If you were to create a FLOSS game, how would it be?

[Thetargos]

Shh... Don't let anyone get any ideas here... You might cause trouble...

It's been my err... ahh... mmm... pet project (at least in thought) to get a LinuxBIOS compatible motherboard (preferably MicroATX), put some well supported graphics card in, have a rather minimalistic setup and create a live system/micro distro so that to use it JUST like a Console (with the advantage of being upgradeable, according to user's needs)... Hopefully when Linux gets in-kernel mode setting full graphics boot/system startup will be seamless to the user with simply a "Loading" screen and BAM! PlayTime!

[Svartalf]

Not to mention that with LinuxBIOS compatible systems, in theory, you could be into the game in as little as 5-8 seconds from system boot up!

Shh... Don't let anyone get any ideas here... You might cause trouble...

[Thetargos]

Yeah this would be a great option as well, you could just simply toss the execution of the game into the .xinitrc file and you're set to go. Toss the cd in, let it load, and suddenly a few seconds later, you're in the main menu of whatever game it is on that cd. That really is kinda console like, you could practically build your own home console system off that method for each game. I never really thought of it that way.

Not to mention that with LinuxBIOS compatible systems, in theory, you could be into the game in as little as 5-8 seconds from system boot up!

[Thetargos]

Are any of you familiar with the Linux-Gamers.net Games LiveDVD, or LG-LiveDVD? They've done something rather interesting, instead of using a DE as such, they use Fluxbox and place the icons for launching the games right in the "desktop", the menu will allow you to mount an USB drive and use that for your save games. If anything, it only misses some "gaming tools", such as IM client, IRC, and others. Overall it is a neatly done disc.

[Malikith]

Heh... KDE is going to be a problem. GNOME will be a problem. Heck, EDE or Enlightenment would be a problem under the right circumstances.

The reality is, do you 'need' a desktop environment for a "console-like" gaming live-CD? Or, would something a little lighter (Down to just booting into the game, lighter...) suffice?

If you want game save move ability, etc. you'll need SOME sort of UI- but a UI app framework for the desktop, something like KDE or GNOME, is just too freaking bloated for the task. You don't need "app integration". You don't need "printer support", etc. That's what both KDE and GNOME bring to the table for you. In a game, unless you NEED that sort of thing, you just don't bring it along. It's been asked how SONY managed so much with so little in the case of the PS2. It's dead simple. They KEPT it simple. If you're going to do the same thing with this stuff, you're going to have to do much the same thing.

Now, as far as games go, it's up in the air- and you should be able to make a title run on the live-CD as well as a desktop for it to be "useful".

Yeah this would be a great option as well, you could just simply toss the execution of the game into the .xinitrc file and you're set to go. Toss the cd in, let it load, and suddenly a few seconds later, you're in the main menu of whatever game it is on that cd. That really is kinda console like, you could practically build your own home console system off that method for each game. I never really thought of it that way.

[Svartalf]

Heh... KDE is going to be a problem. GNOME will be a problem. Heck, EDE or Enlightenment would be a problem under the right circumstances.

The reality is, do you 'need' a desktop environment for a "console-like" gaming live-CD? Or, would something a little lighter (Down to just booting into the game, lighter...) suffice?

If you want game save move ability, etc. you'll need SOME sort of UI- but a UI app framework for the desktop, something like KDE or GNOME, is just too freaking bloated for the task. You don't need "app integration". You don't need "printer support", etc. That's what both KDE and GNOME bring to the table for you. In a game, unless you NEED that sort of thing, you just don't bring it along. It's been asked how SONY managed so much with so little in the case of the PS2. It's dead simple. They KEPT it simple. If you're going to do the same thing with this stuff, you're going to have to do much the same thing.

Now, as far as games go, it's up in the air- and you should be able to make a title run on the live-CD as well as a desktop for it to be "useful".

[Kano]

Of course live cds can use swap partititon, but you really count peas. You will gain no speed when using something else than KDE. And as soon as you would start a kde tool, then all kdelibs are loaded as well and you even LOSE memory as usually have another toolkit loaded before.

[Malikith]

Problem are games such as Warsow or Nexuiz (about the two most demanding games available in the Open Source world, there may be others, like XPlane or Celestia, but they're simulators, not games as such [IMO]). A Live System could be made so that if it detects a Linux SWAP partition it may use it (if needed), and try to leave as much memory free for games as possible. KDE compared to the *box WMs is HUGE, I'm not familiar with the "light" version, though. XFCE should be also a good GNOME substitute, if a full blown DE might be required.

Yeah KDE does use alot more ram compared to Fluxbox or any of the other light weights. I thought XFCE would be a good option, but I also forgot about fbdesk for Fluxbox, which gives Fluxbox desktop icons. I think desktop icons are nice for live cd/games, at least within this idea. Makes launching a bit easier, however you can also simply add it to the Fluxbox menu as well. But I don't think fbdesk takes up more than maybe a meg or two of ram. So I'd say Fluxbox. Its practically free when it comes to resources. At least if you have 256+ mb of ram. I actually just started running Fluxbox (I've tried it before but didn't really dig into it), you can get some pretty cool effects customizing it.

[Thetargos]

I think it is a bit wrong to say that KDE is not good for gaming purpose, usually a gaming pc needs to have lots of ram, especially when you want to play games from a live cd/dvd without swap. I really don't think that a few mb more or less matter. I do not count those tiny games you get with KDE/GNOME, but I mean real 3d ones.

Problem are games such as Warsow or Nexuiz (about the two most demanding games available in the Open Source world, there may be others, like XPlane or Celestia, but they're simulators, not games as such [IMO]). A Live System could be made so that if it detects a Linux SWAP partition it may use it (if needed), and try to leave as much memory free for games as possible. KDE compared to the *box WMs is HUGE, I'm not familiar with the "light" version, though. XFCE should be also a good GNOME substitute, if a full blown DE might be required.

[Kano]

I think it is a bit wrong to say that KDE is not good for gaming purpose, usually a gaming pc needs to have lots of ram, especially when you want to play games from a live cd/dvd without swap. I really don't think that a few mb more or less matter. I do not count those tiny games you get with KDE/GNOME, but I mean real 3d ones.