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Games Entertainment

New Linux Game needs Developers 156

shaggs writes "Time City is an open source, linux, 1st person action game, that will have time travel, network capabilities and more. We are currently looking for volunteers for all aspects of this project, and we need you the community to help. If you have any talents to offer us, visit Time City and sign up to volunteer today! " This looks pretty cool. It will use the Crystal Space engine and be openly developed. With all the positive exposure Linux has gotten, gaming is one of the areas where Linux is not well developed yet. Free, high quality games could easily turn this around.
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New Linux Game needs Developers

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  • by Anonymous Coward
    Pfft. Even with a fully developed good quality commercial engine, game development can take 1-2 years on top of that. *cough* Daikatana *cough* ... 3 years now? Half Life was 2+ years in development with the Quake 1 & 2 sources. Far too many commercial games have proven that trying to throw in gameplay at the last second is like trying to tweak a novel just before publishing-- you can't polish sh**.

    I'd personally like to see good "open source" artwork that fills a coherent game, good "OSS" sound/music, good "OSS" writing (aka design) in existence *BEFORE* all those parts are built into a game, which does depend on all of those components. In short, prove you can take small steps before you try and run a marathon with the big guys.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    don't be so gay!
  • by Anonymous Coward
    They're looking into a community effort here. (This is going to shape out the same way Linux did.)

    Did Linus say "Hey, I'm going to write a UNIX kernel, could somebody just write the scheduler and filesystem and console drivers and 386 code for me. I'll do the website!".

    No, Linus WROTE SOME CODE FIRST.

    These "call to arms" projects are nothing like Linux, and nothing like the Linux development model. The Linux model requires a kernel of code to work with first, not a pretty website.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Two examples
    - FreeCiv needs help on gfx and sound. The new GTK interface will rock!
    - GnuChess could need a fancier interface. Xboard could need some refreshnes.

    There are many more. Like flightsimulators, lemings like game, battle games, etc..

    Support them!
  • by Anonymous Coward
    The thing that I like the best about this Time City project is that is seems like the group of people running it are a bunch of people having fun. I mean, just look at the website... "Celebrity Screams"? So long as they're having fun, something good will come out of it, whether or not there ends up being a Time City game.

    We all know that there's a small number of people with the ability to help a project like this. Batman's Robin, Linus's Alan Cox, and even Uta of the WorldForge project. But all you need is one of these types of people, and the rest will come.

    I think that that's why this type of project announcement is useful... Maybe one of those few special people are listening. These special folks are certainly ignoring the pessimism spewing forth in this forum, and maybe, just maybe, this project will catch their whim. All it takes is one...
  • Me too!

    Really. I am tired of all these FPS and RTS games. In fact, I'd rather play chess or bridge than another quake or warcraft clone.

    (Speaking of that.. There needs to be a bridge program for linux. Any coders interested?)
  • Um...there's a car called "WorldForge"? It may be a cool name for some kind of tank or something, but I don't know of any cars by that name.
  • Well, this really isn't that new. Everything I know of from Dikus to UO to EQ has done it. Diablo is an exception, but it didn't have a persistant online world. It was more like StarCraft for the purpose on multiplayer. As for WorldForge, we're handling *everything* on the server, including the lighting. We really didn't have a choice, since several people are making different types of (GPL'd) clients.
  • The Altima project, now the Worldforge project, is progessing along nicely. It wasn't swallowed up into WorldForge. That was just a name change since we felt that "Altima" was too close to "Ultima."

    http://www.worldforge.org/, if anyone's interested
  • Then we're back to the same issue -- your scenario seems to assume anyone could throw up a server and participate in the same large communal world.

    But if the code's open, there's nothing preventing someone from attaching a modified server that brings down the whole mess, either through malice or ignorance. Can't have that.

    Or from starting up their own private server, creating a world where they can pick up arbitrarily cool items and experience for free, then connecting their newly-butch character back to the main network.

    I need to do some more thinking on this, because I think there's something axiomatic here about the applicability of Open Source to cooperative versus competitive arenas. Hmmn.
  • >I can understand distributed.net not releasing their source, because they're trying to conduct a fair and honest competition.

    But isn't that what you want out of a game, too? Fair and honest competition? I'm not just being contrary, here, I'm actually interested in hearing schemes by which a multiplayer game could be totally Open Source, and still somehow offer fairness and honesty.
  • Yes, that solves the rogue server problem. It also re-creates the original problem that opening the server code was supposed to solve -- scalability.

    If you have to be trusted to join the primary network, you create an enormous headache for the administrators in terms of validating which servers can join. You obviously can't just let any current server admin approve some other server to connect to it, a la IRC, or you fall prey to con-man attacks where a seemingly-trustworthy server is allowed to attach, and then that admin lets all his script-kiddie buddies attach at his node.

