Ryan Gordon On Linux UT3: "still on its way"

[Yfrwlf]

I'm not sure what Blender uses built-in, I thought it used Ogre3D or Crystal Space, I know it *can* use either one, but any way here are some games made with it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgTVRVAAHrk

Here's "Oblivion" created with Blender hehe, no clue if they're open sourcing their creation though, but Blender's way of adding "logic blocks" in order to quickly create a game is very exciting to me, that's exactly the kind of thing that is needed, making it easier to create content (check the other Krum vids too):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_FajK_KuVo&feature=related

Geez there are tons of new Blender games on Youtube now, older one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXT2q2EY94I

Also really cool being able to jump right into your game at the push of a button in Blender.

[Yfrwlf]

There has been quite a bit of it with Xreal, Nexuiz, Alien Arena, Sauerbraten etc. All of these engines have made major advancements the last few years, and are at least on par with id tech4 in alot of areas. I don't think it'll stop there, the gap will continue to close as these engines keep adding more modern features.

Definitely, but what I'd like to see is less duplicated effort and more focused work on a few good engines that can then be plugged into a game fairly easily. Focus on a few really good engines instead of re-creating one for every game out there. Ogre3D for instance is fairly impressive feature-wise, you should see some of the screenshots and such if you haven't. Here's one of probably hundreds of YouTube vids showing off some of Ogre3D's features http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woHZRUlOQqo

[L33F3R]

There has been quite a bit of it with Xreal, Nexuiz, Alien Arena, Sauerbraten etc. All of these engines have made major advancements the last few years, and are at least on par with id tech4 in alot of areas. I don't think it'll stop there, the gap will continue to close as these engines keep adding more modern features.

large advancements yes. But as you said only after a few years. Tech 4 is so 2004 . FOSS has always been a few years behind. That said, the teams are doing a great job and deserve a handful of support.

[Irritant]

I still think there needs to be a lot more focus on graphics engines though.

There has been quite a bit of it with Xreal, Nexuiz, Alien Arena, Sauerbraten etc. All of these engines have made major advancements the last few years, and are at least on par with id tech4 in alot of areas. I don't think it'll stop there, the gap will continue to close as these engines keep adding more modern features.

[Dragonlord]

I mean geez, open graphics drivers + open engine = all kinds of awesome things. If you could tinker with really impressive graphics easily, imagine all the artists you could draw in to your projects who'd actually have something to do finally. Right now artists can't do much really neat detailed stuff because there really isn't anything out there yet that challenges high-end closed source games very much. Once we get open source Oblivion, that's when things will start getting really crazy.

Give that man a cigar... he gets the point

[Yfrwlf]

checkout supertuxkart.sourceforge.net

they're working on making it a pretty great game.

And the moral of the above post was: go open source games like SuperTuxKart! One day hopefully you'll be awesomer than Mario Kart.

I still think there needs to be a lot more focus on graphics engines though. Start off with Crystal Space or Ogre3D and build on an engine that already has decent graphics capabilities instead of trying to completely make your own engine from scratch. Well, I have no idea if SuperTuxKart is from scratch or not but I wouldn't be surprised.

I mean geez, open graphics drivers + open engine = all kinds of awesome things. If you could tinker with really impressive graphics easily, imagine all the artists you could draw in to your projects who'd actually have something to do finally. Right now artists can't do much really neat detailed stuff because there really isn't anything out there yet that challenges high-end closed source games very much. Once we get open source Oblivion, that's when things will start getting really crazy.

[Yfrwlf]

I still thinks that Linux needs definitely an exclusive blockbuster title.
I say "exclusive".
This for two reasons : the first is to attract more users with that exclusive blockbuster.
The second reason is for returning the rules : for once, windows gamers would create online petitions to request a native windows client !!!

But, after all, is imagining linux covering 50% of market would be so cool. I guess many editors would then give binary drivers, binary programs, binary everything. With binary blobs everywhere, would the linux experience be still the same as it is today ???

I think exclusive anything is pretty annoying/stupid, being locked in to a particular platform is nothing to celebrate, it's directly anti-competitive and takes away your freedom, but unfortunately a sadly accepted practice. Nonetheless, yes, you would get more Linux users by having an exclusive title than one shared with other platforms, but just having a Linux version helps too of course. Linux just needs more "big" titles for it, I'd be happy with that much, whether closed or open source, both would help Linux adoption of course.

As for the binary software comment, once again...what you're running right now ARE binaries. Things have to be binary before you can run them, so binaries are pretty damn good and pretty damn important! You mean the *license* being *closed source*. By the "experience" being different I assume you mean better or worse, and the answer is the more software for Linux, the higher the adoption, and that will directly effect you and make your experience better as you will have more choice, and more software will be created for Linux because Linux will be bigger.

As Microsoft says, once you reach "critical mass", it just grows itself without help. It's the catch-22 in reverse, and it's what Linux is up against with Windows. Because Windows is big, it stays big, but fortunately Linux's licenses or simply its openness has saved it.

Linux is where it is because the software doesn't have a *life cycle*. Closed source software is released, lives for a while, then becomes less and less useful, destined to never improve at all. It gets forgotten, shelved, or deleted. Open source, though, can evolve due to having access to the source, and as such its "controls" (source) can never be removed from the world like closed source does.

So, to answer the question, closed source software is fine and all, it's "instant gratification" in a sense, and that will help Linux to have that as an option for those who want to pay for it. However, in the long run, having the best open source software ecosystem as a whole live on and continue to evolve is the ultimate long-term solution. Closed source might always be around, there's always someone who'd like to charge for what is basically like artwork or a story or whatnot, but when an entire world can contribute to the creation of something instead of a small group or an individual, the result is always *capable* of being the greatest.

Anyone need a hanky after that? Bring tears to anyone? Or just tears of boredom? ^^

[portets43]

I'm not intro racing games.
Well, I'd eighter take some game like "Thunder Brigade" or something hardcore arcade, Mario Kart like game.

checkout supertuxkart.sourceforge.net

they're working on making it a pretty great game.

[Fixxer_Linux]

I still thinks that Linux needs definitely an exclusive blockbuster title.
I say "exclusive".
This for two reasons : the first is to attract more users with that exclusive blockbuster.
The second reason is for returning the rules : for once, windows gamers would create online petitions to request a native windows client !!!

But, after all, is imagining linux covering 50% of market would be so cool. I guess many editors would then give binary drivers, binary programs, binary everything. With binary blobs everywhere, would the linux experience be still the same as it is today ???

[Dragonlord]

Me neither... not fun of shooters or racers in general. Some more adventure stuff would be nice... especially stuff you need your brain for an instance.