GSoC 2014 mentoring organisations announced, review and apply!

After sorting through almost 400 applications of mentoring projects, Google has announced this year's list of projects students can contribute to.

There aren't too many FOSS gaming related projects this time though.
These are the relevant ones:

• Blender Foundation (task ideas) Ok, not really a game
• CodeCombat (task ideas) We covered it a while ago
• Copyleftgames.org (task ideas) Anyone got details on this one?
• Crystal Space Engine (task ideas) same as every year...
• Inkscape (task ideas) Ok I am stretchning it a bit here
• jMonkeyEngine (task ideas) great java game SDK
• ScummVM (task ideas) Point&click adventure game engine
• SuperTuxKart (task ideas) Yeah!
• Battle for Wesnoth (task ideas) No need to explain ;)
• Worldforge (task ideas) Also hosting: RyzomCore, CEGUI

If you are not into game developer but would still like to contribute your programming skills I recommend you to have a look at these other selected projects (totally subjective and unsorted list):  Non-profit accounting, Mifos, Mixxx, Freifunk, OSGeo, Sahana & ProjectTox.

FlightGear 3.0 and Bombable add-on

This week saw finally saw the official release of version 3.0 of FlightGear.

Notable changes:

Highlights in this release include integration of the FGCom voice communications client within the simulator, improved terrain rendering, faster scenery loading, and improved usability. This release also coincides with the release of FlightGear World Scenery 2.0 – massively improved scenery data covering the entirety of the planet and incorporating OpenStreetMap roads and detailed terrain information from a variety of sources.

Also interesting is the "Bombable" add-on, which adds combat mechanics:

The Idiotic Flap about Flappy Bird

Outside of moral considerations[1], a game can't be good or bad. Only a "game experience" can be good or bad. I would be among the first to say that different games are likely to be better or worse at providing good game experiences for a particular audience at a particular time.

I wouldn't enjoy a roll-and-move game about Powerpuff Girls with no player decisions on almost any occasion. Noone would enjoy playing it 24 hours a day for the rest of their life. But for SOME people (young children, PPG fans, drunk people) on SOME occasions (have never played the game before, slumber party, drinking party) a roll-and-move PPG game will provide a good - even great - game experience. Maybe there exists other games that - for the same people and on the same occasions - would produce as good an experience, or an even better one. But that is beside the point.

I understand people who don't like a game or encourage people to play different games. But some of the comments - from supposedly respected sources - about Flappy Bird are just stupid. Kotaku actually called the game a "terrible game". A game that was being played happily - frustratingly - by millions of people. Commenters on Kotaku's post exhort people to stop playing the game and journalists to stop writing about the game.

Think about that for a minute. People should stop enjoying a wildly popular game because the game Isn't Enjoyable? The designer should be shunned for creating a wildly popular Bad Game? Other people imply that the game's popularity is a result of deceit on the designer's part, or that he ripped off graphics and mechanics from other games (as if there were millions of different ways to draw a pipe using 8-bit graphics or there were not already millions of other scrolling platformers with similar visual design and mechanics).

Holy camole, Batman. The "wrong kinds" of games shouldn't be tolerated? Games can't be fun unless they take more than the "right amount" of time to make by a big development studio? And they have to provide the right levels, systems, graphics, sounds, and whatever else doodads are in your "design by the numbers" game design manual?

There is no "right kind" of game, because there is no right game. It doesn't matter if the game experience was fun only because of a stupid meme (for example, a game was seen being played by Brad Pitt in a recent movie). It doesn't matter if the game is only fun for two plays and then you're done. It doesn't matter if the game is only fun for certain types of people, or just a few people, or only one person. And it doesn't matter if the game is only popular at a particular moment in time. Want to play it? Fine. Don't? Fine. If you don't like the game, get on with your life, and let the people who like the game get on with theirs.

Even market or monetary success or failure is not proof of a game being good or bad. A game can succeed by accident or because it was published at just the right moment, was played by just the right people, or offers one new challenge that other games don't (as is obviously the case for Flappy Bird). Instead of hating on "undeserved success", try reflecting on the fact that a) life isn't always fair, and b) you could be making something instead of complaining about that.

Also see: Radiator, Polygon, Guardian,

[1] Such as a "game" about rape or murder.

Clockwork Knight 2

Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega

I guess Clockwork Knight must've turned a profit because the sequel came out only a year after the first title. Did they do a better job this time? Well actually, yes they did!

