Showing posts with label mmorpg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mmorpg. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

BREAKING: CryEngine on Linux Officially CONFIRMED (and therefore Star Citizen =P)

Yes, after years of speculation, Crytek has announced that CRYENGINE will finally officially build natively for Linux.
Here's the excerpt pertaining to Linux:
During presentations and hands-on demos at Crytek's GDC booth, attendees can see for the first time ever full native Linux support in the new CRYENGINE.  The CRYENGINE all-in-one game engine is also updated with the innovative features used to recreate the stunning Roman Empire seen in Ryse – including the brand new Physically Based Shading render pipeline, which uses real-world physics simulation to create amazingly realistic lighting and materials in CRYENGINE games.
I first learnt about his when someone posted to the Star Citizen forums of a thread I was following. 
Obligatory Phoronix post

My speculation history to date:
Just recently Star Citizen advertised Kingdom Come: Deliverance which utilised the same CRYENGINE and promises a Linux port.  It's triply funded on Kickstarter now!
Remember in this post I talked about that Linux programmer position they were hiring for Frankfurt (Crytek HQ) as proof of "almost fully official" Linux builds? Filled.
Or that time Chris Roberts said in the 24 hour livestream for Star Citizen that they can't say anything about non-Windows builds yet but Linux (and Mac) users will be "pleasantly surprised"?
And then me wondering about it here?
And these posts were a year after I read Phoronix' article back in 2012 where I first speculated about CryEngine on Linux. Of course, at that time I thought the more the merrier, but in 2013 Star Citizen changed that thought into "Come out on Linux already!"

Linux is complete with gaming rant
Yes, you're getting another (slightly reworded) one ;P
With Valve's SteamOS, Steam on Linux and Source, Unity, Unreal and CRY Engines being native on Linux, games ARE moving en-masse to the Linux OS. This is welcome news, since gaming, and atm, only one particular game -Star Citizen- is the only thing holding me back from never booting Windows on my laptop.
Games I also like and play on Linux are: Dota 2, KSP, Guns of Icarus Online, L4D2, TF2, X-series, Bastion, Killing Floor, Gemini Rue, Dust, Monaco, Surgeon Simulator, and an ever increasing amount of games, indie and big-publisher alike. I find if I'm looking at a game purchase/Humble Bundle, availability on Linux is a deciding factor. I also find I can usually get a good old game on Windows that wasn't built for Linux working on Wine. Especially with WineHQ database and PlayOnLinux. =P

The past year has been - and the next few years will be - very interesting for Linux =)

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Star Citizen Update!

So they just reached $40 million and every backer who pledges/pledged before the $42million mark will get a special Galactapedia (Hitch Hiker's Guide, if you will) viewer. They'll also get a TOWEL! HAHAHAHAHA!!!! xD

Also, since I've done an SC update on this blog, a lot of things have happened - they're at patch 11.1 with OR support in the Hangar Module; check out the stretch goals, which are just examples of the ways SC improves with the money and were usually planned long ago.
Also check out their new monthly reports (link to Feb 2014) for those of us who don't have time to follow every website post.

And they now have 3 update videos every WEEK:
  • Monday - 10 for the Chairman where Chris Roberts answers 10 questions from subscribers (monthly pledgers of $10/$20).
  • Wednesdays - Wingman's Hangar (now moved to Wednesdays; the original development update show). 
  • Fridays - The Next Great Starship, a kind of reality TV show featuring a competition for teams to make the next starship in Star Citizen with the judging and feedback of some folks from CIG (Cloud Imperium Games, RSI's real-world company name)!

Also Jump Point print copies are available, they look gorgeous! They're also a great example of how the folks at CIG tend to over deliver on promises and are always looking for the good of the game and the players - they promised 4-6 full colour pages of magazine format development updates for monthly subscribers and now they're averaging 50 pages a month! They've released some past Jump Point sections  to everyone before, check it out on their website (link goes to all slideshows in Comm-Link)! Check all their WIPs and Jump Point stuff at the link.

Can't wait to try the Dog Fighting Module after PAX East in mid-April!


Last Updated: 2014-03-16 06:39:53 AM AEDT; corrected Jump Point frequency to "monthly", added a few links.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Valve and AMD reveals

So Valve has revealed their SteamOS a couple of days ago which is based on Linux, so it's pretty much a Linux distro. It will be a living room entertainment OS, so think console+xbmc combined. It is also free and open source!
Today, they also revealed SteamBox, and are offering 300 beta units for testers to be randomly selected, as long as you earn the Steam Hardware badge level 2.Unfortunately, actual specs are not disclosed, although they are saying the system is open, and you can upgrade individual components (like a PC!), as well as being free to install any OS on it or turn it into a robot! Gotta love Valve and their open/hacker/community culture. First open console since the PC =P. They are also claiming to have different boxes available in 2014 from different vendors, so PC and linux gaming seems to be ever on fire and advancing, thanks in no small part to Valve! [S2] (companion cube). It's great to see games like Dota 2, L4D2, Kerbal Space Program, X3: Albion Prelude and Guns of Icarus Online (and hopefully the Crytek 3 Engine soon) on Linux!
In a couple of days, Valve will reveal something else. Using symbols 'O' as the SteamOS reveal, and '[O ]' as the SteamBox reveal, they are revealing something along the lines of 'O+O'. They've already suggested streaming video from your gaming PC to the steambox via LAN, and family sharing for games, but it could be something different. Check the reveal here below in 33 hours:



AMD has revealed their newest line of GPUs at every price point, and personally I'm rooting for them as they are actually supporting open source linux driver development. Unlike a certain competitor which only releases binary blobs, although they run alright. In the livestream other game devs were also featured as were a lot of audio technology.
Check out Star Citizen's Chris Roberts at 1hr 44minutes of the livestream and some new hangar module features! (And an Aurora take off sequence in the new trailer demo!). It's also set to break 20 million in crowdfunding within 24 hours. See you in the 'verse!


