Ubuntu Vibes

Two Game Studios Come Together to Announce 'Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs'

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:58:00 +0000

Frictional Games along with thechineseroom games have announced their next survival horror game - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

You must be already aware that Frictional Games is maker of hit Indie title Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

thechineseroom have recently released Dear Esther, a very atmospheric game that invokes subtle emotions in players through its gameplay. The team behind Dear Esther is extremely talented and the game has got both critical acclaim and commercial success.

Dear Esther is Windows only. Check out the trailer.

Coming back, Dan Pinchbeck from thechineseroom told Joystiq:

It's not a direct sequel, in terms of it doesn't follow on from the story of Amnesia. It doesn't involve the same characters.

Set in 1899, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs follows the "wealthy industrialist" Oswald Mandus, who has returned home from "a disastrous expedition to Mexico, which has ended in tragedy." Struck by a destructive fever, Mandus is haunted by dreams of a dark machine until he mysteriously regains consciousness. Months have passed, unbeknownst to the industry tycoon, and as he emerges from his slumber the roaring engine of a mysterious machine sputters to life.

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs will be released on Windows, Mac and Linux later this year prior to Halloween.

via Joystiq

Ubuntu Spotted on Displays at McDonald's, Elsternwick

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 06:39:00 +0000

Yet another instance of Ubuntu being used to power displays and terminals at retail stores and food chains.

Manaiq happened to be at McDonald's, Elsternwick - Australia and he noticed that they were having Wifi issues on displays powered by Ubuntu.

via Reddit

Indie Royale, New Game Bundle for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:22:00 +0000

Indie Royal is another great game bundle that has been getting lots of love from the community. Every two weeks, a new game bundle is served.

So far, Indie Royale team has released many bundles in past but most of the times, games were not available for Linux. However, they have launched a new 'Alpha Collection' bundle where all games are available for Linux.

These games are currently in Alpha stages of development. By paying minimum amount of $5 (current minimum), you get three games, all subsequent updates and the final version. These proceeds will help devs in funding the game development.

Check out the games:

Towns (Deusra Key Available)

Towns, a city building and management game mixed with an RPG that draws inspiration from titles spanning Dungeon Keeper, Dwarf Fortress and Majesty. Instead of playing the hero who delves deep into the dungeon, players oversee the town that houses and caters the hero's needs.

Along the way, players can craft unique weapons, obtain randomized loot and build a settlement capable of holding back the forces that rise up from the active dungeon upon which the town sits.

3079 (Desura Key Available)

3079 is a futuristic, open-world action first-person role playing game, and an alleged lovechild of Minecraft and Fallout, with a block-like world, futuristic action, and role-playing elements played in a first-person perspective. 3079's randomly generated areas, buildings, items, quests and characters make it an entertaining open-world experience.

Wyv and Keep (Linux version available in 3-6 months)

Wyv and Keep: the Temple of the Lost Idol is a lusciously pixelated 2D co-op puzzle platformer. Dubbed as a more fiendish version of Blizzard's classic The Lost Vikings, the game features two young treasure hunters venturing into the land of Amazonia.

Take control of the duo and use teamwork to solve mind-bending puzzles, navigate challenging action sequences, and find hidden riches deep within an ancient temple. Play by yourself, with a friend locally on one keyboard, or online, dodging fiendish traps, evading cannibalistic pygmies, shopping for hats, and even exploring an active volcano. Even create and share your own puzzles with the included cartographer.

Get Indie Royale Bundle (about 7 days to go)

Did You Miss 'Humble Bundle Mojam'? Download 'Catacomb Snatch' Game for Free [Created by Mojang]

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:48:00 +0000

Humble Bundle team, together with Mojang (creators of Minecraft) started a new initiative Humble Bundle Mojam where Mojang developers livestreamed making of a game in 60 hours last weekend.

Thousands of people watched the game jam and pre-ordered the game by donating money (all proceeds going to charity).

So, after 60 hours they finished a game and named it Catacomb Snatch. They got a rather interesting Genre and Theme (decided by fans via a vote) - Mummies + Egypt + Steampunk.

Take a look at Catacomb Snatch from the video below. Its quite impressive considering there was a time constraint of 60 hours.

Though the game looked great, it had bugs. So, UberSoft Tech took hold of the game and improved it by fixing lots of bugs. However, the game still crashes on Linux some times (ATI cards?). I hope that these bugs will be fixed eventually by UberTech.