    And, finally, you'd have to do constant vigilance above and beyond the original validation of a new server, so you don't get servers that are validated as running good code, and then install rogue code later.

    So, your scheme re-introduces the scalability nightmare that opening up the server code was supposed to address in the first place.
  • by emerson ( 419 ) on Wednesday June 09, 1999 @03:23PM (#1859358)
    I've been pondering a game project myself, lately, and while I'm a big believer in the power of Open Source to improve the quality of software, I have some reservations about opening the source to multiplayer games.

    Specifically, once the source goes public, there is no feasible way to prevent end users from changing the code to give themselves unfair advantages -- faster movement, more powerful weapons, brighter gamma correction, whatever -- and so disrupting the balance of the game.

    As a different model, I point to the distributed.net folks, who don't release their source for very similar reasons. I posit a game-development model that follows their model -- aggressive bug fixing, constant posting of updated binaries for as many OSes as possible, and generally the same speed and responsiveness as an Open Source project, just without the actual source out there. Something much like id's scheme, but faster and more multi-platform.

    Thoughts? I'd like to think that Open Source is generally a Good Thing(tm), but I'd like to hear feedback on how to make sure everyone's on a level playing field if your client code can be modified.

  • Using derogatory misspellings or alterations of names is still somewhat childish. Calling something "winblows" or "w1nbl0wz" or "Linsucks" or "slowaris" or "crapintosh" is not what I'd expect somebody over the age of 10 to do.
  • So if somebody said "I don't like that hippie Linsucks operating system" you would take them seriously?
  • HEHEhehehe..... I really like AC's. Thanx!

    This one's going in my funny file.
  • Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:

    Here is some help: Get a new slogan. Unless this game is a parody, you will be looking at some legal problems with MS.


    --
    "Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
  • Posted by stodge:

    the name still sucks - its a car! Doh!

  • Posted by The Incredible Mr. Limpett:

    Although I'm really looking forward to Oni by Bungie (http://www.bungie.com/oni/default.html)

    Although it's more of a combo/improvement over current form facotrs (Quake and Mortal Kombat type games), it's sounds great. I especially like the environment space that doesn't just limit you to the door to enter a building(you could break a window somewhere in the building and enter that way or break down a door on the roof and enter that way.)

    If only they could mix that with a Myst type puzzle game and things could be groovy.

    or how about a MUD in the form factor of Quake (instead of Diablo or whatever) and you could paste your scanned face in there and make different skins (suits, bathing suits, etc.)

    Hmm..I wish I knew how to program at that scale cause that's what I'd be working on... :)
    ----
    "Wars, conflict, it's all business. One murder makes a
    villain. Millions a hero. Numbers sanctify."
  • by Enahs ( 1606 )
    Why visit a Linux site when you're so openly opposed to free, Open Source software?

    Unless I've missed a joke here... :^/
  • If you felt like living dangerously, you could probe for hardware...


    Just a thought.
  • Nor does Linux need a bunch of goddamn fuckin' flamers.


    Yes, I realize the irony of my reply.


  • Here's a thought on preventing some cheating in a multiplayer game:

    Have the server keep an eye on player movement etc. If something looks fishy, kick/ban the player in question.

    Cheating involving weird hacks happens in closed-source games too...this gets real frustrating playing games like Q2/Tribes/Whatever. :^(
  • If you really want a Linux game project to work on, or just some source to hack on, my RTS projects page lists many open source efforts. I'm sure some of them can use a helping hand.

    http://www.cgocable.net/~mlepage/rts/projects.ht ml

    I'm working on my own Linux game right this minute, re-vamping the view hierarchy. How come I don't get Slashdot articles devoted to Minion?
  • You may also be interested in looking at WorldForge [worldforge.org], Cyphesis [geocities.com] and Lycadican [uleth.ca], as some other Linux game development projects in need of developers. These are more fantasy roleplaying oriented. -- Bryce
  • Swallowed?? :-)

    When it was listed on Slashdot, one "Piece of advice" given by the Slashdot crowd was, "Bah, the name sucks, change it."

    We did. ;-)

    -- Bryce
  • Superlatively cool indeed. Now how do I modify this to print "DANIEL" instead of "DAVID"? (Without going insane in the process.) The last half hour was vainly spent attempting this very feat. I think I'm making headway but I think I need to discover the magic number for my name before I can go any further.
  • ...don't make sense. Especially multiplayer games.

    Game design is a complicated beast. Not only do you have to know how to code, you also have to know how to design a game to be attractive aurally, visually and above all, interest. The OS model is fine for computing utility, but recreation ... no.

