LINUXGAMES

There’s been a sudden increase in independent game media coverage of late (particularly out of this year’s GDC); fortunately, Indiegames.com has decided to help players navigate what’s out there with a guide to their top 50 titles. Out of those, here are the ones with Linux versions available:

• Cave Story
• Darwinia
• Gish
• Varicella (you’ll need a Z-machine interpreter like Frotz or Zoom to play)
• Toribash
• N
• Penumbra: Overture
• Tumiki Fighters
• A Tale in the Desert III
• The Battle for Wesnoth
• Galatea (another interactive fiction game that needs Frotz or Zoom)
• Dungeon Crawl (you’ll probably want the tiled version)
• Deadly Rooms of Death
• Professor Fizzwizzle
• Lugaru

Do you have any favorites that weren’t mentioned?

Clonk Rage version 4.9.8.5 has been released (thanks Nemoder). Changes in this build of the 2D action-strategy game are:

• proper US keyboard defaults
• ablity to join running games without desync
• viewport extends past edges of map
• ability to sell items on the Seven Keys mission with jump & run controls

Download: [ clonk.de ]

This post was submitted by Nemoder.

Wine, the free implementation of Windows on Unix, has been updated to version 0.9.57. The new items and features in this release include the following:

• Support for multiple OpenGL pixel formats.
• Improved support for color profiles.
• Many window management fixes.
• Better fullscreen support.
• Lots of bug fixes.

Download: [ Wine 0.9.57 ]

Thanks to c3rb3rus for sending in a link to N, a stylish 2D action/puzzle platform game similar to Lode Runner. There’s a community map archive, and online instructions for making your own levels.

Media: [ View ] Download: [ thewayoftheninja.org ]

COR Entertainment sent in the following announcement for the release of Alien Arena 2008, their open source first-person shooter:

This game is the followup to the critically acclaimed Alien Arena 2007, and features nearly all new game media, gameplay improvements, and a client that has been significantly upgraded for improved visual effects as well as major optimizations that greatly improve the fluidity and performance.

Alien Arena 2008 also offers a change to it’s overall theme, moving towards a slightly darker, more serious tone, while still retaining a good bit of it’s retro style, creating an interesting marriage between classic and modern sci-fi. This resulted in completely new player models, many new weapon models and textures, and seventeen, yes, seventeen new levels! The transformation is nothing short of remarkable.

There are major improvements in weapon effects, per-pixel lighting, texture resolution, and resource usage, as well as the addition of a cross platform server browser, FUSE. Weapons have been tweaked for better balance, and movement has been enhanced with the addition of dodging abilities.

Media and Download: [ planetarena.org ]

A beta build for version 1.5 of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has been released by id Software and Splash Damage:

The 1.5 BETA is restricted to Unranked servers, so you will be able to run your own or play on one of the servers provided by our GSP partners. Please note that participation in this beta is completely voluntary and that the 1.5 BETA is not backwards-compatible with ETQW 1.4. In other words, once you’ve installed the 1.5 BETA, you will not be able to play on ETQW 1.4 servers unless you have a second game install. If you don’t feel like testing, you can just skip this release and wait for the final version – 1.4 servers will continue to work normally until then.

The changelog can be found here; it’s also been requested that you post bug reports in the new 1.5 beta issues forum.

Download: [ enemyterritory.com ]

Platinum Arts let us know that their educational game design tool Sandbox is now at version 2.1:

Sandbox is a game design tool that allows users to quickly and easily create and edit their own worlds in game, even cooperatively. It is free, open source, and easy to use. In addition it now features cart mode where players can create their own race courses and drive on it with an ogre riding his hovercart! Also, it now features updated particle menus where players can easily create their own particle effects. Platinum Arts Sandbox is a great world/level creation tool for all levels of developers and ages! Be sure to check out the wiki if you need any help.

• New eye candy map Village and lots of updates to other maps
• New md5 Player Model Robochimp!
• New fish model and improvements to old models
• Heavily updated source, now with rewritten physics
• PVS system (enables sandbox to work better on older computers) with an updated map format
• Many bugfixes
• Improved menu including the ability to easily tweak particle effects
• Many new textures and skyboxes
• Developer IRC channel irc.OFTC.net #Sandbox

Downloads: [ platinumarts.net ]

S2 Games has posted another update on the Linux port of Savage 2, the mixed-genre (FPS/RTS) sequel to Savage: The Battle for Newerth:

Final touches are being put on our Linux beta package that we will begin controlled testing next week. The Linux Client is right around the corner. Stay Tuned…

Thanks to ThOR27 for the news!

War§ow 0.42 was made available at the tail end of February:

This latest release contains various bug fixes, changes and new features. The list includes fixes for the challenge queue and some performance improvements for WarsowTV. New features include the ability for WarsowTV to playback demos.

Warsow is an open source multiplayer first-person shooter derived from the Quake 2 codebase which focuses on speed and trick jumps for movement physics.

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ warsow.net ]

Version 2.4 of Nexuiz, an open-source first-person shooter based on the DarkPlaces engine, has been released. Here’s the rundown:

• Completely new menu design and UI graphics, allowing easier server browsing, player setup, and game creation options such as gametype and mutators
• Two additional maps (Strength and BloodPrison CTF)
• Updated models for several items and three weapons, new gibs, and many texture improvements throughout the game
• Improved performance, networking, and memory usage
• Graphical improvements including water reflections, completely new particle effects, and improved fog rendering
• Improved bots, including AI improvements for CTF and Domination game modes
• Improved map voting system

Media: [ View ] Download: [ alientrap.org ]

Splash Damage and id Software have released a build of an official Enemy Territory: Quake Wars competition mod for beta testing:

The Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Competition Mod allows tournament organizers to easily implement and enforce specific rule-sets and enhances other competition related features of the game, such as ETQW:TV. It does this by providing additional Cvars and commands to both the players and server admins.

There’s also a server admin’s guide to the mod at the Splash Damage wiki.

Download: [ enemyterritory.com ]

Kotaku pointed out a new game from the author of Passage, Jason Rohrer – Gravitation:

I’m not going to provide an in-depth explanation for Gravitation. I’m hoping that most people will understand it as it stands. However, it involves more complex game mechanics than Passage, and it is trying to express something much more subtle …. The mechanics themselves are relatively simple, but the emergent behavior harbors a lot of texture.

Download: [ sourceforge.net ]

The Tux Paint team has released version 0.9.19 of their award-winning open source drawing program for kids; new translations are included.

 Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ tuxpaint.org ]