Download Uber Catacomb Snatch (Needs Java/OpenJDK)

Wait! How it is free?

Well, the game is supposed to be for donators only. However, after Mojam finished, Jakob Porser, co-founder Mojang tweeted that anyone can get it for free.

Buy 3 Awesome Linux Games for $1 Each

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:36:00 +0000

You can buy 3 awesome Indie Linux Games from a newly launched gaming portal Indievania.

Indievania is an online game marketplace for independent developers to sell their games directly to players. Unlike any other game distributors, 100% of the cost of the game goes to the developer.

Customers can purchase games directly from the developers own merchant account, supporting the original developers and helping fund further development. Indievania currently have over 200 indie games on the site, all DRM-free.

To celebrate the launch, many games are on sale with as much as 80% off. Check out the Linux game that you can purchase for as low as $1.

Cardinal Quest

Cardinal Quest is an arcade-style dungeon-crawler inspired by 1980s classics such as Gauntlet, Red-Box D&D and Golden Axe. Choose your champion and begin your quest to slay the Evil Minotaur.

Buy Cardinal Quest for $1

Blocks That Matter

You are the Tetrobot: a tiny robot that can drill blocks of matter one by one, collect them, and recycle them into new pieces of 4 blocks. You also have the possibility to destroy lines of 8+ blocks. Sand, wood, stone, obsidian, iron, diamond: each matter has its specific behavior you'll have to use wisely and take advantage of them.

Buy Blocks That Matter for $1

Inside a Star-filled Sky

Inside a Star-filled Sky is an infinite, recursive, tactical shooter by award-winning designer Jason Rohrer (Passage, Between). What if you could enter an object in a level and find a level inside of it? What if you could enter an object in that level and find another level inside of that?

What if you could change an enemy or a power-up from the inside? What if you could enter and change yourself? What if these levels inside levels inside levels went all the way down---and all the way up?

Inside a Star-filled Sky is a hard, procedurally-generated shmup built around this core concept.

Buy Inside a Star-filled Sky for $ 1.60

Code Hero, A Computer Game that will Teach You Programming Games and Compiling Linux Kernel

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:19:00 +0000

After Double Fine's Adventure received massive response from gamers all around the world, another interesting game Code Hero is now making lots of news.

Code Hero is a game that teaches you how to make games so you can learn to code while you play with a Code Gun that shoots Javascript. You can shoot code to execute it on the target on impact. Copy, tweak and write code to alter the 3D world from the inside out.

Code Hero is a co-op first-person shooter where you become a rock star programmer, saving the world from evil AI. You rely on your trusty "code gun" that can copy, paste and edit real javascript as ammunition to blast the enemy, manipulate the world, and build structures creatively.

Code hero gives players unprecedented power inside the game. It's a new type of learning; players start out using powerful code without needing to understand it, then slowly master that code to conquer specific challenges. It's a game first, and a learning tool second.

Check out the video:

Code Hero is currently on Kickstarter and has already reached is target of $100K. Those who pledged will get beta access to the game.

Linux Support?

The game is based on Unity3D engine which is not supported on Linux. However, latest release of Unity3D engine has brought support for exporting games to Google Native Client (NaCl) that allows us to play 3D games on Linux (via Chrome web browser).

The developers are looking to deliver Linux support via NaCl.

We're big fans of Linux ourselves. Actually there is now Native Client support for Unity in the latest 3.5 Beta. We plan to deliver Linux support as soon as we can based on that.

So, in current form the game is not available for Linux. If you are thinking to pledge, I would recommend waiting for NaCl version to come out.

Not only Javascript

Gamasutra has interviewed Alex Peake, who is making the game. He said that there will be more programming languages.

Code Hero starts with Javascript because it is the lingua franca of Web, Unity3D and server Node.js programming. We introduce the player to Javascript so they can branch into all 3 and eventually we'll take them deeper to meet the late honorable Mr. Ritchie to learn from C up and down below the Stacks into the Platforms to meet Charles Babbage and master computer hardware from the gearbox to the modern ALU's assembly.

You talked about Compiling Linux Kernel

Alex Peake has said that in advanced stages of the game, Code Hero players will have to go as far as compiling a Linux Kernel.

