Open Source Gaming: Part 1
It's okay. You can get it out of your system before I start
HAAA HA HAHA HAHAHAAAAA HAHA!!
"Open source" gaming, yeah right.
No, seriously.
HEEEHEEE HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA Haaaa...
*sigh*
Okay, here we go. Gaming is a genre of programming that has been traditionally (so to speak) closed-source. Let alone the consoles and their black box functionings, but computer games have always been kept secret for fear of people stealing ideas and code. Well, stealing and copying the code doesn't do you much good unless you improve on it somehow, so I'm going to just assume that it's for fear of people making better content using the same engine. However, when gamers did do this using the modding tools provided, it all seemed to end up really well.
I guess I do have to mention a small blurb about what I consider a rather stupid way to keep a hold of your own product (as described above), and I should express my admiration for id Software for actually releasing engines of previous games into the public domain. Just the engine, not the game data, but that makes sense, does it not? They contribute to the collective knowledge of the digital world, while not losing any significant "intellectual property".
But anyway, on to the games themselves. Most of these are relatively "old" games; new game engines take significant developer effort to write and maintain, something which is not present in the not-for-profit open source world. That said, let's go to the first example. Since I've mentioned id Software's openness to releasing old game engines, let's take a look at...
Quake III Arena
Go go, rail gun, go!
Hailed as one of the best arena First Person Shooters (FPSes) of all time, Quake III is a fast-paced sequel to its two brilliant predecessors. At the time it was released, it had cutting edge graphics, and it has aged... relatively well.
There is no real plot in it. You're in an arena. You fight. It's called "Quake III Arena" because it's made to be an arena, mostly multiplayer game. And there, it excels; I have had great LAN parties based on Quake III. The only place it was lacking something was in multiplayer diversity -- and id Software released Quake III: Team Arena, an expansion pack to introduce a whole bunch of new team game modes and new weapons. Delicious.
The downside? You may look like a fossil for playing this... But you'll sure be a fun fossil!
To get/install: Download and run the point release:
Then, go out and acquire yourself a real copy of Quake III, and copy over the baseq3/pak0.pk3 and missionpack/ (for Team Arena) folders, and you're good to go. Sorry, the data isn't free.
Note: Please don't yell at me for not including ioquake or OpenArena. They are true open source remakes of Quake III, but not nearly as famous, and I have not tried them out, so I can't speak for them.
If you're into old games, but Quake III is not nearly old enough for you, you might want to take a look into...
Doomsday
... A true open-source Doom engine. Yeah, you heard me right. The old Doom, where you play a crazed space marine that kills demons from hell and can't jump. Except now he can jump, if you enable that function. He also can look up and down. He can also maneouver like a regular, modern FPS, if you so wish. He can also look awesome and 3D.
Okay yes, it still looks like crap. I'm only mentioning this for the sake of some people's fond memories of blowing up demons and very controversial (for the time) content. We have since evolved into more advanced FPSes, featuring actually blowing people's legs off, setting them on fire, and watching them scream in pain while dying. Alternatively, we can actually stick a chainsaw in their chest and revel in the spray of blood.
Too bad, because Doom invented that.
To get/install: Go to http://dengine.net/ and pick your operating system. You will need to provide the installer with valid WAD data file(s) for Doom 1, Doom 2, Hexen or Heretic -- still not free as in free beer and you'll probably be a little hard-pressed to find somewhere you can buy it. You can also search the web for the jDoom Resource Packs, for enhanced graphics, redone models, and resampled sounds and music.
But I said this would be about open source games, what is all this about needing to get the data? This is madness.
Sauerbraten
Literally translated to a German pot roast dish, this is a really good (IMHO) actually open source FPS. It's based on a game engine called "Cube 2", which uses a cube subdivision system in order to make an easy way to edit maps, as opposed to the classic complex writing of walls in a level editor. I'm not familiar with the details, since I'm not much of a level designer, but you can check it out yourself if you want. All I know is you can get really pretty stuff out of those cubes:
More screenshots (albeit older) found here.
It's significantly faster paced than most FPSes, because of the high weapon damages, and fast movement of characters, but that makes it all the more exciting, and all the more ego-boosting to achieve a rare "<your name> is on a rampage!" -- yesss.... I wholeheartedly recommend this game to all FPS lovers, and I invite you to join ogros.org's popular regen-capture match and try to challenge the player killme101 if he's there.
To get/install: Precompiled versions for all operating systems are available, along with the source code if you want to be a masochist: http://www.cubeengine.com/files.php4
Now, this entry is getting rather long, and load-time heavy, so I'm going to now publish as is, and continue with a "part 2" later. You wouldn't think I'd need 2 entries to describe open source gaming, did you? Heh.
That was a joke. Laugh! *rev rev*
There also appears to be a typo here. Recommend spell checking as your next feature to add :)
You're in an arena. Fou fight. It's called "Quake III Arena"
You made a mistake here:
"Alternatively, we can actually stick a chainsaw in their chest and revel in their chest and revel in the spray of blood."
You mention revel in their chest, which sounds vaguely impossible, and creepy even so. Also, you seem to have mixed up your nouns and actions. You say "Revel in their chest" and "Stick a chainsaw in their chest", while later saying "Revel in the spray of blood". I hereby term this section:
EPIC FAIL.
-Beck Giesy