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.
A lot of open source games seem to be quake 3 derivative these days.
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.)
A large number of GNU/Linux games use the Quake Engine, some more heavily modified than other.
id Tech 3, a.k.a. the Quake 3 engine. Either that or Cube 2: Sauerbraten.
IOQuake3 is the most widely used engine for 3d.
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? 😛
You will have to pick only one.
One guess per person.
Then I go for SDL.
And good luck everyone 😀
SDL is NOT a game engine, it’s a library.
IOQuake3 is being used in the largest number of GNU/Linux games.
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 … If I look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines
there they are listed.
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.
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.
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.
Dark Places?
If we dig deeper, a lot of games are using the physics (!) engine Box2D as well.
id Tech 3.
Isn’t ioquake 3 based off the id Tech 3 engine?
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.
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” 😉
I’d say that would be Unigine, I’ve read quite a few Linux-specific game announcements mentioning it.
I wish it was so…but it’s still a “young” engine in terms of games released.
Could it be the Cube engine?
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 😉
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 😉 ).
Perhaps even the OGRE engine?
Marcus : Only one guess per person.
But you can propse good contests for the other games I have to give.
The OGRE engine?
How many Linux games use the Ogre engine ? not more than any of the “Quake Engines”…and if they didn’t win…
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?)
I guess ScummVM does not count as an engine, right? 😉
Well then.. Spring engine?
Irrlicht Engine?
There are just so many screenshots…
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/screenshots-recent.html
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
The Irrlicht situation is like Ogre’s , there are many games made with it – but not so many have a Linux client.
Spring engine.
ioquake3 is a popular one.
Torque game engine
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.
Nope.
id tech 2
You already used your guess, and no it’s still not id tech 2.
The nethack game engine.
And how many Linux games use the nethack game engine ?
Unreal Engine 2
Ivegottowin, sorry – you just blew it.
The allegro engine?
http://www.allegro.cc/depot/utility/listing/ list >120 games compatible with linux
I think it’s the answer, though I think it should be Id Tech. 🙁
I’m waiting for the answer. 😀
“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?
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 😉 ).
Ivegottowin : Just by looking at the wikipedia I see very few Linux games that use The Unreal Engine 2, less then 10.
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.
is it OpenBor?
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_
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?
DarkPlaces Engine?
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” 😉
Meteor Venture : never heard of OpenBor, is it like Mugen ?
Darker : I think someone already said it, but I don’t think you can count more then 20 games that use DarkPlaces.
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).
It’s like mugen, but it’s for games like https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Streets_of_Rage
“It’s like saying that all FPS games are based on “Wolfenstein 3D” ”
No complaints here. 🙂
Really curious to the answer. Completely surprised the correct answer hasn’t been given yet.
Meteor Venture : And how many games use OpenBor ?
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 😉
Also for some reason people don’t read comments and give the same wrong answers one after the other 😉
And propose engines with a very few games.
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
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 😉
BTW ivegottowin, you already lost by wasting your guess 😉
now it’s really too easy… too bad that i’ve already wasted my guess 🙁
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
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.
Ren’Py
http://games.renpy.org/special/linux
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.
Those are games?
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
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.
so the answer is ren’py? 😮
ivegottowin : currently yes.
so you have another engine in mind 😮
i would like to know 😀