Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Best Way to Port a Windows Game to Linux?

Posted by Cliff on from the shortcuts-to-market dept.

cliffski asks: "I have a Windows game that may benefit from a port to Linux. It's a complex politics sim based on a neural network, (think NationStates with complexity) and is probably right up the street of many Linux gamers. The problem right now is that I don't have the knowledge or the time to handle a Linux port, myself. What's the best way to arrange for a commercial port of games software to the Linux platform? Is it worth talking to lone enthusiastic hackers about collaborating? Would I save myself a lot of hassle by selling the porting rights to an established Linux games company?"

3 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. WINE by kngthdn · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, I'm assuming the submitter linked to Positech Games' website for a reason...so I downloaded and installed the demo using WINE, and it seemed to work nicely.

    When I run Democracy.exe, it makes some very cool noises, violently freezes up, stops responding to all my input, and then forces me to 'killall wine' and start over fresh after a while.

    Not a bad start really, but you might want to simulate stupid politicians, taxes, and some oppressive patent laws, too. ; )

    Then release a Dictator.exe that can't even be pkill'd!!

    1. Re:WINE by AvitarX · · Score: 3, Funny

      It is clearly working too fast to be a political simlator.

      Must be a problem with WINE.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
  2. The best port is no port by cr380r · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe it seems a bit too obvious to me, but why not develope games in Java so that they don't have to be ported. Virtual machines are ideal because of this very situation.