Friday, December 7, 2007
Game Developer's Open Source Handbook
Can't help, I just like books and by crawling on Amazon I found yet another interesting book - the Game Developer's Open Source Handbook by Steven Goodwin, Charles River Media (2006) - which is covering game development around Open Source - it's tools, strategies, the philosophy behind. This book seems to be a good introduction for game developer's to get an overview of the modern world of Open Source.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
GIMP 2.4 User Manual
Recently, the GIMP reached the next milestone with version 2.4, and now the new GIMP 2.4 User Manual is also finished.
UNIXGAMEDEV Update
Another quarter is over and time for me to write the next status report about the Unix Game Development project.
Indeed, a lot has changed. Most notably is the fusion of the UNIXGAMEDEV board, wiki, and IRC with the Free Game Development project. To the benefit of everybody we came to the conclusion both projects have similar aims and better work together, instead of having almost two identical project with a heavy focus on improving the FOSS gaming situation. Though we have slight differences in our vision - UGD is only Unix and open for every business model, FGD is OS agnostic and only FOSS - both are mainly about Unix & FOSS. In the end, the original idea of the UNIXGAMEDEV project to establish a Unix & FOSS game development community has been an experiment only. Somehow it failed, but in general lives on in the FreeGameDev project. This may sound a little sad, at least to me, but actually it is a very good thing pulling together when it's about improving the small and stagnating situation of the Unix & FOSS gamedev scene, and hopefully you share my mind on that point and will use & support the new infrastructure.
Nevertheless, I am thinking about how to make use of the domain UNIXGAMEDEV.ORG now, at least I still owe it, 'cause for simple blogging I don't really need a top level domain. Maybe I start another experiment and redefine the vision - who knows, perhaps I'll use it as site for my devteam or something else. Anyway, unixgamedev.blogspot.com will remain in the case I have no plans.
Indeed, a lot has changed. Most notably is the fusion of the UNIXGAMEDEV board, wiki, and IRC with the Free Game Development project. To the benefit of everybody we came to the conclusion both projects have similar aims and better work together, instead of having almost two identical project with a heavy focus on improving the FOSS gaming situation. Though we have slight differences in our vision - UGD is only Unix and open for every business model, FGD is OS agnostic and only FOSS - both are mainly about Unix & FOSS. In the end, the original idea of the UNIXGAMEDEV project to establish a Unix & FOSS game development community has been an experiment only. Somehow it failed, but in general lives on in the FreeGameDev project. This may sound a little sad, at least to me, but actually it is a very good thing pulling together when it's about improving the small and stagnating situation of the Unix & FOSS gamedev scene, and hopefully you share my mind on that point and will use & support the new infrastructure.
- FreeGameDev Forum
- FreeGameDev Wiki
- Search Engine for free Content
- Media Pack Community Effort
- Syndicate of Multiple Blogs Related to FOSS GameDev
- IRC - #freegamer (at) irc.freenode.net
Nevertheless, I am thinking about how to make use of the domain UNIXGAMEDEV.ORG now, at least I still owe it, 'cause for simple blogging I don't really need a top level domain. Maybe I start another experiment and redefine the vision - who knows, perhaps I'll use it as site for my devteam or something else. Anyway, unixgamedev.blogspot.com will remain in the case I have no plans.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Unix Gaming History
Some time ago I have written a text about the origins of Unix gaming, and think it would be nice to publish it here, too:
While the roots of the Unix family lays back in 1969, and meantime has become a mature and widespread platform in the hacker culture, Unix-like systems never have been a traditional video gaming platform. Nevertheless, gaming also exist among hackers, and the BSD Games Collection (/usr/games) is a contemporary witness of traditional Unix games, a collection of classic text-based games. Due to Unix's strength in networking, it also has been used as MUD/MUSH server often. Probably the most popular traditional Unix game ever written is Nethack, from which even some graphical clones have been developed nowadays. Indeed, even graphical X11 games usually have a cheesy look.
While the roots of the Unix family lays back in 1969, and meantime has become a mature and widespread platform in the hacker culture, Unix-like systems never have been a traditional video gaming platform. Nevertheless, gaming also exist among hackers, and the BSD Games Collection (/usr/games) is a contemporary witness of traditional Unix games, a collection of classic text-based games. Due to Unix's strength in networking, it also has been used as MUD/MUSH server often. Probably the most popular traditional Unix game ever written is Nethack, from which even some graphical clones have been developed nowadays. Indeed, even graphical X11 games usually have a cheesy look.
As the gaming scene evolved in the late 1980's, because of new commodity hardware like VGA with lots of potential for gaming, Unix was rather used for expensive high-quality workstation-oriented graphics, but unsuited for arcade games. That's when the development of Linux started in 1991, which is the epitome of Unix today. Those days Unix's graphic capabilities were limited to an ugly implemented SVGALib with limited hardware support, or the network-friendly and flexible Xlib, which was slow. Some few attempts to establish the upcoming Linux as a gaming platform in the mid 1990's, by porting games like Doom or Abuse (both use SVGALib and X) didn't really break into a new market. Especially Dave D. Tayler did some pioneer work then.
In the mid 1990's the 3D revolution began with the introduction of commodity 3D accelerators, though it took some time to bring the new technology to Unix. Indeed, the new 3D technology heavily relies on the driver support of the manufactures, and due to their mulishness isn't yet supported for Unix-like systems in general. In 1993, Brian Paul started Mesa, a free implementation of the OpenGL specifications, but Daryll Strauss is known as the person who brought 3D graphics to Linux by convincing 3Dfx to let him port Glide. For the first time 3D acceleration was supported by Mesa 2.2 via Glide in 1998.
Since OpenGL doesn't handle presentation devices, it needs to be connected for a proper integration into X. This sort of glue is SGI's GLX, Open Source since 1999. It still needs a suitable driver for 3D hardware acceleration, and Utah GLX was an attempt to extend GLX with hardware acceleration. Indeed, it reached a reasonably good performance, but had intrinsic limitations in its design. Nevertheless, it was the beginning for Linux as a viable gaming platform, and the start for Loki Software (1998-2002) to port some games to Linux. Following Loki's example, Linux Game Publishing was founded in 2001 with the aim to port games to Linux.
The Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI) was another attempt to support hardware acceleration, and has overcome Utah GLX's design limitations. It consists of the Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) kernel modules, which provides an interface to the hardware, and a userspace backend for Mesa, which access them. DRI reaches excellent 3D performance on supported hardware, and is supported on Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and Solaris.
