Open Source Games (Cont)

Open Source Games

1. Playing the Open Source Game
   In this article I will explain why I think that games are fundamentally different to most types of software. I will suggest a few reasons why an open source approach could nevertheless make sense for a commercial game developer, and also point out what I see as the major stumbling blocks that are making it hard for hackers to produce a commercial quality game.
   
2. Five addictive open source games
   You can use open source software to make yourself more productive, but the open source community has also produced some impressive game titles, such as Freeciv, Vega Strike, and Flight Simulator. I've found some lesser-known yet excellent and quite addictive games for you to try. All of these games have low system requirements and run on multiple platforms, including Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.
   
3. Where are the Good Open Source Games?
   Despite the impressive list of achievements of open source software, it can be argued that there have not been any world-class games created under the open source banner. Sure, several old games like Doom and Quake have been gifted to the open source community, but there are no comparable original creations in this area. One should not expect this situation to change anytime soon, because the open source development model does not make sense for game development. Most games, by their very nature, have a relatively short lifespan. This is natural. A game provides the user with an experience, but ultimately the user moves on. Since a single user is only interested in the game for a short period of time, it is unlikely that they will contribute much back to the open-source project.
   
4. Stratagus: Open Source Strategy Games
   Sometimes calling something free might not make for the best publicity. Such was the case with FreeCraft. This open source project began with much promise — an engine that game developers or hobbyists could use to create real-time strategy (RTS) games for Linux, Windows, and other platforms. It also annoyed game developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment (renowned for its RTS franchises Diablo, StarCraft, and WarCraft) for two reasons. The Stratagus engine copies the basic, standard gameplay features of the typical RTS game engine. Its developers admit that they implemented the controversial association with WarCraft 2 because it was easier to use the Blizzard game's graphics than to create their own, though they intended this only as a temporary means to make their engine work.
   
   
5. Open Source Game Development
   Amazon's recommendation system recommended me "Open Source Game Development: Qt Games for KDE, PDA's and Windows" when I was looking for an introduction to OpenGL. While it does contain two chapters on OpenGL, there's much, much more. It's not just an introduction to writing open source games, it's a complete introduction to participating in open source projects like KDE."
   
6. Open source software and games
   Today, for many computing tasks, the open source ecosystem provides programs that equal or surpass what the proprietary Windows-based world offers. Gaming, however, is not among those areas, nor will it likely be anytime soon. But if we look further into this fascinating field, we find a number of positive developments. Open source games do exist, and the development scene is active and creative. You can get a taste of this by visiting sites devoted to Linux gaming, such as The Linux Game Tome, which highlights updated open source game projects every day. You can usually find a couple of announcements for new open source game projects every week.
   
7. Open Source Game Development: Qt Games for KDE, PDA's, and Windows
   Open Source Game Development: Qt Games for KDE, PDAs, and Windows starts with a review of game design and walks the reader through Open Source game development using Qt and KDE. From there it moves on to cover topics such as Canvas Games (2D), OpenGL (3D), graphics & sound, pathfi nding, AI, particle effects, math, and physics. All relevant sections of the book include ready-to-use code snippets that are accompanied by fully functional tutorial/example programs and extensive API documentation. The companion CD-ROM includes C++ source code for Qt applications and all of the algorithms from the text. After reading this book, game programmers will have the tools and knowledge to master Open Source game development.
   
8. Open Source Java Game Utilities: LWJGL 0.98 and Game Gardens
   The days of Java applications being necessarily slow and cumbersome is ending as faster processors and improvements to JVM technologies continue to proliferate. What this means is that you can start doing some cool stuff with graphics and interactivity. LWGL is geared to the game developer who wants to develop serious games for fun or commercial sales. The library includes implementations of OpenAL for audio delivery and OpenGL for graphics. Additionally, there are utilities for handling user input (e.g. from input controllers, or, "joysticks"), basic 3D modeling, FMOD utilities (for embedding audio), vector tools, and more.
   
9. ExoEngine 3D Game Engine
   This 3D engine imports it's level/worlds data from the popular Worldcraft editor . Strangely, Worldcraft outputs it's world/level data in sets of bounding planes which define the contours of solid objects. Thus one has to convert the bounding plane sets into their respective sets of polygons. The resulting set of faces is then quickly optimized to remove hidden or redundant faces created by adjacent objects. Then this face set is converted into a binary space partition tree (commonly called a "BSP tree") representation for both collision detection purposes and efficient visibility calculations. There is also some auxiliary code that recognizes specifically defined entities in the Worldcraft data such as the animated pond and the duck sprites.
   
10. Linux Games
    The world is filled with Free Software to do all kinds of jobs. From top-to-bottom, a typical GNU/Linux system provides a kernel, basic administration tools, servers, clients, a graphical substrate, and (finally) high-level graphical environments sitting atop it all. Graphics, sound, input, output, networking... you can find Free Software for all of these. Despite this power given to hackers, Free Software games are often considered to be of lesser quality, compared to those available in the non-Free software world. In this review, I'll look at the variety of Free Software games available today and whether Free gaming software deserves its reputation.
    
