li 1.0.3 ]

Name/Version: Conquest 8.1.23
Summary: Conquest is a real-time, multi-player space warfare game. This version fixes up the textures, adds mouse support in the CP and some bombing graphics, as well as other various changes/fixes.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Conquest 8.1.23 ]

Name/Version: Crossfire 1.9.1
Summary: Crossfire is a multi-player graphical arcade and adventure game made for the X Windows systems environment. It has certain flavours from other games, especially gauntlet and the rogue-like games (Nethack, Moria, Angband, and Ragnarok). Any number of players can move around in their own window, finding and using items and battling monsters. They can choose to cooperate or compete in the same world.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Crossfire 1.9.1 ]

Name/Version: Sturmbahnfahrer 0.6.2
Summary: A simulated obstacle course for automobiles.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Sturmbahnfahrer 0.6.2 ]

Name/Version: Warp Rogue 0.6.2
Summary: Warp Rogue is a gothic science fantasy roguelike game. It is based on pen and paper RPGs and features complex game mechanics and a consistent theme.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Warp Rogue 0.6.2 ]

Name/Version: Zatacka 0.1.6
Summary: Zatacka is an arcade multiplayer game for 2-6 players on one keyboard, clone of Achtung die Kurve classical dos game. You handle yor line and you must sidetrack lines of other players and of course walls. When some player dies, survival gets one point. When leaves only one player alive, the round is finished. Each game has eleven rounds.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Zatacka 0.1.6 ]

A reader pointed out athread at the TASpring forumsdedicated to creatingDebian/Ubuntu packages for the project’s Linux port.

TA Spring is an open source clone of the classic real-time strategy game TotalAnnihilation; the current source tree is at version 0.72b1 and can bedownloaded here.

There’s also PyGTK-based configurationapplication project.

Version 1.5 of the Super NES emulator Snes9X is now available; changes:

• Pseudo-hires rendering flush, Old 2xsai endian fix (anomie)
• Added ‘oops’ auto-snapshot support (anomie)
• Fixed usage messages (Unix) (anomie)
• Old split-ROM-in-zip bugfix (anomie)
• ./configure fix for detecting libpng (anomie)
• Fix “no PNG support” error message (anomie)
• Anomie’s control remapping patch (anomie)
• Support for IPS patches in the zip file (anomie)
• OBC1 savestate fix (Overload)
• Fix turbo frameskip, X11 keyboard auto-repeat, VRAM reads (anomie)
• Add some missing ifdefs (UNZIP_SUPPORT and ZLIB),from AaronOneal (anomie)
• Config file for Unix/X11 and Unix/SVGA (anomie)
• CPU instruction fixes (mostly emulation mode & timing) (anomie)
• Mode 7 fixes (anomie)
• Rewrote the renderer. Enjoy! (anomie)
• Correct-ish memmap boundary testing. (anomie)
• Add support for saner directory structures under Unix (anomie)
• Unix: Fixed detection of newer libpng (spotted by vapier) (PBortas)
• Added 4-point gaussian interpolation and proper envelopesmany thanks to Brad Martin and TRAC. (zones)
• Fixed several sound problems. (zones)
• Fixed the memory access problem in C++ Super FX core. (zones)
• Speed adjustment of C++ Super FX emulation. (zones)
• Various timing fixes: NMI, IRQ, WRAM refresh,cycles per line, HBlank start, etc.Many thanks to byuu for much information. (zones)
• Removed some game specific hacks. (zones)
• Added partial Satellaview (BS) emulation. (Dreamer Nom, zones)
• Added the Katakana font for onscreen messages. (107)
• Updated JMA to v1 (Nach)
• Unix: Fixed JMA options in config (Nach)
• Unix: Removed –with(out)-asmcpu option in configbecause the i386 assembler CPU core is out of date. (zones)
• Unix: Changed the default settings in config. (zones)
• Updated porting.html (porting.txt) in sync with 1.5. (zones)
• Fixed buffer over/under flow due to incorrect logicaloperator in S-RTC code (byuu)
• Fixed HDMA flags bug. (byuu, anomie)
• Fixed bugs causing crashing in Unix. (Nach)
• Ported Snes9x to AMD64. (John Weidman, Nach, zones)
• Completed DSP-1 code. (Andreas Naive, Overload, Nach)
• Updated DSP-3 code. (Nach, z80 gaiden)
• Updated DSP-4 code. (Dreamer Nom, Nach, z80 gaiden)
• Overhauled BS detection. (Nach)
• Improved Unix portability. (Nach, zones)
• Fixed infiniti loop and invalid read bug inC++ C4 core. (Nach)

