LGP Announces Majesty is Complete

michaelsimms writes "Linux Game Publishing have just received their first stock of Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim. This is the first game ported completely by LGP. Kudos to the lead developer, Mike Phillips, for much hard work to get us all a great game!"

Comments

Rock and Roll.

[13Echo]

The game is a few years old, but is an excellent title. Play the demo, which is downloadable from their site.

I ordered mine a while back. $37 isn't too much to ask. It's a very high quality port of a great game.

Simms- I'm looking forward to the future titles!

Re:Rock and Roll.

[Anonymous Coward]

Get the Linux demo at:

3D Downloads

And as a last resort:

david.hedbor.org

Try it. It's lost of fun!

Re:Rock and Roll.

[13Echo]

I'm not the best source of info on this, but as far as I can tell, they got the contract just last fall or so. It was a pretty quick port, for a small team. It took less than a few months.

Re:Rock and Roll.

[MBCook]

That's a good question. I'd like to know the answer too. That said, it obviously depends on how the game was programed.

If everything is seperate, so that you could just drop in some new files to completely change the sound or graphics subsystem, then it shouldn't take too long.

If, on the other hand, everything is woven into the game tightly, it could take a VERY long time. By this I mean things like having a function like:

void doCPUPlayerLogic(HWND parrent...);

If the logic is like that, you're going to have to rewrite large parts of the game. "Proper" programming suggests that you should program like the first option, but we all know that doesn't happen. Depending on if they origionally thought they would port it (they would have been thinking Mac or console I'd bet), just how hurried they were (often the second solution can be easier to do), etc.

That said, can anyone answer the question well? How long does it take to port the average game to Linux? Does it vary by genre (obviously a FPS that uses OGL would be easier to port than one that uses DirectX)?

Re:Rock and Roll.

[UnknownSoldier]

> That's a good question. I'd like to know the answer too. That said, it obviously depends on how the game was programed.
> If everything is seperate, so that you could just drop in some new files to completely change the sound or graphics subsystem, then it shouldn't take too long.

Off the record, the game codebase is pretty clean since we had already ported it over the Mac. i.e. I believe they got the "Mac-n-Trans" codebase. (Trans = Translation, or localized.)

Fantasy Kingdom

[blazer1024]

I spend so many hours playing this game. There was something VERY addicting about recruiting rangers, elves, thieves, warriors, wizards, paladins, healers, monks, etc and watching them run around killing beasts and buying things.

I loved how that economy worked... The houses and inns would just automatically generate money, and heroes could earn money slaying monsters, then spend it at the market, blacksmith, Wizards' Guild, etc. Then your trusty tax collectors went around collecting money.. It's pretty simple, but it's fun to watch.

Re:Fantasy Kingdom

[mcworksbio]

I loved how that economy worked...

I agree, and would add that in a multiplayer game you had expanded economic activity from allied/enemy players spending cash on your goods. You could practical cripple an ally's/opponent's economy by pledging out more money on flags than your opponent could. Unlike most RTS games you could inflict fiscal pain on someone to pressure them to fall in line without actually having to spend tons of money flagging their palace.

Seriously, this game is awesome

[GMFTatsujin]

I recommend you pick it up if you haven't yet. It kept me glued for weeks, and the wife and I come back to it every couple of months. Well worth it. I've been emulating it in WineX and it's been spiffy.

"WineX! Oh no! Support linux gaming, man!" Well, I'd love to. It's just too bad I already paid for the game once. $80 for a $40 game? I mean, Majesty's good, but not *that* good.

Ditto with Kohan, the Sims, Neverwinter Nights, etc... I'm all for the parallel development though - go UT2003!

Re:Seriously, this game is awesome

[_Sprocket_]

It's just too bad I already paid for the game once. $80 for a $40 game?
...
Ditto with Kohan, the Sims, Neverwinter Nights, etc... I'm all for the parallel development though - go UT2003!

My understanding is that one can use the Windows-only copy of NWN and simply download the Linux client (albeit still beta).

I suppose its a kind of lagging parallel development. ;)

Fun game. Glad Linux has another.

[5n3ak3rp1mp]

Something about this game is really cute. I bought it when it came out on Macintosh last year. The game itself is not that hard to beat, tho- but definitely a lot of fun. The idea of indirect control over your heroes is interesting. Spells are fun to watch, animations and sound are high-quality.

Old Games = Good Thing

[lysium]

Perhaps this is just a personal Emerson-ish retreat from modern gaming, but I am very glad to see older, modest games being released, or re-released, for Linux.

Many linux machines out there are older desktops and laptops with limited system resources (certainly not 3-D!) The best games for Linux are either venerable classics (nethack) or cutting edge ports (MOHAA, UT2003). Let's not forget older games, made back in the days when People Were Nice, and Money Wasn't Everything. Anyone up for a port of MOO2?

----------

Direct Download

[Mister.de]

screens: http://www.cyberlore.com/Majesty/screens.htm demo: http://demos.linuxgamepublishing.com/majesty/majes ty_demo.run

Depends

[jvalenzu]

The games with the least portable code I've ever seen took about 6 months. Most take less than 2. I find it interesting that our native ports at Loki took about as much time (or less) than transgaming's "ports" to winelib.

Great game

[FurryFeet]

Majesty is a great game, and well worth 40 bucks. It's a little on the short side, but has a really interesting multiplayer component (nothing like placing a huge reward on your opponent's buildings and watching his own heroes destroy them). I'd advice anyone who hasn't played it to do it.

Re:so what

[Daniel Phillips]

There is a reason you don't find many games under Linux. Graphic card drivers are much better optimized for Windows systems. Porting a graphics intensive game to Linux is a waste of resources.

That's the reason, huh? And it doesn't have anything to do with Linux being relatively young, having only recently broken out of the server-os category, and still being on the shallow end of the desktop growth curve?

Anyway, it's not a concern, there are already more games coming out on Linux than I have time to play.

Re:Ideal components for a Linux gaming machine?

[Kadagan AU]

well, I'll attempt to answer this, since no one else has.

first let me point out that I'm more into linux coding than linux gaming, but one day (hopefully sooner rather than later) when there's as many great linux games as windows games, and when you can easily network a linux system to a windows system to play multi-player... I hope to be into it ;)

ok, now I'm not sure what video card would be best. I've heard that ATI cards have better linux drivers. I'd also suggest staying a step or two behind "bleeding edge", to give time for drivers to be made. This also saves a LOT of money.

audio - I've never had a single problem with my onboard AC'97 audio that is on just about any mobo I've ever owned.

OS - I'd guess Mandrake, since it has wonderful support for all sorts of hardware. You might want to look into the (now slightly out dated) mandrake gaming edition. It's on their site if you care to check it out. It comes with the Sims. If it can handle that, then Majesty wouldn't be an issue at all. If I recall, Majesty only requires like a 90 MHz processor! Another obvious choice is RedHat, since it's the most prominent distro, I'm sure that the manufacturer tested on it at some point. Lastly, I'd *hope* that the company making Linux games gives out good instructions, and have good tech support.

that's all I can think of, but it's all my personal opinion, feel free to prove me wrong.

-Jon