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Lately, I have been seeing more and more high-quality Free Software games, many of which would benifit from powerful graphics cards:

Neverball and Neverputt
Battle for Wesnoth
Blob Wars: Metal Blob Solid
Project: Starfighter
Pydance
Freedroid and FreedroidRPG
GLTron
Armagetron

Many of these are as high-quality as any proprietary game.

(As far as I can tell, you are using "commercial" as a synonym for "proprietary".)

Lately, I have been seeing more and more high-quality Free Software games, many of which would benifit from powerful graphics cards:

Neverball and Neverputt
Battle for Wesnoth
Blob Wars: Metal Blob Solid
Project: Starfighter
Pydance
Freedroid and FreedroidRPG
GLTron
Armagetron

Many of these are as high-quality as any proprietary game.

(As far as I can tell, you are using "commercial" as a synonym for "proprietary".)

I know of 2 freesource clones of DDR.

Stepmania seems to be the most popular of the two, but seems to depend on propriatary data ripped from DDR (which became an issue when someone tried to put it in debian).

Pydance only has 3 songs for it, but is otherwise ok.

Get the patch here: ut2004-kintersect-fix-x86.tar.bz2

More info on the bug...

Been done with aalib. I've personally played Text Mode Quake (screenshots), however not aaquake2 (yet) or the Text Mode UT. The Text Mode UT (aaut) page has some useful information one how aaut and ttyquake work.

do you feel lucky

I was able to go out and meet the creator of pyDance (pyDDR), that made my day in all sorts of ways. I also talked to the director of some movie called Fungicide (that doesn't have an IMDB link); budget was $1000.00. Nice. And I got to play a lot of classic games that I wouldn't have otherwise gotten a chance to play outside of MAME (I'm only 17, so that was a little before my time).
In all: Philly Classic = Good!

First a bit of Linux history reiterated, just to set the scene... Linux has gained the widest adoption in the server arena, probably the largest segment being dedicated Internet/Firewall boxes. Running without a GUI or even headless (without attached monitor/etc), configured via Web interface, even using "lower end" hardware. These are perfect canidates for adding more server software to, in this case we'd add a simple way to install and configure game servers.

The advantages are obvious, we can sidestep the entire issue of "does Linux support the latest games" since most modern games come with a Linux server component that is superior to running a server/client at the same time on your Windows box. (added server overhead usually only if you are serving the game of course)

Considering the wide variety of dedicated firewall distros out there (my own favorite) and how easy they are for even Linux newbies to setup, there isn't much of a leap to create such a distro. One of the main issues of course is getting the needed copyrighted content from the game CD to the Linux box, something that is both a manual and painful process in many cases.

I've discussed this project with a few friends who are familiar with Linux firewalls/game servers also, but unfortunately we haven't had time to do more than brainstorm on it. If we do end up putting together a basic distro like this you can be sure I'll submit it to /. games section. Anyone super interested can email me.

Jonah Hex

Here's 310 other games. Some Free, some commercial.

I know, not even close to what's available on windows, but still way more than I'll ever get a chance to play.

First a bit of Linux history reiterated, just to set the scene... Linux has gained the widest adoption in the server arena, probably the largest segment being dedicated Internet/Firewall boxes. Running without a GUI or even headless (without attached monitor/etc), configured via Web interface, even using "lower end" hardware. These are perfect canidates for adding more server software to, in this case we'd add a simple way to install and configure game servers.

The advantages are obvious, we can sidestep the entire issue of "does Linux support the latest games" since most modern games come with a Linux server component that is superior to running a server/client at the same time on your Windows box. (added server overhead usually only if you are serving the game of course)

Considering the wide variety of dedicated firewall distros out there (my own favorite) and how easy they are for even Linux newbies to setup, there isn't much of a leap to create such a distro. One of the main issues of course is getting the needed copyrighted content from the game CD to the Linux box, something that is both a manual and painful process in many cases.

I've discussed this project with a few friends who are familiar with Linux firewalls/game servers also, but unfortunately we haven't had time to do more than brainstorm on it. If we do end up putting together a basic distro like this you can be sure I'll submit it to /. games section. Anyone super interested can email me.

Jonah Hex

gameprogrammer.com is a decent place to start. So is icculus.org. If it's just general programming you need to learn, prior to jumping into a larger project, check out the Programming Howtos.

