TransGaming Ports 3 Kohan Titles to Linux

Kohan_Rocks writes: "TransGaming today anounced the opening of their new 'webstore' which includes the brand new port of Three Kohan Titles. Probably equally amazing is the distribution method: All three games are available for download only (finally big name games available for download!). I'll probably buy atleast some of these games even though I have the old Loki version of the original Kohan - Loki's wern't network compatiable with windows, TransGaming's apparantly are (and its just such a cool game)."

Comments

Great, big downloads...

[Quasar1999]

Hmm... just in time for the new caps on downloads from our broadband providors... BLOODY HELL!

Please let this work....

[Vengie]

"amazing distribution method"

Please please please let this work!? Finally...we have support for "downloadable" big titles....and hopefully the incidence of "warez" (re: all the posts that have probably already been modded offtopic/flamebait above this post) will be low. I hope people realize how important it is to buy this stuff...

Corporatized

[IamTheRealMike]

Behind TransGaming's cross-platform solutions is a unique proprietary portability technology that facilitates the migration of games

Maybe I'm just wierd, but to my ears "proprietary" is a bad word, especially considering that their "portability solution" is based off the hard work of the Wine crew (go Wine!). This sounds like they've been taken over by the marketroids. Sad, but I hope it won't be too long until WineHQ also has DirectX compatability, even if it is x86 only.

Re:Corporatized

[jaaron]

Maybe I'm just wierd, but to my ears "proprietary" is a bad word,...

proprietary (adj).

Of, relating to, or suggestive of a proprietor or to proprietors as a group: had proprietary rights; behaved with a proprietary air in his friend's house.

Exclusively owned; private: a proprietary hospital.

Owned by a private individual or corporation under a trademark or patent: a proprietary drug.

I know I'll probably get flamed for this, but you know, I always thought property rights were a good thing. WINE chose to license their work as they did just so that someone like Transgaming *could* come along and do what they're doing. Besides that, Transgaming has been putting forth an effort to both (1) make a profit and (2) give back to the community. If someone works hard and choses to not give that work away to the community for free, that's their choice, but it's not BAD.

Kohans - short review

[Dark Paladin]

A Kohan review in less than 60 seconds:

The core idea behind Kohans: Immortal Sovereigns deals with a group of immortal beings who can be resurrected at any time as long as you have their medallion.

The game is in the RTS genre, with some nice features. Micromanagement is largely out, since once you "claim" a resource, it's yours, unless one of your enemies goes to claim it.

Instead of having huge armies, it's organized into squads with 1 leader, 4 "primary" units, and 2 secondary units.

The squad system is unique, and adds some interesting strategy. Each Kohan (the immortal guys) have their own specialty, like "bonus to horse riding units", or "extra healing powers". And, as your Kohans, go into battle, they gain levels to get stronger (and can be carried from mission to mision.) You might want to do things like put the healing expert Kohan in charge of a defensive force, and have them protect the city, while a Kohan who gives bonuses to speed might be sent out to scout out enemy territory and claim mines and such.

One thing to remember - if your Kohan dies, they go back to Level 1 after you pay to "resurrect" them, so you start to get attached and have to weigh sacrificing a Kohan this time to win a battle, playing it safer to win the war, or hitting the "reload" button.

There was a lot to like about the game, and while most levels are usually just "go claim other cities and kick ass", and having a mass of squads in battle can really slow things down, overall Kohan is probably worth your time to check it out.

Now, if they would just make an OS X version, I'd be set....

Re:Kohans - short review

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

it's just back to the old "build up and attack once you have enough units" game.

This is the main reason that "network compatability with Windows" doesn't really concern me - I rarely play online because this seems to be the only tactic that's allowed to work in most RTS games, and therefore that's how most online players play them. Not much fun, in my opinion.

On the other hand, Kohan has a fair selection of AI's with different strategies, and in addition to the built-in "campaign", they have a number of pre-built maps AND a very nice "random map generator", which I still call upon from time to time for a quick distraction.