Snes9X 1.5 Download: [ snes9x.com ]

We have received this press release for the DropTeam Multiplayer Demo:

Battlefront.com and TBG Software are excited to announce the availability of the DropTeam Multiplayer Demo, the recently released Sci-Fi themed real-time armored vehicle combat simulation. This Demo replaces the currently hosted Dropteam “Public Test” Demo as it contains many new game enhancements and updates.

DropTeam combines accurate physics and ballistic systems, intelligent and realistic unit and weaponry capabilities with fast paced action set in a stark future of humanity. This DropTeam Multiplayer Demo is being offered in three different formats. One for Mac, one for Windows and one for Linux. This marks the first title published by Battlefront.com to offer Linux support!

DropTeamT Multiplayer Demo details…

This is a Demo release of DropTeam (download links below). This DropTeam Multiplayer Demo has the following important restrictions:

1. Single player is disabled. You can only play network games with this release. The full version of the game includes single player skirmish games and single player campaign games.

2. This release only allows you to play 1 of the game’s many scenarios. The full version of the game includes 21 scenarios with more available for free download after release. Apart from these restrictions, this is a fully functional release. Players can use all of the dozens of vehicles and deployable items in the game. The included scenario is “Raid”. It takes place on an inhabitable moon called Hopewell. Hopewell orbits a gas giant in the Wolf 9773 star system. Almost half of the moon’s surface, called “The Scorch”, is a radiocative Hell created by the destruction of an antimatter station that used to orbit the gas giant. The remainder of Hopewell has recovered from this disaster and is once again beginning to flourish with vegetation and a growing human population. This DropTeam Multiplayer Demo includes everything needed to connect to servers and play on the Internet or on Local Area Networks on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X Tiger. It also includes everything needed for players to run their own public or private servers.

A stripped down version of the game’s manual is available in PDF format. This abbreviated manual explains everything players need to know about running the game and also what administrators need to know about running their own servers.

DropTeamT Multiplayer Demo Minimum Requirements:
* Geforce4/Radeon 9600 64MB VRAM class video or better
* 512 MB system RAM


LINUX
* GLIBC version 2.3.4 or higher
* X Windows with working OpenGL acceleration
* ALSA audio

Recommended System:
P4 or G5 CPU
1 GB RAM
nVidia 6600 or Radeon 9800 class video card

Download: [ DropTeam Multiplayer Demo ]

Fans of Quake II might be interested in the new version of Quetoo, an enhanced Quake II engine. Changes in this long awaited release include:

• Targa (.tga) support for all game images (status bar pics, crosshairs, player skins, world textures).
• Mono (white) lightmap interpolation for neutral lighting in pro level play.
• Zlib compression for server datagrams, saves 20-30% bandwidth during busy games.
• Explicit model precaching for keeping commonly encountered player models resident in memory.
• New portable memory allocation subsystem (similar to Quake3′s com_hunkmegs).

They are also taking another project called Retexture. This project aims is to to compilation over 1500 high color textures to rejuvenate your Quake2 experience.

Download: [ Quetoo 0.4.0 ]

Nazghul, a computer role-playing game engine, has been updated to release 0.5.4. Changes in this version include:

• Blended terrain
• Misc. improved sprites
• Fixes for: spinning arrows on ground, S rune visibility, “dropped” key presses, solo mode/rendezvous abuse, fire slimes dividing into green slimes, immobile critters, misc. spelling/grammar, party mode + save game abuse, solo moded + posession lockup, Alchemist’s lich quest, invisibility scrolls not getting consumed when used, extra ship on town entry bug, wind not updated on load bug, t)alk targeting invisible people abuse, missing Abigail character misc. haxima plot fixes, misc. other
• Minor limited tweaks to some weapon stats
• Reagents a lot cheaper now
• New bottom level of Kurpolis (warning: evil) [1]
• Demons immune to kill spell
• Improved pathfinding performance
• Fixes for 64bit compilation

Download: [ Nazghul 0.5.4 ]