    I fully support the idea of open-sourcing PARTS of games. Like network code. Except that until the code is rock-hard-solid, no one would want to use it. Ways to break and exploit the system would be almost as known as the system itself.

    There are some things game players aren't meant to know. Code is #1.

    What would have happened if the source of Quake was released before people stopped playing it? There would be 100 times more cheaters than there already are. The ability to play would be subverted by the ability to write code. Diablo could have been a lot more popular than it was if it wasn't for exploiters.

    As much as some cr/h/ackers might love the idea, it sucks as a means to have fun.

    J.
  • But the MS quote was a bad one to begin with. Way too many people are parodying it. Bad parodies of bad slogans make me double-cringe.

    It may be a good game, though.

    --Lenny
  • Perhaps you should hang out on SlashNET [slashnet.org] more often. Victoria and a good portion of the Time City team can be found there.
  • Cool indeed. Now what is the point of the !! after the |. As far as I can tell they aren't needed. Works fine without them on linux 2.0 and gcc 2.7.2.3

  • It wasn't swallowed; the name was merely changed. Personally I think Altima sucks just as bad as Worldforge, though.
  • And to prevent bots and cheats in general you need a way for the server to test the executable and runtime data integrity

    So, in order to be able to trust the client, it has to be able to trust the client to tell it what data it's using?

  • by David Gould ( 4938 ) <david@dgould.org> on Wednesday June 09, 1999 @01:44PM (#1859380) Homepage
    From the premise on their story [timecity.org] page, this has potential to be one weird game.

    You probably expect me to say something about causing major historical changes. You're waiting for me
    to tell you not to touch anything, talk to anyone, or break anything. Balderdash! Just the opposite. We
    want you to attempt to cause rifts in the timestream by any means necessary. Kill whomever you want.
    Blow up a building if you can. It's only by testing our technology (and the universe) to it's limits that we
    will learn from this experiment. Keep in mind that other historians receive the same advice; it will be just
    as important to defend yourself against them, as well as the Chronopolian natives. Since we're a
    scientific expedition, we're not licensed to issue weapons of any sort. You will need to find them yourself.


    If this means that the game will actually try to keep track of events that happen at different times, and the way they affect each other... Well, it's hard to imagine how they'll manage it, but it could really be something. The problem is, since we can't really time-travel, how would it resolve cases like, "I think I'll beam a BFG-9000 back to the room where I had that fight last week. Then I wouldn't have gotten killed, so I would be able to do it."

    They do seem to imply that that's the sort of thing they want to make possible, but it could get ridiculous, like that scene in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" -- "After I win, I'll go back and put a gun here that I can use to kill you (and win)." "Oh yeah? Well, after we win, we'll go back and make sure your gun isn't loaded, so we'll win." ...

    It'll have to have some way of resolving these things: you can't have something you do take effect before the subjective time that you decide to do it, and even then it needs some way to be sure that you actually will do it before it can take effect.

    This is all probably way beyond what it'll actually be, but it looks like they are going for some way of having actions and events affect each other non-sequentially. Maybe like forcing a rematch if you change the circumstances of a previous fight, and cascading the effects if the outcome is different. I hope they can pull it off.

    That Crystal Space thing looks pretty interesting, too. I hadn't heard of it before. My #@%*% modem just hung up at 90% on the download, so I won't be trying it out for another few hours, though. (Why can't Netscape continue interrupted downloads instead of starting over? It does so occasionally, but it seems to decide pretty much randomly. I know, I know, read the source and fix it, right?)

    David Gould
  • Make Dr. Fox explicitly completely insane. That way, you can have _two_ factions of people going back in time: one, the lunatics Dr. Fox sent back in time; two, the lunatics sent back in time by the authorities to stop the other lunatics who got sent back in time.

    Should make things more interesting having the two "sides", IMO. I think I'll suggest this to these folks directly, too.
    ---
  • Rudeness is not often the best way to deal in a project like this. As I understand, your one of the people representing this project. Please do not hurl rude comments when a suggestion is made. /. is a place filled with flame wars, try to stay out of it.. or be natuarally branded.

    It takes a sound mind to make something sound, (how about looking at the kernel mailing list's crap-to-ontopic ratio, interestingly linus has the lest amount of crap there, with Alan Cox dominating the crap session ) -- cant remember where this page is.. (looking for samba"?)
    --
  • Interesting, I like this idea. BTW, I've learned a long time ago, that's it's better to have something to show to the world before comming out and announcing a opensource project. (Look at every major sucessful opensource project, begining with Linus et al).

    Also, shouldnt /. verify stories for their autencity before posting them? It seems like linuxgame has carried this story as well. Is this a forum for every rich kid with a domain to get some hits?
    --
  • by FFFish ( 7567 ) on Wednesday June 09, 1999 @01:54PM (#1859384) Homepage
    I think it is *extremely* possible to make Linux into one righteous gaming platform.