The way you build and group your units DOES make a difference - my own play style is so conservative that I occasionally even get "mobbed" by an AI player, and I find that if I've set up a few defensive units in the area carefully, it can make a difference. Picking the right combination of "front line" units and support units, placing them in the correct terrain, and having one or two 'melee' units backed up by one or two 'ranged' units all make a big difference.

It still won't completely counter especially a "live" player with the "build a horde and rush like crazy" strategy perfected, but I find the disparity between "real strategy" and "rush" is not as extreme in Kohan as in some other games I've played....

Re:Kohans - short review

[jandrese]

You must not play against experienced players.

Havn't you seen the games were a severly disadvantaged (poor starting spot, many nearby monsters, etc...) but experianced player is able to defeat a newbie though careful company management and solid tactics? I'd laugh if I saw an army (6 companies) of skeletons facting off against 3 Grenadier/Channeler/Cleric companies. Despite being more expensive to maintain and numerically superior, the skeletons will loose.

Besides, how radical of a concept are you looking for? A game where you have to kill off your armies to gain strength? Or maybe a game where you start with an army, and they become more effective as you plant more flowers (oops, that's building up), or maybe one where you just get some force and you just attack at random? WarCraft III has some elements of this with the creep hunting, but IMHO it requires too much micromanagement for me to play effectively, at my best I can only beat the computer about 3/4 of the time, and that's pretty sad.

Re:Kohans - short review

[jandrese]

You'd be surprised how easy it is to counter the zombie rush though. I honestly don't see very much rushing in Kohan. Your early militas are strong enough to beat down a zombie company and a half, and the upkeep on any other units prevents them from being used. Additionally, there is a restrictive company limit in the game (that slowly increases as your empire expands), that prevent you from massing a huge army at the very start of the game. Even if you have a ceyah player with 5 zombie companies (starting village upgraded to town and one expansion), by the time those zombies get to you (they have to find you first) 10 minutes or more have passed in the game and you probably have a strong enough army to counter them.

Like all things this isn't absolute, but rushes are very difficult to pull off in Kohan so not many people seem to employ them.

Now if you don'd build up your econ and turtle then you will be defeated. If you are annoyed that you get defeated with this strategy (which works against the computer), then don't come complaining to Slashdot.

Part of the RTS genre is learning good tactics and good strategy.

Alright whiners...

[FreeLinux]

Let's here what the complaints are with this now. You've all complained that there weren't any games, certainly no decent ones. Then there were complaints about availability and distribution. Then, of course, there were the complaints about price.

Well, now they're offering great games, the best distribution channel and a really fair price.

So, what's the bitch about this now? I can't see any.

Will Linux users buy these games and support the company? Will there be a ground swell of interest/sales for these games, causing other companies to look more seriously at games for Linux? Or, will Linux users bitch and moan about some petty detail, not buy the games, cause the company to abandon Linux games completely and doom the entire Linux gaming industry forever.

Only time will tell but, I'm doing my part.

Re:Alright whiners...

[garcia]

how about games that I actually want to see? I have never heard of this game nor after reading about it on their website would I want to play it.

That was my main problem w/Loki in the past. As great as RR Tycoon was, it wasn't something that caught my eye so much that I wanted to buy it.

I am not a fan of the WineX ordeal but the amazing things that they are doing as far as getting games working is just great for the community.

I read recently that GTA3 is working under it. If I didn't have a PS2 I would most certainly be interested in that.

Just my worthless .02

Re:Alright whiners...

[ivan256]

Will Linux users buy these games and support the company?

I don't know about you, but I only buy games if I want to play them. I'm certainly not going to buy a game to "support the community." If I wanted to support the commuinty I'd do just that, and not support transgaming instead.

Most games flop. Hell, most software flops. If there are only a handful of games for linux then the chances are high that they'll all flop - especially if they're older titles that people already bought for windows if they wanted to play them. Linux games have an uphill battle to begin with, because gamers already have windows and they don't want to reboot for one game. Basically ports will never bring success to the linux gaming market, only original games will bring gamers over to linux because linux users (like me, and lots of people I know) will still buy the windows version of the game if it's out first or at all.