Watch live streaming video from amdlivestream at livestream.com



Friday, November 16, 2012

Star Citizen - RSI, from the makers of Freelancer etc.

from the makers of Freelancer ... THIS. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen
  • A rich universe focused on epic space adventure, trading and dogfighting in first person.
  • Single Player – Offline or Online(Drop in / Drop out co-op play)
  • Persistent Universe (hosted by US)
  • Mod-able multiplayer (hosted by YOU)
  • No Subscriptions
  • No Pay to Win
Only thing missing from it is shiny MMORPGFPS gameplay on the planetary surface found in the likes of Precursors (which gameplay-wise was amazing =D).
What makes me so excited: MMO persistent universe, FPS elements, Ship combat which is like Freelancer and not MOBA-style (sorry DoTA2, D3, Torchlight, just not so into click click click =P).
Shameless plug for my favourite game of all time (Tribes 1) remade into an arcade style FPS: less gameplay complexity, and weird speed gain when skiing but nevertheless FUN.


BOARDING SHIP MECHANIC explained
Multiplayer and Single player instancing explained.
Because, FIREFLY for inspiration. =) - would love that job xD
Support Linux at the poll for stretch goals (click thru to RSI website for the poll), give CryEngine3 the incentive to go to the quickest growing gaming platform right now with Source, Steam, Unity supporting =) Linux. Speaking of Linux, Humble Bundle for Android 4 finishes in 6 days!


Final-week's (3 days left to pledge!) pitch:


FINAL WEEK PUSH from Roberts Space Industries on Vimeo.

So a few points of our next major stretch goal (from boarding ship mechanic post and RSI star citizen website):
$4.0 million Level Additions
  • Melee & Heavy Weapons
  • Zero-gravity Simulation
  • Suit HUD Options
  • Increased Customization
  • Outside-the-ship combat (magnetic boots on a hull; think Moonraker)
  • Pro MOD TOOLS FREE to players!
  • Persistent Universe (forever instead of 30 months), 50 star systems
  • More Squardron 42 campaign gameplay
  • Increased community updates
- According to RSI website, we need $250k left till $4mil. Also, back on Kickstarter, your pledge will go towards stretch goals of BOTH kickstarter and the overall stretch goals at RSI.  
SO PLEDGE ON KICKSTARTER NOW =D.


I've always wanted to do Precursors MMO'd with friends. This is the closest thing I have ever seen. No amount of procedural universe generation, even if done by big industry pros would sway me. Just damn good gameplay with friends =).
That said, I've had my eye on Infinity Universe for years, because dang-it, its got great gameplay and scale, just without the FPS element >=| and definitely will be happily playing when it comes out.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Star Citizen - Space Sim MMORPG on Kickstarter!


*** Update: ***
 GLXP posted about it on FB!

 https://www.facebook.com/googlelunarxprize/posts/284421335009192
***

Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen
Website: http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen/

Donate at kickstarter, because funds at kickstarter help stretch goals both at kickstarter AND the website!! =)
The whole project is funded, with 19 days to go and rapid increasing in funding.

I've always wanted an MMORPG Space Sim with FPS elements. Sort of like Precursors with multiplayer and a persistent player-affected evolving universe. It would be up there with my favourite games of all time (Tribes 1- Annihilation mod, Team Fortress 2). The Freelancer, X series, Vega Strike and Wing Commander (this made by the same company) have all been great space sims, but I think lacked planetary/out of cockpit exploration/gameplay. 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen/posts/332531 
This update post answered all my questions lol. 
While they said has "first person shooter" elements like running around on the ship, the demo vid only has 3rd person running around on the flight deck. Planetary exploration is probably what will tip me to buying it, but they're not promising it T_T
I liked Precursors as it was as much a normal FPS/RPG on planets and ships/stations as it was space ship pew pews complete with space anomalies, upgrades, the works. 
 
If they do put planetary walk around in, it'll have a leg up on http://www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=35 [oo Joomla] which allows you to land on planets but not walk on them. 

And at Nov 2014 release date, it looks like it may arrive faster than Infinity. Especially if I get to play the Alpha/Betas.
=P

I will most likely back this, it's sooooo tempting!! Just backed this as the last $30 digital download pledge on Kickstarter xD.
Making it the first game related project I backed on Kickstarter, passing by Ooya, Planetary Annihilation, That adventure game,  Homestuck, FTL, etc. Been wanting an MMORPG Space Sim for aaages (Been following that Infinity project for more than a few years now xD) 

Only downsides are: no Linux support on CryEngine3 (although Android is supported), is possible there will be pay 2 not grind instead of subscription, which would be horrible (though you need to pay a once off fee, which hopefully should prevent that, and if the devs are as community oriented as this game relies on, then it would be in their best interests not to payORgrind). They're also allowing community content like TF2 hats and levels =P