Linux and Games

Just how and what exactly can you play on Linux? We look at new commercial games, free games and how it all works.

The Linux world has a long history of fending for itself, since so few Windows applications make their way to the OS. For day-to-day desktop tasks, it does very well: there’s no Internet Explorer, Outlook or Word, but Linux does have excellent alternatives like Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice, and the same can be said for nearly every major category of software.

Games are a different beast though: they’re not tools that you use time and again, but sweet treats that are quickly consumed by the gaming masses before they move on to the next big thing. The iterative approach of open-source development just can’t afford to produce throw-away software in the same way.

Despite that, gaming on Linux is far from dead. A handful of developers still release Linux versions of their games, and there are some open-source games that are great fun despite their budgetary constraints. It can even run some Windows games directly, through the magic of Wine. Get ready to get your game on...

Commercial games
They’re few and far between, but some new-release commercial games from the Windows world do make their way to Linux, typically through downloadable Linux binaries that work with the data files from the Windows release. iD Software has used this approach for years, porting all of its titles since the days of Wolf3D and Doom. Some third-party titles that make use of iD engines have received similar ports, such as Raven’s Quake 4 (available just two days after the Windows release), and the brand-spanking new Enemy Territory: Quake Wars from Splash Damage.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is the latest major Linux title.

Epic hasn’t been supporting Linux quite as long as iD, but it still pushed the limits of OpenGL on Linux when it released binaries for Unreal Tournament. It’s since released binaries for Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 as well – the Linux installer for 2004 was even on the Windows CDs – and Unreal Tournament 3 binaries are on the way as well.

Other developers have flirted with Linux binaries as well, such as BioWare, with its port of Neverwinter Nights, but these efforts are rare, since few publishers can justify the costs involved. The only notable exception is S2 Games, developers of the Savage game series. Savage 2 is set to have a Linux port available at release, and the first Savage game, which also had a Linux port, is now available as a free download.

There have also been a few attempts at creating boxed Linux titles, following a business model that’s proven successful for Mac porting houses like Aspyr Media. Loki Software ported a number of titles in this manner from 1998 to 2001, including Civilization: Call to Power, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, and Tribes 2, but sales fell below expectations; partly due to the Linux versions debuting well after the original Windows versions. Loki declared bankruptcy in early 2002, but its legacy lives on today in the tools and libraries it developed to make Linux a viable gaming platform.

A similar company, Linux Game Publishing, was founded in 2001 and continues today. LGP sticks to more niche titles (X²: The Threat is perhaps its most mainstream release to date) and a less ambitious release schedule, which has allowed them to succeed where Loki failed.

Some older games eventually find their way to Linux through open-source versions of the game engines. iD has famously open-sourced its old engines, up to and including the Quake 3 engine, and some other developers have done likewise. The best example is space combat sim FreeSpace 2, originally released for Windows in 1999, which was open-sourced by developers Volition in 2002. The community quickly added a number of new features, including a Linux port, based on an OpenGL version of the game’s graphics engine.

Though the initial release contained just the source code and required the original Windows CDs to run, the entire game is now available free of charge; you’ll find an installer that will download the game data, as well as the latest version of the open-source engine.

Even in the absense of source code, some developers have managed to produce Linux ports of commercial games by reverse-engineering and re-writing the original game engine. The best example of this is ScummVM, a clone of the SCUMM engine used in classic LucasArts adventure games like Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle. LucasArts has refused to assist the project, despite the fact that it’s far and away the best way to play its old games, even on Windows, but other developers have been more supportive. Revolution Software, for instance, supplied code for many of its old adventure games, and has also released the game files for many of them, including the classic Beneath a Steel Sky, as freeware.