    First key is to realize that most modern BIOSes allow one to boot from CDROM. No need to have a seperate boot partition any more, let alone install Linux.

    Second is to work on making the kernel use hot-loadable device drivers -- mix-n-match the components as needed for a given machine. Only load the drivers needed for a particular hardware config, etc.

    Third is to have Linux able to safely read and write to other OSes partitions. Save game data and config setup can be stored on the hard drive without needing to partition it.

    I'm going to quit trying to count, because I'm so freaking tired. I'll just babble on... if Linux can be designed to have a bloody fast kernel and device drivers with an excellent gaming-centric API, as well as excellent memory management functions, I'm sure game designers would find the platform extremely pleasing. As always, identifying what the customer (ie. game author) *needs* and *values* would be the trick here.

    Plop in a CD, reboot the computer and, shazam, up comes the game. Quick, stable, awesome. Requires less computer hardware "power" because the OS isn't dragging things down... it'd be cool.

    Gahd. Off for a nap, now...!
  • >the name still sucks - its a car! Doh!

    THIS IS A WARNING:

    This person, going by the name "stodge" is extremely dangerous. If you encounter this individual on the street or elsewhere, contact the police IMMEDIATELY. Keep as far away from it and warn others to take the appropriate measures as well.

    Thank you for your time.

  • Show Me The Code, and then an announcement is appropiate, so all we little eager Linux beaver can download, compile and bitch about bugs to be improved.

    Did you even bother to read through their website? The point of this article, is they need HELP. If they had a completed product, why would you want help? They're looking into a community effort here. (This is going to shape out the same way Linux did.)

    Show you the code? How about getting your hands dirty and helping to WRITE the code? ;) That's the goal here.

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • I have worked on open source projects, and my experience is that a lot of people can spout nonsen^H^H^H^H^H^Hideas, but when it comes to getting some code done, there's very few people who have the talent and the time. And most people with the talent and time also have their own ideas ( after all, why should they take orders from someone who knows nothing about coding ... ? ) This idea that you can make an announcement and the code will take care of itself is laughable. And wrong.

  • I don't think he's that far off base. Sure, these guys can be of use, but to appoint themselves as leaders and asking the people who do the real work to be their followers seems rather fruitless. Are they anything more than a big noise ?

  • Once again, slashdot give the hype to a project which clearly doesn't deserve it. Couldn't slashdot at least give the benefit of the slashdot hype to a project ( hint: an announcement isn't a project !!! )

  • so anouncing a project would get people to go there and work on it, so it makes perfect sense,

    Yes, but they could give the limelight to a project that has actually done something (like written some code, for example) but is nevertheless in need of developers. This would seem more appropriate.

  • Ways to break and exploit the system would be almost as known as the system itself.

    This is the old "closed source is more secure" argument. By your argument, kerberos and ssh are also insecure. If "ways to break in and exploit the system" are known, then they can be fixed.

    The best candidate for an opensource project IMO is the game engine, as this is something that can be constantly hacked at, modified and improved. In fact look at the number of games that are based on hacks of the Quake2 engine...

  • Hmm, you say "There are some things game players aren't meant to know. Code is #1."

    Personally, I look forward to game inwhich programming is rewarded with being able to interact with the game system better. In other words, I look forward to the time when the game is some server program and half of the skill is actually manipulating the existing rules to outperform your oponents.

    I guess it would be similar in some ways to those old syle "robot" games - where you pogram the robots. Only in this situation, you and your code would play together against the rest.

    Summery: reward hacking of the game code.

    cya,

    Rob Shelton
  • I mean, this looks like a cool site and, frankly, I haven't taken a deeper look into the project yet, but who came up with that catch phrase. "When do you want to go today?" *shudder* Good grief. :)
  • Err, if you didn't notice the smiley at the end of that post, I was simply poking fun... have a sense of humour. I realize that the project needs help, and perhaps one of those areas is a better project catch phrase. You have to admit that "When do you want to go today" is just a little lame. That's not to say I have a better phrase, but please, don't get so defensive. Learn to take a little criticism, you're going to get an awful lot now that this project has gone public.
  • Well, it seems to me that using the Crystal Space engine takes the pressure off developers for developing the actual engine. So they're left with designing the actual gameplay, etc, which, while still complex, is less work than starting from scratch, making that kind of timeline (slightly) more reasonable.
  • This is totally off topic, and I wouldn't blame anyone for moderating it off, but I just wanted to say your sig is very cool. I stared at that code, trying to figure it out and decided to just screw it and code it up. Neat. :)
  • Actually, the funny part is this very idea has been tossed around in gaming forums, etc, in the past. I know, I know, it sounds pretty damned outlandish, and I'd have to agree, but it is kinda intriguing. I believe some people were thinking of using Linux as an OS specifically for writing demos, as well. Go figure.
  • I've been looking for some very basic books on 3D programming. I used to work with MUDS, and have done 3D CAD drawings with shading, but I have not found anything that seem to explain how to write or work with a 3D engine.

