Gaming category

Many games feature the ability to play with other people. However, the first thing the game will check for is to see if it is currently up to date. When Ubuntu enters version freeze, the games fall out of date, and it can be harder to play them online without finding a 3rd party update or compiling it yourself (Freeciv, Scorched3D, and Battle for Wesnoth to name a few). This also creates issues when different distributions freeze at different times, so it can be hard to play with other Linux users.

Ubuntu should provide a repository for up to date games for games that will always need the latest version to play online.

This is total pie in the sky but it would be great to see some kind of partnership with the big gaming companies such as EA, Blizzard, Bethesda or some such where we could actually work with them in bringing their outstanding game releases to our platform.

The default gnome games for solitaire, minesweeper, etc are really the best out there, but I hate that if I remove one game through "Add/Remove Programs" it removes all of them! Why?

This will not only confuse, but also really annoy most users. A reason should at least be given. I know there are easy ways around this, but most average users are going to want to use the easy package manager... I mean, that's what it's there for right?

...and other WM behaviour must be improved:

Some fullscreen apps grab most of keyboard shortcuts under their control. Especially 3D games, Sauerbraten for example. So it is impossible to use Alt+Tab with them.
It is also not good if app uses alt+tab in own purposes, but WM overrides it. Or there is high probability of accidental key press.
There should be some way to minimize such apps. Override control over alt+tab, or/and make another shortcut, that would be accessible from anywhere.

There are also situations when popups brake normal work of fullscreen app. Especially when using compiz.

So summing all:
- WM must have *switchable* ability to override alt+tab so it will work everywhere.
- it must have *customizable* alternative hotkeys that would work like alt+tab everywhere.
- it must have ability to turn off/on (and may be override too) other desktop hotkeys in fullscreen (may be customized for different hotkeys)
- it must not interfere in work of fullscreen app if user does not want it. When in fullscreen, new windows must be created minimized, and notify bubbles must be just drawn over fullscreen. No forced minimization because of popups!
- minimization, or popups must not break the app.
- if fullscreen app's resolution is similar or greater than desktop's, it must be minimized when pressing alt+tab (or custom replacement). If resolution is smaller, it *can* be shown in own window (switchable).
- it must have ability to lock/unlock mouse focus when in some windowed app that needs to grab mouse. Do it by some hotkey, like ctrl+F10 in Dosbox. (this addition based on idea #4642)

We have dozens of ancient benchmarks, which mainly test I/O operations, or basic tasks. Or your typical Quake 3 ones.

We really should somehow promote development (maybe as a bounty) for a new benchmark (or benchmark framework) that can push modern hardware (similar to 3Dmark). Whilst it may not seem important, many computer guys use 3Dmark normally as a way to test their overclocking, and compare to other people.

If we design it in a modular fashion, as a framework, where every test is a plugin, the community will help making good plugins. Surely a framework would not take much effort to code.

After we have a proper framework, you could expect members of the community to code:
- I/O tests
- Shader tests
- OpenGL tests
- Even directX tests on windows (we have the advantage though of being able to plugin to winelib too to benchmark wine).

Its a project with a little time needed at the beginning, but it will take on a life of its own. And, since we are in total control, it will give us the ability to accurately test our performance with other OS's, to work out what we can improve (or where we pwn them).

Current benchmarks like 3Dmark are coded in Directx, so are unlikely to be ported to other platforms, and we have the advantage of having a modular system.

In the future, we could use it to test for default installed programs. ie, test automatically if the system is good enough for compwiz. and enable if it runs it well, allow users to only list games for install they can run well, etc.

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From #16560 merge:

[....]

Add good support for gaming input devices and game controllers.

Such as;
* Joysticks
* Gamepad
* Steering wheel
* Light guns
* Dance pads
* Glove
* Wiimote

And support functionality such as;
* Force feedback
* Accelerometer
* Gyroscope

One of the reasons game consoles are so popular is that they provide a uniform runtime environment. Game developers have certain 'givens' that they can assume when they develop a game - system performance, graphics capability, controller availability, etc. This means that the game works the same on everyone's console.

But in the PC gaming world, the game developers must be aware of and test for many different hardware and software configurations. This makes games for PCs less reliable and adds to the expense of development.

I propose developing a sort of test suite for ubuntu (or other distros) that can evaluate system performance to determine if a specific game can work on a users machine. This could be integrated with something similar to valve's steam, but built with open source code. The goal is to make something that eases the pain of testing and distribution for game developers, smoothing the path to more commercial (and open source) games on linux.

From the user side:
- a way to evaluate system capabilities, to determine what games can work.
- a guarantee that games that qualify on their system will actually work.
- a way to install games online, for ubuntu probably just providing a front end for packages.
- a way to buy commercial games online.

From the developer side:
- ability to code to a specific performance level on the users' machine.
- guarantees of a consistent runtime environment, with much of the burden of testing resting on the community developed tools rather than on the individual developer.
- an easy way to distribute commercial or noncommercial games on linux at low/no cost.

The only way to install Urban Terror on a Ubuntu machine is to manually install it. This is a very good game that supports Linux natively. I think Ubuntu should add it to the repository.

In order to promote the gaming side of Ubuntu, it could be launched a "Games for Ubuntu" contest. This contest could be positive in two aspects:

-Attract game developpers to Ubuntu
-Provide more games to the gamers that use Ubuntu

The contest could have just one or several games categories (for instance, shooters, puzzles, strategy, etc.). This would not only promote the development of new games for Ubuntu, it could also encourage existing teams to finalize their projects in order to present them to the contest.