Then it will get really intense: We've got a prototype that puts Code Hero players into direct control of VMWARE-based Linux operating systems, so we can incorporate complete full-stack operating system coding of all types down to modding and compiling kernals in-game. You can imagine the implications if we were crazy enough to demo something like that at the most recent Chaos Communications Congress with kids running tools like Backtrack and Metasploit... Hacking the full stack in-game will be necessary to produce Real Engineers with the kind of computer science it takes to do more than just get by on a surface knowledge of a single API or language.

Flash Player for Linux will be Supported on Chrome only

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:49:00 +0000

In a blog post today, Adobe made an announcement that it is working with Google to bring Flash Player to Linux users via Google Chrome's Pepper plugin API only.

After, version 11.2 is released later this year, standalone installers won't be provided for Linux. Other browsers that are not using Pepper API (Firefox, Opera etc) will have to stick with 11.2. However, Adobe has promised to provide security updates to these browsers for 5 years.

For Flash Player releases after 11.2, the Flash Player browser plugin for Linux will only be available via the “Pepper” API as part of the Google Chrome browser distribution and will no longer be available as a direct download from Adobe. Adobe will continue to provide security updates to non-Pepper distributions of Flash Player 11.2 on Linux for five years from its release.

So, how will browsers keep up with this? Will they be forced to use Pepper API? Does this include Chromium as well? As far as I know Chromium does not come with embedded Flash plugin.

This will only affect Linux distributions. Adobe will continue to support non Pepper APIs on all other platforms.

Bean's Quest, A Fun Platformer for Linux with Cute Retro Graphics

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:19:00 +0000

Bean's Quest, a popular platformer for iOS is now heading to Linux.

From official website:

Bean's Quest is a gorgeous 2D platformer with a twist! Emilio has been cursed and his girlfriend kidnapped! Transformed by dark magic into a jumping bean, Emilio must bounce his way to victory through 50 levels spread over 5 worlds. Can Emilio rescue his one true love and find his missing pet axolotls?

Bean's Quest is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS X. The game has some pretty sweet retro graphics and awesome soundtrack. Check out the video below.

Bean's Quest can be pre-ordered for $4.99 from Desura and you will get access to the full game on Feb 26th, just four days from now.

Ubuntu for Android Video

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:37:00 +0000

Earlier today we posted about new Ubuntu for Android project introduced by Canonical that will allow you to carry a full featured Ubuntu desktop in your pocket.

With Ubuntu for Android, all you have to do is dock your phone and connect it to a display. Your contacts, messages, android apps, emails etc. will be available on desktop for access and will be fully synced.

Screenshots are not enough, so watch the video below:

Ubuntu for Android Revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:51:00 +0000

Canonical has revealed new Ubuntu for Android project that will bring Ubuntu experience to multi core Android phones.

Ubuntu for Android provides a full desktop experience, including office software, web browsing, email and media applications, on Android phones docked to a screen and keyboard. Thanks to tight integration with the Android service layer, the transition between the two environments is seamless, making it easy to access the phone's services from the desktop when docked.

Features

Access your Android Web history and bookmarks on Ubuntu desktop
Both Ubuntu and Android access the same mobile address book
As with your contacts, your Android calendar data is shared with Ubuntu. This enables synchronisation with any desktop or web-based calendar application, like Google Calendar.
Read and reply to incoming SMS messages from the desktop, using Ubuntu's message indicator. You can also make and receive calls via the desktop - and you'll be alerted to voicemails so you can manage them while you work
Alarm clock settings on the phone can be synchronised to alert you when working in the Ubuntu environment. You'll have one place to enter wifi passwords and one place to pair your bluetooth headset, then everything just works.
Manage and view photos stored on your smartphone using the Ubuntu Gallery application. Then edit them on the Ubuntu desktop and save them back to the phone. Create, edit and consume, all on one device.
All your Android social network account credentials are synchronised seamlessly, using the Ubuntu social networking client to provide easy access to your online communities.

Screenshots

For more details, see this.

P.S. This is not same as Ubuntu Phone project which is still in pipeline.

'The Transparency Grenade' is Made of Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:37:00 +0000

There is lack of Government and Corporate transparency everywhere and in recent years it has enraged people at times and created much resentment among the masses.

As a protest against these practices, The Transparency Grenade project has been created by Julien Oliver and is currently being on display at Weise7 exhibition in Berlin.

TG is a replica of Soviet F1 Hand Grenade. Though it looks like a bomb, its rather an ARM based computer running Linux. The device includes a microphone, a powerful wireless antenna and a battery.

