FreeOrion 0.3.9 and SuperTuxKart 0.5

FreeOrion star map detail

Cheer, for a new release of the awesomely pretty FreeOrion has seen the light! This time both Windows and GNU/Linux builds are provided. Here are the features:

• New and updated art (tech icons, nebulae, map stars, etc.)


• Gassy substance on the map to give galaxies shape


• Reworked drag-and-drop design screen


• New ship parts


• Python AI interface improvements


• Minor UI improvements


• Bug fixes

Check out the Roadmap to see what to expect from future releases!

FreeOrion icon art

OpenGL will be required in coming versions (currently it's semi-required). While I know that there are people who have old machines and countries where it's non-trivial to get reasonably fast hardware, I can't say that I blame anyone for using hardware acceleration and even making it a requirement. I think it's rather the job of Libraries to allow programming games which make use of OpenGL and will automatically disable effects and use software rendering when no acceleration is available.

SuperTuxKart 0.5

SuperTuxKart 0.5 has been released. Along with new and improved tracks, a new game mode, some new music and translations have been added (German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Swedish). Mac/Lin/Win binaries are available.

track-editor

I only realized SuperTuxKart's activity after their forum was created on the FreeGameDev forums. One example is the creation of the tile-based track-editor by Baskervil. There's also interest in making SuperTuxKart switch accessible.

A switch is an assistive technology device which replaces the use of a mouse, keyboard, controller or joystick which severely physically or cognitive disabled may find difficult to use.

In other news: New versions of Alien Arena, Everborn, LordsAWar and Blob Wars : Blob and Conquer. My compliments to nath for being very report-active on LGT. :)

Not Dead

Nope, I'm not dead, just caught up in doing real work so time has been at a premium lately.

Eat the Whistle

Also not dead is arcade football game Eat the Whistle. They have migrated to SVN as they build up to a new release. 'They' could mean just 'he' or just 'her' as I'm not quite sure how many people are working on EtW but the good news is it is being worked on. It's a fun game to play but suffered from being very buggy so hopefully this release will bring it a new lease of stable life.

What has been dead has been my Freshmeat inbox - no notable game releases for a while apart from Widelands, Bub Brothers, ja2-stracciatella, Wormux, and Xarvh. And those are just the ones on the Game Tome. Still, like I say, Freshmeat has been quiet. ;-)

Xarvh is not linked because it has been renamed to Everborn. It's a turn-based multiplayer fantasy strategy game, with real-time battles, born as a clone of Simtex's Master of Magic. In case you didn't know.

Star Wars Warlords

The other news centres around Vega Strike being close to release with massive SVN updates making it much faster to load/play. Also the Star Wars mod for VS, imaginatively named Vega Wars, had some very good news in that it has access to a slew of Star Wars models from the Star Wars Warlords project (a mod for Homeworld 2) that simply need converting to a format VS supports - which means a playable release of that project before the end of the year is quite realistic possibility. A Free Software game featuring some of these models is an exciting prospect!

I will probably come to an agreement with some other FreeGameDev forum members on posting here so that, should I forget or lose a limb, somebody else can step in and take on the mantle of bringing you all the fascinating Free Software game news. :-)