Only few professional game developers support Linux as gaming platform these days. Probably the best known developer still is id Software, but others like BioWare also see an opportunity. At this time, development of Unix games is mainly done for Linux by hobbyist of the Open Source culture, and is on its way to produce some very nice free titles, though they usually can't compete with modern games by the industry for several reasons. Due to this situation, over the years an alternative to playing original Unix games by machine emulation has become popular, and makes it possible to play original games for Windows, AMIGA, Super Nintendo, Neo Geo, Playstation, and many more. It is also possible to run Linux on several video game consoles like Xbox, PlayStation, GameCube, and Dreamcast.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Python Game Development Book
Apress has published a new book about game programming with Python: Beginning Game Development with Python and Pygame: from Novice to Professional by Will McGugan.
New Open Soure Game Developer
Recently the new game developer Sixth Floor Labs started its business with the aim is to improve the Linux gaming scene. Their concept is to continue improving their own Open Source games when the community is willing to pay a certain amount of money.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Gaming Miniconf 2008
The next Gaming Miniconf will be at the linux.conf.au in Melbourne on Tuesday, 29th of January 2008. It aims to promote both FOSS Gaming and FOSS Game Development.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
GIMP 2.4 Released
Developers, artists and user interface designers from all over the world worked together to make GIMP more powerful and easier to use than ever. The changes from version 2.2 are too numerous to list here, please check the Release Notes to get an overview.
If you want to compile GIMP 2.4 yourself, you can grab the tarball from ftp.gimp.org or one of its mirrors. Binary packages for the various supported platforms are becoming available as we speak. Our Downloads section should help you to locate the package for your system.
If you want to compile GIMP 2.4 yourself, you can grab the tarball from ftp.gimp.org or one of its mirrors. Binary packages for the various supported platforms are becoming available as we speak. Our Downloads section should help you to locate the package for your system.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
EA wants 'open gaming platform'
The BBC reports a cry from EA for an open gaming platform,
"We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible."
"We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible."
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Unix Game Development closes
I am sorry to announce the Unix Game Development project will close soon. Due to lack of feedback and overlapping interest with other similar projects we decided to collaborate with Freegamer and shut down the board, wiki, and Irc the next days. I may continue with this blog, because of private interest in this subject. Unless there is no good reason to revive this project I recommend you other communities.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Linux GameDev V - Marketing and Distribution
The next part of Troy Hepfner's Linux Game Development series is published at GameDev.net - his last article, but as he stated perhaps his most important, and is about how to sell games for Linux. Indeed that's a little difficult, 'cause the market is very, very small.
Monday, October 15, 2007
New Project: Search Engine For Free Media Content, Developers & Projects
I'll announce the development of a search engine for free art, and a developer/project database starts to get serious. It's work is done in collaboration with Freegamer. A more detailed description is found at Ghoulwiki, but I'll give a quick an overview of the basic ideas:
If you have any ideas, suggestions, or even think about helping us, feel free to contact - we appreciate the feedback.
Btw. Ghoulsblade has collected an awesome list of free game development links. It's definitely worth to have a look at it.
- bring artists and developers closer together
- search engine for existing free art
- a database for projects and developer
- using the CakePHP framework
- thread at freegamer
- thread at unixgamedev
If you have any ideas, suggestions, or even think about helping us, feel free to contact - we appreciate the feedback.
Btw. Ghoulsblade has collected an awesome list of free game development links. It's definitely worth to have a look at it.
Monday, October 8, 2007
UNIXGAMEDEV.ORG - Our New Domain
You may have noticed our stealthy process in establishing a new domain for our project:
UNIXGAMDEV.ORG
This is our new home, and hopefully it won't change for a long time. This blog and the board have a new address, though you can still access by the old blog address. The wiki remains at the same place, 'cause we like to continue using wikispaces, but unfortunately using own domains costs money there. I quickly created an butt ugly and temporary front page for this project and the domain, to have a unification of all major elements [1, 2]. Anyway, here's the list of all UNIXGAMEDEV addresses:
I'd also like to thank Tuxfamily for providing free hosting of the Unix Game Development project. They offer a very nice service for the Open Source community, and also plan a gaming server.
- unixgamedev.org
- www.unixgamedev.org
- blog.unixgamedev.org
- board.unixgamedev.org
- unixgamedev.wikispaces.com
I'd also like to thank Tuxfamily for providing free hosting of the Unix Game Development project. They offer a very nice service for the Open Source community, and also plan a gaming server.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Ryzom is rising for a second time...
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Teh Dogz
Hey everyone!
This was a week with lots of interesting events in the world of Linux gaming and game development! Developers, reaching for the stars, have awakened in masses, hungry for code, writing designs like lunatics... and of course, like very often in the Open Source world, searching for artists.
The Challenge Promode, a gameplay mod for Quake 3 (works only partially with Open Arena), is assembling an open Art Division. The CPMA project is searching [1] for artists to replace the stock Quake 3 media, thus making it possible to play CPMA without Quake 3. Said media will be released under a Creative Commons license to support other mod, indie and open source developers. I hope they mean the CC-by-SA, otherwise I'll get really mad =P
By the way, do you remember 'Saga of Ryzom'? That innovative MMORPG project had financial problems last year. Whereas the owners of the project searched for a buyer in the gaming industry, Nevrax' members, the guys behind the game, took the initiative by raising a fund and sent a help call to the community. They wanted to make 'Saga of Ryzom' open source and they needed to buy the rights off the owning company first.
Before they finally collected around 300'000 dollars, with around 25'000 donated from the Free Software Foundation, the owners had found another buyer ,Gameforge, a company that develops browser games,
who could naturally pay even more money.
A year after the deal, 'Saga of Ryzom' seems to be a burden for its owner... again. [2] And it's rather unlikely, that the Open Sourcing scenario will repeat.
In the other news, LordHavoc released a new version of his Quake engine modification, Darkplaces. [3] This time's addition: Reflective Water \o/
And the FIFE 2D isometrics engine has made some serious progress. [4]
By the way, we're moving our stuff to our new domain, unixgamedev.org. We still have problems though. So the Forum is currently unavailable. Will be fixed as soon as Micheal has some time to set up our DNS correctly.
[1] http://www.promode.org/?p=537
[2] http://www.golem.de/0710/55117.html
http://www.ryzom.com/ - The official game site
[3] http://linuxgames.com/news/feedback.php?identiferID=9600&action=flatview
[4] http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=114&start=20&S=b5b15fd9c2897a29221209c118d5d0fb
This was a week with lots of interesting events in the world of Linux gaming and game development! Developers, reaching for the stars, have awakened in masses, hungry for code, writing designs like lunatics... and of course, like very often in the Open Source world, searching for artists.