11. Open Source APIs for Java Technology Games
    MDR-EdO: Welcome to today's Java Live chat on open source APIs for Java Technology Games. These APIs include Java Binding for OpenGL (JOGL), Java Bindings for OpenAL (JOAL), and JInput. Our guests today are three key members of Sun's Game Technologies group (the group responsible for these APIs): Athomas Goldberg, Jeff Kesselman (Jeff is not here yet), and Daniel Petersen. Also joining us is Ken Russell, who is a coauthor of the JOGL API. Our guests are ready to answer your questions about the APIs, and about Sun's support for Java technology games in general. So let's first level set. Athomas, Jeff, Daniel, and Ken, can you give us a brief overview of these APIs?
    
12. 2008 Olympics plans open source migration
    The 2008 Olympic Games could switch to a cost-saving open source technology platform under proposals to be considered by the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).The open source move will be recommended by the International Olympic Committee's technology partner Atos Origin on the back of guidance from its suppliers HP and IBM.
    
13. Edutainment and Game Theory Realization through an Open-Source UNESCO Virtual Perspolis Project
    In the recent years, educational research has shown that peer-to-peer teaching reinforces mastery. Moreover, educators have recognized the value of practical experience and competition. For instance, students can design and build robots which then compete against one other in navigating through an obstacle course. However, a lack of resources or other factors may limit the situations in which this is possible. In contrast, a computer simulation of such a competition would enable more rapid prototyping and further refinement, and could expand the total number of students who can properly share in the experience.
    
14. Open Game Licenses
    The Open Gaming Foundation believes that a license must provide for two important features in order to be an Open Game license:
    1. The license must allow game rules and materials that use game rules to be freely copied, modified and distributed.
    2. The license must ensure that material distributed using the license cannot have those permissions restricted in the future.
    
15. OpenRTS - open source real time strategy game
    OpenRTS is a new project founded to fill a void in the open source game world and create a real-time strategy game. It will be featuring isometric graphics, networked multiplayer and single-player scenarios. The game is being developed using Python and SDL. The software is released under the GPL, and new developers and testers are encouraged to join the project and contribute in their area of interest. The game and source code is available for download at openrts.org.

Open Source Game Engine

1. Genesis3D Open Source Engine
   Genesis3D is a real-time 3D rendering environment for all of your real-time 3D needs. With a large online community, free online forums, and many links to Genesis3D developers...you will find all the support and tools that you need to begin developing world-class, real-time 3D applications today. If you are new to developing with Genesis3D, the current version of the Software Developer's Kit is 1.1. Use the tutorials found on our linked pages, and ask questions on our forum. The engine is free to download and play with. Also make sure to download GDemo1, an impressive example of Genesis3D in action. Please read our license agreement regarding the creation of your own content using the engine. If you modify the Genesis3D engine source, excerpt any portion of it, or if you use a modified version of the engine source, you must make your source code available for others to use under the same terms that we have granted you. If you do not wish to make your source code available you must obtain a separate paid license from Eclipse.
   
2. Open source gaming & simulation engine
   Welcome to the 1.3.0 release! This release contains breaking changes, so be sure to check out our Upgrade Guide for user of Delta3D 1.2.0.
   Delta3D is a modern, open-source, full-featured game engine. It is being developed to fulfill the needs of military training which require a combination of gaming and traditional visual simulation technologies. Users of Delta3D include the U.S. Military, numerous research universities, hobbyists, and commercial companies. Major New Features
   * dtHLAGM: A HLA networking component for the Game Manager that support an Agile FOM interface using XML.
   * User input via dtCore::Keyboard and dtCore::Mouse now follows the Chain of Responsibility pattern. This also users to have finer-grained control over who handles input events.
   * Brand new dtCore::SkyBox which support three render profiles: fixed function, cube map, and angular map. This refactor fixes the infamous ATI/SkyBox bug
   * Support in dtCore::EffectManager for extensible Detonation Types.
   
3. Open Source cube Engine Game
   Free single and multi player 1st person shooter game with some satisfying fast oldskool gameplay. A large variety of gameplay modes from classic SP to fast 1 on 1 MP and objective based teamplay, with a great variety of original maps to play on. Level editing has never been so much fun: a press of a key allows you to modify the geometry / textures / entities in-game, on the fly. Even more novel, you can make maps together with others online, in the unique "coop edit" mode. The engine, though designed for simplicity and elegance as opposed to feature & eyecandy checklists, still competes nicely thanks to its novel "6-directional heighfield deformable cube octree" world structure that is the basis for its in-game editing. Occlusion culling, pixel & vertex shaders, very accurate light mapping, robust custom physics system, network system, models, sound, scripting.
   
