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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.'"
What's next? A Duke Nukem Forever release? I remember checking out this site back before I ever got the 3D acceleration working on FreeBSD. I'd always figured they were going the same route as Stars! Supernova Genesis. It's great to see that it's going to be Open Source as well. It'll be great to play something beyond the ancient LAN demo.
I read the internet for the articles.
Does anyone still use Voodoo cards? Do they work with win2k or XP?
today is spelling optional day.
There I go, getting all excited that the classic TI99/4a sideways scrolling shoot-em up is going to made open source. So I'd have a chance to see the workings of one the games that perverted my early development. Alas it's some fancy-schmancy 3D number. New fangled nonsense...
I've been watching this project with anticipation for years, but it's always been "almost ready". That, and the guys running it had what seemed an unnatural fear of open source. Their argument against in in the past was basically "we don't want outside help, so no open source". As if opening the source meant they had to accept changes. It was very strange.
So yeah. Yay! Maybe we'll see a finished game finally. It definately has the potential to be a kickass game.
-[Blaine]- "'Oh dear,' says God, 'I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic."
Parsec Goes Open Source!
January 28, 2003 -- We are currently preparing the entire code base of Parsec for a full source release in early May 2003, which will mark a major change in the structure of the Parsec Project.
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.
We intend the official Parsec webpage to become the central hub for playing Parsec and continuing Parsec development. We would like to dedicate the upcoming release to the Parsec community, and hope that Parsec will live on and prosper as an open community project. Enjoy!
The Parsec Project
Parsec is a fast-paced non-commercial network space-shooter that has been in development for several years. It started out in 1996 as a lab project at the Vienna University of Technology, but has transcended its original roots to become what we would like to refer to as commercial-quality freeware (CQF).
The major releases of Parsec up to now were several versions of the Parsec LAN-Test, which were intended to enable players to get a glimpse of the current state of Parsec's development. These releases support Win32, MacOS, MacOS X, and Linux platforms, and 3D hardware acceleration through OpenGL and Glide (for the old 3dfx boards).
The Parsec Project, a term we also use to refer to the people behind Parsec, is the team of game developers that has been working on Parsec since 1996. However, the impending change of Parsec's development model to an open source approach will be closing the original Parsec Project in early May 2003.
Beginning in May 2003, Parsec will be an open community project striving toward a Parsec release that also includes Internet game play. The members of the original Parsec Project would like to dedicate their work to the Parsec community, and hope that the open source version of Parsec will bring lots of fun to even more people around the globe!
The Parsec game engine should prove a nice basis to re-create the 8/16 bit classic elite in noughties style.
Then again maybe Christian will get around to releasing his dark-kind source sooner.
I mean really - how hard would it be to put a one line description about what the Parsec project is in the article body?
Parsec project: Fast-paced multiplayer cross-platform 3D Internet space combat
There... That didn't hurt too much, did it?
I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
No, not the Enterprise.
word.
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
...is those pesky .mp3 sound files will be replaced by remastered .ogg files. :-)
alias uptime="echo '5:33pm up 22342352324 days, 6:28, 2124315623 users, load average: 2432.40, 12312.31, 123123.19'"
I thought a Parsec was a unit for measuring distance, not speed. That line has always bugged me. :)
You see, travelling faster than light speed is impossible. What you need to do is warp space somehow so you have less distance to travel. The Millenium Falcon, with its souped up engine, was able to warp space so much that the Kessel run was shortened to 12 parsecs. A lesser spacecraft might have to travel 40.
:wq
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
but how does this compare to VegaStrike, which is already open sourced ( and written by a friend of mine , shameless plug )
I can't find anyplace to download the ROM, and even if I grab my old TI, I'm not sure how to grab the ROM image, anyway.
FOr the curious:
PARSEC: PHM 3112 - Released 3Q/1982 - MSRP $39.95 -- A game cartridge programmed by James E. Dramis with help from TI Summer employee Paul Urbanus (Urbanus also authored or co-authored Jumpy, Jungle Hunt, Pole Position, Disko, PLATO Interpreter, Grand RAM and Line-by-Line Assembler for Mini Memory). Released in August 1982 at a retail price of $39.95. Featured a synthesized voice patterned after that of college student Aubree Anderson. Game consisted of a Space ship traveling through asteroid belts, attacks by Alien ships and other hazards. Perhaps the most popular game ever to come out of the Texas Instruments Consumer Products Division for the 99/4A. Fully bit mapped graphics, excellent joystick control, clear speech synthesis and very challenging.
User Comments: Fly into combat with the starship Parsec. Destroy rebel alien fighters and cruisers by out maneuvering them and laying down withering fire from you laser. Then try to survive the deadly asteroid belt. Parsec is made to work with or without the speech synthesizer. With it, it enhances the game by simulating an onboard computer in your starship. It warns you of oncoming alien craft and refueling tunnels, and it congratulates you for good performance. There are increasing levels of difficulty to challenge your strategy and skills as a starfighter. With great graphics, color, and action this is one of the best modules for the TI. Try it and you're hooked.
(ref: http://timeline.99er.net/id22.htm)
I'm not shy, I'm stalking my prey
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.
What if they don't allow people to submit patches? What if they won't let you use the source to fork off your own project because they retain some rights to it? What good is seeing the source then?
Open source just means you can see thier code, and CQF doesn't really mean anything to me. Can someone point me to some info that may make the meaning of this announcement a little clearer to me?
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/
You know you've been in the development cycle too long when you release a game in 2003 and the spec blurb talks about GLIDE support.