The Challenge Promode, a gameplay mod for Quake 3 (works only partially with Open Arena), is assembling an open Art Division. The CPMA project is searching [1] for artists to replace the stock Quake 3 media, thus making it possible to play CPMA without Quake 3. Said media will be released under a Creative Commons license to support other mod, indie and open source developers. I hope they mean the CC-by-SA, otherwise I'll get really mad =P
By the way, do you remember 'Saga of Ryzom'? That innovative MMORPG project had financial problems last year. Whereas the owners of the project searched for a buyer in the gaming industry, Nevrax' members, the guys behind the game, took the initiative by raising a fund and sent a help call to the community. They wanted to make 'Saga of Ryzom' open source and they needed to buy the rights off the owning company first.
Before they finally collected around 300'000 dollars, with around 25'000 donated from the Free Software Foundation, the owners had found another buyer ,Gameforge, a company that develops browser games,
who could naturally pay even more money.
A year after the deal, 'Saga of Ryzom' seems to be a burden for its owner... again. [2] And it's rather unlikely, that the Open Sourcing scenario will repeat.
In the other news, LordHavoc released a new version of his Quake engine modification, Darkplaces. [3] This time's addition: Reflective Water \o/
And the FIFE 2D isometrics engine has made some serious progress. [4]
By the way, we're moving our stuff to our new domain, unixgamedev.org. We still have problems though. So the Forum is currently unavailable. Will be fixed as soon as Micheal has some time to set up our DNS correctly.
[1] http://www.promode.org/?p=537
[2] http://www.golem.de/0710/55117.html
http://www.ryzom.com/ - The official game site
[3] http://linuxgames.com/news/feedback.php?identiferID=9600&action=flatview
[4] http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=114&start=20&S=b5b15fd9c2897a29221209c118d5d0fb
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Extreme Tuxracer released
I'd like to announce that the Extreme Tuxracer project, which is trying to reanimate a innovative gem in the open source treasury, has published their initial release 0.35. Extreme Tuxracer is a fork of the abandoned projects Planet Penguin Racer respectively Tux Racer. Have fun!
Extreme Tuxracer Homepage
Extreme Tuxracer Homepage
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
User Interface Brainstorm for the next generation of GIMP
Everyone knows the GNU Image Manipulation Program. And everyone has most likely some experience with GIMP. Either lots of experience - or bad experiences. The GIMP-Team is inviting you to participate in the GIMP UI Brainstorm. Everyone with some GIMP/PS skills can create a mockup or two which describe your idea.
http://gimp-brainstorm.blogspot.com/
http://gimp-brainstorm.blogspot.com/
Monday, September 17, 2007
New Blender book is comming
A new Blender book is in production - Bounce, Tumble, and Splash! Simulating the Physical World with Blender 3D by Blender guru Tony Mullen - and presumably will be published in February 2008. As the title announce, it'll be about Blender's physics and dynamic tools.
And I just found out, yet another Blender book is available - The Official Blender 2.3 Guide: Free 3D Creation Suite for Modeling, Animation, and Rendering (2005) by Ton Roosendaal and Stefano Selleri.
And I just found out, yet another Blender book is available - The Official Blender 2.3 Guide: Free 3D Creation Suite for Modeling, Animation, and Rendering (2005) by Ton Roosendaal and Stefano Selleri.
Linux GameDev Part IV - Testing
Troy Hepfner's next tutorial about Linux game development was published at gamedev.net. This time it's about testing games on Linux, and how to treat problems: testing on multiple distributions, hardware accelerated video drivers, SELinux & 64 bit.
Friday, September 14, 2007
UNIXGAMEDEV Update
... I think it would be nice to give a short status report about the Unix Game Development project, as it almost exist 3 month and we get into the next quarter ...
Somehow, a lot has changed since the beginning, and this blog expanded by a board, wiki, and IRC - some other ideas are in the implementation - but somehow it also looks quite the same than in the beginning, 'cause those elements are easy to setup, but nothing without game developers. Principally this won't change my position, and I'll continue working on this project - you have my word - 'cause I really think it could become something cool. Nevertheless I have not unlimited time, and game development is a very complex topic. Therefore it may appear things are slow and cheesy, but you should consider this project was just an experiment out of curiosity, though it would be great if UNIXGAMEDEV will become something serious.
A basic infrastructure for communication and knowledge is ready to use, though it's still very silent there. Next I'll try to create a consistent style for the website(s), and some beautifications. Nevertheless, this project will continue to use free services, simply to make a constant presence beyond personal interests possible.
I really hope some more developers will join soon, 'cause this would be more fun for everybody, though this is not in my hand. But what I am currently working on - beside of beautification and filling with content - is to create a developer/project search.
At last I'll give you an overview about the services of UNIXGAMEDEV:
P.S.: I moved the old board to the new location at Tuxfamily, because they are hosting Unix/FOSS-like websites for free, and the functionality of a forum hosting service was to limited (no backups). Please contact me if you notice a problem with the new solution.
Somehow, a lot has changed since the beginning, and this blog expanded by a board, wiki, and IRC - some other ideas are in the implementation - but somehow it also looks quite the same than in the beginning, 'cause those elements are easy to setup, but nothing without game developers. Principally this won't change my position, and I'll continue working on this project - you have my word - 'cause I really think it could become something cool. Nevertheless I have not unlimited time, and game development is a very complex topic. Therefore it may appear things are slow and cheesy, but you should consider this project was just an experiment out of curiosity, though it would be great if UNIXGAMEDEV will become something serious.
A basic infrastructure for communication and knowledge is ready to use, though it's still very silent there. Next I'll try to create a consistent style for the website(s), and some beautifications. Nevertheless, this project will continue to use free services, simply to make a constant presence beyond personal interests possible.
I really hope some more developers will join soon, 'cause this would be more fun for everybody, though this is not in my hand. But what I am currently working on - beside of beautification and filling with content - is to create a developer/project search.
At last I'll give you an overview about the services of UNIXGAMEDEV:
P.S.: I moved the old board to the new location at Tuxfamily, because they are hosting Unix/FOSS-like websites for free, and the functionality of a forum hosting service was to limited (no backups). Please contact me if you notice a problem with the new solution.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
AMD's New Open Source Strategy
In a press statement AMD announced better support for Linux in the future, and "also plans to accelerate efforts to address the needs of the open source community as well". The question is just, what are those efforts? At LWN a declaration to this statement is made, and announces AMD reported at the Kernel Summit, that they will open the graphic specs for their graphic processors from the R500 forward.
Well, if this is true then it's really good news, and just another great move toward full 3D for Linux.
Edit: The speculations about AMD's strategy about their obscure open source effort is finished, and gave a detailed statement, but in short: "AMD will be providing NDA specifications, an open-source library, and there is a new open-source graphics driver as a result."
Well, if this is true then it's really good news, and just another great move toward full 3D for Linux.
