Re: FYI: Linux Game development

[Christian Reiniger <warewolf@mayn.de>]

Bernd Kreimeier wrote:

[Java for games]
> > Good point. I think we should place this post from you in the
> > "Discussions | Feedback" section on the homepage once it's up.
> > Is that ok with you? This also sounds like a good topic for a 
> > linuxgames.org editorial:
>
>I can write down a summary if you want me to. ASCII.

That would be great!

>Not going to fool around with HTML layout, so look&feel is 
>up to the editor...

No problem with us. 

> > Well, there are both advantages and disadvantages of this.
> > Having a bootable CD wit both OS ad game on it can (theoretically) make PC
> > gaming just as easy as console gaming, but it also makes it very hard to
> > impossible to e.g. open a web browser to look for cheats while running the
> > game.
>
>Internet/multiplayer games do/will come with built-in GUI's to
>ease finding a server and accessing information. Ultimately,
>a game frontend (especially in a game written in Java) might
>as well run applets. The next step in online gaming are

Hmmm, yes, Java opens quite some possibilities here. But it still will be
very hard (if not impossible) to create a boot-from-cd system that provides
the basic additional gamer needs, e.g. good web and mail (configuration!)
access, printer support (configuration!) etc.

>server-server protocols, which will lead to links embedded
>in the game... and one of the biggest problems of Internet
>gaming is cheat prevention, so you actually want a console-like
>lock on the system.

Yes, I think for some games such a system is really good.

>Mind you, I am not talking about games that are played at
>work during lunchbreak, but those with a certain addicitive 
>potential that demand full attention as well as all the 
>resources your PC has to offer.

Well, the PC resources are not the problem with a standard Linux
installation IMHO - everything that isn't used during gaming (e.g. X11
incl. desktop) is (1) swapped out and (2) (almost) frozen by the system so
there shouldn't be much of a difference to really stripped-down systems.

>Do not underestimate the costs for the current QA and testing
>done nowadays for Win32 delivery - having full control of 
>an *open* system might outweight the losses in sales due to 
>lack of flexbility. Take into account the disk and driver
>shuffling done by a significant minority of gamers.

Good point. That should go in our Propaganda^H^H^H^HEditorial/Thoughts
section.

>The key claim here is that Win32 provides the developer
>with a reliable set of API's (DirectWhatever). Whether
>that Linux GameOS is actually used in a shipping product
>is secondary, as long as such a Linux version could prove
>the same, or even better, support for game development
>as offered by Win32.

Well, better reliability than DirectX shouldn't be the problem ;)
Making the thing (Linux) powerful in the games section is being done by
GGI, ALSA etc. Making it more user friendly is more difficult.

(Side note anout "user friendly": I added a "installer" request to the
"Projects wanted" part on the "Free Projects | SDKs" page. Anyone
interested in starting with that?
Another thing - the "Projects Wanted" thing is perhaps a bit misplaced in
the "SDKs" section. I think it should become a section on its own. But
where?)

>In a general sense, it is not so much a GameOS but a
>Media/black box OS. Whether you run a game or a web browser
>from that CD is your choice.
>
>But that's a different topic worth an editorial. I hereby
>conclude my pollution of your mailing list. Just drop me
>a line if you want some writeup on the Java angle.

I want more mailing list pollution from you! More! More! ;)

Seriously - are you interested in writing some editorial from time to time?


Cu
	Christian
--

I see no reason to stand here and be insulted. -Spock