LGN Trivia Contest

Posted: 27th September 2011 by Maxim Bardin in Uncategorized
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A Few years ago I’ve pre-ordered the meta time strategy game Achron which I’ve posted about 2 years ago.
This month Achron was finally released and I was happy to learn that an additional serial number was supplied for a giveaway – I’ve contacted Chris Hazard the developer of the game and he said that it was their way to promote Achron multiplayer.

As you know I don’t tend to giveaway things without *some* contest, but this one will be easy.
The first one who answers in the comments below the following question will be given the serial number for Achron.

What game engine is being used in the largest number of GNU/Linux games ?

You must only pick one engine per person and be specific, for example you must write “id Tech 2” and not “Quake Engines” or the “Quake 2 Engine”.

I don’t expect this question to stay without an answer for a long time, so be hasty.

I have 2 Amnesia The Dark Descent copies and 5 Hacker Evolution Duality copies to give.
So if you have ideas for good contests, please comment below.
  1. Cheeseness says:

    A lot of open source games seem to be quake 3 derivative these days.

  2. Urfoex says:

    Quake Engine (Later id Tech 2) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_engine#Derivative_engines)
    (If you don’t count derived engines extra.)

    (Or do you mean SDL? (http://www.libsdl.org/) But that isn’t an engine. Just a library.)

  3. Marcus says:

    A large number of GNU/Linux games use the Quake Engine, some more heavily modified than other.

  4. jdea says:

    id Tech 3, a.k.a. the Quake 3 engine. Either that or Cube 2: Sauerbraten.

  5. Freejack says:

    IOQuake3 is the most widely used engine for 3d.

  6. Hamish Paul Wilson says:

    Based on LGN I would say Ren’PY, because we get a LOT of visual novel developers on here. PyGame and the various Quake derivatives also come to mind, as does Spring and Blender. Does it really count if I list every engine I know off the top of my head? ๐Ÿ˜›

  7. Maxim Bardin says:

    You will have to pick only one.
    One guess per person.

  8. Urfoex says:

    Then I go for SDL.

    And good luck everyone ๐Ÿ˜€

  9. Maxim Bardin says:

    SDL is NOT a game engine, it’s a library.

  10. Accursed says:

    IOQuake3 is being used in the largest number of GNU/Linux games.

  11. Urfoex says:

    OK.
    Sometimes ago I read similar game based stuff and there was SDL told to be kind of the base/kind of engine.
    But if you yourself say that it won’t count then OK.

    What about Flixel and Allegro and ClanLib โ€ฆ If I look here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines
    there they are listed.

  12. Hamish Paul Wilson says:

    Fair enough, I guess I will go with PyGame if we want the engine used in the most (if not the most impressive) games. I somehow doubt that is that answer you were looking for though.

  13. Maxim Bardin says:

    You *might* be correct on this one, if you could count all the native Linux games that use this engine.
    But yeah I had a different answer in mind, but you can always prove me wrong and I’ll accept it, if it’s so.

  14. Hamish Paul Wilson says:

    Well, this is only for FOSS games, but to help you determine your final verdict you can have a look through this:

    http://libregamewiki.org/Category:Games_by_engine

    Not a good enough source on its own, but it could help.

  15. Padster says:

    Dark Places?

  16. Marcus says:

    If we dig deeper, a lot of games are using the physics (!) engine Box2D as well.

  17. John says:

    id Tech 3.

  18. John says:

    Isn’t ioquake 3 based off the id Tech 3 engine?

  19. Padster says:

    John: Yes, it is.
    And, by the way, I think people should stop suggesting id Tech 3 and ioquake3, as they have been suggested multiple times, and nobody has won yet.

  20. Maxim Bardin says:

    None has won yet, it is correct – so keep the guesses comming.
    Hamish’s answer “PyGame” got me thinking – it has indeed loads of games that can run under Linux BUT it’s not stand alone and it needs Python to work (it’s based on Python).
    But then again we can say that the id engines are based on C++, but yet they are stand alone (IF I’m not mistaken).
    I’ve asked a hard question which I thought was an easy one and should be solved within hours.

    But no, the id engines are not the correct answer – but you can always prove me wrong.

    Keep the answers coming and give me ideas for other competitions – I have 7 more games to give !

    P.S
    I don’t consider Flash as a “Game Engine” ๐Ÿ˜‰

  21. [r4] says:

    I’d say that would be Unigine, I’ve read quite a few Linux-specific game announcements mentioning it.

  22. Maxim Bardin says:

    I wish it was so…but it’s still a “young” engine in terms of games released.

  23. Marcus says:

    Could it be the Cube engine?

  24. Maxim Bardin says:

    And how many games use the Cube engine (that have a native Linux client) ?
    I doubt that it’s more then 10 .