    Any suggestions?

  • The best things about gamming on a computer is the fact that you can develop games on one, and you can play one on the internet. Being able to customize them (like making quake mods, a little different than the first point), and do other stuff at the same time is also nice (like running a downloading something at the same time, or getting right back to work after you close it). I guess if computers got cheaper, and got a longer lifespan, this could be usefull.
  • Quake* has lots of code open source, enough to make the game unfair, yet it ends up fun. In fact, I can't recall the last time I just connected with a server that used just plain vinalla id dm code.

    Why not just use the model quake uses. If they plan on useing CrystalSpace, this is how it will be done.
  • Help the CrystalSpace [linuxgames.com] project out, that way this project gets something, and any other 3D games that want to use the CS engine.

    Mazed, the CS map editor, needs help, to make it comparable to quake or better yet unreal level editors. I am guessing the unreal editor would be closer to what they wan't, since CS and unreal seem to use mostly portals for their engine, then again, I have never done any level editing for unreal, so I wouldn't know.

    And, a good engine for the future games needs better model support. Right now, CrystalSpace just uses model sprites(like Quake*), not dynamic models(like Half-Life or fighting games). And for these models, you need something to make them. So help make a decent open source 3D model animator, like Extreme Wave [tamu.edu]. I say Extreme Wave becuase it apears to be the only OSS modeler that focuses on animation. Better than starting your own.
  • Quake still handles the characters on the server, so just join a reliable server. Any examples of "cheating."
  • I havent gotten my TNT yet (still in the mail, whatever) but I was able to get the software opengl renderer to work. I know it was opengl becuase it was slow as hell, 1frame per 15 seconds. I compiled from source, and got the 3d source too. I changed the 3D drivers section in the cryst.cfg to have all but this commented out:

    DRIVER=crystalspace.graphics3d.opengl
  • I got websites:
    Hexapods 3D FAQ's [netcom.com]
    This has good source of animation info.

    Flipcode features [flipcode.com]
    Go down to the "Building A 3D Portal Engine" section, which will take you from the ground up, even if you don't remember matrix's. CrystalSpace already has matrix operations though.
  • There's a problem with that. The PC's no Playstation or Dreamcast: what about all the different possible hardware configurations?
    Configuring the OS for the system isn't trivial; it's time consuming and often not completely automatic..this seems to kill the scheme you described.
  • Drat, I was going to make that joke but you got there first.
  • if you have the server do all the important game events, like quake does, compromised clients can't do as much damage.
  • Little note: there's a difference between completed product and working code. Let me explain. Of course they want help. I've given help, programming and creative, to other OSS projects before. I'm perfectly willing to play around with buggy, barely compiling code with few features. But what I'm saying, and I wish these projects would do it - have something to play with before making announcement about grandiose plans. Linus did. After you have something, then the community can help. I've had my own ideas before, but no code - no project. I freely admit - I don't have the skills to just start something like this - but once they've released something, then everyone can do the community effort thing.

    I mean, don't get me wrong, I wish them luck (They've got Penn&Teller for voice actors! How cool is that?), but give people a little something that compiles first.

  • by DragoonAK ( 17095 ) on Wednesday June 09, 1999 @01:23PM (#1859410)
    I hate to be pessimistic, but there's been announcement of open-source games before. What was it, Altima? It got swallowed into the Worldforge project, and while it's developing nicely (Gonna have to dl and compile it tonight), isn't yet anything revolutionary.. yet.

    This announcement seem a little too PRish for me. They haven't even got the game engine they want to base it on complete yet, and storyline and plot are cheap. (Hey, I've got a million idea lying around.) What am I trying to say? Show Me The Code, and then an announcement is appropiate, so all we little eager Linux beaver can download, compile and bitch about bugs to be improved.

