Closed Source Ports

[fusion_power]

While playing the "Settlers 2" 3D remake onto the PC, I thought about a Settler Game for the Pandora. I don't think that Dosbox will give us enough Speed, even onto the Pandora, a dedicated Game would be great. There is a nice "Settlers" for the NDS so I think, the Pandora can handle this easily, maybe even in 3D but of course I would prefer classic 2D. Just an idea. I don't know if there is an Open Source or closed Source Settlers-clone or the Company is generous enough to give "us" one of the old Games...uh...because we are so nice... or so.... ^_^

 

[conso]

afair settlers 1&2 both ran on amiga and 386. There's a good chance they will run on pandora. LGP has a very nice settlers-clone in it's portfolio and at least for multiplayer-gaming widelands isn't really bad (AI is bad, though).

But who knows... I may ask the guys who currently develop the settlers, we work in the same building ^^

 

[nightwheel]

I just emailed the Guy about DX Ball. I let you guys know when I get a message back.

 

[fusion_power]

.

But who knows... I may ask the guys who currently develop the settlers, we work in the same building ^^

Sounds good, it wouldn't hurt to tell these guys about the Power of the Pandora.
I hope for a good Single-Player experience too...but like always, nobody wants to code a good AI those days... (AI coding doesn't seems to be much fun but I'm not a coder)

 

[sebt3]

Coding a good AI is as hard as programming a good dynarec. And it could be fun (tunning a neural network, tunning the deterministic function). But It's too hard to do for commercial company. It's more easy to find a good application server programmer than a good IA programmer. And buisnes-model is better _without_ a good IA. so...

 

[WizardStan]

I hope for a good Single-Player experience too...but like always, nobody wants to code a good AI those days... (AI coding doesn't seems to be much fun but I'm not a coder)
Dude! AI coding is awesome good fun! It's not that no one wants to do it, it's that the traditional forms of AI are pretty simple, and have been perfected over the years. To advance any further would require a whole new shift in thinking. Large companies aren't likely to invest in it, because people keep paying for the current AI technology, and it's a risk they aren't willing to take. Smaller companies don't have the funds for frivolous things like unproven AI technology, either, so no one is advancing the state of AI. I did an interview with EA a few years ago, and mentioned that AI was something I enjoyed doing in school, and was basically told by the interviewer that AI tech really has stagnated for all these reasons.

 

[nightwheel]

Great News!! The Guy at DX Ball emailed back. Here's the email:
QUOTE
Hello,

Thanks for emailing... I'm very curious about Pandora dev.

I own a couple of GP2X, and I'm very much looking forward to getting a
Pandora. I have every intention of porting the new iPhone version of Pocket
Tanks with touch screen interface over to the Pandora.

I wanted a dev kit, but I'm not part of a forum or community, and just
emailing the Pandora folks yields little results. (they must be busy, or
hear that line a lot from would-be developers) hehe

If you can point me in the direction of the forums and perhaps the dev kits,
then I'd be happy to get the ball rolling with porting to the Pandora.

Have any suggestions for plugging into the Pandora developer community?

-Mike
www.blitwise.com

This is a Green if I ever saw one. Someone get him a Dev Board ASAP!

Also emailing him back.....

 

[fusion_power]

Dude! AI coding is awesome good fun! It's not that no one wants to do it, it's that the traditional forms of AI are pretty simple, and have been perfected over the years. To advance any further would require a whole new shift in thinking. Large companies aren't likely to invest in it, because people keep paying for the current AI technology, and it's a risk they aren't willing to take. Smaller companies don't have the funds for frivolous things like unproven AI technology, either, so no one is advancing the state of AI. I did an interview with EA a few years ago, and mentioned that AI was something I enjoyed doing in school, and was basically told by the interviewer that AI tech really has stagnated for all these reasons.

It would be great, if some of the Homebrew Games would have at least some usable AI, Bots for Example. Many Games just have Multiplayer Modes so that nobody tries to play Singleplayer. "Sauerbraten" Engine or this one "Wormux" or other Projects could need a usable AI. Feel free to make a general homebrew AI plugin so we can have bots like in UT Series or really clever acting Opponents in "Wesnoth" ot "Open TTD"
Closed Source Projects also are a big field for better Bot-Support. I like the "Advance Wars" Series (GBA) but even such a Commercial Game has a really crappy AI, compared to good Chess-programms for example (AW is some kind of Chess)

 

[Tom`]

It would be great, if some of the Homebrew Games would have at least some usable AI at Bots for Example. Many Games just have Multiplayer Modes so that nobody tries to play Singleplayer. "Sauerbraten" Engine or this one "Wormux" or other Projects could need a usable AI. Feel free to make a general homebrew AI plugin so we can have bots like in UT Series or really clever acting Opponents in "Wesnoth" ot "Open TTD"
Closed Source Projects also are a big field for better Bot-Support. I like the "Advance Wars" Series (GBA) but even such a Commercial Game has a really crappy AI, compared to good Chess-programms for example (AW is some kind of Chess)

The latest Sauerbraten release does have bots. I seem to recall that good bots are difficult to implement, though, I would imagine more so than a chess AI. I don't have any special knowledge in this area, of course.