When the plug is pulled, it captures network traffic and audio at the site and securely and anonymously streams it to a dedicated server where it is mined for information. Email fragments, HTML pages, images and voice extracted from this data are then presented on an online, public map, shown at the location of the detonation.

The device itself is a piece of art, made beautifully:

The shell is made out of a highly resilient transparent resin
The metal parts are hand-crafted out of sterling silver complete with operational trigger mechanism, screw-on locking caps and engraving.

Of course this device is not created so that it can be used publicly. It has been made to increase awareness and make a statement against the fishy Government policies where there is no transparency. Plus the Grenade design is not suitable and will rather get lots of attention.

Tech Specs

'Gumstix' ARM Cortex-A8 computer with expansion board
Arduino Nano (for SPI display control)
LED Bargraph (for wireless signal level, controlled by GPIO pin outs from Overo COM)
Powerful 802.11 board antenna
3.7v battery
64x32 pixel LCD RGB display (harvested from NKK 'SmartSwitch)
5mm cardioid microphone
8Gb MicroSD card.
The computer runs a modified Angstrom OS, a GNU/Linux embedded operating system popular on ARM devices.

Android Application

Many people think its a great project and it should be used. So after many requests and a generous donation, an Android application is being made which will run on rooted devices.

This will mimic some of the functionality of the grenade, with the TG program running 'invisibly' on the phone as a background application. A GUI will be provided for configuration.

Due to legal concerns the author will not provide a server for using this application. However, all code will be published for study and so that others can set up their own service, should they find a worthy need for it.

Check out more details and screenshots of the device from official website.

FlightGear 2.6.0 Released with Massive Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:28:00 +0000

FlightGear, a free and open source flight simulator has received yet another major update and many new features have introduced.

About FlightGear

Founded in 1997, FlightGear is developed by a worldwide group of volunteers, brought together by a shared ambition to create the most realistic flight simulator possible that is free to use, modify and distribute. FlightGear is used all over the world by desktop flight simulator enthusiasts, for research in Universities and for interactive exhibits in museums.

FlightGear features more than 400 aircraft, a worldwide scenery database, a worldwide multi-player environment, detailed sky modelling, a flexible and open aircraft modelling system, varied networking options, multiple display support, a powerful scripting language and an open architecture. Best of all, being open-source, the simulator is owned by the community and everyone is encouraged to contribute.

New Features in this Release (version 2.6)

Reduced AI aircraft load times
Easier graphics tuning
More sophisticated AI aircraft
New rendering techniques allow more detailed clouds with no performance impact. High altitude clouds are rendered more realistically, and clouds move with the wind without impacting performance
Detailed scenery is available for various areas in Europe, based on the CORINE data set.
The sea now looks more realistic. Waves align with the wind, and foam appears at high wind speed
Steep slopes now appear rocky
Runways now appear wet during rain showers
Additional joysticks and rudder pedals are supported out-of-the-box
FGPanel, lightweight software to render 2D instrument panels, is now included as part of the release
Many more other features. Full changes here.

Download FlightGear 2.6 for Free from here.

VLC 2.0 Released, Brings Experimental Blu-Ray Support [Install from PPA]

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:06:00 +0000

VLC 2.0 has been released bringing in UI improvements, faster decoding, experimental Blu-Ray support and many other new features and fixes.

New Features

Faster decoding on multi-core, GPU
Ability to open more formats, notably professional, HD and 10bits codecs
A new rendering pipeline for video, with higher quality subtitles
New video filters to enhance your videos
Supports many new devices
Fixes several hundreds of bugs, in more than 7000 commits from 160 volunteers
CrystalHD cards and Android OpenMAX support for hardware decoding
Improved web UI
New resamplers for higher quality audio
Simplification of the audio core for faster processing
Full list of changes here

VLC 2.0 is already available in Ubuntu 12.04. Ubuntu 11.10 users can install it from a PPA by running the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:n-muench/vlc

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install vlc

Dwarf Fortress Receives a Major Update

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:32:00 +0000

Dwarf Fortress has just got a massive update recently after being in development for 11 months bringing even more depth and polish to alternate world simulator game.

