Friday, May 27, 2011

LibriVox Hacked

The public domain audibook project LibriVox got hacked (not the first time it seems). There was no open announcement yet [edit: here's the blog post] but as a forum user I received an email:
A hacker broke into the LibriVox forum and got access to our completedatabase including emails and encrypted passwords. We have locked them outof the system, and we’ve fixed the vandalism, but they still have ourdatabase.
In the interests of full disclosure, here is some extra information:(1) The database contained every piece of communications sent through theforum, including all private messages. This information is now in thepossession of the hacker.
(2) All forum passwords in the database are encrypted. However, if yourpassword was very simple, it will be trivial for the hacker to break theencryption using "brute-force" techniques. They will likely attempt exactlythis, so if you use the same password on any other Internet service, youshould immediately change your password at those services.
We are very sorry that this happened, and once this is sorted out as bestas it can be, we’ll be doing a more thorough security review.
Well, I'm glad they are open about this. A great time to update the passwords I use to more secure ones. :)

I would like to appeal to the community to look out for each other and report strange activities like spam posts or random content deletion to site admins, pointing out this recent hacking. Everybody who had a LibriVox account and used their password elsewhere should change it ASAP, especially if moderative or administrative accounts are involved!

... Let me just add a little bit of positive open content news though: I was looking for car blinker sounds, contacted three Freesound contributors and got permission from all of them to re-distribute under CC0, which I did on OpenGameArt. j1987 even added a "all my sounds are public domain" note. :)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

PARPG Infrastructure Sprint: Content Creation Refactoring


A PARPG Content Creation Refactoring Sprint was announced on May 23, 2011. Here are instructions on how to join and help:
  1. Register at Assembla
  2. Add and resolve tickets
  3. Join the #parpg channel each Sunday at GMT 8PM

Monday, May 23, 2011

Let pixel maps do the talking


New Pages of Adventure graphics.



OpenGameArt is looking for a hosting sponsor. The target is a dedicated server with following min. specs:

  • Quad core, 64 bit CPU
  • 4GB RAM
  • 500GB hard drive space
  • 1TB monthly transfer
  • 1 gigabit connection
  • 64-bit CentOS, RedHat or Fedora
  • Root access and Autonomy

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Assorted strategy game news

Quick Sunday afternoon rundown of recent strategy game updated...
0AD got a new beta 5 release, which improvements in rendering & AI code, a completely new faction (Iberians), and a new map:


MegaGlest also got updated recently (Version 3.5.1), bringing various fixes and performance improvements. Furthermore I can report that both the sable and the development version of Battle for Wesnoth have been updated, and I strongly recommend everyone (who has not played this game for a while) to retry this classic in the newest development version.

EvolutionRTS, a nice looking (but sadly CC-by-NC-ND licensed) game based on the SpringRTS engine also saw an update to version 1.3 this month (check out this gameplay video).



Hmmm, what else? Ahh, UFO:AI was ported to Android, and and the change of Warzone2100 from SDL to qt (which is not exactly a game framework) raised some eyebrows, but will probably make the game more easily portable and better integrated into your favorite desktop.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Newton Physics Open Source!


Funto's edit of the FGDWiki* made me realize that Newton switched to the free-as-in-freedom zlib license

I did not follow development on the HPL1 (Penumbra: Overture) engine but this might mean that there are no closed dependencies any more.

*having a forum account will allow you to edit this wiki!

Friday, May 20, 2011

LanPower Game Key v2



On 2. July, the second Free-as-in-freedom USB Game Key will be released by the French-language based team LanPower.


The GameKey light serie 2 is a compilation of portable FOSS games, mostly compatible with both Windows and Linux.


English, German, French, Italian and Spanish translations are available for the GUI. If you would like to add your translation to the mix, here are the translation files: English | French. (contact: asso.lanpower AT free.fr)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Sound Walk #1: BOFH

This is a 0:46 soundwalk of BOFH. Music not turned off.



[download ogg vorbis]

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Naev Sound and Xonotic Map Devolution

Spoiler alert regarding a video of a NAEV mission that shows off the sound capacities of the game. The project relies on OpenAL Soft.

You should come for the sound [10MB vorbis rip]* or for the HD version.
Effects to notice:
  • Positional sound (basic for OpenAL)
  • Doppler Effect (depends on velocity)
  • Air absorption factor (sounds like you’re under water)
  • Reverb (also helps make it sound like you’re underwater)
  • Speed of sound changes (depends on nebula density – also for sounding underwater)
* It'd be great if more project took so much care of audio licensing so there could be f-a-i-f game sound walks. Great distraction from urban noise. Game soundtracks are disturbing though mostly.



An amazing screens-video of the different stages of modernizing/Xonoticisizing CBCTF1 - Space CTF to Newtonian Nightmare was posted.

Provide feedback:

Due to SPAM issues we have disabled public commenting here.

But feel free to join our forums or easily chat via IRC with us.