 

[conso]

AI's for different games are way different, by definition, cause the goals are totally different. For example a perfect chess AI would beat every opponent, a good shooter-AI is dynamic AND beatable. You don't want a quake bot that gives a headshot everytime possible, but it's pretty easy to program such a bot. Making a bot that behaves like a human player and can communicate with other bots or even human players for strategy and won't get stuck in dead ends is the problem that is to be solved. Even for similar games with slightly different rules, the AI often has to be implemented in a fundamental different way or at least tweaked a lot.

 

[fischju2000]

A bit of a bump to say that Defense Grid: The Awakening would be a great fit for the Pandora. It has very low PC requirments (ATI 9600) and is a very fun and addictive game. I have contacted the developers.

 

[Skofo]

QUOTE
May 27 23:02:33 <Skofo> I was wondering if you'd ever consider taking the Quake 3 path with Lugaru, and open sourcing the engine without the media.
May 27 23:02:49 <Mansizedmouse> would there be much point
May 27 23:03:05 <jeff> we might some day
May 27 23:03:09 <Skofo> Well, for one thing, I'd be able to port it and play it on the Pandora...
May 27 23:03:20 <Skofo> And neato =o
May 27 23:03:47 <jeff> we typically give the source to people if they have a legitimate reason for having it
May 27 23:04:13 <jeff> e.g. ryan gordon for porting it to linux
May 27 23:04:19 <jeff> or the guy who ported it to windows
May 27 23:04:21 <jeff> forgot his name
May 27 23:04:25 <Skofo> Hm. What's an illegitimate reason?
May 27 23:04:32 <Mansizedmouse> making profit??
May 27 23:04:37 <jeff> taking it and selling it, undercutting us
May 27 23:04:44 <Skofo> Ah.


Jeff is one of the guys at Wolfire, who are the authors of Lugaru. http://www.wolfire.com/lugaru

If a guy with any porting experience came up to them I'm pretty sure they'd let him port it to the Pandora. You can usually find them on IRC. http://blog.wolfire.com/2008/09/wolfire-irc-channel/

 

[Esn]

Something I found in the "Pier Solar" forum (Feb. 2009):

"Indeed, I know the Pandora; actually, evil dragon, a German member of the Pandora team has openly offered us support if we decided to do a special version for the Pandora; a Pandora game in a real box and with a manual, not just a binary."

http://www.piersolar.com/board/search.php?keywords=pandora

I guess that's a "maybe"?

 

[kmob]

I know it's a CPU hog (oddly it can be one of the most demanding apps to run on modern hardware) but has anyone asked the Dwarf Fortress guys if they'd consider a Pandora port? It's already available for linux (x86) as well as windows but it uses OpenGL (rather than ES).

 

[lulzfish]

I know it's a CPU hog (oddly it can be one of the most demanding apps to run on modern hardware) but has anyone asked the Dwarf Fortress guys if they'd consider a Pandora port? It's already available for linux (x86) as well as windows but it uses OpenGL (rather than ES).

Actually, normal DF is a command-line program. I'm pretty sure the OpenGL stuff is just a special frontend.
So getting a port should be as simple as asking for an ARM-compiled version and linking to the cross-compiler.

 

[Vlynndar]

I know it's a CPU hog (oddly it can be one of the most demanding apps to run on modern hardware) but has anyone asked the Dwarf Fortress guys if they'd consider a Pandora port? It's already available for linux (x86) as well as windows but it uses OpenGL (rather than ES).

Haha, I knew that someone should bring that uup eventually! Surprised it took such a long time!

Oh, and it's 'the Dwarf Fortress guy'. Singular.

 

[WizardStan]

Haha, I knew that someone should bring that uup eventually! Surprised it took such a long time!

It didn't
It's actually come up several times in the past year. Some people just don't search first.

Also

Actually, normal DF is a command-line program. I'm pretty sure the OpenGL stuff is just a special frontend.
So getting a port should be as simple as asking for an ARM-compiled version and linking to the cross-compiler.

Actually it isn't command line, it's fully graphical. It just so happens that the graphic tiles he's using are ascii characters. It's trivial to change them, they're just textures.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

I'd like to see Soldat and the adventure game studio get ported, anyone contact those guys?

In my dreams I would love a port of Thief 1, but I'm sure that's never going to happen.

 

[elwing]

I'd like to see Soldat and the adventure game studio get ported, anyone contact those guys?

In my dreams I would love a port of Thief 1, but I'm sure that's never going to happen.

thief 1 certainly not, but you can hope that OPDE will get good enough & ported after that... through I'm afraid that thedarkmod might kill OPDE...

 

[Dead1nside]

Oh maybe it's appropriate for me to say that I emailed MH-T who has made statically recompiled versions of: Albion, Warcraft 1, X-COM 1 & 2 on the GP2X but has stated his intention to port them to the Pandora. I've moved Albion to reflect this in the Pandora wiki to in development, given this intention.

Edit: I had to find a copy of Albion on ebay in preparation, £12.50 with the big box but not the manual, good price?

Also, my original sentence didn't make sense.