New stuff

cities in adventure mode that have various buildings, dungeons, items, livestock, etc.
protect your community from secret vampire dwarves or hunt them as an adventurer
defend your fort during the full moon or risk a werewolf infestion -- hunt/be hunted as an adventurer
face armies of the dead in dwarf mode or visit their necromancers' towers and learn their secrets as an adventurer
evil regions where the dead and pieces of the dead can come alive, with evil mists and rain
tombs built in world gen which can be visited in adv mode, either beneath towns or out in the wilds -- beware the dead!
revamped justice/witness/death notification system in dwarf mode
immigrants to your fortress will now be historical figures whenever possible, which means more family relationships and history for each one
dropped items/bodies tracked between plays in the wilderness anywhere in the world
more battlefield information tracked/war dead raisable in world gen
all sponsorship animals and their giant/man versions are in the game now
various new abilities for creatures (see file_changes.txt for list and syntax)
adventurers can use creature abilities/learned powers and they can be tested from the arena
new site travel map to make navigating towns easier
reading/swimming/observer (for traps) relevant in adv mode now
established historical figures can lead bandits
rivers block movement in adv mode travel
eating/drinking required in adv mode
ingested syndromes are now possible
ability to make campfire (from 'g') and warm items at campfire/fire/magma (from 'I') in adv mode
traps work in adv mode, once spotted they can be ignored
gems now have different cuts
necromancers can write books about various topics (all books are in their towers as it stands)
moon phase indicator in fort
alphanumeric world gen seeds and some more world gen params (see file_changes.txt)
the legends xml has a lot of new info for historical figures

Major bug fixes

buffer overload from aborted world gen fixed
fixed cave-in-on-embark issue with hidden underground structure, and a few others

Other bug fixes/tweaks

designations over z levels all at once now possible
unit screen divided into four sections
rivers/pools have ramps now
able to trade portions of stacks in both modes
messed with adv mode currency trading and made items teleport to you
tweaked how fire damage works
made vision work through floor grates and bars properly
fixed some road/bridge problems
crystal glass items possible again
tweaked adventure mode swimming and alt-movement readout (use alt-movement to get into a river you want to cross)
skeletons/zombies replaced by animation effect
demons masquerading as gods will try a little harder
restricted mandates so they'll be more reasonable
stopped blank map from being exported when you back out of detailed map export

If you have never tried DF or left it because of complex gameplay, watch the video below to get started. Its a bit old but still relevant. You can also watch a nice introduction by captnduck from here (2 hours video).

Here Comes Launchman, New Puzzle Platformer for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Here Comes Launchman is a physics-centric puzzle-platformer with unique gameplay mechanics that allow you to launch yourself through the air in any direction.

You play as Launchman, a space adventurer commissioned to explore the mysterious Puzzle Planet, which is said to contain valuable treasure. With a robot assistant Sanford in tow you have to launch yourself through obstacle courses filled with deadly traps and contraptions.

Launchman reminds me of VVVVVV with its monochromatic art. A alpha demo for Linux was released recently which you can grab from here.

Check out the video:

First Raspberry Pi SD Card Image Released [Debian Squeeze, LXDE]

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:34:00 +0000

Raspberry Pi Foundation has released first SD card image for $25 computers that will go on sale on end of this month.

Based on Debian Squeeze (6.0), the image includes LXDE interface, Midori web browser, development tools and example source code for multimedia functions.

You can download the image from here (torrents recommended).

Since rPi boards are not available yet, you can keep the image safe somewhere. If you have got limited edition boards, copy the image to SD card by running the command below.

sudo dd if=debian6-17-02-2012/debian6-17-02-2012.img of=(sd_card_path)

Be careful when specifying SD card path as it can wipe out your drives if wrong path is mentioned.

If you really want to try the image now, run it in QEMU. Detailed instructions can be found here.

via CNX Software

Starfarer, An Open World Space Combat and Role Playing Game for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Starfarer is an open world space exploration and role playing game for Linux. The player is a space captain who is out for an adventure to seek fortune and glory.

Current Features

Pilot your ship in top-down 2d combat
Command your fleet in tactical battles
Detailed combat mechanics
Customize your ship’s loadout before battle
Explore a war-torn star system
Mod support for user-made factions, missions, ships, and weapons

Upcoming Features

Play your own character who gains experiences and upgrades skills
Hire officers to give skill bonuses, pilot auxiliary ships, and oversee your operations
Explore the sector for knowledge and profit
Trade goods, run mining operations, build industries — and defend your interests
Become involved in factional politics

Starfarer 0.5a Preview was released recently bringing in lots of new changes:

Campaign mode – fight your way up in the war-torn Corvus system
Start out with a single frigate, buy (or capture) more ships to grow your fleet
Customize your ship’s loadout before battle
Level up your crew
Ship weapons and engines can be disabled by damage, adding a new layer of tactics
Tons of balance changes, UI improvements, AI improvements, and several new ships and weapons

You can pre-order Starfarer for $10 from here. The game is currently in alpha stages of development. With a pre-order, you will receive all the subsequent updates and final version.

