Commercial Games

[Svartalf]

IMHO the key isn't necessarily Atari. Bioware made the actual game and the Linux port and supported the community making their own persistent worlds. Atari owns the franchise, Bioware did the actual work. When Atari was set to make the sequal NWN2, they went to another development house. NWN2 was bad, had an annoying interface, graphics that looked washed out and colored-pencil drawn... that list goes on.

They have to have permission from the publisher in many cases for a Linux version. The only real reason NWN had a Linux version was the former publisher (Interplay...) didn't care and they'd started it because they thought it was cool. Atari, once they got in on the deal, didn't try to prevent it, but they really think that it's more of a money sink than anything else and will tell a studio "NO" when the subject is broached from my understanding on the matter.

QUOTE

But Bioware... they did it right with Baldur's Gate and NWN and it's expansions. They are working on a new one, Dragon Age that looks a lot like NWN 1 updated. If you want NWN, start the talk with Bioware. They're the ones that made it what it is.



You need to talk to them FIRST. But they're not the final say unless the publishing contract says they are for anything other than the Windows/Console/etc. parts. Then you've got to sell them on a Linux version (Which is going to be the ONLY route you're going to get this on Pandora- we're entirely too small of a userbase to go with it by and of ourselves...)- which has been a bit of a touchy subject with Bioware (I think they want to, but DA's publisher flatly does NOT...and if you're not self-funding this, whatever the publisher says goes.).

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This brings me to another idea... Maybe we should be looking at getting new games on the verge of release rather than classic games? Dragon Age (Bioware) or Diablo III maybe?



Unless you sell them on a Linux version on their own and get someone like myself to help that port happen on a Pandora as an alternate Linux architechture target, you're going to have to pony up US Dollars in the six figures territory (a quarter mil is typical...) to get even a sniff of the codebase for porting to anything they don't support- and, that's if the publisher is willing to allow it if the studio's got their hands tied on the deal.

With Blizzard Activision's past, it's going to be an uphill battle without the quarter mil for Diablo III unless they decide Linux is actually a good thing (Which there's no signs of that in light of how they've handled WoW over the years on the Linux front (They HAD a client in-house, that Vivendi (parent, still one by the by...) had them stop work on.)). From the way Bioware has handled the subject on Dragon Age, it doesn't look good either.

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We wouldn't have the hardware to emulate them on another platform, but if the code were compiled native... maybe?



In the case of either, as long as their shader requirements aren't evil, we probably could get something that work decently enough on Pandora. The rights access is going to always be the rub there- and it almost never comes cheaply.

 

[OrR]

I have not followed Cave Story further, but wasn't it that he did not allow more porting? It would be great if Cave Story was ported.

The reason for that as far as I can tell was the upcoming commercial WiiWare version. So we may not get free cave story but that should not stop us from begging for a port of the enhanced commercial version.

 

[Ravnos]

I have not followed Cave Story further, but wasn't it that he did not allow more porting? It would be great if Cave Story was ported.

The reason for that as far as I can tell was the upcoming commercial WiiWare version. So we may not get free cave story but that should not stop us from begging for a port of the enhanced commercial version.

Well, technically, some people still have access to the source from back when. A generic, dynamically compiled SDL port for ARM should run on Pandora, though there may be issues with certain Pandora-specific features, and provided it was done by someone who already had the OK to port it to an ARM Linux device, it should not run afoul of any pre-existing arrangements. My two cents.

 

[OrR]

Better take a very close look at those pre-existing arrangements before that, though... I don't think a port should be attempted without explicit permission by Pixel/Nicalis. I'd rather not have a Cave Story port than one that causes bad blood.

 

[fischju2000]

Has Overlord been mentioned here? Triumph Studios has been porting it all over the place (PC, 360, PS3, now a Wii version), and are a small company.

 

[bsamm97]

Two words....Serious Sam!

 

[Alpha2]

I forgot has anyone mentioned Trackmania yet?

 

[conso]

hey, you are seriously damaging this thread's topic. People here started with writing to the developers, asking for a port and posting the feedback here. Go to that thread, craig has started for simple demand.

 

[Svartalf]

Yes and the move from OpenGL to OpenGL ES is just so trivial

It can be... Depends on which ES and what you're doing...

 

[Alpha2]

hey, you are seriously damaging this thread's topic. People here started with writing to the developers, asking for a port and posting the feedback here. Go to that thread, craig has started for simple demand.

There was a thread here yesterday with quotes from developers that stated clear intent or caution, but that's not this thread. This is the one Craig started to get people opinions on which commercial games might be good to drop money on for pandora.

 

[conso]

hey, you are seriously damaging this thread's topic. People here started with writing to the developers, asking for a port and posting the feedback here. Go to that thread, craig has started for simple demand.

There was a thread here yesterday with quotes from developers that stated clear intent or caution, but that's not this thread. This is the one Craig started to get people opinions on which commercial games might be good to drop money on for pandora.

ups, sorry for that.

 

[Qwak]

I just wanted to chip in, and appologies if this has been mentioned previously on this thread, but, as an indie game developer, I think some things that would really encourage me (and other indies) to develop games for Pandora, are..