Edit: The speculations about AMD's strategy about their obscure open source effort is finished, and gave a detailed statement, but in short: "AMD will be providing NDA specifications, an open-source library, and there is a new open-source graphics driver as a result."
Sunday, September 2, 2007
IRC Channel online!
Hello everyone!
I'd like to announce that we are officially having a IRC channel now. It's in the Tuxfamily IRC network (thanks guys!). Bots and other services are getting discussed - stay tuned. Join us at
#unixgamedev @ irc.tuxfamily.org
Please participate!
- Sindwiller
I'd like to announce that we are officially having a IRC channel now. It's in the Tuxfamily IRC network (thanks guys!). Bots and other services are getting discussed - stay tuned. Join us at
#unixgamedev @ irc.tuxfamily.org
Please participate!
- Sindwiller
Friday, August 31, 2007
Ubuntu Founder On Linux Games
Lifehacker published an interview with Mark Shuttleworth on Productivity and Linux. and beside he stated his opinion about the current situation of Linux games & the game industry.
Lifehacker: The readers have also commented that they are staying away from Linux because it is missing big name software packages—especially games. Is there a strategy to overcome this traditionally unconquerable Linux roadblock?
Mark Shuttleworth: Games are a particularly difficult thing to address on Linux. Obviously that's less of an issue in a corporate environment or amongst professional developers who may well have multiple computers and have a gaming machine for their own personal use separate from their development machine. It is not something we particularly want to address at this stage. That industry has very specific economics that we can't really influence.
Lifehacker: The readers have also commented that they are staying away from Linux because it is missing big name software packages—especially games. Is there a strategy to overcome this traditionally unconquerable Linux roadblock?
Mark Shuttleworth: Games are a particularly difficult thing to address on Linux. Obviously that's less of an issue in a corporate environment or amongst professional developers who may well have multiple computers and have a gaming machine for their own personal use separate from their development machine. It is not something we particularly want to address at this stage. That industry has very specific economics that we can't really influence.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
New GP2X F-200 is coming soon
GamePark Holding, the creator of the handheld dream for homebrew game development announced the new GP2X F-200 coming in October. The specification doesn't diverge from it's predecessor, but it will have a complete new PSP-like controller and a touchscreen.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Unix Game Development Wiki
Meanwhile the idea of a knowledge base for developers came up, and we have an agile discussion at the board. However, at some point most important things are said, and it's better to go on. Thus I created the Unix Game Development Wiki right now. Similar as with the board, it's more like an experiment at the moment and maybe it's too early once again, but I still don't care. Just like the UGD blog & board it uses a free hosting service, and to my mind there's still no need to change that. At least this guarantees continuity. However, it's there and you're welcome to use it.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Rob Myers' interesting PoV on Open Source and Art
I stumbled over an interesting article by Rob Myers, in which he states that the "Open Source" model is nothing without the ideology of Free Software - and encourages artists to use copyleft licenses for their work. A nice read.
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/rob-myers-critique-of-open-source/2007/08/25
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/rob-myers-critique-of-open-source/2007/08/25
Friday, August 24, 2007
Notes on Interviews
Hopefully, you can soon read some interviews here, we're working on this, but for now you have to settle for interviews from somewhere else. Actually, this are just some notes for me, but I won't withhold them.
Recently Linux Gaming World published an interview with Andy Southgate, the lead developer of the fourth-dimensional shooter Adanaxis ... a 4D shooter on Linux, doesn't it sound exiting? The code is GPL now!
Here is a list of some interviews, just as a note for me, but they might be interesting to you, too.
Recently Linux Gaming World published an interview with Andy Southgate, the lead developer of the fourth-dimensional shooter Adanaxis ... a 4D shooter on Linux, doesn't it sound exiting? The code is GPL now!
Here is a list of some interviews, just as a note for me, but they might be interesting to you, too.
- Angband (LGDC)
- Interview of Erno Tuomainen From Legends Of Saladir (LGDC)
- Interview With Anders Moden From Gizmo3D (LGDC)
- Interview with the Icculus (LG)
- Interview with id Software's Timothee Besset at QuakeCon 2006 (LG)
- Interview with id Software's Timothee Besset (LG)
- Interview With Michael Simms of Linux Game Publishing and Tux Games (LG)
- Interview with Indrema CEO John Gildred (LG)
- A Few Words with Daryll Strauss (LG)
- A Few Words with Michael Vance (LG)
- A Few Words with Joseph Kain (LG)
- Freeciv Interview - May 1999 (LG)
- Interview With Dave Taylor of Crack.com (LG)
- Interview: Ingo Ruhnke aka Grumbel (FG)
Torvalds on Games
Linux Torvalds gave an interview to apc about the future of Linux. To the end of the interview they dig up Linus past as game developer ;)
APC: Before you wrote the kernel, you wrote a clone of Pacman. Do you play games at all and if you do, which ones?
LT: I don't games that much, I don't tend to find it interesting enough. And when I do play, I tend to play things that are more kids or teenager games: more of a "platformer" kind of thing. I played the original Prince of Persia a long time ago before I started Linux, and for that reason I tried out the modern versions, and liked those too ("Sands of Time" in particular, the later ones were a bit too serious).
APC: Would you write another game if you had the time? If yes, what would it be? Do you have a favourite type of game, such as adventure?
LT: I really only wrote some (fairly bad) games because I was interested in the programming, not so much the playing. I found it more interesting to just do flicker-free graphics at high performance than the actual game-play.
So no, I'd probably never do a game again. Especially in these times, when games are a lot more about the content, and less about the things I used to worry about.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Rock On!
This book is pretty outdated - Linux Music & Sound (2000) - but I think I should mention it nonetheless, because on my research for audio tools for Unix game developers I frequently came across this book.
... but let's watch for something contemporary ...
The energyXT2 music production software is a sequencer for audio & MIDI recording, similar to Logic & Cubase. The software is not free and has a price of 75$, but they offer a Linux demo. Sadly I couldn't really test it because of my sound devices, but I could start it anyway (without sound) and it looks pretty cool, and is definitely worth a try. I'll check it out on the next chance, but having any reviews would be great.
In the case you don't like using priority software and overleap, you missed a cool link about Linux VST plugins, where the creator of energyXT2 collect stuff about VST plugins for Linux, where you could also find free plugins.
I'd also like to present Hydrogen, an advanced drum machine, which aims to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming. Indeed they created a very cool program which is very close to that aim, and it's already possible to compose & arrange complex drums with lots of drum sound.
Nevertheless, the most interesting thing about music making software is the progression of Ardour's MIDI integration, what's also their project at Google's SOC.
... but let's watch for something contemporary ...