Starbound, New Linux Game by Terraria Graphics Designer Revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:45:00 +0000

Few days back, we posted about a new cross platform game that Terraria lead graphics designer Tiyuri is working on.

The game has been revealed today and its called Starbound. As the name suggests, its a space adventure game and made by Indie game studio Chucklefish.

Starbound begins with you fleeing your homeworld in a space shuttle, just as it’s destroyed by an unknown enemy. With nothing to guide it, the escape pod shoots into space without direction, becoming hopelessly lost in a sea of stars. As luck would have it, the space shuttle makes contact with an abandoned space station and an adventure begins that will take you hurtling across the universe. Starbound contains both quests and story driven missions, buried inside its vast sandbox universe.

Some unique features of Starbound:

Manage a Space Station. The space station in Starbound is your main base and you will have to find ways to upgrade and repair it. You’ll need to find a crew, conduct research, catch rare creatures, and unlock its multitude of facilities. From a factory capable of producing mechs to labs where captured enemies can be studied and trained, the space station contains everything you need to explore the universe.
Planets in Starbound are entirely procedurally generated. Even the weather, the gravity, the difficulty level, the plant life, the behaviour and appearance of alien creatures, and much more all contain random or procedurally generated elements.
Absolutely every object in the world, right down to the trees and flowers, can be examined for a description.
Co-op
Record your findings in an electronic logbook
Share unique planet coordinates with other players
Managing a Space Station is not enough. Capture and control an entire planet and then you decide even smallest things about it. For example control weather and change terrain.
Populate your planet from interesting characters you meet in your travels and keep them happy.

Starbound will be available for Linux, Mac and Windows. Expected time of release is mid 2012.

Tomes of Mephistopheles Now Available for Preorders [First Person 3D Dungeon Crawler]

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:32:00 +0000

Well, that was fast. Just couple of days back, a new gameplay video for Tomes of Mephistopheles (ToM) was revealed and now the game already available for pre-order.

If you are not aware:

ToM is a 3D first person dungeon crawler for Linux based on Darkplaces game engine. The game will feature procedurally generated dungeons, spells, skills, deadly weapons, crafting etc.

Check out the video:

You can pre-order the game from here for $10. The game is currently in alpha version but you will get all subsequent updates and final release as well. Plus you will be supporting developers who support Linux community.

3D Action Game 'The Platform Shooter' Updated

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:58:00 +0000

The Platform Shooter is a platformer style third person shooter with built-in level editor. It features single player game where you must collect power cells and make your way to exit as well as multiplayer mode where can you fight against your friends over internet or LAN.

The game was updated recently (version 0.3.0 alpha)

Made platforms callable and removed continuous movement.
Added sentry gun entity.
Added two more single player levels.
Improved mouse control with visible cursor (still disabled by default).
Changed left hand keyboard controls for more natural movement with mouse aiming.
Changed line of sight tests to show enemies behind player's back.
Fixed missing pick up sound for power cells.
More accurate line-of-sight tests in AI target finding.
Fixed random crashes when e.g. shooting barrel with a shotgun.
Removed background console window opening in Windows.
Process is now properly terminated in Windows when the game window is closed.
Fixed weapons not getting hidden on player death in multiplayer game.
Added small delay to guard AI target detection to simulate reaction time.
Guards now reload their weapon while waiting for lost target to reappear.
Made grenades to bounce less and explode a little faster.
Fixed guards falling off ledges while retreating.
Minor human animation improvements.
Fixed some level properties not getting reset to defaults for new levels in editor.

Download The Platform Shooter

Kelgar, New First Person 3D RPG for Linux [Pre-Alpha]

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:04:00 +0000

Kelgar is a new 3D RPG for Linux made using Platinum Arts Sandbox. The game currently is pre-alpha state but the basic foundation is already set and the game is quite playable.

