Slashdot Mirror

... After seeing how that shook out (US did nothing ...), they moved to the next step. Same result. You might not agree (nor do I) with their goals, but the way they are moving forward is incredibly rational, well-planned, and measured.

I don't think anyone on /. would do well in a poker or chess game with Putin. "Measured" is the key word to characterize any move he might make. You can't read him, so poker is out completely. In chess he would probably pull you into what appears to be a quick-advantage take, only to find it to be a major-piece loss in a trap.

So what game might give an even playing field? How about a randomly-generated Risk-type of map? You might stand a chance there, as no one can pre-game much beyond their neighbor's next turn. So, here is a shameless fan-plug*; and in checking my link, I found that it's currently on sale for 50% off on Steam**: Lux Delux has tons of maps, many random-map generators, and also some super-smart AIs – all programmed by a very active community.

** While fetching the link, I found that it is $5 on Steam – 50% off. (I paid around $40 many years ago.)

*** I've played this Risk-derived variant for years, and have even contributed some maps (that were popular for a short time before staling-out under a dog-pile of other new maps). . . Ah well. It's a solid game, and my maps were too mathematical to be considered "fun" by anyone but the uber-geek strategic players.

Check it out!

I know that if I look in YaST on my openSUSE box, I have plenty of games to select from. Just trying them out will take a considerable time. That will give you a better idea then what people would say THEIR preferences are. There is a reason there are so many games out there. It is about what you like.

LBreakout is still something I like. Just like foobilliard. Both included in my YaST. I am sure other distro's will have most of the same and many different games. Trying them all out is a game in itself.

OTOH, I also payed for http://sillysoft.net/lux/.

Programming games are fun!

However, I've yet to see a such a contest in which the successful entries used AI techniques rather than handcoded decision-making. My money says the winners of this will be handcoded and possibly tuned automatically, and not based on neural networks or genetic programming or whatever. I suspect this is true because these games are set up so that the game mechanics and the outlines of good strategy are very intuitive to humans, and so it's most efficient for the human programmer to encode that knowledge into the controller. Then if there's some minor detail that the programmer doesn't know how to optimize, like "what is the exact threshold from which I should switch from strategy X to strategy Y", then that can be found by running a lot of games automatically.

That's how I'll be working, at least; in any case, I don't think I could write a decent learning algorithm for something like this in a month (or probably even given a lot more time).

I hope this isn't considered spam, but those interested in this might like to know about some other programming games I've enjoyed:
http://jrobots.sf.net/ (Java clone of CRobots)
http://robocode.sourceforge.net/ (More complicated version of above)
http://sillysoft.net/ (Risk game that accepts AI plugins)

The choice should be with the user, not with the distribution.

If I want to fill my desktop and PC with tons of software that is closed and made by Microsoft or whomever you dislike, that is MY choice. It is My PC so I do whith it what I want.

Yes, I use NVidia drivers that are closed source. Yes I have Opera running. Yes I have other software that I payed for.
I use openSUSE and there I can select between an OSS and a Non-OSS. That way I can decide myself wether I want it pure or not.

The reason they did it was because some people were moaning about Non-OSS software in the distribution and that that wa s what holding SUSE (now openSUSE) back, so they changed it.

And that is were the choice should be. With the user, not with the distribution, not with some freak with a beard.

To me it is about choice and if I have a duistribution that does not give me that choice (I do not know if they exist) that that is NOT a good thing.

Where are the commercial game ports for Linux? No one wants to make them, obviously, save for the FPS crowd (and there's only an Unreal Tournament for Linux because Epic passes the buck to Icculus to get the job done, not because they have the in-house talent to do it themselves). There are a few commercial games for Linux, yes, but only a few, and there's very little variety between them. In the open source world we have a few good games (the majority of them being FPS's, what a surprise), Battle for Wesnoth if you like strategy games (turn based ones, that is). Then we have the unfortunate, ugly ripoffs like "Secret Maryo Chronicles," and other games that look like they were developed for a C64. Plenty of selection, not a lot of quality.

The following publishers develop comemrcial linux games:

http://www.pompomgames.com/
http://www.garagegames.com/
http://www.introversion.co.uk/
http://frictionalgames.com/
http://sillysoft.net/
http://www.basiliskgames.com/
http://www.guildsoftware.com/
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/
http://www.rune-soft.com/
http://grubbygames.com/
http://www.caravelgames.com/
http://www.planewalkergames.com/
http://www.graalonline.com/

There are also the high profile ones such as neverwinter nights, the doom and quake series, unreal, etc.

There are many high quality independant titles such as neverball, you mentioned wesnoth, crimson fields, flight gear, torcs, the spring project, total annihilation 3d, tecnoballZ, powermanga, tile racer, pingus, clonk, freeciv, ultimate stunts, planeshift, scorched3d, VDrift, silvertree (not complete, but being created by the wesnoth guys so likely will not be vapor), ufo: alien invasion, scourge, etc.

http://spring.clan-sy.com/
http://www.wesnoth.org/
http://torcs.sourceforge.net/
http://www.flightgear.org/
https://icculus.org/neverball/
http://ta3d.darkstars.co.uk/
http://linux.tlk.fr/games/
http://tileracer.model-view.com/
http://pingus.seul.org/
http://www.clonk.de/
http://freeciv.wikia.com/
http://www.ultimatestunts.nl/
http://www.planeshift.it/
http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/
http://vdrift.net/
http://www.silvertreerpg.org/
http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/
http://scourge.sourceforge.net/

Many of these are very impressive independently made free games. Perhaps they lack the multi million dollar marketing budget and won't make your geofrce 8800 gtxz 45 x super elite ultra melt, but theya re *fun* games, and they are numerous. Also keep in mind this publisher and free game list is only what I could find in 1 hour of searching.