Oops, missed a couple of good ones: Polygon Worlds lets you drive around on Mars. Planet's Orbits and Partiview are great for general Astronomy education.

...and some more general linkage, because I'm bored:
Educational -
Tuxtype and Droid Battles.
Board/puzzle games -
MahJong (the real four player thing, not the solitaire version), Settlers of Catan - versions here or here, JTEG, a Risk-alike, and Tetrinet (networked T*tris).
General Fun -
Armagetron (definitely have a look at this - I can imagine it being popular with kids), Search and Rescue, Astrobattle, Tower Toppler, MyLink (UpLink clone), Airstrike, XRick, Vegastrike, Stoned (curling simulation), CarWorld, Cannon Smash (virtual Table tennis), Sentry, Noiz2sa, rRootage, PowerManga, Spheres of Chaos, Warblade, Epiar...

More possibilities.

You might also give Nethack or one of its many derivatives a shot.

That enough to keep you busy? (=

Dosbox definitely does Keen, and it sortof does Duke Nukem 3d as well if you have a fast enough computer. The better option for Duke3D is to get it for Linux. ROTT is also on icculus's site somewhere.

Sound-wise, dosbox is pretty good, except for the newer games where you either get small skips in sound or choppy video (at least on my comp). It emulates loads of sound cards, too. Network-wise, I remember reading something about emulating modems using network sockets (so you could 'dial-up' to game just over the lan), but I can't seem to find any info on that right now.

I havn't run dosemu ever since dosbox first came out, so I can't speak for that.

I actually still use it by choice :-P

my vtwmrc

Gary (-;

Winex is neet and all and I'll give them credit for not adding game support for games that are actively being ported to Linux. But if your trying to decide between a couple of games try to get the one that has a Linux port before chosing one with emulation (ok, wine is not emulation..ygmp).

Between inhouse porting and Icculus a lot of the major releases are coming out with native Linux ports. The developers are doing their part to support a Linux market that we've been clamoring about it for ages, so...buy something from ID Software or try out Savage, Neverwinter Nights, MOHAA or Unreal Tournament. Or save a little money and try America's Army. I'm playing a hell of a lot of Postal 2 STP and its *addictive as hell* and I haven't even touched Tribes 2 in months. Supporting WineX is just begging to go back to playing Tetris clones and Solitare natively under Linux. ;-)

means I'm not buying it. I don't play that many games, but I'm dedicated to the ones I do play.

Descent 1
Descent 2
Descent 3

As for NFS the previous poster Rysc says Linux has had NFS for years.

Now Tomb Raider I don't think there is much demand for, its not even listed in the Wine Application Database

Ever tried pydance or StepMania? Or do you just not have the rhythm?

Thanks to Epic for supporting the port and a HUGE thanks to Ryan @ Icculus for keeping Linux gaming a really, really good thing.

UT2004 Demo for GNU/Linux and MacOS X now available:

http://icculus.org/news/news.php?id=1879

Once again the wonderful job by Ryan Gordon:

http://icculus.org/news/news.php?id=1879

Yes, icculus (Ryan Gordon) has said that the linux version will be on the install CD - http://icculus.org/cgi-bin/finger/finger.pl?user=i cculus There will also be a penguin on the box.
-ReK

thats's the loki installer. for more info see here

If any of you have bought games in the past few years you've probably used Loki Setup. Why wouldn't we use a program like this for simple software installation and an advanced 'package manager' for system updates. I think the problem is that we use overly complicated package managers for EVERYTHING when individual downloads don't need it.

MOHAA is a great game. Call of Duty is made by the same people and is better. It's more optimized on the hardware so it plays very well on decent gamer rigs.

There's a beta linux client for Medal of Honor from our good friends at icculus.org. Thanks guys.

I have the original FS2 retail version, and it runs just fine under XP. And it's great being able to play it on a fast current-day PC in it's full glory. Back when it came out I was playing it on a P2-450 w/ TNT2. Playing it on an Athlon XP 2600+ and GF4 ti4200 is awesome.

I've played the Linux port... and it works pretty well. I haven't tried it for over a year, but I'm on the
freespace list (just lurking) and there has been some sporadic activity lately... but it's working pretty well. Compiling it is fun - there are a lot of required libraries.