   
4. ExoEngine 3D Game Engine
   For my fourth year computer graphics course I wrote a little 3D engine using C# and the .NET platform. I decided to go this route as opposed to the C++ route that everyone else took in the course because I wanted to see whether C# lived up to it's hype. Surprising, after writing about 600kB of code in C# it seems like it is a decent language after all and possibly an effective replacement for C++ even in the demanding field of real-time 3D game development. When I compare C# to C++ I find it's best features are garbage collection, less convoluted syntax and true object orientation. It was a class requirement that I use OpenGL instead of DirectX / Direct3D. Just a quick disclaimer before I go too far: please remember that this is just an old one-term university project thus don't get your expectations too high. The included compiled binaries for both the math library and the OpenGL wrapper are compatible with Visual Basic .NET and Visual C++ .NET development projects.
   
5. Playing the Open Source Game
   Everyone agrees that Linux needs to have more games. Recently it has even started to look as if it might get them, as Loki gears up to fill the void by porting successful Windows titles, but there are some problems with this rosy scenario. For one, the Loki games are just closed ports of commercial products, which is not at all what the Free Software crowd would like to see. For another, where are the bazaar mode alternatives that the Open Source enthusiasts say we are supposed to be so good at creating for ourselves? Hackers like to work on things that are cool. They will do boring, necessary work every now and then, but only after all the more interesting options have been exhausted (just look at how the Linux GUI environments consider themeable checkboxes to be at least as important as having a usable file selector). Games are cool, and most programmers enjoy writing them, and yet this is one area where Linux is lagging far behind the commercial offerings available on Windows platforms. At first glance, this doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
   
6. Open Source Game Development
   A 3D game engine is a complex collection of code. Anyone entering into game development would have to spend at least a year developing a game engine or purchase a pricey game engine to utilize. Of course, another option would be to use an open source engine, but game developers have often shied away from these due to their lack of features and reliability. However, these days there are several open source engines (or low-cost commercial engines) that have a rich set of features and offer stability. Open source engines, however, do not necessarily have the performance of their more expensive commercial counterparts as they do not always take advantage of the latest features available on the CPU and GPU.
   
7. Open-Source Game Engine Released
   dim3 v2.0, a major update to the free and open-source OS X 3D game development system, has been released. dim3 is designed for mod-ers with no programming experience (source code is not needed) but can also be used by experts who require the source code, all without restrictions or payment. Projects created in dim3 can run games on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Additions to dim3 v2.0:
   • rigid body physics
   • improved real time RGB lighting, bump-mapping, and diffuse lighting
   • auto-specular mapping
   • particles, sounds, and effects now part of skeletal animation system
   • weapon scripting by bones
   • weapon zooming/scopes
   
8. Open Source PC Game Engine
   Reality Factory is a set of Open Source Tools for creating games and other high-performance multimedia applications. It includes support for two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) graphics, sound and music, input, advanced character animation, advanced world editing & animation capabilities, and many features commonly found in first and third person action games (such as customizable weapons, ammo, health and damage, customizable menu's). Reality Factory also has many cutting edge special effects, such as dynamic colored lighting, advanced particle effects and much more.
   
9. Game Engine - Open Source
   Beginning Game Graphics teaches the art of video games in a very fun and interactive manner. Gamescapers' founder Harry Evry has proudly partnered with Thomson Course Technology and Premier Press to produce the first book based upon the proven Gamescapers' curriculum.
   Beginning Game Graphics" provides an introduction to the exciting world of the video game artist. It offers powerful and easy-to-use tools to create professional quality game models, and covers many of the methods, philosophies, and proven techniques to get you started and help separate you from the crowd. Designed to be used in a classroom situation or by individually readers, the book includes demonstrations, exercises, discussion topics, questions and answers, illustrations, screen shots, and all of the software you need to create your own game models and place them in a real video game. An example game is included and another is available online.
   
10. Project: Open Game Engine
    Open Game Engine is an open-source framework for building high-quality 3D games. OGE features data-driven architecture and cutting-edge hardware support by means of DirectX.
    * Development Status: 1 - Planning
    * Environment: Win32 (MS Windows)
    * Intended Audience: Developers
    * License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
    * Natural Language: English, Russian
    * Operating System: Windows NT/2000, Windows XP
    * Programming Language: C++
    * Topic: Games/Entertainment, Frameworks
    
11. Open Source APIs for Java Technology Games
    MDR-EdO: Welcome to today's Java Live chat on open source APIs for Java Technology Games. These APIs include Java Binding for OpenGL (JOGL), Java Bindings for OpenAL (JOAL), and JInput. Our guests today are three key members of Sun's Game Technologies group (the group responsible for these APIs): Athomas Goldberg, Jeff Kesselman (Jeff is not here yet), and Daniel Petersen. Also joining us is Ken Russell, who is a coauthor of the JOGL API. Our guests are ready to answer your questions about the APIs, and about Sun's support for Java technology games in general. So let's first level set. Athomas, Jeff, Daniel, and Ken, can you give us a brief overview of these APIs?
    OpenAL is a 3D audio API that's rapidly becoming a standard for games and is supported in hardware on audio cards by Creative and others. JOAL gives Java technology developers access to hardware-accelerated 3D audio by providing wrappers to these native APIs.