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Linux Games For Non-Gamers?
Nethead writes "Due to some down-time, I'm looking for some Linux games to pass the time. I've been playing BattleMaster, a PHP web game but it's only two turns a day, and I'd like something a bit faster. I've not really played PC games since the Doom era so I'm really out of touch here. I don't have a real gamer box, just a simple video card. What do Slashdotters think I should try? A simple FPS or some type of networked game would do. What's out there for Linux?"
I find xmoto is an excellent time waster ..
http://xmoto.tuxfamily.org/
Also I occasionally delve into the "flash games" arena .. there's actually some decent stuff now days! (And there's always the classics like "defend the castle" and "Champion Archer")
some flash games are quite decent, like gemcraft http://armorgames.com/play/3527/gemcraft-chapter-0
leisure suit larry
Well, there is a wiki too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Linux_games I've played the Penumbra games, they are ... adventure games really but fairly atmospheric.
Cube, OpenArena, Nexuiz are all fair FPS games. Not amazing, but fun diversions. Aside from that BZFlag, Battle for Wesnoth, and FreeCiv.
A word of advice: Never play Frozen Bubble. I've lost days thanks to that bastard.
Check out http://www.happypenguin.org/. I've got the RSS enabled on the right side of /. If you ever up your video card, http://www.planeshift.it/ is an excellent open source mmorpg.
Quakelive works on linux now, have a go!
Travian is a free browser-based strategy/resource game that works fine on any OS. From what I gather, it's not as fast as most of the other MMORPGs, but it does require a bit of attention.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
Freeciv is a good game you can play and leave, then come back to later. It doesn't require a lot of hardware, and while complicated at first, it becomes remarkably simple to play once you've played for a while.
Watch you don't get too addicted though! The urge to play 'just one more turn', or to go to bed 'after I've captured that city' is incredible.
http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
Altitude is my favorite game ever. It's a multiplayer airplane/dogfighting game with really satisfying combat.
OpenTTD (which is based on Transport Tycoon Deluxe) is a great game and you can quickly loose track of the time building intricate train networks. You do need the original game files but this is pretty easy to do with the help of Google.
http://openttd.org/
The only computer game I play is Sauerbraten. I'm very much not a gamer, but I find it to be quite enjoyable to play. The biggest plus is that since most people haven't played it, when I ask people to play it, we're on pretty even footing given how little I play.
I definitely recommend it.
Vendetta works under Linux. More of a space shooter with role playing elements than the traditional FPS which you seem to be looking for, but the guys at Guild Software have spent a good amount of time making sure it works well under a wide variety of hardware configurations.
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
World of Goo - check it out!
Nethack.
I know some mod is about to mod me 'funny' but I'm quite serious. If you are a casual gamer and not addicted to fast-paced games and high-rez graphics, give roguelikes a try. My personal favorite is nethack, but there are a lot out there and there is some good variety and inovation in the genre.
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
Supertux 2
Pingus
Enigma
Chromium BSU
KSudoku (very nice under KDE4 if you can deal with that)
Frozen Bubble
Puppy Games also has some nice shoot-em-ups that run on Linux. Their titles are cheap, pretty fun to play and have good sized trial modes. My fav here is Ultratron (inspired by Robotron 2084) and also Titan Attacks.
Seriously, if it exists, you can find it here.
Here is a short list of some Linux games I know of:
3D Multiplayer Deathmatch:
Alien Arena
Warsow
Openarena
World of Padman
Nexuiz
Sauerbraten
3D Multiplayer team DM:
Tremulous (aliens vs. humans)
Enemy Territory (allies vs. axis), freeware
ET - True Combat Elite (terrorists vs. specops), freeware
Urban Terror (terrorists vs. specops)
2D Multiplayer Deathmatch:
Teeworlds (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!)
Artillery:
Scorched3D
Hedgewars (Worms clone)
Wormus (Worms clone with OS mascots)
Real Time Strategy:
Warzone2100
Bos Wars
The Spring Project and various mods
Turn-based Strategy:
Battle for Wesnoth (caution, addictive)
Freeciv
Racing (I'm not really into racing):
Supertuxkart
Trackmania
Jump-n-run:
Supertux
Secret Maryo Chronicles
Others:
Neverball/Neverputt
Foobillard
Frozen-Bubble (multiplayer bubble-puzzle clone)
OpenTTD
These games require fairly simple hardware -- I have played most of them on my built-in intel X3100 (i965).
