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Free 3D MMORPG Planeshift Ported To Mac OS X
superfebs writes "While Planeshift, the free (yes, as in Freedom, who cares otherwise) 3D MMORPG, is moving towards the 0.3 version, which will provide combat (read: flows of fresh blood), the current release has been ported to Mac OS X. Now more people can enjoy going around in a fantasy world chatting with others and collecting crystals. Oh, beta testers are needed."
It wasn't so much "Ported" as it was "recompiled and distributed" for the Mac, thanks to the excellent cross-platform work of the Crystal Space 3D engine team!
Just to clarify, this version of Planeshift has not been released to the general public, and the Mac & Windows & Linux versions should be released fairly simultaneously.
Thanks to all the PlaneShift & Crystalspace developers!
Daniel Fryer
I tried Planeshift a few months ago, and seriously it's just not something that should even be out there yet. Lots of bugs, limited map, the only thing you could do was run around to all the same places and pick up crystals. To get enough crystals to buy a weapon (though all you could do was hold it) would have taken about 20 hours of playtime. That was an awfully long time to stand in the middle of a room waiting for crystals to grow back, so I uninstalled it. I'll pay attention to these guys when they reach 1.0 release. Just because it's free doesn't mean it's any good.
we're no longer in search of testers for the Mac port. The response to our very first email out was overwelming so the last thing we need is more Mac users hounding us for it. The name of the next release is Crystal Blue, which we generally refer to as CB. It will have combat, crafting a vague semblance of an economy. Note that although this release will be playable we're not calling it a "game" - we're still in the tech demo stage. We're still looking for 2d/3d artists, people with pen-and-paper/boardgame GM experience, and C++ coders. Drop by #planeshift on irc.freenode.net if you're interested in contributing.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Planeshift as a project has three licenses - code is under GPL (free), art (music, sound, maps, models, textures) are under Planeshift license (non-free), I'm not sure about the third one.
Quoting from Planeshift license:
"You may not copy, modify, publish, transmit, sell, participate in the transfer or sale or reproduce, create Derivative Works from, distribute, perform, display or in any way exploit any of the Material released under this License unless expressly permitted by the PlaneShift Team."
That's free as in Freedom?! Free as in beer sure, but not as in Freedom, not even close. I wish all the best to Planeshift team, just let's not pretend its Free as in Freedom project when it's not.
Your avatar should get tired and have to sleep, and also periodically eat or else see your stats go down. If you don't eat for long enough, you die. Also I hope the game world has temperature, and the heat or cold effects your performance as well. Additionally your character should have to go to the bathroom at least once a day. Every now and then sickness should set in. Any crystals you collect should be subject to a tax. And your hair should grow and you must clip your fingernails periodically. And if you don't shower you stink, and your charisma stat goes down -1 every day. Eventually your character can get cancer and die. Plus you have to maintain good dental hygene or your teeth fall out and then ou can't speak correctly. And you can have sex and then babies that you have to dote over and not do any adventuring or crystal-collecting until they are old enough to stay at home alone, or you have to hire a babysitter. And cats that piss on your clothing that merchants won't buy because its so smelly. And bouts of gas along with some serious farting. And once a month female characters won't be controlled and their stats are re-rolled once every 30 seconds. And I want to see perma-death, meaning that once you die the game uninstalls itself. And you can get drunk and have a hangover. And lightsabers.
Anyway, those are just some of the things I think you should put into your game.
It's funny cause it's true.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Yay, this is good news!
I know the 'creators' of Planeshift, they have quite a load on their shoulders, making a secure MMO, while allowing others to see their source... Imagine how easy-er to cheat it would be?
I really would love to see this become a 'great' game. Even though, I don't play many games ('cept CS - not source).
(or maybe not such an old phrase, old in geek-time at any rate)
"Security through obscurity isn't."
--- "End Of Line" - MCP
You can easily tell who the mac players are.
All their armour is bright white, with rounded corners.
Also their armour only works against a few weapons.
And it has incompatible with the majority of wearers.
And is more expensive than normal armour, but overall it's more price effective because there are no upgrades for it so you don't spend money fixing or upgrading.
But you have to buy new armour when it gets a chink, you cant replace a few chains or plates, instead just the whole thing
the free (yes, as in Freedom, who cares otherwise)
See, this is where it gets confusing - you equate 'free' (as in traditionally, 'beer') with 'Freedom' (note the capital there). Now are you referring to the US branded version of 'Freedom' which means 'you are free (to do what you are told)' or what?
Hi, PlaneShift project leader here. We were not aware of this slashdot posting till we found our mailbox filled with alpha test requests :) Thanks for your interest in PlaneShift. The current public version is about 2 years old compared to the current (closed alpha) one. So please don't take the public one as reference. Many new things have been added and now PlaneShift is surely more playable. The fact we are at version 0.3 means we don't propose PS as a finished product, we like to have people see our progresses by releasing "tech demos" at significant development stages.
As for the license, consider what we give you as a gamer, a free game with good quality. No cost for the game, no monthly fee. This is what we feel is "Free" for gamers. On the other hand we had to protect our work from spoilers, and so we needed a stronger license on the art/trademarks side.
What we really need on the Mac OSX side are more developers. If you are a Mac C++ programmer, consider joining our team!
Enjoy PlaneShift!
So 20 now classifies as "Massively Multiplayer".
:)