  • I think the project looks great, and it should be a lot of fun for all of us. Lately everything has been monopoly this, sue him for that, they said this... Now here's something to let off a little steam. And yeah, while the slogan needs a little work, the site looks great and they seem to have everything organized and in place. It will be interesting to see how the games turns out,and even more interesting to play it.
  • This sounds a lot like Calvinball! From the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip--the only rule is that you can't use the same rule twice! :)
  • Has anyone gotten this library to use glx (TNT or G200) under Linux? All I see for 3d renderers is a software renderer...
  • I also have it working with my millenium g200. What I wanted to know is how to get CrystalSpace to use it.
  • Ok, here I go. Some people here will flame me for this, but I find some of my experiences

    Im currently involved in the development of a game currently on hold. The reason for it being on hold is that we cant afford to do it. Thats the true bottom line. We have spent thousands of hours on developing new algorithms for rendering, dynamics etc, just to get that little edge, on getting a good and thorough design, nice graphics, convincing sound-handling etc, all done in our spare time, when we were students at different schools here in Sweden. Some of our algorithms are more advanced and faster than some of IDs and 3D Realms, incredibly enough. Problem is, we dont want to release it open source, because of all the time weve spent on development on things that can be considered state-of-the-art. We dont want others to use OUR work, to achieve that status. Im out of school, unemployed, need to move away from my parents, and I need to get myself a new computer. Im waiting for answers from some companies. In the meantime, Im a poor guy who has to rely on my parents and friends to keep me fed and warm. Im constantly looking for a job. I dont have time or money to put into development, and I dont wanna give away thousands of hours of work just like that.

    Another reason for keeping development proprietary is purely practical reasons: The more cooks, the worse it gets. Well, in the computer community it could be said "The more developers on a single project, the worse the product", and I find that a major issue when considering Microsoft and, actually, the Linux community reflects that fact pretty accurately. Theres a reason why the BEST games studios try to keep to a certain size.

    Anders W - Inquisitor of CoJ, Champion of Lady weeanna "Why despair? We are all going to die anyway"
  • Problem is, I finished school over a year ago, and I havent gotten any permanent job yet. My friends dont have room to have me living there etc.

    I need the new computer to be able to work(Im the lead 3d-artist, and my parents dont want me to render on their machine). We have showed a demo here in Sweden. The problem is that the government doesnt give away grants for games development, and no company weve talked with has the nerve to invest in our project. I wont get a bank loan, since I dont have any money to back us...

    Ive calculated that I need to work about 35 hours/week minimum to support myself. In short, me and my friends the programmers NEED to get paid for what we do.

    MVH Anders W - Inquisitor CoJ, Champion of Lady weeanna "Why despair? We are all going to die anyway"
  • Hi, I'm the project manager of Crystal Space and the original author. To use OpenGL on Linux you can either use the '-driver opengl' option on the commandline or else edit cryst.cfg and change the DRIVER setting to the opengl driver. CS will then use Mesa (if you have compiled or downloaded the CS OpenGL driver). If you can manage to have Mesa hardware accelerated on your system than CS should also be hardware accelerated.

    A small note. On some cards you may not get the same visual quality on hardware as with software. That's a problem that we're aware of and we're working on that. The problem is that CS is using a blending mode which not all hardware cards support (2*SRC*DEST). But we're are investigating other options.

    Greetings,

  • Uhmmmm, how does it know what device drivers to use? You know, silly little things like video drivers and crap like that. Neat idea for Zork implementations of VGA only games!

    --Peter
    "I'm sorry, I don't mean to rain on your parade..."
  • this is c code.... if you compile it and run it, it prints DAVID to the screen.... Very Cool.
  • You can most certainly write games (and with somewhat more effort write *good* games) for Linux, but IMHO in the gaming world Linux is at disadvantage to the Win95/98 platform, even leaving aside all the market size problems. As I see it there are two serious problems:

    (1) Win95/98 will essentially surrender the machine with all its hardware to the game code. If the code wants to play games with hardware it can. This makes code unportable, buggy and very hard to debug and maintain, but if the code can pull this off, then it has a speed advantage. And while you don't care much about speed in, say, Civ2 and its cousins, there are a lot of other games where the speed at which the game runs is very important. By the virtue of being an OS, Linux will not permit game code to play all these maybe-clever tricks.

    (2) The X graphics. They were *not* designed for fast throwing pixels/polygons at the screen and it shows. Yes, I know, there are workarounds, but again, either you climb in bed with specific hardware, forget about X and gain speed (the problems with this approach are left as the exercise for the reader), or you are at a disadvantage again.


    Kaa
  • 1st- the site was not done by a commercial company. The graphis were done by a friend of the projects founder, who is trying to make a name for himself in the web design business. And the webmastering is done by me, I have a full time job.
    2nd- We do need more help, hence the reason of the post. If all we had was a sight that said. Hi, nothing, help!, would you? Probably not. And as was mentioned in an earlier comment, if we had a code base, would we be looking for a staff of coders and so forth? I think not.

    Sean Lutner
    Webmaster (partial founder (kinda)) Time City

  • Work backwards, and think in bits ;)

    main(i){
    putchar(352736304>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i6)}


  • I don't know the internals workings of Linux that much but I have some questions.

    Since this would be a kind of boot on CD game, you can run root without any problem I think, at least when you are playing alone. There probably would be some security problems in a network but can't we do a special distro to secure this??