Sounds like you've missed a fair few generations of games then.
Try giving Enemy Territory a go.
Quite addictive in its time and a nice cooperative element to online play.
It was released back in 2003, and runs quite well on Linux. You did mention only having a "simple" video card but odds are better than even your system has sufficient support - even basic integrated video chipsets tend to have some degree of OpenGL support these day.
System requirements are: 600 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, 32 MB OpenGL graphics card, 56.6k Modem/LAN
Its not quite Open Source but it is (and always has been) free as in beer.
Your Brain + EEG + LEGO Robots = Brainstorms
In this race against time, players vie to be the first player to successfully install and fully patch Windows XP.
Game equipment, per player:
*Linux computer with CD burner and an Ethernet card that doesn't require additional drivers for Windows XP
*Blank hard drive
*Windows XP pre-service-pack CD
*Ethernet connection
*Unlimited supply of blank CDs
*Unlimited supply of over the counter painkillers, including Aspirin, Tylenol, and Jack Daniels
Goal: Get Windows installed on the spare hard drive before all other players. If you get a virus or other malware you have to take a painkiller and start over.
Rules: Ethernet cable must be up at all times, and Ethernet protocols must not be disabled.
Strategies:
*Install it from CD and pray you don't get infected.
*Use Linux to download Service Pack 3 and create a slipstream CD and install with that, and hope you don't get infected.
*Use Linux to format the drive and copy the files one by one, and download or write a tool to build the registry, fake log files, and other files.
*Ask CowboyNeal for help.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
If you're into strategy and don't mind losing all of your free time and some of your work time, there's FreeCiv. Think Civilization recast as a full-on client/server multi-player setup. I've not played it recently (no time to game at all lately, too much code to write!) but the graphics requirements should be fairly modest.
--GrouchoMarx
Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?
The deepest Roguelike ever. If you aren't sure why you might want to play it, start here.
Get the Linux 40d16 version from this page
If you prefer graphical tiles to (nearly) pure ASCII (I certainly do) get the Mike Mayday tileset from this page and use the instructions to get it working.
Then watch the 40 tutorial videos to ease the neigh vertical learning curve. You will of course supplement the videos with lots of careful reading of the wiki.
This game is a time vampire, but lots of fun if you have a little patience and an attention span.
Seriously, if you want Linux to really take off and outnumber Windows on home PCs, one of the strategies I'd consider would be to create 4-5 really good games not available on MS/Mac products. *nix geeks do a lot of ragging on GUI users, but exert little real effort to give them motivation to change.
All it would take is one superior game, one superior product and you'd get a massive influx of dual-booters. There's been a lot of work lately on making easy-to-install *nix flavors, Debian, CentOS, can both in my experience be installed by a child with no outside help (I even did it.) But unless you're running a server for something or just like to be confused, there's no motivation for it. If you gave people a game, an app, an experience they couldn't have on another OS, you'd provide real motivation.
Despite the current trends, good games don't require super graphics or movie tie-ins or big name voice actors. The best games, have always just needed better-than-suck graphics, superior user interface, and/or something that makes the game hook. Generally a little quirk or wrinkle in the game playing experience that no one else has ever figured out how to iron out. Something about the UI that just works. There are whole series of games that really aren't all that great as far as games go, but just have such a great interface that people keep coming back to them. Then again, there was a game on Windows3.1 shareware that came pre-installed called CastleWin. Was one of the coolest games I've ever played, just a Rogue-clone with graphics, you could re-name your items, and do a few other neat tricks. Still can't find that one anywhere.
K.
Linux Games
Happy Penguin
LinuX Gamers
The Ur Quan Masters (was: Star Control 2) at http://sc2.sf.net/ is a masterpiece of a game, runs natively on Linux, and is free.
You can also run a lot of great games under DOSBox. You can get the X-COM series ( UFO Defense, Terror from the Deep, and Apocalypse ) from various online sources for something like $5 US, just make sure they're not DRM-wrapped. I also highly recommend Master of Orion II. All these run great under DOSBox on Linux and require no 3D video capabilties at all. They're all long-running single player strategies, which may not be your kind of thing.