The energyXT2 music production software is a sequencer for audio & MIDI recording, similar to Logic & Cubase. The software is not free and has a price of 75$, but they offer a Linux demo. Sadly I couldn't really test it because of my sound devices, but I could start it anyway (without sound) and it looks pretty cool, and is definitely worth a try. I'll check it out on the next chance, but having any reviews would be great.
In the case you don't like using priority software and overleap, you missed a cool link about Linux VST plugins, where the creator of energyXT2 collect stuff about VST plugins for Linux, where you could also find free plugins.
I'd also like to present Hydrogen, an advanced drum machine, which aims to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming. Indeed they created a very cool program which is very close to that aim, and it's already possible to compose & arrange complex drums with lots of drum sound.
Nevertheless, the most interesting thing about music making software is the progression of Ardour's MIDI integration, what's also their project at Google's SOC.
Open Game Console
Ever thought about a Unix Console like Wii, XBox, or PS would be cool?
So did others, and founded the Open Game Console Consortium, an independent, non-profit organization made up of various companies, individuals, game developers, publishers and hardware manufactures. It is dedicated to the development and maintanance of an open standard by which multiple hardware manufacturers can release their own videogame console that can all the same exact games without modifications.
The OGCC project is creating a console with usual PC components, what also makes it a PC somehow. Actually they don't build the console, but standardize the specifications, so anybody can build the console oneself. The underlying operating systems should be a special Linux distro, but at the moment this is very sketchy. The OGCC is not the first and only project aiming for a Linux videgame system, but what makes this project special is the complete openness.
There is also the OpenMoko project, creating a free smartphone platform using Linux and other free software components, which is also able for gaming.
And also another project called Gamix, is developing open specifications for a gaming console. Indeed, Gamix and OGCC have very similar goals, but somehow it seems a (liberal) company is behind Gamix, while OGCC is totally open for community development.
To make this complete, I refer to the previous GP2X article, the Linux handheld.
So did others, and founded the Open Game Console Consortium, an independent, non-profit organization made up of various companies, individuals, game developers, publishers and hardware manufactures. It is dedicated to the development and maintanance of an open standard by which multiple hardware manufacturers can release their own videogame console that can all the same exact games without modifications.
The OGCC project is creating a console with usual PC components, what also makes it a PC somehow. Actually they don't build the console, but standardize the specifications, so anybody can build the console oneself. The underlying operating systems should be a special Linux distro, but at the moment this is very sketchy. The OGCC is not the first and only project aiming for a Linux videgame system, but what makes this project special is the complete openness.
There is also the OpenMoko project, creating a free smartphone platform using Linux and other free software components, which is also able for gaming.
And also another project called Gamix, is developing open specifications for a gaming console. Indeed, Gamix and OGCC have very similar goals, but somehow it seems a (liberal) company is behind Gamix, while OGCC is totally open for community development.
To make this complete, I refer to the previous GP2X article, the Linux handheld.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Next Round for OpenGL
The last weeks OpenGL comes out with some good news. At first the announcement of OpenGL 3.0, which will drop backward compatibility to get better performance of modern hardware and makes development easier.
The second thing is the Linux release of the gDEBugger, a high quality OpenGL debugger and profiler. This tool will help to make your applications faster by letting you trace for performance killer and bugs.
The last thing is the release of the glslDevil, a tool for debugging the OpenGL shading pipeline.
The second thing is the Linux release of the gDEBugger, a high quality OpenGL debugger and profiler. This tool will help to make your applications faster by letting you trace for performance killer and bugs.
The last thing is the release of the glslDevil, a tool for debugging the OpenGL shading pipeline.
OGRE 3D Programming
The OGRE 3D graphics engine has become real popular in open source game development, and meanwhile is an alternative for some commercial developers, who already using it. A notable thing is the good documentation about the engine, a friendly community, and even now a book - Pro OGRE 3D Programming (2006). In my opinion this makes the position of OGRE very clear as a constant among (FOSS) 3D graphics rendering engines.
Graphic Artist Gluttony
A quick search about books for graphic artist astonished me to find so many results for Blender and the GIMP, but only few are up to date. To my surprise a new Blender book will be released next month - The Essential Blender.
I acknowledge to not have read one of these books, but as proposed in the forum we'll create a database of game development books, and this is just for completeness. Of course you're invited to give a review or a comment about any of this books, either here or in the forum.
Books about the GIMP:
I acknowledge to not have read one of these books, but as proposed in the forum we'll create a database of game development books, and this is just for completeness. Of course you're invited to give a review or a comment about any of this books, either here or in the forum.
Books about the GIMP:
- Beginnig GIMP: From Novice to Professional (2006)
- GIMP 2 for Photographers (2006)
- GIMP Pocket Reference (2000)
- Grokking the GIMP (2000)
- GIMP for Linux Bible (2000)
- The GIMP for Linux & Unix (2000)
- Guerrilla Guide to Great Graphics With the GIMP (2000)
- GIMP - The Official Handbook (1999)
- Sams Teach Yourself GIMP in 24 Hours (1999)
- The Essential Blender(not out yet - 9/27/2007)
- Introducing Character Animation With Blender (2007)
- The Official Blender GameKit: Interactive 3D for Artists (2003)
- The Official Blender 2.0 Guide (2001)
- Blender Book (2000)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Free Game Development
I just discovered another game development forum, which focuses on free game development. Earlier, it has been about free games only, but it seems the team recently got new ambitious, and want to start a free game development community. As a matter of fact freegamedev.net is also very Unix friendly, and they have analog ideas about FOSS game development.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
John Carmack on the Future of Linux Gaming
John Carmack, the lead programmer of id Software (Wolfenstein,Doom, Quake, ...), gave his statement about the future of Linux gaming on the QuakeCon, and that he will continue to publish his sources of Doom 3, but read the complete article at United Underground.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Problem on Linux FOSS Game Development
Here is an article written by another one, who thinks about how to improve game development for Open Source and Linux/Unix, coming to the same conclusion to create a knowledge base and community for game developers & artists, etc.
Linux GameDev Part III - Installers
Troy Hepfner is busy as a bee and released his third article about Linux Game Programming. This time it's about installing your game with an installer, and not by the distributions. I wont repeat is article so better read it yourself, it's better anyway.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Linux GameDev Part II - Distributable Binaries
As mentioned before, GameDev.net, the probably largest website about game, is working on a series of articles introducing game development on Linux. Recently the second article has been released, and this time it's about creating executable binary and how to distribute them.
Anyway, better read the whole article about Linux Game Development on GameDev.net yourself.
