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Legends FPS Adds Freeware Linux Version

jmahler writes "The Legends Development Team is proud to announce the availability of our Linux client and server downloads for Legends. Legends is a fast-paced, FPS-style multiplayer game. The game is designed to take advantage of the beautiful environments in the Torque Gaming Engine while still offering the breakneck pace and variety of gameplay styles available from classics such as Quake and Tribes. Our game has been made for gamers, by gamers, and will always remain free (as in beer), supported, and improved as long as there is interest in it." There's also a Windows version of this still-in-development Beta on their download page, and the Tribes-style gameplay looks intriguing ("jetpack use" through large, often open-air multiplayer maps.)

25 comments

  1. About Time by Black+Mage+Balthazar · · Score: 1
    This is great. A nice, tight, FPS for Linux, and that isn't a port from a Windows app.

    Hopefully this will help developers to realize that Linux is a decent development platform, even if it doesn't implement DirectX.

    1. Re:About Time by jmahler · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well... that's not completely accurate. :) We originally released for Windows, simply because more of us use Windows at home (bad, bad people, I know) but Linux (and maybe Mac) support have been very high on our agenda from the beginning.

    2. Re:About Time by simoniker · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It would be good, btw, if the screenshots on the official site were updated, because I _know_ it looks better in action than the old (latest is May?) screenshots on the site right now - unless new screenshots were somewhere I couldn't find?

    3. Re:About Time by crschmidt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A few screenshots up at this site show the game in action - nothing major though.

      A few nice servers running, one with 5 players right now. Looks like a nice game.

      --
      -- Christopher Schmidt YouTube Quality of Experience
  2. I don't get this at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This game simply looks like a clone of tribes with an outdated graphics engine that I could get for $5 in the baragin bin at my local gamespot. Why do linux developers waste their time developing a sub-par game instead of trying to do something orginal that would actually interest a Windows gamer to try and use linux. If the Linux community keeps manufacturing this type of shareware crap it will never ever be adopted as a gamer's OS. Sorry if this sounds like a troll, but you know its the truth.

    1. Re:I don't get this at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      you dont get it. the whole point of this is to capture the fun and excitement of the original tribes, as well as update the graphics and retain the same loveable physics that made tribes 1 so great.

      Most of us were extremely dissapointed with the way tribes 2 turned out

    2. Re:I don't get this at all by Teflonatron · · Score: 2, Informative

      First of all, the Linux client was made along side the Windows client (so it's not Linux only). Second, yes, it is a clone of Tribes...but not really.

      While it does look and feel, for the most part, exactly like Tribes1/2, it was made because of community demand for a more Tribes 1 version of Tribes 2.

      When Dynamix/Sierra made Tribes 2, it nerfed a lot of what made Tribes 1 fun. Ledgends was created and supported by the community as a way to be able to play Tribes 1 with better graphics, as well as create a totally community driven game development team. (Kinda like Linux if you think about it!) This game is truly for/by the community!!!

  3. Great News by aufecht · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Add yet another game to my ever growing list of games I can play on Linux. I also suggest you purchase Savage (FPS/RTS) if your expenses allow. You can download and play instantly for $39.99. I did last night. Looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. I'll be checking out Legends tonight as well. Thanks to the developers and ignore the whiners. Keep the games coming!

  4. To the folks who say outdated engine.. by Talonius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ..buzz off.

    Graphics and glitz aren't everything. Gameplay and community can more than make up for graphics; they can make a game positively addicting and mind smashing.

    I sure as hell remember playing Wasteland better than Deus Ex -- and Deus Ex was a fantastic game. People who think graphics and looks are everything are the same ones who bitch about a game being boring.

    Not to mention that constantly upping the requirements on models, textures, and effects simply drives development time through the roof for content alone.

    Talonius

    --
    My reality check bounced.
    1. Re:To the folks who say outdated engine.. by Teflonatron · · Score: 1

      This is the exact reason I still play Tribes 1. The graphics are crap compared to today's games, but because of the awesome gameplay, it's still just as fun as the day it was released...five years later!!! :D

    2. Re:To the folks who say outdated engine.. by BrynM · · Score: 1
      To the same people: This game is still in early beta. I bet they haven't gotten much beyond the graphics working yet (it's not even a 0.5 version, so not even 1/2 way done). If you want to see them get it right, then go contribute to the project. I probably will.

      When an open source project is this young, it's all what you make of it.

      --
      US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
    3. Re:To the folks who say outdated engine.. by terrox · · Score: 1

      I've been doing optimizing(shrinking) on the textures for a while and save about 30meg off the 60meg download, I leave most of the terrains alone but everything else looks pretty much the same and it gives some extra fps especially for low-spec cards. Low-spec Optimisation for Current version of legends is not done yet though but you can check here in a few days - http://www.borganism.com/legends/

  5. BitTorrent by Kaladis+Nefarian · · Score: 1

    Could someone set up a Bittorrent repo before it gets utterly slashdotted?

