digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Tremulous: The best free software game ever?

entertainment.newsforge.com — Linux and open source software lag behind the proprietary market in the number and quality of available video games, especially in the realm of first-person shooters (FPS). Here, Linux is an afterthought, if not ignored completely. Tremulous, a mixture of FPS and RTS (real-time strategy) written by Tim Angus, is an exception to that rule.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • jrepin, on 10/12/2007, -6/+27What I would like to see on Linux is more Adventure and FRPs. For my taste there is more than enough FPS games.
    • CharlesDarwin, on 10/12/2007, -16/+2This game is not cool! I think I'm gonna go play some UT2004...
    • Yorn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I thought about submitting this game to digg a while back, too. I did think it had quite a bit of a steep learning curve. If you ever played a mod called Gloom for Quake2 then you'll really appreciate this one.

      As for adventure games and such, there should be more, but I really would like to see some good RTS games ported. And I mean an actual port, not getting it to run under a directx emulator. A good game that they really should have done this with is Civ IV, I mean, it uses python and xml for the backend, you'd think that a linux port would just be one or two developers away and would certainly bring in enough money to justify the cost.
    • DonPMitchell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8The reason Linux games are generally lame is not so much about software as it is about artists and designers. It costs millions of dollars to do build a good game, and skilled craftsmen don't seem to be quite so eager to work for free or put money into a product that will just get copied and distributed without payment.
    • FearlessNinja, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3is there a way to donate to this guy? this is amazing and i'm not letting this guy go empty handed. think of it this way. if this weren't free, i would pay for it. i don't want to pay for oblivion when i can have this. i will donate at least $5 . but if no one else is i minght make it $8 or so.
  • jrizzo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37Great game. Check out Enemy Territory too; it has a larger online community.
    • alanspach, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10do they make that for mac?
    • autodata, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21OS X UB version here:

      http://tremulous.tjw.org/
    • manthrax3, on 10/13/2007, -14/+13This game is just not fun to play. Good idea, but poorly implemented. Has anyone even tried it? It's terrible. When you're the "Aliens" you're practically stuck to the wall and when you're human, you're just bored. I played it for about 30 minutes then deleted it.
    • Pie_Man, on 10/13/2007, -9/+7I agree that right now that it is not very fun to play at all. It is very pretty, but it there is no balance to the game whatsoever.

      It is a great concept game though that I hope others will follow up on.
    • bndocksnt, on 10/13/2007, -11/+5i have to agree, i don't see what the fuss is around tremulous. i downloaded, installed, played and deleted it, all in one afternoon. i have an attention span, but i have to at least be somewhat stimulated, and this game fails to stimulate after the novelty has worn off. i'll give it a C+, good enough to pass the class, but not good enough to excell at it.
    • aoe2bug, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Are you kidding? I've been thinking that it's perfectly balanced the whole time I've been playing it. If you think aliens have their backs against the wall, maybe you should try it again and play or spectate for awhile.
    • marvy, on 10/13/2007, -0/+4Those of you who say it isn't "well balanced" enough, have obviously deleted it too quickly. At first I thought the aliens were too strong. Then when I played online (as an alien obviously), I thought the humans were too strong. Now, after lots of practice and dozens of hours of online gaming, I really must say that the game is very well balanced. Whether you're alien or human, the team with the better strategy wins. Even just spectating the game is alot of fun; something that cannot be said of a regular FPS such as Quake. I recommend those who thought the game was boring or unbalanced to spectate a few online games (with atleast 10 players). I'm sure you'll see that this game is indeed already very playable and does not require much more tuning.
  • pbaehr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16I found out about this game last time it was on Digg (a month ago or so). I became hugely addicted to it. Be warned, this game will consume large portions of your time once you learn how to play it.
    • aoe2bug, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Yep, great game. I've been playing this since the last time it was on digg (not continuously..). But I still suck. Anyone have any tips/dretching techniques?
    • pbaehr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I could give you some tips, but this isn't really the place. Check out the forums, though, and you should be able to pick up some good pointers.