The way to a successful linux gaming market doesn't come from a show of confidence from the users. The developers are the ones that have to commit and bring good games to the platform. If they don't, then maybe it's not worth it. Does it really matter if gamers don't use linux? Is there even any benifit to playing games on linux instead of windows?

games on linux redux

[RealBeanDip]

It's great to see these ports, but quite frankly I'll be impressed if they sell 2000 copies max.

It's been said a zillion times; ports need to be out at the same time, or very, very close to the same time to be viable. And they need to be patched at the same time, or ...

Loki was a good effort, but even they didn't succeed. It's not because the games got warezed, it's because the games were well past their shelf life when they came out.

Downloading it now

[Fizzol]

I decided to spring for the original version of Kohan. You pay your money and then get directed to a download site. You get what I'm assuming is a custom version of winex (4mb) and the game (158mb). The manual is available in both PDF and txt formats while the game files are available in rpm, deb and tgz formats (tgz files weren't available but will be shortly according to the site). The internet connection is required because the first time the game runs it downloads a specially modified executable tuned to run only on your system. That part doesn't bother me as I'm the only one I know running Linux and I don't pirate software anyway. However, I am a bit concerned that upgrading my system (I fiddle and reinstall pretty often), or making changes might cause the game to decide it's running on a foriegn system. We'll see.

Obligatory Anti-WineX post

[jvmatthe]

I've expressed my frustration with WineX before, and every time I see a headline like this, I feel compelled to speak up.

The people that defend (or, as it more often the case, blindly promote) WineX tend to think that games of any kind, even through Wine, will inevitably help Linux. "Now Windows users can switch!" they chant. Yet, what self-respecting Windows gamer would really leave the relative comfort of Windows (2k|XP) where all of their hardware and games work great just to move to Linux, a system rife with hardware incompatibilities and filled with unfamiliar elements at every turn? There is no unhappy faction of Windows users that chafes so much under the Microsoft yoke that they'll give up everything they have already for freedom (in the sense of GNU). It just isn't going to happen. (Note: WineX itself isn't even completely free, so that's not a very good example of freedom, is it?)

So where does WineX sell? To people who are already Linux users. The people who are already using Linux can use WineX, but then they run a serious risk of killing any chance for a native port. Remember, game companies need a whole lot more than karma and a good warm feeling inside to port a game to your system. They need, in particular, cash. Lots and lots of cash. And they'll most likely take any excuse that sounds resonable to ignore a platform that has marginal (if not improbable) profit potential, like Linux. "Oh, it works under Wine. Go play that, Linux users." Reminds me a bit of a former instructor's description of the selection process for a really good position: They're not looking for reasons to take anyone...they're looking for reasons to eliminate them. And Linux hasn't made good money for anyone yet.

You'll never make your platform legit like that. It didn't work of OS/2. It didn't work for Bleemcast. It hasn't worked for VirtualPC on MacOS. Not once has this kind of compatibility meant more native apps for that platform that tries to leech off its more successful neighbor.

Yes, Loki died. They died for a whole lot of reasons, one of which was that there was no real money in the Linux gaming market. But they at least brought a lot of damn good tools to the community and left them for all to use after they died. Where is Wine getting us? Half-working compatibility with a nigh eight year old system that is probably going to change dramatically (if not completely) in the next revision of Windows.

Welcome to Square One, people.

Sorry for the disjointed ramble.

Re:Obligatory Anti-WineX post

[cjpez]

What's better for "Linux?"

1. "Hm, this game doesn't run on Linux. Better continue to buy Microsoft OSes instead."
   -or-
2. "Hm, this game doesn't run natively in Linux, but I can work around it with Wine(X). I guess I'll spend my money on a donation to the EFF instead." (or more realistically, on CDs or Movies or porn or whatever.)

Sure, long term, we'd like many more NATIVE Linux games. However, what's going to convince game makers to make Linux ports? On one hand, you've got happy companies like Id Software who just "believe," as it were. On the other hand, you've got companies who just won't eat the kind of monetary loss doing a Linux port probably creates. Why? The Linux desktop just isn't ready for every-day, mom-and-pop use. Granted, it's been getting a hell of a lot better recently, and I certainly love it, but it's just not there yet. Until there's a significant percentage of home desktop users running Linux, it's just not profitable for most companies to make Linux ports. To say nothing of releasing only Linux versions, which I suppose is the eventual goal here.

