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Free 3D MMORPG Planeshift Ported To Mac OS X

Posted by timothy on from the imaginary-creatures-dying-in-droves dept.

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."

7 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Porting work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

    1. Re:Porting work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      There were a couple endianness bugs, and a few weird cross platform issues which I took care of. There is still probably some mac-specific optimization that can be done (and optimization in general) in Crystal Space, but no code in Planeshift is platform specific, unless I've forgotten some.

      Daniel Fryer

  2. Thanks but, by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.
  3. Re:Planeshift is not free as in Freedom by QuantumG · · Score: 5, Informative

    You know, you're absolutely right. No-one from the Planeshift team wrote the post above, so we're not responsible for it. Planeshift is the name of a game. The game engine is Free but the artwork is not. We'd love to make a game where all the artwork was under some Free license but none of us coders can draw and none of the artists we have ever met are interested in releasing stuff under a Free license. If you would like to russle up some artists who will contribute under a free license we'll gladly accept their work.. but it's been our experience that the vast majority of graphics artists find the concept of free licenses scary and foriegn and simply won't contribute their work under such conditions.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  4. Re:Meh. by Edgewize · · Score: 2, Informative

    Since when does he have an obligation to help you out?

    I'm sorry but this touches a nerve that I've always had. There are too many free-software advocates who act as if the very fact that their project is open source somehow obligates people to contribute. Bullshit.

    Whether the software is Free or not, whether the source is available or not, and whether I know how to fix it or not, the onus is not on ME to make YOUR program better. People have every right to say that your program sucks if it does, indeed, suck.

    The whole point of Free software is it is not held to any person's idea of how it should or shouldn't be used. If you demand contributions of ANY SORT, be it money, time, effort, or constructive criticism, then your software is not Free and /you/ are the whiner.

    Note to mods: if you agree with my parent, then mod me into flamebait, I've got karma to burn.

  5. Thanks for your partecipation by LucaP · · Score: 5, Informative

    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!

    1. Re:Thanks for your partecipation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm a member of the 2D/3D team of Planeshift.

      I'd simply like to add I have an experience with open source art before on an other MMORPG, and honestly it didn't work at all.
      Why? Simply because I've seen hours of work being spread away on the net and used by other people/project. Don't tell you have any control on where your file goes if you give it away freely on the web (I have done it too, but on a specialized website with content mainly used as placeholder).

      Having the creative content under a license is a real plus. It means this works is protected and it ensure PS progress and a good asset of content to use in the game.
      Now the people who have the skill and will to make art for PS or even improve art for PS are in the team.
      Perhaps this license makes you think there's no freedom in contributing to PS but it's wrong. Anyone can apply and help. So license or not it's the same, except we'll avoid seeing this works used in an other game (2 games with same content would be bad IMO) and we're able to help the people who wants to contribute.

      Djagg.