    BIG Tip
    Most of the engines proposed are made for 3D FPS, and while there are many Linux FPS games, they don’t use the same engine ๐Ÿ˜‰
    Think differently, there are many other engines for different kind of games.

    And again, if the engine that I have in mind have fewer games than the proposed engines I’ll be happy to grant the prize to the person who first answered correctly – you can always prove me wrong (IF I’m indeed wrong about it ๐Ÿ˜‰ ).

  25. Marcus says:

    Perhaps even the OGRE engine?

  26. Maxim Bardin says:

    Marcus : Only one guess per person.
    But you can propse good contests for the other games I have to give.

  27. Alex says:

    The OGRE engine?

  28. Maxim Bardin says:

    How many Linux games use the Ogre engine ? not more than any of the “Quake Engines”…and if they didn’t win…

  29. Cheeseness says:

    Wikipedia talks about an “AllBinary Open Platform” which I’ve never heard of.

    If it’s not the open sourced id engines, then I’d have to hazard a guess and maybe wonder if it’s a web based platform that we’re looking for or perhaps something older (how many Nethack variants are there?)

  30. Adrian says:

    I guess ScummVM does not count as an engine, right? ๐Ÿ˜‰
    Well then.. Spring engine?

  31. Maehne says:

    Irrlicht Engine?
    There are just so many screenshots…
    http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/screenshots-recent.html

  32. Maehne says:

    Just checked.
    There is a list of games in the irrlicht-wiki. More than 50 and therefore more than Quake I guess.
    http://www.irrlicht3d.org/wiki/index.php?n=Main.IrrlichtPoweredGames
    Plus a whole set of other Programs:
    http://www.irrlicht3d.org/wiki/index.php?n=Main.IrrlichtPoweredTools

  33. Maxim Bardin says:

    The Irrlicht situation is like Ogre’s , there are many games made with it – but not so many have a Linux client.

  34. Mihai C. says:

    Spring engine.

  35. tommis says:

    ioquake3 is a popular one.

  36. ReveArek says:

    Torque game engine

  37. Maxim Bardin says:

    People already said the Spring and the ioquake3 engine, and didn’t win.
    Moreover if you are the second person who says the correct answer, you still won’t win as only the first right answer gets you the prize.

  38. Maxim Bardin says:

    Nope.

  39. ReveArek says:

    id tech 2

  40. Maxim Bardin says:

    You already used your guess, and no it’s still not id tech 2.

  41. disturbed1 says:

    The nethack game engine.

  42. Maxim Bardin says:

    And how many Linux games use the nethack game engine ?

  43. Ivegottowin says:

    Unreal Engine 2

  44. Maxim Bardin says:

    Ivegottowin, sorry – you just blew it.

  45. spittie says:

    The allegro engine?
    http://www.allegro.cc/depot/utility/listing/ list >120 games compatible with linux

  46. Ivegottowin says:

    I think it’s the answer, though I think it should be Id Tech. ๐Ÿ™

    I’m waiting for the answer. ๐Ÿ˜€

  47. disturbed1 says:

    “And how many Linux games use the nethack game engine ?”
    A crap load!!!
    Honestly, no idea. Figured I throw a guess out there. Considering how long NetHack has been around, the fact it is still being developed, the number of devices it’s been ported to ….. has to be more than a few? The first ones that came to mind were already deemed wrong, it was worth a shot.

    BTW, when this contest is over, can we get a fresh write up on Achron?

  48. Maxim Bardin says:

    spittie : I’m talking native Linux clients, but even so my guess has about 200-250 native Linux games (I must confess that I didn’t count them all ๐Ÿ˜‰ ).

  49. Maxim Bardin says:

    Ivegottowin : Just by looking at the wikipedia I see very few Linux games that use The Unreal Engine 2, less then 10.

  50. Maxim Bardin says:

    disturbed1 : I must confess that I’m not a fan of nethack games, I’ve tried to search a bit for a list – but could not find it.
    If you can provide sources on how many Linux games were created with Nethack – I’ll have another look at it.

  51. Meteor Venture says:

    is it OpenBor?

  52. disturbed1 says:

    Sorry for the wall of text –
    This is the closest I can find to a list –
    http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/games/nethack/General/Tips/nethack.faq
    Q: What are the NetHack variants?

    A large number of other games have been created and released
    ——
    For more information about the variants, look for the “Roguelike Games Info
    and FTP Sites” FAQ that is posted periodically in the rec.games.roguelike.*
    newsgroups. Most (if not all) of the variants are available from the WWW
    and FTP sites mentioned above.

    http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/faqs/rgra.html

    I wonder if there even is a _list_

  53. zerothis says:

    263 games were produced for the The Eamon Adventure System (Eamon Engine).These were officially accepted into the Eamon community by the assigning of a unique ID by said community. Eamon has been ported to Linux. Thus the Eamon Engine plays 263 games on Linux, more than any other engine, correct?