    Or wouldn't it be possible to compile a special version of Linux that will allow user programs to directly access the display/soundcard/keyboard/joystick/network card... all the things that need a game to speed it up?? Couldn't it be possible to change Linux so you have an option at config time/a patch/any other system that will allow that without compromising the security too much (something more secure than Win9* at least).

    And who talked about X window??? Crystal Space seems to work with SVGAlib so why use X-Window??? Furthermore if this is a bootable CD I really don't see the need to use X.

    That's true that it would be hard to make it work on every PC due to the large range of HW their is, but wouldn't it be possible to use a directory to stock the saved games and the modules for the drivers??

    The kernel would boot with the support for a generic Hard drive and a generic CD-ROM drivers and with support for ISO9660 and VFAT and Ext2fs (for those that use Linux, or ext3 if available) and load specific drivers once he is up and running, those drivers being on the hard drive.

    You may say that there will be problems with different versions of kernel not being able to load the modules but if we do a specific distro to base the game development on we can assure that the kernel used does not change his loading scheme too often.

    And if a free software game is enough successful I think that a lot of hardware manufacturer would make hteir hardware compatible with the game...so more hardware drivers for Linux ;)

    Of course i don't think this is that simple but without anything to base our reflexion on we can't discuss these issues.
  • An existing code base, written by maybe only one person, that did even the smallest thing - maybe a hack of a CrystalSpace demo or something like that - and maybe some simple conceptual art would've gone a long way towards making this seem like a worthwhile open source project. Apparently you have no coders, no artists or the ones you have have yet to do any work - so what exactly is the "project"? An idea? I have lots of ideas. I wouldn't start a website or initiate a project based on an idea alone. You've essentially wasted a lot of effort on the part of the project that should come later. What's more important - the website or the game? I don't think artificially contrived open source projects, based on slashdot posts, are gonna get anywhere. You'll have 500 people on your development list and not one of them will know how to code.
  • Ultima online? Thousand or so simultaneous players, distributed across several (probably obscenely beefy) machines based on map boundaries. That game is definitely serve centric. Everquest I don't know about it, but it almost has to be server centric to prevent cheating.
  • I guess they are some sort of celebraties. Where would I have seen them?

    --

  • I think this will have a number of positive side-effects:

    * Flesh out the GPLed game engine. I don't think any major games were made with it before (correct me if I'm wrong)

    * Prove the free software development model works for games. Of course this could prove that the development model doesn't work as well. We will have to see.

    * More reason for propietary game vendors to use the CrystalSpace GPLed engine. This is good.

    * Flesh out OSS.

    * Improve graphics support in Linux.


    Of course these assume that this project is succesful. Of course, if the game turns out to be popular, the sky is the limit.

    Also, if they make a version for Windows/DOS (they should, CrystalSpace is portable) and it does prove popular, then free software wins big time!

    --

  • Did Linus say "Hey, I'm going to write a UNIX kernel, could somebody just write the scheduler and filesystem and console drivers and 386 code for me. I'll do the website!".

    No, Linus WROTE SOME CODE FIRST.

    I agree with you on this. It is easier to attract developers if you at least have some small bit of code that marginally works... something that others can build on. That is why I am holding off on (officially) announcing my Diablo style game engine until it hits alpha stage. It is almost there. I hope to release something around the end of this month.

    Nevertheless, I wish them luck.

    Thad

  • But if the code's open, there's nothing preventing someone from attaching a modified server that brings down the whole mess, either through malice or ignorance. Can't have that.

    Or from starting up their own private server, creating a world where they can pick up arbitrarily cool items and experience for free, then connecting their newly-butch character back to the main network.

    I've been thinking about exactly this problem. I have the beginnings of a system that could work around it. It combines a pool of tightly controlled certificate authority / key servers with the open servers that actually run the games. Anyone can run a game server, but they must link up with the key servers if they want to join the larger network.

    This doesn't protect against all kinds of cheating. I imagine many types will take some social engineering. You get a reputation as a cheat, the other server admins vote to ban you from the network maybe? I'm still working on this, but I hope to post a draft RFC some time this summer.

    Thad

  • Game design is a complicated beast. Not only do you have to know how to code, you also have to know how to design a game to be attractive aurally, visually and above all, interest. The OS model is fine for computing utility, but recreation ... no.

    I'm going to really enjoy proving you wrong. >:)

    Thad

  • Criticizing a vapor project isn't a knock against Linux or OSS; it's just that wannabe game groups have been popping up at an amazing rate lately, mostly in the Windows world. The general pattern is:

    1. Come up with a hip, alterna-skater name and a harsh, futuristic logo.
    2. Give titles to your friends ("design director", "beverage coordinator").
    3. Put together an honestly impressive, graphics-laden web site.
    4. Outline an ambitious game project: "A game with Unreal-style graphics set in the world of _Snow Crash_."
    5. Write the background story for the game.
    6. Announce your flagship title to the world, also mentioning that while you currently have a great 2D artist, musician, and team manager, you still need 3 or 4 experienced coders, plus someone to do the 3D modelling and artwork.