The price could be something material or something more symbolic (like a trip to the Ubuntu central offices) in order not to overcharge the organizational costs.

One interesting way for raising the quality of the games presented would be providing some kind of resources, like kits for developing 3D games, wikis about technical aspects, forums for contacting with programmers, musicians, graphic artists, etc.

It would be nice if Ubuntu comes by default with a software which would let you configure your USB joystick.

It's frustrating when you plug a generic usb joystick and can't do anything with it as you could on Windows.

People like games, and while Linux has done very well with the card games, minesweeper and tetris type games, lets get some games that people can really get excited about.

How about starting or supporting one each of a
1)First Person Shooter (FPS)
2)Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG)
3)Real Time Strategy Game (RTS)
4)Other popular game types that Linux lacks (Other people, submit your ideas)

I have seen these types of games on linux, and some of them have been pretty good, but not many people know about them. Start new or support existing game projects that work on most Linux platforms, and make them something to be excited about.

If we can have Linux games that people are excited about and like playing we will have less and less need for WINE and dual-boot machines. (although I personally appreciate the WINE developers, they work really hard).

Add Yo Frankie! Game to Ubuntu repositories.

This is a mark in Open Source Gaming in my opinion, and a so well done, worked and polished game with such quality deserves go to Ubuntu repositories.

More info here:
http://www.yofrankie.org/

jorgerosa comment:
"Yo Frankie! is not only a game. You can learn to make games with it!

I downloaded the game (bigger file there) and opened in Blender, and i can learn how they do the game.

I even can run the game from Blender (no need to compile or whatever), since Blender has built in his own 3D game engine, and see what happens when i change stuff there :D"

Please make ubuntu package for enemy territoy cause i'm noob and i cant install it manually
please vote +1

Create a place where we linux users can shout out to the world "WE WANT TO PLAY ON UBUNTU LINUX"

Let us all sign and show the big companies that we exist and we are a potential marked that grows more and more every day!

Instead of asking the ubuntu team to make games work with ubuntu linux (which is quite stupid, hows that suposed to work and how much waste of development would that be?) make the gaming companies see that we exist and want support! Dont let all our requests get scattered and ignored over the www, make them all meet and bundle at one official ubuntu page.

There are games done for windows, mac, wii, ps3, psp and all other plataforms, why not ubuntu linux?

If the gaming world is able to visit a page and see "xxxxxxx ubuntu linux users want to play games!" why shouldnt they start doing it? It should be much easyer to develop games for a WORKING OS then for windows, with all its bugs and problems. That would mean less work for them, less support needed and more fun for us!

Please ubuntu team! Help us shout out!

PS: that can also be used for other types of applications, but I think games are the sollution to give Ubuntu the suport it needs. Games for Ubuntu bring working hardware for ubuntu (remember the nvidia logo before each game? "the way its meant to be played"?) and support from all companies who sell things to gamers.
Gaming mouses/keyboards joysticks... every big hardware company has something for gamers. If they start producing working drivers for that section, the other products will follow.

Hello,

id, best known for DOOM and QUAKE, has supported linux in the past.

Their upcoming new engine idtech5 will be multi-platform, supporting mac, ps3, windows and xbox360. They stated that this engine will make it possible to use the almost same codebase and compile it for each of the mentioned platforms. The ps3 and mac do not support directx, so this new engine must use opengl, like the former id games did.

They have not mentioned linux, so it is not clear if it will be supported.

Dear Ubuntu, Canonical and Mr Shuttleworth,
please appeal to id and ask them to support linux and (K/X)Ubuntu. Support them, if this becomes necessary (i.e. Linux binary through apt/synaptic). Make the ubuntu desktop a richer experience for all kinds of pc users.

Bye, Martin

Ubuntu should develop it's own open source game development libraries. This could push for a unified way to develop games on Linux platforms. Fast ANSI C libs that don't act as an engine, but rather as a easy way to gain access to the systems hardware from languages like python,c++,java... Why should Windows attract all the game developers. If a standardized library is developed for Linux it would certainly make anyone Question the need to use Directx.

The main objetive to do this is simple: marketing.

It's not the same saying "Ubuntu is a great OS with many applications like text-processors, video players, good internet browsers, etc" that saying, ..."and it has got really, really good games".

Of course, some people doesn't care about games (people who uses Ubuntu to work, for example) but, some young people (and game-lovers) could be attracted to Ubuntu community by this mean.

When I talk of great games, I mean those which are supported, have got a long well-developped storyline and of course, have got a big community and really good graphics. Examples of these games are Battle for Wesnoth, OpenArena, Glest, Supertux, Sauberbraten, Freeciv, and Tux Racer.

Thus, this community would make publicity of Ubuntu saying to Windows users things that: "bah, I cand do this and also has many good free games", "the other day I was playing a great game... Sorry is only for Ubuntu Linux, not for Windows"... And things like that. Simply marketing.

So, once the major bugs of Ubuntu were corrected, the majority of hardware were well-supported, it would be interesting to do this to fix "bug number one".

On September 4, 2008 Activision and Raven Software released the source code for the games Hexen and Heretic as free open source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

The source code is available at SourceForge;
* http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=238655

We can now compile Linux binaries and put it in the repository.

The only thing most of my friends want Windows for anymore are a few games.

I think Canonical and the Ubuntu community should work closely with leading game publishers to get them to release native Ubuntu ports of their games.

After I install lots of games and/or KDE, I find my Games menu inundated. How about organizing the games by genre?