Then there are freed older commercial games such as warzone 2100, homeworld, descent 1 and 2, doom, quake, etc.

Lets not stop t

1. Salling Clicker
2. Mac HelpMate.. er, iPhone HelpMate...
3. Lux!!! http://www.sillysoft.net/

Anything else would be a waste of precious storage for my uses ;-)

No, *YOU* 'Submit'!

My desert island game is Lux (http://sillysoft.net/lux/) - it's like Risk, only a ton better, with hundreds of custom maps, clever AI, and online multiplayer capabilities. I've played the game literally thousands of times, but I still go back to it when I'm bored...which I imagine would be quite frequent on a desert island!

There are indies who support linux.

Support the indies, and they'll support you:

http://www.caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/JtRH. html
http://grubbygames.com/
http://sillysoft.net/

I'm sure there are more.

Lux and Pax Galaxia, both distributed by SillySoft, are two simple games that I have spent countless hours playing. They are simple enough to just jump right into, but the gameplay is surprisingly deep and enjoyable. Highly addictive!

This may seem like a sales-pitch, but I am not affiliated in any way.

Lux and Pax Galaxia, both distributed by SillySoft, are two simple games that I have spent countless hours playing. They are simple enough to just jump right into, but the gameplay is surprisingly deep and enjoyable. Highly addictive!

This may seem like a sales-pitch, but I am not affiliated in any way.

Lux from Sillysoft has tons of user-made maps based on satellite images. And not just the "standard" Risk world map, but many others, too. It's a generalization of Risk-type game play, allowing just about any kind of map.

Of all of the Risk clones around, Lux probably draws the most tweakers and programmers. Users make maps, AIs, and random-map generators. Players rate them. Ranked online play, too, just in case you had a social life you needed to get rid of.

The Risk-clone Lux from Silysoft has an active developer community, including AI writers, and provides an SDK for them. There are some great user-made bots to check out - Nefarious, Killbot, BotOfDoom, Boscoe. Some bots will even play team-style, just like humans.

1. Its fast. Most games are played in 30-min or less. Regular Risk can take 1 - 1.5 hours at least.
2. Easy to join network games
3. Online stats
4. Easy chatting with other team players
5. You can play multiple games at once

I actually have the PC CD-ROM game of Risk, but the online play sucked and I got good enough where I could beat the computer AI every time. Lux is way faster and alot more fun to play. They add a few rule variations from standard Risk, but those rules speed up game play and fun considerably.

JOhn

Yes, courtesy of Lux.

Of course, every now and again something special will come out brand new...

My game Lux is one of those listed and it runs on Linux.

I offer a computerized version of the board game Risk with quite a lot of nifty features. Anyone interested should check out Lux.

current rankings
weekly winners
16 week seeded averages
most played maps
recently played games
and every user has their own page with their stats and recent game list.

They get a ton of page views, so I would say that many users enjoy their presence. Of course, some will be obsessed and some will not care at all. It's a spectrum, blah blah blah...

current rankings
weekly winners
16 week seeded averages
most played maps
recently played games
and every user has their own page with their stats and recent game list.

They get a ton of page views, so I would say that many users enjoy their presence. Of course, some will be obsessed and some will not care at all. It's a spectrum, blah blah blah...

current rankings
weekly winners
16 week seeded averages
most played maps
recently played games
and every user has their own page with their stats and recent game list.

They get a ton of page views, so I would say that many users enjoy their presence. Of course, some will be obsessed and some will not care at all. It's a spectrum, blah blah blah...

current rankings
weekly winners
16 week seeded averages
most played maps
recently played games
and every user has their own page with their stats and recent game list.

They get a ton of page views, so I would say that many users enjoy their presence. Of course, some will be obsessed and some will not care at all. It's a spectrum, blah blah blah...

current rankings
weekly winners
16 week seeded averages
most played maps
recently played games
and every user has their own page with their stats and recent game list.

They get a ton of page views, so I would say that many users enjoy their presence. Of course, some will be obsessed and some will not care at all. It's a spectrum, blah blah blah...

I have stayed very true to the feel of Risk, and it has been quite successful!

What you gonna do about it meat-space gamers?

I don't have a MacOS machine so I'm not your target audience.

I would fix the obvious typo on the front page though. "infinte" is not the word you wanted ;)

Glad it's going well for you, but I guess it depends how much competition you have for your game(s) and your platform of choice.

On the PC there are a million and one freeware games that you have to compete with - and lots more shareware. I guess if you can sell one or two and support the cost of your time + hosting then you're OK.

But right now it's hard for me to imagine that a small company could come out and sell enough to become anything other than a cult hit.

It can be found at http://sillysoft.net

If you guys run MacOS X and you enjoy the boardgame Risk then I would humbly suggest my game Lux. It's fun for the whole family.

I'm running it on my g4 cube and haven't had any problems yet either. A buddy at the office had to reinstall 10.2.6 on his G3 Blue and White though.

The only odd problem I've really had is Lux crashing on me for no reason.

Lux 3.0 - the latest and greatest version of my world domination game - was released last week. It's like the boardgame Risk but with random maps and all sorts of bells and/or whistles.

Yes, it was built by me, but it's still damn cool. So check it out.

The AI's that it ships with have been released under the GPL along with an AI SDK, so you can write your own if you want.

The AI's that it ships with have been released under the GPL along with an AI SDK, so you can write your own if you want.

For example, I've been playing the game Lux for the past little while. It's exactly like the boardgame Risk, except that instead of playing on a map of earth it randomly generates maps. Now I think that Risk is one kick-ass game, and random boards are making my mind explode!!! (note that Lux is OSX only)