    No offense to anyone involved--it certainly *is* an order of magnitude easier to run a website and do PR than to write a game--but this project is pretty much going by the numbers :( Sigh.
  • They've been dealing with this problem with netrek clients for ages.

    The client source is available, but to be allowed to play against many servers, they have to "know" your clients key.

    And the keys are not easy to get.

    RSA is also an option available there.

    Now, mind you, I'm no netrek God, but I know this problem's been worked on alot already.

  • Indeed, this is the key to our whole point. This is the question to ask.

    Alan Cox wrote a useful little discussion about this, relating to the Linux on 8086 project. (heh)

    Where's the code?
  • Penn and Teller are magicians/comedians. I think they have their own TV show now ( here [sincity.com] ), but in general they tour and go on talk shows and do magic tricks. On some network morning show, they did a card trick in which one of them opened his eyes and revealed solid contacts that had printed on them the number and suit of the card that the host had "randomly" picked.
  • overpopulation. Big business build patent towers around themselves. Brainy qualified freedom freaks revolt. Riots postponed. Everyone's happy.
  • For a project like this, I'd call the schedule [timecity.org] rather agressive:
    • Alpha 1 by end of August
    • Beta 1 by End of January
    • Release one year from now!
    For the game industry this might be standard, but for a volunteer project quite a challenge! Let's do it!
  • You must smoke crack heavily if you think that... I don't believe I have ever met a person who won't take something they dislike and come up with a clever insulting name for it.

    It's really not childish... Childish is a matter of opinion.

    Micro$oft Winblows 00

    Also, if you think about it, it's an efficient way of showing your view of something... Take the above for example... "Micro$oft" shows that I think Microsoft is a money hungry Corp., "Winblows" shows that I think Windows is a lame product, "00" is just and insult toward Micro$oft about how technically awful so many of their products are...


  • Well that was pretty damn rude! Maybe you should stop to think about what you're saying before you say it?! He was suggesting an idea, I agree, not a well thought out good idea, but that doesn't mean you should flame him the way you did.

    Here's a clue: Linux doesn't need anonymous asshole flamers.

    I guess that's not very nice either... but you were the first to be hostile
  • How about a First Person Shooter/Adventure game? It could be action packed, but also be a REAL adventure game... Not like some of the FPS games today that try to be adventurelike...
  • Or they could do both...

  • Actually comments from elitists like yours aren't slashdot material. You're right, slashdots recent track record is going down the drain with comments like yours
  • The Open Source (LGPL'd) Crystal Space engine looks like a wonderful platform for building a front-end to networked games. It supports all my favorite platforms, as well as the Ma$s market one, and has networking support built in. Now I'm going to have to reconsider my plans for writing a Java-based game client.
  • I'd have to disagree with this line of thinking, at least for a game. As some have mentioned already, having a server handle most of the important details will cut down on client-side hacks and render them virtually useless. The hacks are going to happen whether or not you open the source up(I think the bots in Quake/Quake2 prove that). Opening the source has benefits as well. It allows more people to help make the network code as secure and non-exploitable as possible. Let people hack away at it and you're going to come out with a better product, if the interest is there. Unless you've got a lot of experience in writing very secure client/server networking code for games, you'd be better off drawing off the knowledge of the others out there that can help.
    I can understand distributed.net not releasing their source, because they're trying to conduct a fair and honest competition. They also have a lot more talent that they've taken aboard that are interested in the project. Chances are, you're not going to get that kind of help right away.

    Dodger_

    Dodger_
  • God, I hope that was a troll...and considering the website we're on, I imagine it was.
  • A little pessimism never hurt anyone -- I usually dish a fair dose each day -- but in this case, I don't think there was anything wrong with the submission to SlashDot. They are still very early in their development schedule, and as you've noticed, no code is yet available. By posting on Slashdot, they can try to reach the best and the brightest (or so we like to think) of the Linux community, and perhaps find those coders out there with the time on their hands to help, and the skill to get this game made.
  • The "Time City Team" created the web site to turn their idea into a great game. The site gives them unlimited resources. I think it's a great idea and will, most likely, work out. Tons of products have resulted from small, scrutinized ideas. Maybe the idea and site are actually a good base. This is a unique approach to a project that looks very promising.

In practice, failures in system development, like unemployment in Russia, happens a lot despite official propaganda to the contrary. -- Paul Licker

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