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game.md
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@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ Therefore it is crucial to stress that **games are [technology](tech.md) like an
A small number of games nowadays come with a [free](free_software.md) engine, which is either official (often retroactively freed by its developer in case of older games) or developed by volunteers. Example of the former are the engines of ID games ([Doom](doom.md), [Quake](quake.md)), example of the latter can be [OpenMW](openmw.md) (a free engine for TES: Morrowind) or [Mangos](mangos.md) (a free server for [World of Warcraft](wow.md)). Console [emulators](emulator.md) (such as of Playstation or Gameboy) can also be considered a free engine for playing proprietary games.
Yet a smaller number of games are completely free (in the sense of [Debian](debian.md)'s free software definition), including both the engine and game assets. These games are called **free games** or **libre games** and many of them are clones of famous proprietary games. Examples of these probably (one can rarely ever be sure about legal status) include [SuperTuxKart](stk.md), [Minetest](minetest.md), [0AD](0ad.md), [Xonotic](xonotic.md), [FLARE](flare.md) or [Anarch](anarch.md). There exists a wiki for libre games at https://libregamewiki.org and a developer forum at https://forum.freegamedev.net/. Libre games can also be found in Debian software repositories. However WATCH OUT, all mentioned repositories may be unreliable!
Yet a smaller number of games are completely free (in the sense of [Debian](debian.md)'s free software definition), including both the engine and game assets. These games are called **free games** or **libre games** and many of them are clones of famous proprietary games. Examples of these probably (one can rarely ever be sure about legal status) include [SuperTuxKart](stk.md), [Minetest](minetest.md), [0AD](0ad.md), [Xonotic](xonotic.md), [FLARE](flare.md), [Licar](licar.md) or [Anarch](anarch.md). There exists a wiki for libre games at https://libregamewiki.org and a developer forum at https://forum.freegamedev.net/. Libre games can also be found in Debian software repositories. However WATCH OUT, all mentioned repositories may be unreliable!
{ NOTE: Do not blindly trust libregamewiki and freegamedev forum, non-free games occasionally DO appear there by accident, negligence or even by intention. I've actually found that most of the big games like SuperTuxKart have some licensing issues (they removed one proprietary mascot from STK after my report). Ryzom has been removed after I brought up the fact that the whole server content is proprietary and secret. So if you're a purist, focus on the simpler games and confirm their freeness yourself. Anyway, LGW is a good place to start looking for libre games. It is much easier to be sure about freedom of suckless/LRS games, e.g. Anarch is legally safe practically with 100% certainty. ~drummyfish }
@ -113,9 +113,9 @@ Another kind of cool games are computer implementations of non-computer games, f
## Games As LRS
Computer games can be [suckless](suckless.md) and just as any other software should try to adhere to the [Unix philosophy](unix_philosophy.md). A [LRS](lrs.md) game should follow all the principles that apply to any other kind of such software, for example being completely [public domain](public_domain.md) or aiming for high [portability](portability.md) and getting [finished](finished.md). This is important to mention because, sadly, many people see games as some kind of exception among software and think that different technological or moral rules apply -- this is wrong.
Computer games can be [suckless](suckless.md) and like any other software should ideally adhere to the [Unix philosophy](unix_philosophy.md). A [LRS](lrs.md) game should follow all the principles that apply to any other kind of software, for example being completely [public domain](public_domain.md) or aiming for high [portability](portability.md) and getting [finished](finished.md). It must be stressed because, sadly, many still view games as some sort of exception among software and think that different technological or moral rules apply -- that's of course wrong.
If you want to make a simple LRS game, there is an official LRS [C](c.md) library for this: [SAF](saf.md).
Should you decide to make a simple LRS game, there is an official LRS [C](c.md) library for this called [SAF](saf.md).