      http://www.tremulous.net/phpBB2/
    • brhad56, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I also started playing it last time it was on Digg and I play it all the time. It's nice not having to boot into windows to play a great game :)
    • aoeu, on 10/13/2007, -4/+3"Be warned, this game will consume large portions of your time once you learn how to play it."
      ...and it become boring once you get good at it. Really, moving on walls is fun in the beginning. So is your first Tyrant. But continue so for a few weeks, and it'll get _very_ repetetive -- you'll discover that aliens are just too linear with their *main* attack, and a boring second attack. And don't even consider being a human -- the shooting feel is just awful.
      Great game for the first few weeks (alien, of course :), but needs more diversity.
  • batmn42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Also reminds me (fondly) of Natural Selection. I'll have to give this a try.
    • wiredclimber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5That's the game I was trying to think of...
    • ElectricGrandpa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Natural Selection is/was amazing.
  • NameHere, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Funny, I just exited Tremulous to see what was up on Digg. Come join us at SST 51 man server. Tremulous is a blast. Other servers are plagued with griefers but SST is well maintained. Great game, highly suggested to everyone to atleast try. There is, however, a slight learning curve. I suggest reading the forums and asking any questions http://www.tremulous.net/phpBB2/ See you guys on SST
  • atomicpoet, on 10/12/2007, -18/+13I'm not sure games are really suited to an Open Source environment -- as much as I like Open Source. I recall Atari made no money on Pong because of numerous copycats. It was only with Breakout and their home Pong system that they actually made money.

    Gamers require lots of pretty hardware and beautiful graphics. This requires a lot of time and investment on the part of developers. Hence, making games proprietary is kind of the default aspect of developing games. OSS usually frowns on anything proprietary. And with the rate of development (Debian anyone?) with OSS, if games were made via OSS -- that actually competed with PC games -- they'd be left in the dust.

    Linux will be without games for a long time -- unless something drastic happens with development.
    • deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11They probably won't look as good as commercial PC games but games have looked "good enough" for at least the last 2-3 years. If these open source developers come up with fun & innovative ideas they can definitely get a foot in the door while PC developers work on boring rehashes of the same old games with prettier graphics.
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21Yeah, totally. And you know what's even more time consuming to develop than games? Operating systems. They have to support even more hardware than games. There'll never be an open souce operating system, simply because it's too grand an undertaking for the OSS community.

      What's that you say? There's already an open source operating system with hundreds of developers?!
    • atomicpoet, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3@merreborn

      Well, seeing as how IBM and Red Hat have sunk a whole bunch of money (billions!) into Linux, and are selling service contracts, that is quite different. The reason why commercial developers make games is because nobody can make the exact game -- and hence, they can make a whole lot of money on it. What's the point of making a commerical game if nobody gets compensation for their efforts?

      Do note I'm not speaking about hobby games here :)
    • webcrumb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3ABA Games.

      Shows it can be done.
    • doctabu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I completely agree with atomicpoet. Hey, if you have the time to make a game or work on one, sure, go ahead!

      But to make a very specific game with absolutely no cashflow whatsoever (like the examples atomicpoet gave), it's hard to do.

      I don't think atomicpoet's against this thing, he is just saying that it's uncommon and will be for quite some time. I have no idea why everybody's digging him down.
    • marvy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Man, I don't see why everyone is burying atomicpoet , it's not like he said "Open Source is crap". He did give reasons, and I think he is correct in saying that the open source model is usually not well applicable to games. This is not only due to an shortage of open source graphics, but more generally to game content such as graphics, music and sound. Open game engines on the other hand, are numerous and can be adapted to wide field of games, and the open source community has brought forth a great number of excellent engines, such as OGRE, Irrlicht and ODE.
      Game content however must be specifically made for each game. You cannot just take content from other games and try to prop them into your own. The result would be chaotic out-of-place looking graphics. Therefore you need talented artists and composers for your games. Even with the Creative Commons License there still is a long way to go before artistic content has gone the way source code has.
  • rancorr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yes, it sounds very similar to NS(Natural Selection)
    I just hope they don't have the balance issues NS had.
    • pbaehr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4They're still working on it, but it's pretty well balanced now, in my opinion.
    • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3From my experience, it's much faster paced then NS, and the engine is a hell of a lot better (you'll notice this when wallwalking, the camera changes direction properly).

