Age of Conquest III is a medieval Risk-like turn-based strategy game. The full version is available for $19.99 US; there is also a demo.
Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ ageofconquest.com ]
Linux game developer Unigine Corp., who are creating the upcoming OilRush, have announced a competition to support Linux game development. The prize is a free license for their Unigine engine, to be awarded to an experienced team willing to work on a Linux native game. Full press release after the jump.
IrrRPG Builder is a development tool designed to help people new to programming and/or players who want to create role-playing games without advanced knowledge in complex programming languages:
This tool has a simple interface that enables the creation of 3D environments very quickly. The Lua scripting language is integrated into the system and assists the creation of game logic, artificial intelligence of NPCs and enemies.
Download: [ sf.net ]
Notch has released a few updates for Minecraft that improve the Survivor Multiplayer mode.
Notch was also recently interviewed by Rock, Paper, Shotgun, describing the game’s genesis and roadmap:
RPS: What’s surprised you the most about how people have approached the game?
Persson: The number of videos on YouTube is pretty stunning. There are more movies about Minecraft than about Quake on there, and trying to understand why is very interesting. It’s probably related to people wanting to show off what they do. It would be really interesting to add in-game video recording capabilities.
The upcoming game Atom Zombie Smasher has a rather unique approach to combating the inexorable undead hordes:
Nuke ‘em from orbit.
The FAQ mentions there’s no release date yet, but you can read up on the game’s backstory in the meantime.
The developers of Tiny and Big, a 3D action/puzzle game, have announced a new title in the series:
The Pants Gametrain is riding again! Gather ’round and have a look at our new, exclusive and tasty game trailer of the first episode of Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers. Here’s some of our new features we developed over the last few months, for your delight:
- Completely destructible environment -Cut, shove, laser, jump and rocketize your way through an environment that begs to be formed.
- New Tool: the Handmade Rocket -Tiny crafted another powerful weapon to push even bigger rocks. Shoot, launch and flammo!
- Even Big’er antagonistic encounterings -We’ve put together some pretty clever A.I. for your nemesis Big! You will be busy dodging his stones thrown at you.
- A vivid world – Filled with little, black but shy creatures with a weakness for rocks.
The video gives you a first quick impression of our new demo, which will be available on our site within the next few weeks.
The full Episode Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers will be released summer 2011.
Stay tuned and get those pants back!
Three Linux gaming sites, Linux Game Publishing, TuxGames, and the Linux Game Tome have had a considerable amount of downtime of late due to a catastrophic hardware failure. Fortunately, the Linux Game Tome is now back online, and the follow update has been posted to the remaining sites:
As of Nov 23rd, we have a few more unforseen issues in bringing all of the sites back online, but we are working through these as quickly as possible. Some sites are back online, such as penguinplay, and you can also expect happypenguin.org to be back pretty soon. The LGP keyserver is back online, for those who rented LGP games and have been unable to play the rental versions. We have extended the rental periods for anyone affected.
We wish their staff the best of luck in returning to normal operations soon.
The developers of Steel Storm: Episode I sent in the following announcement:
Finally, we got to the point where we can present a tip of the iceberg, a small fraction of the gameplay from the upcoming Episode II beta. The footage below shows gameplay with perspective camera. Videos taken with cinematic and old school (fixed) cameras can be found on our youtube channel.
Thanks to Venn for pointing out his Linux Game Cast project:
I love that people are taking the time to capture Linux games. I just don’t think GTKRecord/Xvidcap is the best solution for game capture.
I have been working with the original Yukon source (OpenGL video capturing framework) and ended up with some surprising/proper results.
If you have a moment take a look at the Doom3 MOD Hexen with everything turned to 11.
http://linuxgamecast.com/2010/11/l-g-c-b-reel-%E2%80%93-hexenedge-of-chaos/I knocked out a few howtos as well (I did this after being accused of capturing under Windows)
http://linuxgamecast.com/2010/11/l-g-c-ep06-red-eclipse-subversion-how-to/As I said, I love that anyone takes the time to capture Linux games. I’m just trying a different approach.
The team behind The Butterfly Effect released milestone 8 of their physics puzzle game. The focus in Milestone 8 was on the Level Creator – users are now able to build their own levels.
Other new features & highlights:
Download: [ the-butterfly-effect.org ]
The Goblin and the Butterfly (TGatB) has released version 1.0.0.18 of the 2D MMORPG. Changes:
Download: [ the-green-leaf.de ]
Gaming On Linux pointed out that 7 Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries now has .deb packages to ease installation for Debian-based distribution users.
GNU Robbo 0.66 has been released.
GNU Robbo is a free open source reimplementation of Janusz Pelc’s Robbo for the Atari XE/XL which was distributed by LK Avalon in 1989.
Changes:
Download: [ sourceforge.net ]
Catan Online World is a Java-based game where you can play different versions of “The Settlers of Catan” board game as well as other games by Klaus Teuber against other players via the Internet.
Free registration is required to play and the Linux version is available here.
As mentioned earlier, the Hexen: Edge of Chaos demo has been released for Doom 3 owners:
We all hope everyone enjoys themselves today while playing through the first release of Hexen: Edge of Chaos. It’s been a lot of work, with many an argument and certainly lots of fun. The mod community lives and dies by the fans and the gamers, so play and spread the news to everyone you know: Hexen is an integral part of a well-balanced diet!
We’d certainly love to have your feedback, good and bad. We plan on future releases and additional content, so constructive criticism will help us refine gameplay even further. So don’t be shy, register at our forums, and join the community!
Speaking of the future: if you are a developer, we are looking for you! Primarily, our most dire needs are level designers, AI programmers, character modelers, and animators. For anyone else, please feel free to contact us as well since an extra pair (or pairs) of hands in other departments are always welcome.
Extra thanks as well to id software for id tech 4 as well as Raven Software and Activision.
Download Mirrors (608MB):
Wolfire, developers of the upcoming rabbit fighting game Overgrowth (sequel to the open-sourced Lugaru), have posted their weekly alpha update, number 104:
Changes:
The alpha releases are available for pre-ordering customers.
Markus “notch” Persson has announced via Twitter that his sandbox/construction game Minecraft will be getting in-game custom skin support tomorrow.
If you’re looking for a third-party skin set, I’ve been enjoying the look of the Painterly Pack.
The Real Texas is a top-down adventure game by Calvin French inspired by the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Ultima VI.
Slated for a near-term release, it features FPS-style controls and an environment to explore inspired by the Lone Star state.
The Doom 3 modification Hexen: Edge of Chaos now has a demo release date: November 11th! The team has also released a new trailer for the mod inspired by the Heretic series:
Also:
Despite the fact that we’re releasing a demo we need help! We need skilled creature modelers and animators as well as dedicated mappers for future releases. If you’re interested in a position register over at the forum and let us know!
Missed this earlier: BigDownload has interviewed Unigine CEO Denis Shergin about their upcoming naval strategy game OilRush. An excerpt:
Here, in western Siberia where our development studio is located, sitting on the oil pump is considered to be the only true value. I strongly believe it is wrong: we need to develop other industries and alternative energy sources rather than mindlessly exploit the natural resources, which will be eventually depleted, possibly even during our life span.
Fuel devouring armies that fight over the last drops of oil and pollute already trashed world is nothing but doublethink. That is a warning environmental message we’d like to deliver in a single-player campaign.