LINUXGAMES

Version 0.4.2 of X-Moto has been released. It’s a 2D motocross platform game with an emphasis on physics. Changes:

• several rooms possible in configuration
• option to remove levels not suitable for children
• man page is no more gunzipped
• AddPenaltyTime(), PlaySound(), PlayMusic(), StopMusic(), AddForceToPlayer(), SetCameraRotationSpeed() script functions (patches by gaivota)
• ctrl + down/up in replays to adjust speed
• –cleanNoWWWLevels to clean levels which are no longer available on the website (move them into ~/.xmoto/Trash)
• biker interact with world when dead
• fix layers while autozoom
• major string printing speedup
• some other minor modifications
• dynamic camera while playing

You can also read how to create levels at the project wiki.

Download: [ sourceforge.net ]

Thanks to nintenduh for letting us know that Eternal Lands version 1.6.0, a free massive multiplayer role-playing game, has been released.

Client changes:

• Many bug fixes.
• Archery (bows and crossbows). The new archery items will be buyable from the NPC next week, and they will be makable in a few weeks.
• Better water reflections, if supported by your hardware.
• The player and monster models are now rendered by the GPU, if supported by the hardware.
• Many speed improvements, smoother camera and actor animations.
• Various GUI improvements (some of them need to be manually activated, unless if you are using the el.ini provided with the download).

Server changes:

• The mines/caltrops/etc. will not dissapear when changing maps or logging off.
• Leonard the leopard (he is not fully done, but it works).

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ eternal-lands.com ]

Hothead Games sent in the following press release:

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - March 27, 2008 - Hothead Games today announced official pricing for the upcoming first installment in the downloadable, episodic game series Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Although the title is long, the price is just a short and sweet $19.95 for the Windows, Mac and Linux versions of the game, currently scheduled to launch simultaneously this spring on these platforms and via Xbox LIVE Arcade. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is expected to offer gamers five to ten hours of gameplay and work on current generation computer hardware, making it compatible with players’ schedules and pocketbooks.

PAA is a adventure/role-playing game based on the popular gaming-oriented Penny-Arcade webcomic; if you’re interested in reading more about it, Wired posted a preview earlier this year.

Hothead also sent along the system requirements and some new screenshots:

Minimum System Requirements

• Linux 32-bit x86
• Pentium III, AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz or better
• ATI Radeon 9500 or better, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 or better, Intel GMA 950 or better with 64 MB of video memory (shared or dedicated)*
• 512 MB of available system memory
• OS-supported keyboard and mouse
• OS-supported sound card
• 350 MB of available hard drive space (185 MB installed)
• Available internet connection for download and one-time authentication

*video cards require latest drivers supporting OpenGL

Recommended Configuration

• Pentium IV, AMD Athlon 1.5 GHz or better
• ATI Radeon X800 or better, NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better video card with 128 MB of video memory*
• 768 MB of available system memory
• 16-bit stereo- or surround-capable sound card with latest drivers

Do you like hacking your way through monster-filled labyrinths? Well then do I have the games for you!

• Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is a challenging roguelike with ASCII text and tile support with varied character possibilities and random item generation.
• POWDER, another roguelike with an emphasis on fast gameplay, has a new release with new spells and features.
• First Age Angband is an Angband variant with a Silmarillion-derived setting.

I’ve also been playing Neverwinter Nights again; in particular, a brutal user-created module inspired by a pen-paper Dungeons and Dragons module created by the late Gary Gygax: Tomb of Horrors (both expansion packs are required).

The developers of the turn-based space empire game framework Thousand Parsec have notified us of the version 0.3.1 release of the primary client:

This release is an incremental improvement over the previous one but it does not lack in improvement. It fixes over 100 bugs found and adds a whole slew of new features.

New features added:

• More auto-detection around orders, meaning better support for the RFTS ruleset on tpserver-cpp.
• Copy, paste and quick-insert context menu (on the Orders window) is back.
• Added ability to request server end the current turn.
• Added a help menu and some help pop-ups.
• Added navigation icons.
• Resource overlay now lets you chose multiple resources to be displayed.
• Downloads all players and display their info in various locations.
• Order arguments in Orders window now built from XRC (removes some of the last remaining legacy code).

Notable bugs fixed:

• Added transparency to the icons used in the system window.
• Objects on the map are always sorted alphabetically now.
• Added support for object id order parameter.
• Tips can now also be translated.

For details see the complete changelog.

The new version is available from our download page. Packages for Debian and Ubuntu are available. One of our candidate students for Google Summer of Code, ezod, has also for the first time prepared an overlay for Gentoo.

Download: [ thousandparsec.net ]

Boing Boing pointed out that the American retailer Target, at the behest of independent developer 2D Boy, is now offering indie game-themed t-shirts that include the games themselves on a packaged CD. One of the games in question is Gish, an award-winning platforming game from Chronic Logic that stars a ball of tar, and it’s been reported that the shirt package mentions Linux bins are included:

I picked up the Gish shirt today, and the CD sleeve says Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Linux or OSX 10.1+

2D Boy’s current game, Tower of Goo, is also slated to come to Linux in the near future.

I think this is a really innovate venture to build general awareness of games that don’t tend to get much in the way of mainstream attention; hopefully it’s successful and independent game creators can continue to expand their audience.

