[H-GEN] Interest in a Linux game

[Nickolas Kwiatkowski]

On Tue, 14 Jul 1998, Chris Ryan wrote:
> The Fuzzy One wrote:
> 
> [snip]
> 
> > It's a big ambitious to say "let's make a game", and hope to get anything
> > concrete out of it.  I think we need something more concrete to work on.
> 
> It does make things difficult to decide otherwise...
>

One idea would be to port an existing game to linux, a candidate that I
would recommend would be Descent I & II. The code is freely available for
such purposes as long and the data files (except shareware levels) are not
distributed.

The best thing about Descent is that noone that I am aware of has ported
it to linux and it would be a good exercise in building the skills
required for a full, unique game.

Alternate, would be to approach some like Blizzard and ask to port
Starcraft to linux (Ummm, may be not ;).
 
> > It would be really cool if several people could jot down their ideas for
> > a specific game, and bring them along for discussion, say next humbug.
> > 
> > I suppose we'd be looking at a requirements document for this first phase,
> > not even full-blown specificiation.
> 
> You may also want to look at what resources you do have available.  In
> general
> Linux/Unix games have suffered from poor graphics.  Do you have the 
> necessary talent available to overcome this?  
> 

In a private e-mail to David, I mentioned that I have a good graphic
artist willing to contributed and know of a composer who has work upon
games music before.


> There's probably more resource issues, but I can't recall them at
> present.
>  
> > Here are a few ideas from me:
> > - Unix-based, but as far as possible portable enough to drive anywhere.
> 
> Depending on any Real Time issues, Java could be the language of choice
> for this project.  It's portable, easy to use, has good network
> capabilities,
> has a reasonable graphics API and is steadily improving.
> 

I like java as a language, and it may be useful for games programming if
the heavy graphics routines are off loaded into a library. A good choice
in that regard would be the OpenGL interface for java, which is very
similar to the forth coming Java 1.2 3D API from Sun.


> Also, you could probably get more Java capable programmers than just C
> or C++.  (IMO, those who know C or C++ know enough to jump to Java
> fairly easy - more important are design skills...)
> 
> > - It'd be nice to be able to play it on anything from a humble dumbterm
> >   to the high end PC, with a scaling of graphics and sound capabilities :)
> 
> I think to save some effort you might want to drop the dumbterm area and
> expect a minimum GUI.  Makes the API easier.  Scaling graphics (to 3D
> support
> if appropriate, etc) and sound is a definite must have.
> 

I agree, drop the dumbterm idea. Especially in the initial design of the
concept as it may limit the outcomes.

> >   AI units could attach to the server in similar ways to the standard clients.
> > - Multiplayer...
> 

That is a standard pratice, if you look at some of the game code available
on the net (Wolf, Doom, Descent, etc).

> Games always seem to be better if there's a multiplayer aspect.  
> 

Agreed, probably why there are so many "battle.net"s springing up.
But good AI's would also add a interesting aspect. IMHO, I haven't really
see/played against any really intelligent AI, and would like to produce a
game with an asshole of an AI ;)


> > - ?
> > 
> > I don't have to much to say about the gameplay it's self.  I'm sure there
> > are a lot more expert people in humbug than I for that area.
> > 
> > Some questions to think about:
> > Action/shoot'em-up, strategy/nethack, or somewhere in between.  Are we going
> > to base the game on existing interfaces, or are we going to try something
> > radically new?  If we do choose something to base it on... what?  :)  What
> > are your favorite games?
> 
> Civ II
> Ultimate Race Pro  (Car racing game)
> SW Rebellion
>  

Personally I would like something along the lines of Starcraft, but bigger ;)


> > Personally... free warcraft sounds good to me ;)  Though that could be hard
> > to play on a dumbterm without a mouse.  Something based on that kind of
> > interface at least... presuming we can do it without treading on any patented
> > wigets.
> 
> As I said above, I'd forget the dumbterm.  RTS games have been done to
> death,
> but I suppose one for Unix might not be a bad idea.
>  
> > As to how much of this kind of thing has already been done, I haven't really
> > researched.  Anyone know of code we could rip off in the name of free
> > software?  :)
>  
> Unfortunately, not me.
> 

As before, porting an existing game may be a good place to start. Less
design effort required and a good way to aquire skills,

Nik

Nickolas Kwiatkowski                                       ph 61 7 3864 1290
Queensland University of Technology                  nickolas at fit.qut.edu.au
Brisbane, Australia                     http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/~nickolas/