      On the downside, the textures aren't as good, and there's less overall polish.
  • rugbypup, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2It sounds very intriguing to me, however it does remind me of an older Blizzard Entertainment game "Starcraft". Where the objective is essentially the same. Never the less I am excited to see where this could lead.
  • thexder, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2OSX version anytime soon?
  • atomicpoet, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Disregard this comment. I didn't see that my prior comment uploaded.
  • adam.skinner, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4Stop making outragous claims. Nearly any roguelike will best this. ET is free, as is AA, and they're both shooters and better in gameplay and graphics than Tremulous (though Tremulous has some novel ideas).
    • brhad56, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I haven't tried ET for Linux.. but AA stopped releasing newer linux versions :(

  • andwest, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2Is there a port of Tremulous for Mac?
  • ChanKaiShi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6The only real FPS and RTS game is Savage. (http://www.s2games.com). Avaliable both for Linux and Windows
    • MegaMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I take it you never played the newer Battlezone games. They were both great combinations of RTS and FPS genres.
    • dougmc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Available? I thought the page said things like `pre-order' and `[19] days to open beta'. Or was there a Savage 1 game?

      And the person who responded was correct -- the two Battlezone games were indeed excellent RTS+FPS games. Another one that wasn't quite as good but was still pretty good was called `Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising '. I'm pretty sure there's some other examples as well, but what they were escapes me right now.

      If you're looking for FPS+RPG, my favorites were Deus Ex and System Shock 2.
    • jonom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Battlezone was awesome.
  • sirber, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4I played a bit, it may be the best on linux but it's not that fun :(
  • thepreacha619, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6yea. check out TC:E its an awesome mod for Enemy territory, almost like CS! just download ET, and TCE and ur ready to go

    and another cool free game is warrock. thats cool.
    http://www.warrock.net/
    • SentOne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+43 more days untill warrock is available!! Been waiting since the first beta test ended, it's THE best free FPS out there.
  • eluusive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Wow this is alot like gloom: http://www.planetgloom.net

    Me digg!! Gloom is my favorite game. Nobody plays it anymore though =/
    • jessejoedotcom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Maybe cuz the website is gone?
    • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Tremulous is modeled after Gloom, and a number of Gloom maps have been ported to it.
  • Kranklin, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1The graphics suck... It might look awsome had this been a few years back, just like how Duke Nukem 3d used to look good... but with Crysis: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/crysis/index.html comming out soon, i dont think i can go back to those days
    • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8You know, to some people, gameplay is more important then graphics.

      Shocking, I know.
    • negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@Kranklin: Of course, graphics are the only thing to judge a game on. You f***ing tool.
  • Zaggynl, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Natural Selection is better

    NS is a half life mod based on gloom and also features an aliens vs marines fps style combined with rts elements.

    Official website: http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/
    Trailer video: http://www.gpdownloads.co.nz/dl.dyn/Files/3501.html





    • kneeare, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9no its not better, it has ***** netcode and the graphics are quake1 with improved textures. other then that you need to purchase halflife to play it, throwing it completely out of the "best free game" category, and if im not mistaken you need an older (presteam) version of halflife just to play it on the old won servers.
  • bmc152006, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1ill stick with natural selection
  • antdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I would love to see FOX make their own Aliens vs. Humans based game with its theme. I know there was one in the past, but it failed. Maybe a MMOG with that theme.
    • asmodeus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The source code for Alien vs Predator was released. The only project that was updating it and doing a Linux port isn't being actively worked on anymore though, last I'd heard.
  • invisiblesun, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1irn brew in screen shot? scottish devs?
  • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4For those interested in a traditional shooter see Warsow: http://www.warsow.net/media/screenshots/wtest4a.jpg

    (You can find the download yourselves)

    Windows, Linux, and a Mac port in testing. Incredible polish, good engine performance (Unlike Nexuiz) and a really cool, Tron-inspired art style.
    • AlexMax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think that Warsow might take the crown when it reaches 1.0. It's a very promising game so far, with great gameplay and a large community. However, for now, it's still a little rough around the edges, and some of the parts of the game have not been finalized yet.

