free online game

Ryzom now nearly free to play

In a bold (desperate?) move the guys behind the nearly completely FOSS but still commercial MMORPG Ryzom have decided to make their game free-to-play, but with some smaller limitations (which are supposed to make you buy a subscription at some later point of course ;) ).

Ryzom running on Linux

We mentioned it before, but Ryzom also runs fine under Linux (as seen above), and check out their developers page, and art asset repository if you are thinking about contributing.

Personally I feel the game shows it's age a bit too much on the desktop platform, but a mobile version (lets say on Maemo and Android) could really shine and attract a lot of users. But now is your chance to try it out as long as you like ;)

icculus @ Flourish! 2011: Gaming and Linux - also an interview!

icculus will be talking about gaming on Linux in Chicago April 2nd.

Ryan "Icculus" Gordon is a former Loki Software employee who is now responsible for icculus.org, which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as several new projects created by himself and others. Gordon's site hosts projects with the code from such commercial games as Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Quake III Arena and many other free and open source projects for multiple platforms.

I can tell the Flourish! conference is a good one because it does not have "Free", "Libre" or "Open" in its title directly. ;)

Last year's conf was documented in videos and hopefully the same will happen with icculus' talk.

There is a recent interview [Czech version], in which icculus talks about himself, graphics programming, a better world and porting.

News from 0 A.D.

Well I certainly didn't see this coming, but 0 A.D. has decided to switch their game-play concept and turn the game into a Diablo like hack and slash RPG (while keeping the historical accurateness of course). For the first teaser pic see below:

Ok bad phun, I admit...in reality they decided to turn it into a FPS game, which I really can't understand at all :( I mean, just look at these horrible screen-shots they are putting out as a 'proof of concept':

However, unrelated to these shocking news... check out this boring new alpha 4 RTS release, code named Deadalus. It features a boring new AI, and a bunch of other boring stuff (including boring additional celts stuff)... so don't bother with it until the new and shiny 0 A.D. RPG, errm FPS arrives ;)

SDL job offer, open art funding opportunities, tiny java/Slick game competition...

SDL-makers Galaxy Gameworks are looking for a talented developer who would be interested in developing and maintaining SDL.

Pfunked might support artists starting their own funding campaigns for creating art for FLARE, as he did with Justin's. Here are some asset ideas.

Then there's the option to offer high-quality art for being 'funded into free' at OpenGameArt. The current target is $130 for this dwarf warrior.

I wish there were (more) open source projects at 8bitfunding, Kickstarter, Fundry and IndieGoGo. The only open source game dev projects I found are a flash game (successful), FAR Colony and an interactive fiction engine iphone port (successful). I'm sure not only full game projects could make use of these fundraising services but free content creators as well.

Slick contest - art by danc

Then there's a game competition by the Slick java game engine. Check the image above for rules and prizes.

That's about all I can find and think of right now. Got anything to add? :)

PS: do you use flattr? Then share your data for great justice! If you're not using it yet but are sharing content on the web, then start using it already! :D

PPS: Wesnoth is still offering $200 for a swamp sound loop.

Holy Crap! M.A.R.S. 0.7.0!

Grave-Itation Pit!

I don't like gravity shooters. In fact I don't like them so much I don't play them. They require more precision and skill than I want to give and are unforgiving.

It is ridiculous that I like one gravity shooter though. A ridiculous one. M.A.R.S.

So.. new version.. let my just copy-paste that changelog.. OH MY DOG THEY HAVE A VISUAL CHANGELOG!

new music (by Obsidian Shell)
new game mode (Grave-Itation Pit)
improved AI (collect powerups, use specials, kick more butt)
new planet gfx
new ships
new specials (Freezer, Fire Wall)
gamepad support (tested with Xbox360 controller)
more languages (total of 15)

But seriously, check out their changelog!

Awesome video: Pink! Metal! Bugs!

Updates since the 0.7.0 release:

M.A.R.S. has experimental OSX builds!
M.A.R.S. is in need of Arabic, Hungarian and Italian translators!

The web needs more visual help requests!

Reddit Game Jam 06 (March 25 to 27)

All the screens I could find of RGJ 1-5 submissions

Reddit Game Jam 06 starts March 25 and ends two days later (22:00 UTC).

Anybody can participate. Those who can't code should get together with coders in a team. Team size this time is unlimited.

FOSS is encouraged, not required. [full rules]

From the subreddit's sidebar:

A game jam is an event during which all participants create games according to a provided theme within a short amount of time (usually between two days to a week). The Reddit Game Jam hosts game jams as part of the wonderful Reddit community.

Anybody can participate, experienced or newbie, flash developer or C hacker.

The main goal of this game jam is to be a learning experience for everyone involved. There is nothing to win except for fame, comments and of course karma."

RGJ 1 entries

Spaced Out - Vega Strike and Pioneer betas plus Multiplayer Simutrans and MotoGT

The recent blogging activity, spurred on by the growth in official Free Gamer blog authors, is a pleasure to see. When I started the blog back in 2006, I didn't think it'd ever be so popular, let alone last this long.

* Casual reference to remind readers that I am the original author and, should I ever be displeased, I will smite thee with banana flesh limbs.

^ Reference to IVAN; LIVAN or IVANX are better - see community site for variants.

Vega Strike Shaders

There's a new beta release for Vega Strike. Version 0.5.1 beta 1 (forum announcement) is a bigger point release than the 0.5.0->0.5.1 step implies. Improved planet shaders, lots of bug fixing, lots of general tidy up, video support (mainly for mods) and a lot more ships.

Coincidentally, one of the original Vega Strike authors is working on a project called OurBricks for online collaboration of 3D resources. Lots of the Vega Strike ships are already uploaded.

The ever impressive Pioneer Space Sim project, an Elite-inspired game, continues its activity with the release of Pioneer beta 9. Changelog includes rewritten combat AI, lots of HUD work, some even nicer planet terrain, trade ships, and more.

Also there's big news for Simutrans fans. There was a lull in releases after Simutrans 102.2.2 as the team worked on introducing multiplayer. After nearly a year, version 110.0.1 (and 110.0.0 before it) has arrived with the usual plethora of fixes and well as full multiplayer support.

Our final exciting release is for the fourth beta for MotoGT. Changes include new tracks, effects, joystick support, full championship mode, and more. A video:

Saturday, April 2, 2011