Why limit yourself to only that which runs natively on Linux? All that matters is killing time and having a little fun. DOSBox (www.dosbox.org) provides the emulator and Classic DOS Games (www.classicdosgames.com) has dozens of older DOS classics, from Keen to Duke Nukem to whatever. Enjoy it.
Cogito, igitur comedam pizza.
Linux games that I found/find genuinly fun:
Battle for Wesnoth
TORCS
Vega Strike
OpenArena
This sig has been distributed under the Creative Commons license.
Both great games from Introversion. There is also Darwinia (which I didn't like so much), but the other two, highly recommended.
The game, technically, is simple enough for almost any video card to handle (better ones don't add /that/ much extra). In the same way as checkers, it's quite easy to operate (mouse plus 4 keys or so) but takes a while to master.
The simplistic graphics and simplistic controls focuses the game on something else: gameplay. That's why it's what I spend 90% of my gaming time on it.
"Good news, everyone!"
From the makers of the widely-acclaimed, award-winning hit Unix, comes Linux, an exciting game of patience and frustration!
Risk your life to perform the sacred ritual of Installation to gain entry to the land of Linux, with the Dark Lord's minions Grub and Fdisk trying their hardest to stop you! /etc in an attempt to find the ancient lost artifact, A Fucking Working Configuration!
Explore the fearsome depths of the labyrinthine cursed dungeon
Engage in challenging battle with dozens of the Dark Lord's vile Sound Systems to free the people of the land of Linux from their oppressive tyranny and bring the joy of music to them!
Uncover the true name of Linux itself through harrowing inane ideological debate, and use the vast trolling power of this to cause a major rift in the land over a fucking name!
Face off against the Dark Lord Xorg himself in exciting one-on-one battle, and pry the holy twin swords of Multi-Monitor Support and Working 3D Acceleration from his cold, dead hands and bring peace to Linux at last--if you can!
Linux promises upwards of 60 hours of unique and difficult gameplay, each moment full of exciting new threats and challenges in your attempt to free the land of Linux from the Dark Lord and his underlings at last and bring usability to all!
(Warning: Linux should not be played by people with photosensitive epilepsy, pregnant woman, smokers, children shorter than this tall, BSD zealots, and anyone who doesn't actually want to fight Xorg and just wants their fucking computer to fucking work already)
Still one of the best games available - I replayed it a couple of months ago.
No sig today...
Try the DROD (Deadly Rooms of Death) series, which are puzzle games with story lines and lots of humour. They are also very playable for beginners, you don't have to be a die-hard puzzle lover to play this.
You can play one or a few rooms per day if you want, the game will automatically save your progress so you can stop any time you want. They released the source code of the first game in the series, not unlike what id Software does.
http://caravelgames.com/Articles/Games.html
Though commercial games: Uplink and Defcon. Especially Uplink. Not too expensive and both very good games you can spend alot of time with. Uplink runs with almost any graphics card, Defcon might need a slightly better one. Both for beating the world before it beats you.
I work for a very successfull and rapidly growing browsergame publisher (currently the largest). We do have the one or other title that was acquired and isn't all that spectacular for geeks and nerds, but we have some very neat originals, some of which have made us big and have had gotten a facelift or two recently (aside of the regular improvements and bugfixes). Since they run on browsers they are naturally x-plattform and require no installation. All are free to play.
Here's my personal favorites list from our portfolio:
OGame, a classic 4X sci-fi/space game with a brand new pimped-out Ajax interface and fresh GFX. ... And a cool trailer. (Hint: Try a non-US server if the one you got has old boring table layouts - the community is large and most of us read and write a fluent english :-) )
Ikariam, a Settlers/Civilisation type Browsergame. Scored some prestigious awards recently, including 'Browsergame of the Year 2008'.
Wild Guns, a BG with a Wild West setting. Just has gotten a total redo of the graphics by our art crew. Very neat.
KingsAge, a nice old-school BG, Defender of the Crow / Middle Ages Camelot style.
OK, slashdoters, go flood our servers and have our admins do some extra shifts. Hehehe... *leans back and takes some popcorn*
Have fun!
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
You'll love Nexuiz.
When I want to pull away from MMORPG time sinks, this is where I go. Total in your face FPS action. Multiplayer as too, tho' the bots can be taxing enough.
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.