      Have patience. :)
    • sgamer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0warsow is great! ever since the latest update that added the ctf maps, etc, its just gotten ten times better. if you want some real competition style fps action, get warsow. if you want the teamplay strategy added on, get tremulous or legends. linux is fine for games!
  • mikedoth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I wonder if they could merge with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.kkrieger and boost the graphics.
  • BornToFrag, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1ET > Trem
  • doomgoat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i downloaded this last time it was frontpage digg. graphics are good and so is the controls and interface, its just boring and the same after a while. nothing spectacular
  • tllstred, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Fisheye perspective and high speeds on aliens are enough to make many feel sick when playing this. Stick with Natural Selection FTW.
  • Chromoly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I highly recomend True combat elite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Combat_Elite
    A great realism FPS. The only problem is the constant delay of the next update.
  • Suck, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1The best free software game ever is Same Gnome.

    Just ask anyone who has ever had a CS class in a lab with it installed.
  • footissimo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Trem is a good game, but it's kinda let down by some dodgy admins, griefers and shouty newbs. There's some new maps in the works, though some more variability in the game types would be appreciated. If you're starting off on it, be a human grunt until you've got the basics..then alien..then, when you really have the hang of it, try some building. Aliens are fun, but hard work at the start..and people get easily annoyed at newbie builders. There's also plenty of information in the forums.
  • Zaggynl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2
    by kneeare 2 minutes ago

    no its not better, it has ***** netcode and the graphics are quake1 with improved textures. other then that you need to purchase halflife to play it, throwing it completely out of the "best free game" category, and if im not mistaken you need an older (presteam) version of halflife just to play it on the old won servers.


    Yes it is, I don't even need Quake 3 graphics, because Half Life is enough, besides, what gamer doesn't have Half Life :/ .

    Tremulous is nice, but the maps suck and there isn't much depth in the game at all, the alien combat models differ just slightly from each other.
    Said Tremulous creeps: http://tremulous.net/manual/
    Natural Selection creeps (Kharaa/Alien only):
    http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/comm_manual/basic/alienClasses.htm

    Does Tremulous having flying creatures? (with wings I mean..)
    Does Tremulous have ventilation shafts aka vents?
    Do you have to conquer the map for resources?

    Natural Selection is worked out far better, Tremulous needs a lot more work.

    The one thing I hate though is that Steam, Wine and Half Life are a pain to set up (in Linux ofcourse)
    Setting up Tremulous was way easier.
    Gimme out of the box Linux gaming already and I'll stfu xD
  • MasterDwarf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Very cool that ID gave up the Q3 engine for free. I never knew that. And kudos to those developers taking advantage of it.
  • Zaggynl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I forgot to add:

    -Natural Selection can be played with Steam just fine
    -Natural Selection is a total conversion of Half Life, as such, it contains very nice textures and graphics.
  • Wartex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I tried tremulous out a while ago, and while i think it's good that it's open source and linux compatible, i don't think it's that the game is really that great. But then again, not many mods based on the q3 engine are for some reason. Oh, and the fps/rts type of gameplay was first introduced in Tribes I think, long before NS and Savage.
  • bebopredux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Any SUSE 10.1 RPM for this?
    • pbaehr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just download the installer and run it. What do you need an RPM for?
  • mooninite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Nexuiz is another free game. http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/

    It's not like Tremulous. It's just a straight forward FPS shooter deathmatch game.
  • macemoneta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you like FPS on Linux, check out "Alien Arena 2006" at

    http://red.planetarena.org/

    It's free as in beer, and beautiful. The only downside is that I have to play in god mode at the easy level to actually see it.
  • nx01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Speaking of FPS on Linux, does anyone know what happened to Tenebrae? It was a pretty cool concept that involved adding bump mapping, pixel shaders, etc. into the Quake 1 engine (it also ran on Windows). There was some support late last year for rebuilding the game using the Q3 engine, but that looks like where it stopped. Sourceforge says it still has some activity, but the website and mailing lists have not been updated since February of this year. Too bad if it goes to waste. Looks pretty. Take a look see. Remember, this is the Quake 1 engine (models still look bad, but the environments certainly benefit).