As mentioned in the article, there's a bunch of add-on missions, and even a Babylon 5 total conversion for FS2.

Great game, I don't think it's ever been "under rated", just "under sold".

Ok I'll bite,

Maybe he wants to play the linux versions of Unreal Tournament 2003, or Medal of Honor, or Neverwinter Nights, or Quake3, or Return to Castle Wolfenstein, or Enemy Territory, or Savage , or Rune, or SpaceTripper, or Tribes 2 or Serious Sam, or Postal2, or America's Army or another of the various other games on Linux that requires 3D acceleration. Sure, a far cry from what's available on windows, but more games then I'll ever have time to play.

Go nuts. You too can build levels for Redneck Rampage. Now available on Linux.

Maybe we'll even get the Build Forever engine this year...(sorry)

yeah that was a big way over the top as im sure by now you've gotten about 200 replies on this that was not DDR but instead a amazing (if not better dupe called pyDance which MADE the table as far as im concerned. at least we werent sitting there spewing the same boring crap or giving away yet another pen ! Anyway the honorable thing might be to update your comment so you dont look so foolish but thats your call clarifying -jsin

See PyDDR. Prebuilt for most of the popular distributions, requires some work to get it working from scratch. Hook your pad (or two) to your PC with the help of a $15 adapter and you're ready to go. Song collections can be found all over the net.

The same goes for all the games mentioned in the guide - Quake, Wolf3D, Doom all have versions that can be run natively on GNU/Linux and some are also greatly enhanced. Schorched Earth's original version isn't but several remakes are. The Linux Game Tome is a good starting place if you wish to obtain these.

It's interesting how it might be easier to run legacy Dos apps in GNU/Linux than in Windows (XP) these days. My friend's been dreaming of running a certain old dos game on his WinXP system, but all he has is Dosbox which doesn't run it and even if it did, it would be unplayably slow.

There's a bugzilla for it too, here.

Actually, 302.

See the list!

I swear by the EMS USB2 adapter. it allows you to use 2 Playstation Dual Shock pads per adapter. fully supported under linux, and recommended by the PyDance authors for those who crave Dance Mats. Works wonderfully in every emulator that supports the kernel joystick driver, and especially rules for XMame's fighting games The PS2 Dual Shock is the best controller ever made, other than the Japanese Saturn controller. Why use a crappy Gravis "good enough" pad if you already have the real thing?

Descent is a game where you pilot a spaceship through a mine inside an asteroid that has been taken over by robots. The object is to destroy the reactor and exit the mine before the reactor explodes. The Descent projects are the D2X Project and the D1X Project.

I'll second that, except to say that I use OpenBox instead of BlackBox. OpenBox2 was based on the BlackBox code, OpenBox3 is a ground-up rewrite. If you love BlackBox, give OpenBox3 a try - you'll definitely be able to configure your keybindings the way you want, and it's just as fast as BlackBox. I've some screenshots up at http://www.savoy.f9.co.uk/ take a look at the OpenBox site at http://www.icculus.org/openbox/

Ravage has made a bunch of Linux installers for Windows PC games including:

Alteria
Devastation
Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition
Freespace: The Great War
Freespace: Silent Threat
Freespace 2
Kingpin: Life of Crime
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide
Rise of The Triad: Dark War
Soul Ride
Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror
Unreal: Return To Na Pali
Unreal Gold
Unreal Tournament 2003 Digital Extremes Bonus Pack
Unreal Tournament 2003 Epic Bonus Pack One

All you need is original Windows CD for the games, and possibly some graphics cards tweaking. I've used these installers to get Unreal Tournament and Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror working on my Debian (woody) box.

Check out the ravage's web site here: http://www.icculus.org/~ravage/

Trackballs and perhaps Neverball (though that's slightly different) might interest marble madness fans presently using Linux.

Not all Linux users' muscles have atrophied. Pydance and StepMania are physical exercise games that both run in Linux.

You make a valid point -- so far no review of modern video cards that I have ever been able to find has benchmarked the card on a Linux platform. Unfortunately, there are multiple valid reasons why they don't, the main ones being that the Linux drivers are still a little too involved to set up easily; the lack of game-independent benchmarks for Linux that work in a GUI; and finally, probably their belief that no one games on Linux anyway.

