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Parsec To Be Released As Open Source
Mark Bainter writes "The Parsec creators have announced today that they are going to release the Parsec project source code early next month. From the site: 'The source release will include platform support for Win32, MacOS X, and Linux, and contain both OpenGL and Glide rendering code. It will include almost everything that has been part of the earlier LAN-Test releases, as well as our new client/server code that is already far along in development. However, it is our hope that this release will be picked up by the Parsec community for further development, supported by members of the original Parsec Project. This release will be the last official release of the original Parsec Project. It had been our intention to achieve a full-featured release including Internet game play in 2002. However, we were always doing this in our spare time, and since it is taking us too long to reach our original goal, we do not want to keep the Parsec community waiting any longer and have thus decided that it is time to change Parsec's development model to an open source approach.'"
Why did they wait so much to release it as open source? I'm just wondering if their initial plan wasn't to change from Freeware to Commercial at some point. They've most likely realised that they won't be able to make money out of it, and decided to opensource it so it doesn't die (a site that wasn't updated for almost a year can be considered a near-death experience). Anyway, they did do a great job and I'm glad that the opensource gaming is enriched with a free-as-in-beer space shooter.
The Raven
I kinda agree with you about opensource games, at least, open-source games that tons of people are working on. A large group seems to suck all the creativity out of a game, but why are you bashing Parsec so soon? They JUST made their game opensource today. It hasn't failed yet. I'm kind of skeptical, but I'm willing to give it a chance. Hell, I'm considering joining the project.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god." - Thomas Jefferson
> I mean really - how hard would it be to put a one line description about what the Parsec project is in the article body?
One of the things that really irks me at Sourceforge is when you pull a list of all the games under development they tend to tell you what language they're programming in and what gee-whiz rendering technology they're going to use, but don't say the first word about what the game is.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
You seem to have no other response, lately.
Could you maybe once address your users' concerns? It may be a little difficult for you to grasp, but the real world is not black and white. Liking a site does not mean that a person doesn't have opinions on what's good or bad about how a site is run, just as a person may dislike a site yet still believe it is doing some things right (for example, Kuro5hin -- I dislike the site because of the extreme leftist/socialist viewpoint espoused by both the staff and the readers/contributors, but I think it's a very well-done site and is run much better than Slashdot). Here's a thought -- run a poll along the lines of, "Do you have any gripes with the way we run Slashdot? Yes/No" and see what happens. Now, take the number of "Yes" answers and assume those are users that would leave Slashdot if they followed your implicit advice. Where does that leave your userbase? What about the comments (ie, the lifeblood of Slashdot -- without comments, Slashdot would never have become popular in the first place), since the people who are likely to answer a poll are also likely to post a comment? Can you afford to lose such a large chunk of users (and make no mistake, you will get a large number of "yes" answers so long as the question is worded fairly)?
We're not necessarily asking that you change anything (although I'm sure most of us wouldn't mind if the Slashdot editors would periodically read their own site to avoid duplicates, or run their stories through a spelling checker before posting). Simply acknowledge that you've heard our problems, and explain to us why you're not planning on changing anything if the concerns are valid (and no side-stepping, saying something along the lines of, "Slashdot is just Rob's personal site that happens to enjoy some popularity"). Is that so hard to do? Apparently, because all we get are one-liner comments that insult ("you must be an idiot if you have problems with the management and yet are still here") or ignore the problems.
You can separate the game engine from the graphics, sound, and everything is modular. I've seen a couple interesting open-source 3D engines, and I think it's VERy possible that a good game or several will come out eventually.
The bad part: it takes forever, because virtually nobody has the time to create a Doom 3 in their free time. Or even a Commander Keen. As one guy says, You need vision to create a great game, and large open source projects tend not to have that vision. Is that why there aren't any great games built by large open source collaboration? Maybe. I think it's more likely attributable to the clone problem
Also check out http://home.t-online.de/home/BuschnicK/
Anyone else tired of the "battleship model" of space combat, with heavily armed and armoured ships duking it out, taking multiple hits before finally succumbing to accumulated damage?
I figure space combat will be more similar to submarine combat. Space is huge, the ships will be fragile, weapons will pack a massive punch. These factors will force ships to rely on sensors, hiding and avoidance to achieve their aims.
I imagine that we will have ships hiding in asteriod belts, on moons and near planets, patiently waiting for their prey, unleashing a barrage of missiles and then try to disappear again while the target is busy applying countermeasures to the incoming missile swarm.
A)bort, R)etry or S)elf-destruct?