    http://tenebrae.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=screenshots.txt
  • FunkstarDeLux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Dig for the IRN-BRU screen shot. C'mon the Scotland!
    • uzusan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1haha first thing i noticed as well :)
  • thexder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thank, I only saw Win32 and Linux on the main page.
  • Crypty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I played this for the first time today. The graphics for a free game in under 100mb are impressive. The gameplay isn't great, but certainly fun compared to any freeware game i've played before.
    I get the feeling it still needs a lot of work, but I'll be sure to keep an eye on it.

  • chanrobi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2kneeare is wrong on many counts. The graphics in Tremulous are worse than the Natural Selection mod for Half life. Wall textures are non existent, level design uninspired. Anyone who has played NS will immediately feel a sense of deja vu in tremulous because it's just a remake of the same game.

    The netcode is not "*****", CAL has had a division for NS for a while now and the latest version of NS is also available on steam. The only thing you got right in your post is that it's not free, as in you have to purchase Half Life 1 to play it.
  • rkipple, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2hey when is the windowz verzion comming out////
    • compuguy1088, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3There is a Windows Version, and its linked to on the site also
  • solidcube, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1TA: Spring is the best OSS game ever.
  • wurzelgummage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just gave it 40 minutes of my life.. that I'll never get back.
    Inferior carbon-copy of Natural Selection.
    Playing as the alien gives you MOTION SICKNESS because in their wisdom, they've made it all warped perspective, like drunk mode in a Build engine game. Only less funny. And all the time.
  • kazem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I love how they have an IRN BRU vending machine.
  • nufoto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1BZFlag is a free multiplayer multiplatform 3D tank battle game. It runs on Irix, Linux, *BSD, Windows, Mac OS X and other platforms. http://bzflag.org/
  • Jaradcel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you've been playing as aliens and getting sick (To nearly all of the people complaining) then it's quite simple - stick as the humans for a bit.

    The beauty of the game only comes out when you get a good team that knows what to build, where to build, how to defend, and how to attack.

    I've seen games where the humans have had come-from-behind wins (Humans are at stage 2 and facing the scary thought of monster tyrant aliens at stage 3, but a couple of good guys with guns and painsaws manage to take out the alien base in time) and I've even seen some amazing running battles where an entire team just packs up and moves base to go from "oh ***** we're *****" to "we're secure. go hunting boys"

    Sure, the game doesn't have flying units (Well, unless you count jetpacking) and sure, the perspective of the aliens is a little stretched (but then again, I bet you didn't play Aliens vs Predeator did you?) but that's the damned beauty of it.

    I've been playing ever since the last digg a month ago, and I still can't stop. And I've already infected my office with it. (Office LAN ftw!)

    This isn't the kind of game you can stand up and play for 30 minutes and "get it"

    You def. need at least either a few days, or a bloody brilliant team from the get go (rare on pick up servers) to get into it.
  • Tigereye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While Tremulous is okay, imho the best free software game out there is Allegiance.

    Real Time Strategy meets Space Combat with a *HUGE* emphasis on teamwork/Massively Multiplayerism.

    http://www.freeallegiance.org
  • AppleTamer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If anyone has played the Half-life mod "Natural Selection," then you know how these are practically the same game, except Tremulous feels broken in comparison

    I don't want to be a hater, but there is a better version of this game out there.
    • Xenoxi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wow you really are an idiot. Did you miss the point that this game is FREE? Do you really think that indie developers have a million dollar budget and hours of their lives to bust their ass for little whiners like you who play games because they can see their pre-pubic reflections in the walls of the map, and NOT because the gameplay is actually FUN?
    • Xenoxi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd also like to state that was aimed at 'digitalunit' and not 'AppleTamer'. Oh the irony of it all!
  • digitalunit, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Yeah and the graphics are only 8 years old, I mean *****, how could this go wrong?
    • digitalunit, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1If Linux is so great then why the ***** can't we make games even better than what we have for it instead of setting ourselves generations back?
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 56 of 56 discussions
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.