Except for the id fans; thanks to teh Carmack, every single game they've written since Doom has been ported to Linux either during development or after the source code was GPLed. If ATi and NVIDIA (or even XGI) would clean up their drivers and work with either UnitedLinux, the LSB or the distro makers like SuSE and Mandrake to improve the installability of the driver for Linux n00bs, the benchmark companies might begin releasing game-independent benchmark ports like 3DMark and Aquamark, and companies would be encouraged to port to Linux or make their source code available to folks who will (like icculus).

Those weren't ads, merely a browser plugin bug. icculus is responsible for Mac and Linux releases. He's usually lagging behind about a month, but he makes good ports.

Hello,

The way I do mouse movement in my current game(http://www.holepit.com/) is to make everything mouse controlled. It takes quite a bit of work to design your game in this way though. Depending on the game you may not be able to do it.

I have the characters follow where the mouse pointer is. So the movement of the character is kind of passive. You do not have to constantly tell it to go forwards. It always goes forwards depending on where the mouse is. Any of the buttons on the mouse will activate the characters special move. It sounds like a very simple control mechanism, and it is :) But most people are able to control it quite well. Of course I also support keyboard control for the second player.

Also on most of todays mice you have a wheel as well. Many also have an extra two buttons. These can all be put to good use. However they should not be required as many people still use old or simple mice with one or two buttons.

Another gaming mechanism not using your hands is the good old dance mat. Put it on the ground and use your feet! A good game for this is pydance! You could probably hook it up to give keyboard events, allthough I haven't done it.

For example with quake 3 style games, a mat and a mouse could control the game quite well. Using the mouse as is, and the mat to side step and select weapons.

If like in my game holepit people made an effort to support control by single hand input devices it can be done.

The atari style joysticks can be controlled with one hand. They were quite amazing in their simplicity, yet a lot of the games on the atari managed to have great gameplay with such a simple controller.

Having to use two hands for input has probabbly raised the dexterity of gamers. But for casual gamers their fine motor skills, and two hand coordination is not so good. Was talking to a fitness instructor who did some reasearch comparing game players to non game players. He found that the non game players generally had better full body control, but the gamers had much better fine motor skills. So having the ability to use one hand allows people who don't play with computers all day to play with a higher level of skill.

Have fun!

ps. if you want to try out an early version of my game to see how the mouse control works email me at me AT holepit.com

But it was a very nice game. You were so weak as a human, and the aliens were so fast. It took a lot of strategy to get anything done. I sure learned where all the medpacks were. Playing as an alien, where you could cling to any surface and move really quickly, was my favorite. But you had no distance weapons at all. You had to sneak up on everyone. I also liked how you could cheat, but you had to earn it, like getting a specific number of kills, or completing a level without being spotted, and so forth.

Didn't Gentoo already do this when they created an Americas Army LiveCD for "any" x86 system?

Well, alright, it didn't actually run on "any" system - maybe on ran on "some" systems but I seem to remember this was quite a while back when Icculus first ported it.

PyGame is amazingly easy and powerfull. I met it playing pyDance with a PS2 dance mat hooked up to by 'puter.

Just of curiosity, how many of the 2 million player are actually americans ?

Oh.. it's available for Linux as well. see e.g. here

Check out his resume. He is contracted to do the ports.

Although IBM encouraged researchers to download the GameGrid-enhanced Quake 2 application, only 870 did so. In a stress test performed Wednesday, only 80 players were on the map at any one time.

Sacrifice apparently

The Whys and Hows of Porting Softwareby Ryan Gordon (icculus of icculus.org)

Spy Hunter: For once, Windows users get ripped off by transgaming

I've played it a bit offline and online, and so far, it's pretty good. It seems to be a tad bit faster and smoother than the Windows version... However, there is still one problem. As Icculus noted, the sound is still borked. He had to rewrite the Miles Sound System code to use OpenAL instead. That code is not yet complete, but the rest of it seems to be running great. Sound does work, but panning effects seem a bit off (often too loud). Some stuff loops longer than normal as well. This is just a beta though, released only because people couldn't wait for Icculus to finish it.

If you want to use it, I suggest using Ravage's MOH:AA installer. It worked like a charm for me. It includes the biaries as well, and it seems to patch it to the recent version.

If you play in single player mode, subtitles are a must. Sound gets skipped sometimes, since the sound code isn't perfect yet.

http://icculus.org/~ravage/mohaa/