Anyway, better read the whole article about Linux Game Development on GameDev.net yourself.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Unix Game Development Board
Okay, it's time for another experiment. I just opened the Unix Game Development Board. It might be too early at the moment, but I don't care. It's also hosted for free, but unless there's nobody else who cares than me, I won't make any effort to improve the situation. However, it's there and you're welcome to use it.
GP2X - Linux Handheld
Having Linux as a handheld is freaky. The South Korean company GamePark Holdings made this dream come true. The GP2X is designed for hombrew and professional developers as well, and commonly uses any available emulators, as S-NES, MegaDrive, AMIGA, NeoGeo, etc. It is the successor of the GP32.
It is very homebrew friendly, and the SDKs are freely available. The development is usually done with GCC and SDL, so it's also very easy to create cross-platform games. There also exist an Allegro version for the GP2X.
Actually this sounds so cool, except for one thing: they won't release their modifications of GPL code, as the kernel 2.4 sources they use.
It is very homebrew friendly, and the SDKs are freely available. The development is usually done with GCC and SDL, so it's also very easy to create cross-platform games. There also exist an Allegro version for the GP2X.
Actually this sounds so cool, except for one thing: they won't release their modifications of GPL code, as the kernel 2.4 sources they use.
Windows & Linux Game Programming
This book about Windos & Linux game programming is hard to find. It's not old, but doesn't seem to be very popular. I would be interested anyway, but Amazon doesn't sell it anymore.
Windows and Linux Game Programming: Integrating SDL, OpenGL, and Direct X
Windows and Linux Game Programming: Integrating SDL, OpenGL, and Direct X
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Audiophile Anyway
It's time to make a research on noise making software for Unix-like systems. To my mind this is one of the most undeveloped fields, and professional working is hardly possible.
To recall the basics, OSS and ALSA can be thought as device driver of a sound card. A sound daemon as JACK uses these driver to perform low-latency editing and mixing.
While it's possible to use VST (I don't know how it works) there exist native plugin interfaces: DSSI is for virtual instruments, and LADSPA is for filters & effects - furthermore the next genration of LADSPA is in development and called LV2.
If you're like me, you alwayes sufferd having no great audio tools. While this is still true, the situation really has changed to the better. The most notably programs are:
To recall the basics, OSS and ALSA can be thought as device driver of a sound card. A sound daemon as JACK uses these driver to perform low-latency editing and mixing.
While it's possible to use VST (I don't know how it works) there exist native plugin interfaces: DSSI is for virtual instruments, and LADSPA is for filters & effects - furthermore the next genration of LADSPA is in development and called LV2.
If you're like me, you alwayes sufferd having no great audio tools. While this is still true, the situation really has changed to the better. The most notably programs are:
- Ardour is definitely the flagship, and a professional hard disk recording program. It's comparable to ProTools, belive it or not, and finally has MIDI support.
- Rosegarden4 is probably the most popular MIDI sequencer, and also supports audio
- MusE is another popular MIDI sequencer, and also audio capable
- Wired is fairly new (haha) but a very interesting hard disk recording project
- Audacity is a very good and complete wave editor
- ReZound is another great wave editor
- Sweep is yet another great wave editor
- Skale Tracker is a cool Mod tracker for die hard old school computer musicans
- SoundTracker is another advanced Mod tracker alternative
Icculus - Gamedev Hosting
I really should mention Icculus. Following this link navigates you to one of the few guys, dedicating their enthusiasm to linux game development. Actually Icculus is an open source hoster for game development (as far as I can see, 'cause it's hard to find more information on the site), but the hoster Ryan, once Loki developer, has essentially done some important Linux ports, including Unreal Tournament 2004, America's Army, Descent 3, and Serious Sam.
Of course there exit other some other open source hosting sites, but Icculus is striclty for games. Anyway, some alternatives
Of course there exit other some other open source hosting sites, but Icculus is striclty for games. Anyway, some alternatives
- Icculus
- Google Hosting
- Sourceforge
- Savannah
- BerliOS (nothing game related anymore)
- Dotsrc
- Seul
Let's talk about Game Development
There's effectively no real discussion group, neither forums nor mailing lists, about Unix/Linux game development. Nevertheless I'll try to present you what already exist:
- Everything Unix (GameDev.net)
- Game Development (Linux Game Tome)
- LGDC Mailing List (Archive but still active)
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Linux Gaming World
I remembered a forum discussion some time ago, where I already told about my idea of a better organized Linux gamedev scene. That was before Web 2.0 reached me, and also blogging.
In this discussion was another guy with similar interests in making games & development for our favorite platform more popular, and is running his Linux Gaming World blog since about the same time. Their intention is to examine the Linux gaming scene, especially about the industry, and to promote it.
It's always cool to see someone else is active in the scene, if there exist one. I don't think this will be two competing projects, because the concept seems different from mine, and actually support each other.
In this discussion was another guy with similar interests in making games & development for our favorite platform more popular, and is running his Linux Gaming World blog since about the same time. Their intention is to examine the Linux gaming scene, especially about the industry, and to promote it.
It's always cool to see someone else is active in the scene, if there exist one. I don't think this will be two competing projects, because the concept seems different from mine, and actually support each other.
Linux GameDev Part I - Introduction
Recently I was browsing for Linux/UNIX on GameDev.net, probably the largest website about game development in general, but it's hard find something specific. In principle it doesn't realy matter, because game development is beside technical details and tools always the same. Anyway, it's bothering to study both technologies, and is time consuming as well.
However, a member of their site thought it might be good idea to introduce to Linux game development, and is writing a series of five articles about development tools, usage, and distribution.
As this is an introduction, it's especially useful for beginners and developers of other platforms, considering about developing for Linux too.
However, a member of their site thought it might be good idea to introduce to Linux game development, and is writing a series of five articles about development tools, usage, and distribution.
As this is an introduction, it's especially useful for beginners and developers of other platforms, considering about developing for Linux too.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Mesa 7.0 now supports OpenGL 2.0
Some great news (I know it's not the latest) for every 3D gamer and developer. Mesa supports OpenGL 2.0.
Mesa is know to be the free cross-platform implementation of OpenGL, partitially lags the latest OpenGL version, now advanced features from OpenGL 1.5 to 2.0. One of these improvements is the OpenGL Shading Language GLSL, which directly executes shader by the GPU.
Last september OpenGL released version 2.1, and the next extension of OpenGL, Longs Peak and Mount Evans, are planned this year. Since Mesa involves some full time programmers, the hope to support new features early improves. At least not to wait again some years; this one needed time since 2003.
Mesa is know to be the free cross-platform implementation of OpenGL, partitially lags the latest OpenGL version, now advanced features from OpenGL 1.5 to 2.0. One of these improvements is the OpenGL Shading Language GLSL, which directly executes shader by the GPU.
