World of Goo Ported To Linux

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Posted by Soulskill on Friday February 13, 2009 @06:17PM from the good-for-goo dept.

christian.einfeldt writes "Lovers of both games and Free Open Source Software will be pleased to see that the popular indie puzzle game World of Goo has been released for Linux. It was designed by a small team of two ex-Electronic Arts developers, Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, who used their entire combined savings of $10,000.00 USD to create the gooey game aimed at guiding goo balls to salvation. The developers built their gooey world with open-source technologies such as Simple DirectMedia Layer, Open Dynamics Engine for physics simulation, and TinyXML for configuration and animation files. Subversion and Mantis Bug Tracker were used for work coordination. Blogger Ken Starks points out that the release of this popular game for Linux could be a big step toward ending the chicken-and-egg problem of a dearth of good games that run natively under Linux."

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DRM-Less by Bonker · 2009-02-13 18:54 · Score: 5, Informative

World of Goo is DRMless. There are no copy protections upon it.
It's also very worth the $20. There's a level editor and fan-made levels starting to spring up as well, so even after you've exhausted the LENGTHY puzzle challenge, you can play other challenges to your heart's content.
Go purchase this game.

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1. Re:DRM-Less by lordofthechia · 2009-02-13 22:13 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Should also note that they have free demo .rpm and .deb so it's easy to give the game a try and see if it's worth your $20 (which as Parent pointed out, it really is).
  http://worldofgoo.com/dl2.php?lk=demo
  
  --
  Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
2. Re:DRM-Less by X0563511 · 2009-02-13 23:00 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Edit the preferences file. There is a disclaimer in it that states playing with the resolution might cause your computer to explode.
  I haven't seen it happen yet.
  Meanwhile, I enjoy my World of Goo in glorious 1680x1050.
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
3. Re:DRM-Less by Sibko · 2009-02-13 23:00 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  As someone who's played it... No. No, it is not worth the $20 they charge for the game.
  
  Look, it's common courtesy to say such and such is great or fantastic so you don't hurt feelings, but I'm being honest here. This is a glorified flash game with all of about 15 minutes of actual gameplay that is simply repeated over and over.
  
  It's alright, it's what you might expect from a flash game on Newgrounds or wherever. But it most certainly is not worth $20. Just want to put that out there so people don't buy this expecting something different. [I'd recommend playing the demo first, so you know what you're getting into.]
4. Re:DRM-Less by Ed+Avis · 2009-02-14 00:00 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Apparently you can change the resolution: Program Files -> World of Goo -> properties -> config.txt.
  (IMHO it is Windows's behaviour of rearranging the whole desktop just because you played a game fullscreen which is retarded.)
  
  --
  -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
5. Re:DRM-Less by Animaether · 2009-02-14 00:40 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  That is indeed incredibly stupid - although I've not encountered it after playing a game normally, if a fullscreen game *crashes* I am indeed SOL. ..well, partly.
  Grab this:
  http://www.snapfiles.com/get/iconrestore.html
  It allows you to easily store and restore the layout of your desktop icons - perfect for these situations.
6. Re:DRM-Less by grumbel · 2009-02-14 02:25 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Yes, and that seems to be you.
  Hint: Just because vector graphics might have been used in production doesn't mean they will end up in the game, in this case its all pixel textures.
7. Re:DRM-Less by Kjella · 2009-02-14 03:10 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Hmm, just played the demo now on my KDE3.5 desktop and it didn't mess up my icons - everything was where I expected it to be. I have experienced exactly what you're describing with certain WINE games though, particularly those that crash midgame have a tendency to screw up everything. Like you, I much prefer games that can run at my native resolution though, even if they just upscale the graphics.
  
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8. Re:DRM-Less by boteeka · 2009-02-14 04:31 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  It is not about the "uber rez", it is about a game should run on the native resolutions of LCD displays currently available on almost any laptops and LCD monitors. If you are running _anything_ on other than the native resolution on an LCD display it looks pretty awful. So, GP has a good point here.
Re:Did they actually use all $10K? by kbrasee · 2009-02-13 19:25 · Score: 2, Informative

Yeah, the human story of EA is a good read. Wouldn't want to work there, even if the pay was good.
Re:Did they actually use all $10K? by X0563511 · 2009-02-13 20:27 · Score: 3, Informative

Kyle did all the music.
http://kylegabler.com/WorldOfGooSoundtrack/

--
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Re:I can't find the Linux version on Steam... by meist3r · 2009-02-14 00:25 · Score: 2, Informative

On Steam I just find the Windows version, why? :(
Because you will have to wait until later this year when Valve announces Steam for Linux natively together with all the Source games in line with the release of the Source Engine powered Postal III