Complaining about Slashdot's moderation system is a fine and legitimate thing to do -- but I'm honestly puzzled by the folks who spend a lot of time both griping about the site's moderation .. and posting offtopic comments :)
... the malice of a small handful of people means that Rob and the other coders spend a lot of time trying to make the moderation less "gameable" and more of a helpful, positive tool for making the discussion more enjoyable / useful / however-you-want-to-see-it. Mitigating the Beavis factor, in other words -- and Slashdot is the doorstep that a few delinquents use to leave their flaming paper bags. Constantly.
;)] sourly complaining about how badly it sucks to be wherever they are. My response was flippant, but I mean it with a smile, not trying to be a jerk. It's like the widely applicable punchline "Well stop doing that!"
:) [Brian: "There's no pleasing some people." Ex-Leper: "That's just what Jesus said!"]
If you have tweaks you think would make the moderation system better, or suggestions for better moderation systems altogether, why not suggest them on sourceforge, where the coders can act on them? Rob does read email, too, but the FAQ specifically addresses this
You've probably seen people in bars / clubs / stores / public parks [wherever
I'd like everyone who reads the site to be happy, but I can't enforce that
It's true that Slashdot has a history, that Rob's "site just got popular," etc, but the lengthy diary entry someone posted into this story's comments I think shows how these topics are anything but ignored. Constant tweaking is bound to constantly leave some people upset with any particular change, but the intent is to improve the system, and I certainly think the overall moderation system (loosely speaking -- including, say, the foes / friends aspects of it) has gotten a lot better.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Soon my hard drive will be chock full of source code from half done games! As soon as I am up to speed on the state of the art of gaming 5 years ago, I plan to finish these suckers!
Or play nethack. I still have never ascended.
...acceptable...
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
So because I'm not a "serious" gamer, I shouldn't bother reading this story? Or maybe I am a serious gamer, but I don't often play space simulations? As well, by the time I got to this story (literally less than an hour after it was posted), the site was down. Slashdotted. Great, how am I supposed to figure out what "Parsec" is now?
However, I was not the one with the initial complaint. Mine followed Timothy off-topic as he made a flippant reply to a post criticizing Slashdot's editorial integrity. Try looking at usernames next time so that you don't confuse posters.
Is it really an insult when it's true, though? I found the anonymous coward's post to be witty and insightful, rather than insulting and trollish. Had I any moderation points (and for some reason, it's been a very long while since I have had any ... hrm), I would've moderated the post rather than reply. However, I don't, so I didn't, and did the next best thing -- reply to Timothy's flippant post, voicing my own concerns and issues that are mirrored by both the super-parent of this thread and the anonymous coward that agreed with him.
I never said I was perfect.
Commercial games are made by tons of people too, and they don't suck. What makes original open source games suck is "too many bosses, not enough laborers". In a company one or two guys are responsible for design, everything else is done by the grunts. No arguments, no "hey wouldn't it be better if...", just write the code, write the music, if the designers don't like it, do it again. Most open source programmers don't like being the grunts, because they already do that at work... so they all want to "design".
One of the good things about Linux is you have one guy at the top who is saying what does and doesn't go in. Ditto with OpenBSD. Yeah, there might be some discussion, but at the end of the day the project is being driven by one mind, and everyone is cool to go along with that - if they want it to do something else, they get a custom patch. That's the way open-source games should be developed, but it's hard to drum up enough interest in one to get it working that way. Linus had to go a long time by himself before he got the crowd around him he does now, so did Theo, so did Bill Gates, so did the top game designers.
So yes, i agree that one person's drive makes it happen initially, but in the long run it's having the support of a lot of people who are happy to bow to that one person's wishes that makes a good thing great.
I got a sig so you would remember me.
Does noone else find this game to be terribly similar to Terminus? You know, Terminus, the persistent universe online space combat/trading game available for Win, Mac, and Linux?
I remember lots of Linux folks drooling over it and babbling about how they'd all buy it as soon as it shipped, because it would have Linux binaries on the CD.
Nobody did, of course. That's probably why nobody remembers the game.
We are going to do a full source release in early May 2003 NOT next month as stated in the article.
This is mainly due to some preperation work.
I don't get where the line is that something becomes "open source". BSD obviously is open. GPL, okay I understand copyleft. I also understand one liscense I saw where the stuff could not be used for kiddie porn-like exploitation.
But talk about viral, if someone starts hacking with it and develops their own "commercial quality" game, he is doomed to the same problem that the authors had, which is that because he can't sell it, he cannot possibly afford to compete with commercial games!
This seems to be a case of people attempting to foist misguided moral choices on other people whom they somehow still hope (many mysterious cheap hands) will acheive their dream for them.
Not that I personally want to use their code, it's just confusing that there are so many "open source" liscenses out there. Hate to say it, but I'd much rather see something like Helixcode, maybe if it is commercial then a royalty can be paid the authors. And where does the line between free and commercial get drawn?
I'm sorry, it sounds like lots of fun and one day maybe I'll try playing it. But I don't get the reasoning behind releasing something to the community while maintaining restrictions on it. We all grow up, I guess these guys did. Grownups often like to get paid for their time, or at least have the illusion of free will. I think this could attract more talented programmers and game people if it didn't have the noncommercial requirement.
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?
So what you're saying is that the Millenium Falcon only had to travel the equivalent of 12 parsecs of real space. Assuming it could achieve near-light speed, that means the Kessel run would have taken about 39 years (12 parsecs * 3.26 light years/parsec). Good thing they didn't have to travel the full distance!