Edit: Doh, looks like the CD sleeve is a lie :( - reader rotund was able to track the shirts down and posted this in the comments:

All of the games are Windows only (even Gish which had Linux and OS X on the sleeve). I did get them to run under Wine, but it was kind of a pain. They are all compressed. When you run the .exe, it will create a folder in Wine’s temp folder (windows/temp) by default. This will have the full program in it. Just copy it elsewhere and run that version. (Gish just used an installer.)

Runes of Avalon 2, a sequel to the story-based puzzle game Runes of Avalon, has been released for Linux by Anawiki Games. The demo is playable for an hour, and the full version is available online for $19.99 US; there are also some brief impressions posted at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Screenshots: [ View ] Demo Download: [ anawiki.com ]

As mentioned previously, CodeWeavers have released CrossOver Games, a Wine-derived product that focuses on improving Windows game compatibility under Linux. There’s a trial version which lasts for 7 days, after which you’ll have to purchase the product for $39.95 US.

Also, a few review articles have cropped up:

• Wine Review
• Phoronix

Teeworlds, formerly known as Teewars, is an endearing multiplayer 2D shooter (3D-accelerated) with mouse-based aiming:

After the somewhat hectic release of 0.4.0, we’ve scrounged up some bugs (with many thanks to our active community) and released this maintenance release. The changelist is long and diverse, but highlights include fixes for the weapon switching, the addition of spectator slots and numerous improvements to the keybinding system.

Teeworlds also recently had license update to become open source and had custom map support added.

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ teeworlds.com ]

D2X-XL, a port of the Descent 2 sourcecode that adds OpenGL support and one of the most rapidly developing projects I’ve ever seen, has already hit version 1.12.66 to fix a multiplayer checksum issue preventing different client builds from joining games.

Download: [ descent2.de ]

Freedoom is a project which is creating openly-licensed replacement content for the DOOM engine and is now at version 0.6.2 to fix a critical bug with MAP18.

Download: [ sourceforge.net ]

cave9 is a 3D gravity cave-exploration game; i.e., a first-person SF Cave.

Screenshot: [ View ] Download: [ google.com ]

Version 2.9.1 of Lost Labyrinth, a graphics-based roguelike, has been released (thanks Linux Game Tome). Changes:

• Modules working on Linux
• Scrolling slowed down on faster machines
• Picking up objects with the mouse did not cost the turn
• Mix potions and full inventory

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ lostlabyrinth.com ]

Savage 2: A Tortured Soul, the mixed-genre (FPS/RTS) sequel to Savage: The Battle for Newerth, has been released for Linux by S2 Games. The client is free to download and new players can sign up for a demo account with 5 hours of online play. The free client also has access to an offline single player tutorial, unlimited LAN play, and a replay database. Players can then upgrade through the game client or from the official website for $29.99 US.

“Linux gamers are a whole different crop of players,” said Marc DeForest, co-founder and lead designer of S2 Games. “They are tech savvy, out of the box thinkers who relish creativity and originality. That is one reason why the first Savage was such a hit with them. We couldn’t be more excited to invite them back to Newerth for some savage good times.”

Thanks to ThOR27 for the heads up!

Download: [ AtomicGamer - 32bit, 64bit | s2games.com ]

Linux.com has posted a retrospective article examining the changes open sourcing the Second Life client have brought to Linden Lab’s metaverse:

Open source developers have taken on the task of porting and packaging the official SL viewer for different Linux distributions. They have also contributed heavily to the development of the Windlight add-on, an in-world atmospheric renderer recently integrated into the official viewer. And finally, volunteers have contributed bug reports and patches to the official Linux SL viewer, accelerating its move from alpha to beta status. At the end of 2007, Holmberg says, there were 719 subscribers to the development mailing list, and 64 outsiders had contributed patches.

The article also mentions that they encourage interested developers to visit secondlifegrid.net/programs/open_source.

rejoystick is a neat little utility that allows you to map keyboard keys to joystick buttons; i.e., hack in joystick support via SDL. There’s a configuration GUI, and the current version adds joystick axis handling.

Download: [ sourceforge.net ]

There were some multiplayer role-playing game releases recently:

• Deliantra, a cooperative multiplayer RPG and adventure game, has a new client with bugfixes.
• Auteria, a MMORPG developed under the use of the Torque engine, has added new features (map, quests, items).

Edit: Thanks to merkoth for pointing out my goof: Auteria’s not open source. I’ve since corrected the post.

Another rev of Wine is out; changes to the open source Windows API implementation are:

• The default version is now Windows XP.
• Many Richedit improvements.
• Beginning of jscript dll support.
• Shell folders now respect XDG directory configuration.
• Many translation updates.
• Lots of bug fixes.

As always, you can use the ApplicationDB to read about or update game compatibility.

Download: [ winehq.org ]

The Eclipse-Games project is developing game plugins (Minesweeper, Snake, and Sokoban) for the Eclipse IDE to assist bored programmers. Version 3.2 was released to fix a menu bug with Eclipse 3.1.

Download: [ sourceforge.net ]

Thanks to the infamous DomMafia for pointing out a new user-made map for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars that’s in pre-beta testing: Comm Link. There’s layout and balancing suggestions being made in the thread, so feel free to contribute if you give it a once-over.