    --
    * Several monkeys are here, playing banjos and wearing small hats.
    1. Re:BitTorrent by Teflonatron · · Score: 1

      That probably will not be a problem. Tribalwar (the site hosting Ledgends) is a massive server in it's own right. While a good slashdotting will surely send their bandwidth expenses through the roof, it will most likely not bring down the site...

      It has, after all, survived am img link from cnn (9/11 face in the smoke pic) which TW then relinked to goatse because cnn was smashing their servers.... :D

    2. Re:BitTorrent by jmahler · · Score: 1

      rofl... easily one of the funniest moments in Interweb history. :)

      Nah.... not too worried about a slashdotting, unless this post makes it to the front page of www.slashdot.org instead.

    3. Re:BitTorrent by Teflonatron · · Score: 1

      definitely one of the funniest :D

      Rayn did what?!

  6. Fresh gameplay for most of you by mattgreen · · Score: 4, Informative

    The gameplay of Legends is unlike any conventional FPS. It is heavily movement based, very fast and fluid. Learn to ski as early as possible - there will be players utilizing it fully, they are NOT cheating! Do not expect your conventional FPS skills to get you very far here. Traditional FPS is simply slow in comparison. Indeed, the Legends learning curve is nearly vertical. That is the beauty of it. More competant players travel faster over the terrain. Don't be put off by the difficulty. I can say with great confidence that the reward is a game that resembles a sport far more than any game previously.

    1. Re:Fresh gameplay for most of you by loopback_127001 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      "Indeed, the Legends learning curve is nearly vertical. That is the beauty of it."

      And that, in a nutshell, is part of why the linux platform isn't a top priority for most game development houses.

      a vertical learning curve is NOT beautiful, by any stretch of the imagination. Only terminal *nix geeks and people enamored of their own inherent brilliance think a ludicrously steep learning curve is a good thing. The proper learning curve for gaming is more of a series of troughs and inclines, with very little actual vertical. You want to challenge, not frustrate. You want to progress the player through the game naturally, not be doing the same small thing over and over until they finally get it right, only to instantly meet another wall head-on as they must move 1 more step up the curve.

      A game needs to suck in the new player in the first 30 minutes, and make them feel like they know how to play and will have fun, or else it's entirely possible in today's short-attention-span world that the game will get shelved in favor of something that offers the instant gratification the user is after.

    2. Re:Fresh gameplay for most of you by Chris_Jefferson · · Score: 1

      I agree with everything you say, except about today's "short-attention-span world". If anything since their introduction games have been getting more and more complicated to get into (look at pacman and space invaders).

      I do agree this is bad thing tho, we need to get back to games that the user can enjoy from the moment they start playing

      --
      Combination - fun iPhone puzzling
    3. Re:Fresh gameplay for most of you by Patoski · · Score: 2

      "A vertical learning curve is NOT beautiful, by any stretch of the imagination. Only terminal *nix geeks and people enamored of their own inherent brilliance think a ludicrously steep learning curve is a good thing. The proper learning curve for gaming is more of a series of troughs and inclines, with very little actual vertical. You want to challenge, not frustrate. You want to progress the player through the game naturally, not be doing the same small thing over and over until they finally get it right, only to instantly meet another wall head-on as they must move 1 more step up the curve."

      This is the beauty of indie games... They can afford to be unconventional and experiment because they don't need the mass market appeal that most commercial games require. Besides, I wouldn't mind a game with a good small community of devoted players. The larger a community becomes the more scum slips in under the door. MMORGs and Slashdot are perfect examples of this.

      Mass market appeal isn't everything. In fact the publishing houses' unerring obedience to the mass market is a major reason we don't see much innovation in games nowadays.

      -Pato

      --
      G. Washington on Government "it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
  7. Great game by old_skul · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I used to run Tribes 1/2 servers, and this rekindled my interest in the game. Legends is a lot of fun, has great graphics, and has the smooth, fluid physics of the original (as opposed to the molasses-fest that was Tribes 2).

    I highly recommend this game.

  8. Innovoate, don't re-create. by ShaggusMacHaggis · · Score: 1

    if i wanted to play tribes 1, i'd play......tribes 1. I'd rather play games that innovate, than copy.

    it's nice that it's free though.

  9. Legends is good! by terrox · · Score: 1

    good i say!
    autodownload works and it will be GREAT for modders
    all the t2 scripter/modders will be able to do great things with this game. and it is FREE.

  10. Thanks. by benjamindees · · Score: 1

    Savage is considered by many to be the first title to seamlessly meld two separate game genres, real-time strategy and first-person shooter, into one game.

    Choose to be a commander and you will play an in-depth RTS managing the stronghold, or choose to be a warrior and you will play an intense game of first person combat.

    This is *exactly* the game I've been waiting for. Ever since Lucasarts started filling out the various categories of gameplay with everything from intergalactic enterprise management to battlefield command to first person lightsabre fighting to piloting an x-wing or tie fighter, I've been waiting for someone to *combine* them into one multiplayer game. This looks like it could fit the bill. Anyone have a review?

    --
    "I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"