So what do I do? I want to play Half-Life. No Linux version will ever be forthcoming. I install Wine(X). There we go. Is that good for the community? ("Hey, switch to Linux - you can still play Half-Life." vs "Hey, switch to Linux - you can't play Half-Life, but maybe someday in the future you'll be able to play other games.") IMO, when Linux wins in the desktop arena, that's when we'll start seeing more native Linux games. Demographics drive the games, not the other way around.

Re:Obligatory Anti-WineX post

[Ninja Programmer]

Then you do not understand the point of WineX at all.

The point is not to just lure over Windows people who don't want to switch. Its for those that want to switch but don't feel they can.

There are many such people (I am one of them) and Wine helps move them all over to Linux, that grows the community, which provides a market to pay for solving the remaining problems in Linux.

Personally, I regard, WineX and the Transgaming effort in general along with Open Office as the most important things going on in the Linux community right now.

Re:Obligatory Anti-WineX post

[jvmatthe]

Sure, long term, we'd like many more NATIVE Linux games.

This is precisely one of the issues with WineX. It is being touted as a future for Linux gaming, yet it is ultimately a short-term bandage that might even have bad side effects (like deterring some native ports).

Demographics drive the games, not the other way around.

I'd argue that they are inextricably entwined, but technology and games can drive the change. Off the cuff, I'd say that it takes a serious shift in one platform to let another arise or it takes an disruptive technology. For example, the stumbling of one game console company can leave open an opportunity for another to strike (e.g. PSX from Sony vs. Sega's Saturn and Nintendo's SNES). Or the shift to fast, edgy, colorful games (e.g. Sonic on the Sega Genesis vs. Nintendo's NES).

Re:Obligatory Anti-WineX post

[rseuhs]

Sorry, but you are just plain wrong.

First, we have to get the userbase THEN we can expect native ports. And Wine is a means to get the userbase.

It works like this:

Stage 1: Some game works in Wine, but the game company does not care about it.

Stage 2: Game works in Wine and the game company cooperates to make it work well in wine (AFAIK Sims and now Kohan fall into that category already)

Stage 3: The game company releases quasi-native ports using winelib. Which means that there is no practical difference between that and a native port.

Stage 4: A real native port.

Now, let's analyze: Wine can produce games with winelib that are de-facto as good as native ones and the best thing is: THEY CAN BE RELEASED AT THE SAME TIME. (As soon as Wine is good enough).

So winelib will make it possible for game companies to RELEASE their games Linux-compatible without much finanzial investment (ideally it should be a recompile, of course nothing is ideal, but you get the idea).

As the userbase of Linux grows, game companies might find it better not to use the Win32API on Linux (aka Wine) and use Linux' APIs directly.

Wine is the single most important project for desktop-Linux. Without Wine, Linux will have a very hard time succeeding on the desktop.

When I look at the crossover products, I can say that apps on Wine *can be* rock-solid, reliable and performant. And Wine will get better and cover more and more of the Win32API until the whole thing is covered (they just need Win98 compatibility, which is a fixed target). And when we finally reach the stage when we can install and run almost any Win32 app without hassle on Linux, there is no reason to run Windows anymore.

Sheesh

[Twister002]

What's their next "port" going to be?

Deer Hunter? Then Big Game Hunter and Who Wants to be a Millionare.

Why not work on being more compatible with more popular games? I see a lot of games on the list at level 4, but what does that mean really?

To find out I have to make sure that my video driver are up to date (not a bad idea, but not a trivial task under Linux), then get Transgamings WineX installed (another unknown, do I have all of the libraries it needs and up to date?), THEN install the game and see if it works. If it doesn't, spend some more time making sure that I've covered all my bases (that belong to us) before I get replies to my cry for help like "Install the latest video drivers." or "Why would you want to play game X anyway?".

Compared to just keeping a Windows machine around for games (or a Console?) or dual booting.... dunno just seems like an awful lot of effort.

Uhm, this just in!! The entire Kohan series for Windows can be had for $15 more than any one of the Kohan for Linux titles from Transgaming.