Some current/planned features of the game:

Openworld and first person role playing game
Currently the world of Kelgar consist of 2 villages: Arus and Ridaz
Quests will have different ends, that means you influence the behavior of the NPC's
It features several new things, like cooking on fireplaces for example
Creating new maps is very easy

Check out the video I recorded:

Download Kelgar from IndieDB

To run the game, just execute Kelgar_Linux script. If your game is freezing at the beginning, just wait, it's still loading. I had mouse sensitivity issues with fullscreen, so had to run the game in windowed mode.

The game works pretty decently for a pre-alpha. Try changing graphics settings and effects from game menu if you have a good graphic card.

Currently a team of two developers is working on the game. They are looking for a 3D modeler and animator and C++ programmer. So if you can help contact them on IndieDB page.

Pre-orders For KDE Plasma Active Tablet 'Spark' Now Open

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:17:00 +0000

All right everyone, there is a good news. Pre-orders for KDE Plasma Active/Mer based tablet Spark has just started.

From the announcement:

This is a huge and exciting step forward for the project as it starts to bring our logistics together.

By registering now you will help us gauge initial demand so we can serve that demand appropriately. When order processing open, you will receive an email with the order link and a priority order code which will jump your order to the front of the line.

We will also have a little gift waiting for you in the Make Play Live store. :)

Over the next two months we will be unveiling more and more about Make Play Live on the website. Fun things like the Spark logo and branding will be unveiled; but important information will also start to appear, such as how you can get involved as an app developer, how to join our logistics network on the retail side and further details on our long term roadmap. I'll of course keep you all in the loop here on my blog as things move forward.

Oops, it seems becuase of huge excitement and traffic spike, the site has crashed. So better wait for it to come back online.

Tech Specs

7 Inch multi-touch capacitive screen
1 GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor with Mali 400 GPU
512 MB DDR2 RAM
4 GB Nand Flash Disk
Wireless Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g (3G via USB Extenal)
1.3 MP built-in front facing camerica
HDMI 1080P Output
2 USB ports
MicroSD slot
3.5 mm audio jack
Hardware volume and power buttons
4 dimensional Gsensor
Battery: 3000mAH @ 7.4v
Weight: 355 grams

Spark is powered by KDE's Plasma Active and the Mer OS.

You can read more about this awesome open source tablet from the articles below.

Pre-orders can be made on MakePlayLive website. As a bonus you will get 500 free points to spend on Make Play Live Store (when it goes live).

New Linux Puzzle/Adventure Game 'Lume' is a Visual Treat

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:32:00 +0000

Indie puzzle adventure game Lume has been released on Desura. Lume has been praised for its unique game visuals made entirely out of paper and cardboard and is nominated for Excellence in Visual Art – IGF Awards 2012.

You play as Lumi, an inquisitive young girl. You discover that power to your grandad’s house has failed. What’s more, he’s nowhere to be seen, but appears to have left you some intriguing clues. Solve perplexing paper puzzles to help restore the power, and uncover a deeper mystery behind the blackout.

Buy Lume for $6.99 from Desura

AirMech RTS Game Now Public, Play it Now on Linux [Native Client/Chrome Web Store]

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:35:00 +0000

AirMech game has now gone public on Chrome Web Store. Inspired by Classic game Herzog Zwei, the game features fast paced strategic action oriented gameplay and beautiful graphics.

AirMech was on limited alpha testing on Chrome Web Store for some time. However, now everyone can try the game. To play the game you need to login with your Google account. You can also make AirMech an standalone game by creating a shortcut on the desktop or menu and pin it on Unity launcher etc.

Check out the latest video:

Chrome/Chromium 17+ have enabled native client support by default on Linux. However, if you are not able to play the game, follow the instructions below. You will need a decent graphic card with 3D acceleration for game to work.

Type chrome://flags in address bar and enable Override software rendering list (browser restart required)
Make sure that Native Client is enabled in chrome://flags
Use Chrome. Chromium still may have some issues with Native Client and older graphic cards

Get AirMech from Chrome Web Store

P.S. There will be a native Linux version too.

Puzzle Game 'Bobby' Now Free on Gameolith Store

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:03:00 +0000

Addictive puzzle game Bobby is now free on Gameolith Linux Game Store.

In the game you play as Bobby, a bouncing bullet with a jetpack. There's nothing you'd like more than to rid the solar system of those menacing spheres. Fly around in outer space and knock balls into black holes in this arcade bounce-em-up. 75 levels and more than a dozen objects and obstacles await you.

Check out the video:

Download Bobby for Free