1. Good, clear, concise tech. documentation.

2. SDK (package with all tools to compile and produce pandora executables).

3. Sample projects.

4. Maybe some kind of tutorial, how to develop games for pandora, step by step.

Just some suggestions..

It's all stuff that would cost very little for the community, and once the SDK / developer pack is, well, packaged, it would be in place and accessible for all indie game devs to use.

Jamie.

 

[ninjamonkey]

How about Doom 3? Instead we attempt to get the people who knopw the game inside out and backwards to make of it for the pandora.

 

[Butterman]

I just wanted to chip in, and appologies if this has been mentioned previously on this thread, but, as an indie game developer, I think some things that would really encourage me (and other indies) to develop games for Pandora, are..

1. Good, clear, concise tech. documentation.

2. SDK (package with all tools to compile and produce pandora executables).

3. Sample projects.

4. Maybe some kind of tutorial, how to develop games for pandora, step by step.

Just some suggestions..

It's all stuff that would cost very little for the community, and once the SDK / developer pack is, well, packaged, it would be in place and accessible for all indie game devs to use.

Jamie.

You're probably not going to find that for a good while. Mainly because you really don't need it. All you need to do to code for the Pandora is know SDL and OpenGL. From then on, it's pretty much linking to the ES 2.0 libraries and compiling to ARM. Really, really not hard at all mate.

That said, I'll probably have created a few batch scripts within a few weeks of getting my Panda just to simplify compilation on vista and nix. If nothing's around I'll probably release those in a pretty package with everything required to x-compile.

 

[lulzfish]

How about Doom 3? Instead we attempt to get the people who knopw the game inside out and backwards to make of it for the pandora.

<_<
Uh, well.. id already has plans to release the source code pretty soon to make way for their new engine, so..
it's probably already going to be tried by at least someone.

 

[nightwheel]

I forgot has anyone mentioned Trackmania yet?

It could work but graphics on the regular TM games would have to be dumbed down quite a bit. And I'm not sure how Nadeo would take to doing a port. And the fact that Nadeo has not ported any of the games to Linux.

And Nadeo weren't the ones who made Trackmania DS. Firebrand Games was the ones who handled TM DS.

As for games I would like to see:
Jets and Guns
Braid
Cave Story (I know it has a GP2X port. But given whats going on with the game currently. It would be smart to ask Pixel first.)
Beyond Good & Evil
HL1
Lego Builder (i know it's not a game, but it's fun!)
Audiosurf

 

[PoisonedV]

Guys. you're missing the original point of this thread...

 

[valhalla]

I just wanted to chip in, and appologies if this has been mentioned previously on this thread, but, as an indie game developer, I think some things that would really encourage me (and other indies) to develop games for Pandora, are..

1. Good, clear, concise tech. documentation.

2. SDK (package with all tools to compile and produce pandora executables).

3. Sample projects.

4. Maybe some kind of tutorial, how to develop games for pandora, step by step.

Just some suggestions..

It's all stuff that would cost very little for the community, and once the SDK / developer pack is, well, packaged, it would be in place and accessible for all indie game devs to use.

Jamie.

You're probably not going to find that for a good while. Mainly because you really don't need it. (...)


Why not? the fact that most of what is needed is available elsewhere won't prevent the creation of a list of pointers to good documentation and tools, so that somebody who is starting from scratch doesn't need to hunt around different sources.

 

[lulzfish]

I just wanted to chip in, and appologies if this has been mentioned previously on this thread, but, as an indie game developer, I think some things that would really encourage me (and other indies) to develop games for Pandora, are..

1. Good, clear, concise tech. documentation.

2. SDK (package with all tools to compile and produce pandora executables).

3. Sample projects.

4. Maybe some kind of tutorial, how to develop games for pandora, step by step.

Just some suggestions..

It's all stuff that would cost very little for the community, and once the SDK / developer pack is, well, packaged, it would be in place and accessible for all indie game devs to use.

Jamie.

You're probably not going to find that for a good while. Mainly because you really don't need it. (...)


Why not? the fact that most of what is needed is available elsewhere won't prevent the creation of a list of pointers to good documentation and tools, so that somebody who is starting from scratch doesn't need to hunt around different sources.


Nonsense! Back in my day, we had to sell our bodies to learn how to program! Why, I remember in '61 when...

Yeah, I think a basic package for something like Python along with OpenGL and SDL bindings for it would be great.
I'm planning to use C++, but Python or maybe some kind of Java might be better for less experienced developers, since they hide the whole "ARM / x86" thing.

 

[Grench]

Call it dead thread revival or necro-posting if you want. I recalled this thread and was curious where we're at 7 months later.

As we are getting closer to launch, I was wondering if the team had any luck getting a few commercial games in the pipe line. So, any luck?

I'm still dreaming of getting the X86 Linux Neverwinter Nights compiled to ARM on the Pandora - yeah, I know it is only a dream. There is some distant history of Bioware trying to port the NWN property to a handheld console (Tapwave Zodiac) but it never made it to release. I still think this would make a 'killer app', but that is just one NWN fanboy's opinion. Did anyone official on the OpenPandora team have a chance to contact someone official at Bioware or Atari to see if there is any chance of it?

Thanks!