A LRS game will be similar to any other [suckless](suckless.md) program, one example of a design choice it should take is the following: while mainstream games are built around the idea of having a precompiled engine that runs [scripts](script.md) written in some interpreted language, a **LRS/suckless game wouldn't use run-time scripts** but would rather have such "scripts" written as a part of the whole game's source code (e.g. in a file `scripts.h`), in the same language as the engine (typically [C](c.md)) and they would be compiled into the binary program. This is the same principle by which suckless programs such as [dwm](dwm.md) don't use config files but rather have the configuration be part of the source code (in a file `config.h`). Doing this in a suckless program doesn't really have any disadvantages as such program is extremely easy and fast to recompile, and it brings in many advantages such as only using a single language, reducing complexity by not needing any interpreter, not having to open and read script files from the file system and also being faster.
@ -143,9 +143,9 @@ Of [proprietary](proprietary.md) video games we should bring up particularly tho
As for the [free (as in freedom)](free_software.md) libre games, let the following be a sum up of some nice games that are somewhat close to [LRS](lrs.md), at least by some considerations.
**Computer games:** [Anarch](anarch.md) and [microTD](utd.md) are examples of games trying to closely follow the [less retarded](lrs.md) principles while still being what we would normally call a computer game. [SAF](saf.md) is a less retarded game library/fantasy console which comes with some less retarded games such as [microTD](utd.md). If you want something closer to the mainstream while caring about freedom, you probably want to check out libre games (but keep in mind they are typically not so LRS and do suck in many ways). Some of the highest quality among them are [Xonotic](xonotic.md), 0 A.D., [openarena](openarena.md), [Freedoom](Freedoom.md), Neverball, SupertuxKart, [Minetest](minetest.md), The Battle for Wesnoth, Blackvoxel, [Lix](lix.md) etcetc. -- these are usually quite [bloated](bloat.md) though.
**Computer games:** [Anarch](anarch.md) and [microTD](utd.md) are examples of games aiming to very much follow the [less retarded](lrs.md) principles while still being worthy of being called a computer game. [SAF](saf.md) is a less retarded game library/fantasy console which comes with a handful of less retarded games. [Licar](licar.md) is an "almost LRS" game, a full fledged 3D racing game made with LRS principles in mind. If you want something closer to the mainstream while still caring about freedom, you probably want to check out libre games (but keep in mind they are typically not so LRS and do suck in many ways). Among these some of the highest quality are for example [Xonotic](xonotic.md), 0 A.D., [openarena](openarena.md), [Freedoom](Freedoom.md), Neverball, SupertuxKart, [Minetest](minetest.md), The Battle for Wesnoth, Blackvoxel, [Lix](lix.md) etcetc. -- these are usually quite [bloated](bloat.md) though.
As for **non-computer games**: these are usually closer to LRS than any computer game. Many old board games are awesome, including [chess](chess.md), [go](go.md), [shogi](shogi.md), [xiangqi](xiangqi.md), [backgammon](backgammon.md), [checkers](cheskers.md) etc. [Gamebooks](game_book.md) can be very LRS -- they can be implemented both as computer games and non-computer physical books, and can further be well combined with creating a [free universe](free_universe.md). Card games are also very nice; interesting are for example [solitaire](solitaire.md) (single player card games) games such as Klondike and Freecell. Some games traditionally played on computers, such as [sokoban](sokoban.md), can also be played without a computer. Pen and pencil games that are amazing include [racetrack](racetrack.md), pen and pencil football etc. Nice real life physics games include [football](football.md), [marble racing](marble_racing.md) etc.
As for **non-computer games**: these are typically closer to LRS than any computer game by their very nature of not even demanding a computer. Many [old](old.md) board games are awesome, including [chess](chess.md), [go](go.md), [shogi](shogi.md), [xiangqi](xiangqi.md), [backgammon](backgammon.md), [checkers](cheskers.md) etc. [Gamebooks](game_book.md) can be very LRS -- they can be implemented both as computer games and non-computer physical books, and can further be well combined with creating a [free universe](free_universe.md). Card games are also very nice; interesting are for example [solitaire](solitaire.md) (single player card games) games such as Klondike and Freecell. Some games traditionally played on computers, such as [sokoban](sokoban.md), can also be played without a computer. Pen and pencil games that are amazing include [racetrack](racetrack.md), pen and pencil football etc. Nice real life physics games include [football](football.md), [marble racing](marble_racing.md) etc.
## See Also