Last september OpenGL released version 2.1, and the next extension of OpenGL, Longs Peak and Mount Evans, are planned this year. Since Mesa involves some full time programmers, the hope to support new features early improves. At least not to wait again some years; this one needed time since 2003.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Step into the Third Dimension
Todays games without amazig 3d graphics seem to be like toy games made by newbie developers. Well this is not my opinion, but after mastering the 2d stuff any serious game developer should jump into the 3d world. But before writing your own 3d engine consider the pros and cons, and maybe have a glance on some stable, existing engines.
For many people the finest open source 3d engine is OGRE. To some people it is not a complete engine, because it lacks typical features of an engine (as physics, networking, etc.), but OGRE definitely has an amzing renderer. Beginners often complain about complexity, ugly documentation, but OGRE has a very nice community. It's suitable for cross-platform development.
Another popular open source 3d engine is Irrlicht. It's is a well designed engine, easy to use, and thanks to the BSD license great for modifications. Some will say it's not as powerful and slow, but this may be perfect for beginners or simpler things. Also Irrlicht has a good community, and is suitable for cross-platform development.
The next one open source 3d engine is Crystal Space. It is the most complete open source 3d engine out there, but is not easy to use. They have a very friendly community, and is also suitable for cross-platform development.
Once crafted by Disney now Panda3D became open source. Well, what to say else than this is another great engine. It is simple to use, and suitable for cross-platform development.
Next one of the open source and cross-platform 3d engine is the Nebula Device. It's a powerful and complex 3d engine, but maybe isn't easy to use because it lacks community and tutorials. It already found its way into commercial game development.
The last of the open source 3d engines I review is OpenSceneGraph. It's also a well designed engine.
Well of course there are many more 3d engines. In fact it seems like there are as many as game programmers. Many of them are open source, but some developers say, they are not suitable for the development of commercial games. For sure there are some commercial engines available, as Torque or some other, but I'm not sure in which way they are superior - since I'm using Unix-like systems I'm not really gaming, and that's before GPU was established.
For many people the finest open source 3d engine is OGRE. To some people it is not a complete engine, because it lacks typical features of an engine (as physics, networking, etc.), but OGRE definitely has an amzing renderer. Beginners often complain about complexity, ugly documentation, but OGRE has a very nice community. It's suitable for cross-platform development.
Another popular open source 3d engine is Irrlicht. It's is a well designed engine, easy to use, and thanks to the BSD license great for modifications. Some will say it's not as powerful and slow, but this may be perfect for beginners or simpler things. Also Irrlicht has a good community, and is suitable for cross-platform development.
The next one open source 3d engine is Crystal Space. It is the most complete open source 3d engine out there, but is not easy to use. They have a very friendly community, and is also suitable for cross-platform development.
Once crafted by Disney now Panda3D became open source. Well, what to say else than this is another great engine. It is simple to use, and suitable for cross-platform development.
Next one of the open source and cross-platform 3d engine is the Nebula Device. It's a powerful and complex 3d engine, but maybe isn't easy to use because it lacks community and tutorials. It already found its way into commercial game development.
The last of the open source 3d engines I review is OpenSceneGraph. It's also a well designed engine.
Well of course there are many more 3d engines. In fact it seems like there are as many as game programmers. Many of them are open source, but some developers say, they are not suitable for the development of commercial games. For sure there are some commercial engines available, as Torque or some other, but I'm not sure in which way they are superior - since I'm using Unix-like systems I'm not really gaming, and that's before GPU was established.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
In the Beginning
Though game development is a not easy, some environment is more easy than another. Especially for beginners without any experience in programming this is of concern. So I think it's time to search the beginners game development environment.
The first thing I noticed is PyGame, a cross-plattform game development library based on Python and built on SDL. It is designed to make game development easy and powerfull, without the need to care about the low-level details of C/C++. PyGame seems to have a great community.
Another thing is the Blitz BASIC compiler, a BASIC dialect designed for game development. It originally came from the Amiga, but today it is cross-plattform available.
Both languages are easy to learn, and have their pros & cons. While Python+PyGame is open source, Blitz BASIC isn't and has a price of 80$ upwards. Blitz BASIC creates compiled code, while Python is an interpreter (but fast) and needs its source code to execute. However, Python is commonly used as additional scripting language for many projects.
For sure there are alternatives to PyGame and Blitz BASIC, but they are definitely a good choice for beginners.
The first thing I noticed is PyGame, a cross-plattform game development library based on Python and built on SDL. It is designed to make game development easy and powerfull, without the need to care about the low-level details of C/C++. PyGame seems to have a great community.
Another thing is the Blitz BASIC compiler, a BASIC dialect designed for game development. It originally came from the Amiga, but today it is cross-plattform available.
Both languages are easy to learn, and have their pros & cons. While Python+PyGame is open source, Blitz BASIC isn't and has a price of 80$ upwards. Blitz BASIC creates compiled code, while Python is an interpreter (but fast) and needs its source code to execute. However, Python is commonly used as additional scripting language for many projects.
For sure there are alternatives to PyGame and Blitz BASIC, but they are definitely a good choice for beginners.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Unix Game Market Place
Most people in the industry will say there is no market for Linux games, or something like it's too risky developing for Linux when Dual Boot is so easy, or have another excuse like Linux users are used to not buy software and want everything for free.
I have to regret, that there's a grain of truth. The game development company RuneSoft noticed Linux has even less sales figures than their Amiga edition of a game - hell, who uses Amiga these days?! That's really frightening for any serious company.
That's all I need to know: who are these crazy freaks supporting their favorite platform (beside of open source)?
Publishers:
I have to regret, that there's a grain of truth. The game development company RuneSoft noticed Linux has even less sales figures than their Amiga edition of a game - hell, who uses Amiga these days?! That's really frightening for any serious company.
That's all I need to know: who are these crazy freaks supporting their favorite platform (beside of open source)?
Publishers:
- Garage Games
- Hyperion Entertainment
- ixsoft
- Linux Game Publishing
- RuneSoft
- Loki (out of business)
- Titan Computer (out of business)
- Tribsoft (out of business)
- Bioware
- BlackHoleSun (out of business)
- BraveTree (out of business)
- Caravel Games
- Chronic Logic (out of business)
- Creature Labs
- Croteam (out of business)
- Donohoe Digital (out of business)
- Entropic Software (out of business)
- Eon Games (out of business)
- The General Coffee Company
- Guild Software
- id Software
- Illwinter (out of business)
- Introversion Software
- Iron Code Software (out of business)
- Laminar Research
- Maxgaming Technologies
- Oddlabs
- Phantom EFX
- Pixel 5 Studio (out of business)
- PomPom Games (out of business)
- Puppy Games
- Rarebyte
- Savage 2
- Silent Wings
- Silly Soft
- Small Rockets
- Three Rings
- Vicarious Visions
- The Wyrmkeep Entertainment
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Ubuntu Games Developer Wiki
On my quest finding out more about Unix game development, in the official Ubuntu forums I came across the ubuntu-gamdev-wiki. It is still new, and contains few HowTo's about game programming.