  54. Darker says:

    DarkPlaces Engine?

  55. Maxim Bardin says:

    disturbed1 : It says in the FAQ that the games are “been based to some extent on the code and/or ideas behind NetHack” , it doesn’t say that they are all based on the same engine.
    Look at “Vulture’s Eye” for example, it’s a nethack game but looks nothing like the original nethack, altrough it’s based on it (but not on the original engine).
    It’s like saying that all FPS games are based on “Wolfenstein 3D” ๐Ÿ˜‰

  56. Maxim Bardin says:

    Meteor Venture : never heard of OpenBor, is it like Mugen ?

  57. Maxim Bardin says:

    Darker : I think someone already said it, but I don’t think you can count more then 20 games that use DarkPlaces.

  58. Maxim Bardin says:

    zerothis : Interesting thinking, I like it when people think outside the box, and as I’ve said before I am willing to accept the correct answer even if I didn’t think or know about it.
    So I’ve read a bit about The Eamon Adventure System and I’ve found out that it was developed originally for Apple 2 Systems and later “emulated” to other systems.
    Emulator is not a direct port of the engine, it’s like mames, NeoRageX, WInkawaks and countless other emulators.
    They let you play the games, but it’s not a port. (also note that for example many NeoGeo/CPS/Other System games use different engines and yet all can be emulated with one program).

    Also note that I do not regard to Java (or Flash as I’ve said before) as a “Game Engine” (although many games use Java and Flash).

  59. Meteor Venture says:

    It’s like mugen, but it’s for games like https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Streets_of_Rage

  60. disturbed1 says:

    “Itโ€™s like saying that all FPS games are based on โ€œWolfenstein 3Dโ€ ”
    No complaints here. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Really curious to the answer. Completely surprised the correct answer hasn’t been given yet.

  61. Maxim Bardin says:

    Meteor Venture : And how many games use OpenBor ?

  62. Maxim Bardin says:

    disturbed1 : I’m even more surprised then you, I was sure that this contest wouldn’t last more then a day.
    But I was happy to learn about more engines for Linux, except the well known id Tech’s ๐Ÿ˜‰
    Also for some reason people don’t read comments and give the same wrong answers one after the other ๐Ÿ˜‰
    And propose engines with a very few games.

  63. ivegottowin says:

    There’s still no answer the right one yet?

    You made me curious to know.
    I’m not a hardcore gamer, so I don’t know many games.
    But, games I know is not the answer.
    Some I don’t even know is not.
    Many others use their own custom built, but of course it’s not.
    Give us more tips? :p

  64. Maxim Bardin says:

    Ok then, a HUGE TIP !
    One person already guessed the correct (or at least my) answer, BUT he also made a “list of guesses” so I couldn’t accept it ๐Ÿ˜‰

    BTW ivegottowin, you already lost by wasting your guess ๐Ÿ˜‰

  65. spittie says:

    now it’s really too easy… too bad that i’ve already wasted my guess ๐Ÿ™
    And i’ve even read the wiki/almost started a project with it and a friends… maybe i’ll be more lucky the next time :p

  66. Maxim Bardin says:

    I just got tired of waiting for the “correct” answer, thought it would take a few hours or a day at most…
    Then we will move to the next interesting stage of when people can prove me wrong and say why their choice is the correct one…
    As I’ve said before, nothing is set in stone here and there is a place for a discussion.

  67. Maxim Bardin says:

    failsaurus : Finally the answer I was looking for.
    Soon stage 2 of the trivia will arrive and if it would indeed be the correct answer then you will get the prize.

    So stay tuned.

  68. John says:

    Those are games?

  69. zerothis says:

    I beg to differ. While it is certainly the more popular option to run Eamon games under emulation, the system has been source-ported to Linux, its native. One can use someone’s else’s efforts or select the source of a classic version (Ap2, C64, DOS, Windows, multiple versions for some platforms) and feed it into a modern Linux compiler (96 choices if one selects a BASIC compiler). In fact there is yet another native option, the Ap2 & C64 versions of Eamon will run native with no code changes and no emulation, www . pagetable . com / ?p=48

  70. Maxim Bardin says:

    John : Yes, interactive visual novels are games, and there are some cRPG’s made with it as well.

    zerothis : So where can I download all those games for Linux ? or do I need to compile each game ?

    Soon I will make a new post where you can discuss the subject.

  71. ivegottowin says:

    so the answer is ren’py? ๐Ÿ˜ฎ

  72. Maxim Bardin says:

    ivegottowin : currently yes.

  73. ivegottowin says:

    so you have another engine in mind ๐Ÿ˜ฎ
    i would like to know ๐Ÿ˜€