Though there's much work to be done, it's a nice idea having a wiki for Unix game developers - also having a board and IRC would be fine.
Though there's much work to be done, it's a nice idea having a wiki for Unix game developers - also having a board and IRC would be fine.
Programming Linux Games for Download
This book is a true classic on Linux game programming. It is written by the creators of SDL and founders of Loki Software, and covers lots of things a game programmer should care about when using Linux & SDL.
Of course you can buy a printed copy of this book, but for all those poor guys there are legel(?) PDF versions of this book available. I found a free e-book copy here, but this can be off another day. Better search on your own.
Of course you can buy a printed copy of this book, but for all those poor guys there are legel(?) PDF versions of this book available. I found a free e-book copy here, but this can be off another day. Better search on your own.
Better Game Characters
Yesterday I've been at the IGDA meeting - the International Game Developers Association - where Katherine Isbister, the author of the book Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach, gave a lecture about the importance of emotions in games to reach a wider audience.
In fact, todays challange of the game industry is to make gamers cry by the emotional experience of the game, as it's usual for film makers or authors to give the their consumer an emotional experience.
The idea behind the book is, technics change but humans don't - well, at least almost. Upon this conclusion, game designers bear responsability of how to make the player identify with the game, and what emotions the game characters, style, setting, and control will cause.
The main problem is to master the so called zombie line, the effect of having soulless and robotic characters. The key to this problem is a better psychological approach in design. The idea goes so far, that mastering this will create new genres of games.
You may agree, stories and movies are more interesting with well designed and interesting characters, so it is for games. In deed, modern games by the industry follow this approach, as GTA is thrilling with story, characters and setting, as Nintendo DS & Wii allow new experience by their controls, or as severel games offer the option to completely design the character by the player, which goes so far that it's even possible to make a virtual mirror image of the player, what leads to self identification and represantation in a virtual world.
For more information, read their blog about Game Empathy.
In fact, todays challange of the game industry is to make gamers cry by the emotional experience of the game, as it's usual for film makers or authors to give the their consumer an emotional experience.
The idea behind the book is, technics change but humans don't - well, at least almost. Upon this conclusion, game designers bear responsability of how to make the player identify with the game, and what emotions the game characters, style, setting, and control will cause.
The main problem is to master the so called zombie line, the effect of having soulless and robotic characters. The key to this problem is a better psychological approach in design. The idea goes so far, that mastering this will create new genres of games.
You may agree, stories and movies are more interesting with well designed and interesting characters, so it is for games. In deed, modern games by the industry follow this approach, as GTA is thrilling with story, characters and setting, as Nintendo DS & Wii allow new experience by their controls, or as severel games offer the option to completely design the character by the player, which goes so far that it's even possible to make a virtual mirror image of the player, what leads to self identification and represantation in a virtual world.
For more information, read their blog about Game Empathy.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Current State
The strong presence of Linux in the domain of Unix is not to ignore. However, there are a couple of alternatives, as FreeBSD, GNU, IRIX, Mac OS X, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and more, but Linux is definitely the most popular.
Naturally the dominance of Linux makes it the most interesting Unix alternative for game developers, and indeed games, libraries, engines, tools do exist. Before any progression, it is wise to make some research about the situation. Google gave me for:
Naturally the dominance of Linux makes it the most interesting Unix alternative for game developers, and indeed games, libraries, engines, tools do exist. Before any progression, it is wise to make some research about the situation. Google gave me for:
- "game development" - 1.820.000 results,
- "linux game development" - 9170 results,
- "unix game development" - 3 results,
- Linux Game Development Center (Website)
- Simple DirectMedia Layer (API)
- Allegro (API)
- ClanLib (SDK)
- Mesa (OpenGL)
- Programming Linux Games (Book)
- Linux Game Programming (Book)
- Linux 3D Graphics Programming (Book)
- Advanced Linux 3D Graphics Programming (Book)
- Open Source Game Development (Book)
- OpenGL Programming for the X Window System (Book)
- The Linux Game Tome (Forum)
- X11 Game Programming (Tutorial)
- GIMP (2D)
- Blender (3D)
- Inkscape (Vector)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Hello, world!
... and welcome to the UNIX Game Development weblog, the place is for everybody making Unix-like systems more fun.
Regardless of occupation and mastery, this blog is not limited to code gurus, and ought to serve atistry, business, design, music, and all other aspects in the development of a game for Unix-like systems.
Having a look at the history of UNIX, it stands out being the favourite system for any kind of hackery, and nowadays reached a solid and almost user-friendly level. On the other side, it is still used by a small crowd, and not of major concern for desktop users, which involves being secondary for gaming. Actually it's not that bad anymore, but still nothing compared to other systems.
The intention of this blog is to collect news, information and guidance, to reflect the present situation, and to network developers.
I start it in my own interest as a hobby game developer, so don't expect too much, but this may change in the future - who knows. Furthermore, I'ld like to excuse any mistakes on verbalization and spelling, 'cause I'm german, but to the benefit of everybody I prefer to author in english.
It's strange, but for years I couldn't find a website dedicated to Unix Game Development. I know it doesn't differ too much for other systems, nevertheless I still miss it. Therefore I try to start something, and maybe it's cool - we'll see what happens.
So far so good. Any serious help is welcome, wether feedback or participation.
Regardless of occupation and mastery, this blog is not limited to code gurus, and ought to serve atistry, business, design, music, and all other aspects in the development of a game for Unix-like systems.
Having a look at the history of UNIX, it stands out being the favourite system for any kind of hackery, and nowadays reached a solid and almost user-friendly level. On the other side, it is still used by a small crowd, and not of major concern for desktop users, which involves being secondary for gaming. Actually it's not that bad anymore, but still nothing compared to other systems.
The intention of this blog is to collect news, information and guidance, to reflect the present situation, and to network developers.
I start it in my own interest as a hobby game developer, so don't expect too much, but this may change in the future - who knows. Furthermore, I'ld like to excuse any mistakes on verbalization and spelling, 'cause I'm german, but to the benefit of everybody I prefer to author in english.
It's strange, but for years I couldn't find a website dedicated to Unix Game Development. I know it doesn't differ too much for other systems, nevertheless I still miss it. Therefore I try to start something, and maybe it's cool - we'll see what happens.
So far so good. Any serious help is welcome, wether feedback or participation.
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