Taking place right after the events of the first game, it seems Princess Chelsea still needs Pepperouchau's help.

For the most part the sequel looks and plays exactly the same as Clockwork Knight, but there are a few subtle improvements. For starters, the graphics have improved slightly, now, the backgrounds are no longer comprised of a single static image, featuring instead moving objects or several images which move in parallax scrolling. Even the 3D polygon objects look a little better this time around as they're presented in greater detail and do not have any clipping issues.

The improvements don't stop on the technical level aspects though. While the gameplay itself is unchanged the levels are better designed this time around, providing several alternate paths and secrets. The maps are also much more interesting, while the first game was set in an ordinary house it seems the sequel takes place in a massive clocktower with allows for more interesting locales. Some stages require you to explore constantly change between the background and foreground similar to what you might find in games like 'Bug!', this can be a bit of a pain as sometimes you're forced to backtrack, but generally the feature never overstays its welcome.

Even the bosses are much more interesting now, these range from a karaoke singing snake comprised of building blocks to a rubber octopus-pirate. Now do you see what i mean by the 'toy' concept being underutilized in the first game? They took the concept and finally decided to have some fun with it and the game is better for it! There's even a few new forced-scrolling levels in which you get to ride a toy-horse, these are actually pretty fun and do a good job at spicing up the gameplay.

The game is also much harder this time around which brings up a new issue: the lack of checkpoints. Having to start a level from the beginning every time you die is really frustrating. A lot of the old issues do make a return as well, namely the game's length and the fact that at its heart, it's still a very basic platformer with no new moves or power-ups added to your character.

I thought the music was a bit more grating this time around with the exception of the intro theme, which was cheesy yet catchy salsa theme.For the rest of the game though, I would find myself turning down the sound on certain stages.

While by no means perfect Clockwork Knight 2 is a definite improvement over its predecessor, the overall difficulty, stage music and relatively basic gameplay boggle down the experience somewhat, but the interesting levels and original boss designs make up for it.

Pros:

- Slightly improved graphics
- Better level design with more variety
- Some pretty original boss designs

 
Cons:

- Gameplay is still too simple for its own good

- Music can get a little grating
- Lack of a checkpoint can lead to a frustrating experience

Final Grade: B-

Now this is a definite improvement! The cover is bright and colorful and it really draws you in with all the action going on. The manual is similar to that of the first game though it replaces the highscore page in favor of character bios. 

Being an early Saturn game it comes in a flimsy box that if not treated with care will eventually disintegrate.

Packaging Grade: C+

KeeperRL and OpenIG

Two interesting projects I recently came across:

1. KeeperRL:

Description from the author:

KeeperRL is a Dungeon Keeper and Dwarf Fortress inspired dungeon simulator built on top of roguelike mechanics. My vision is that you are a Sauron-like character, searching for ultimate knowledge of destruction. What makes the game different from other RTS is that you can, and are encouraged to, control your main character and lead your minions to an open war. The characters use equipment, scrolls, potions, spells, and other things you would expect in a roguelike. Combat is turn-based and very tactical. The whole world is procedurally generated, and there is adventure mode too.

See a video of the (still in ASCII graphics) action here and the GPL licensed code here. Latest development release can be downloaded here (Win&Linux).

2. OpenIG:



A real classic is being reimplemented as OpenIG (follow the development blog here). Interestingly the original developers have granted the rights to all the game's data to be freely (as in beer I assume) distributed with the new Java based engine.
Time to jump into the 4X games again ;)

Clockwork Knight

Developer: Sega

Publisher: Sega

Clockwork Knight was a Japanese launch title for the Sega Saturn that while upbeat and colorful, failed to make a splash.

Sporting a style similar to Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country, Clockwork Knight is a 2D platformer featuring pre-rendered graphics with the occasional 3D-polygon object thrown in.

The game boots up with an artifact ridden FMV which quickly establishes the mood, theme and plot. You play as Pepperouchau III (try saying that three times fast), a wind-up toy soldier on a quest to save Princess Chelsea. It's definitely a cute idea for a platformer, but unfortunately, it never quite reaches its full potential as most of the levels, backgrounds and enemies feel generic and uninspired.

The gameplay doesn't fare much better either, you can run, jump and attack. You're also given a throwing move, but I felt this rarely came into play save for one or two boss fights. The woes don't stop there though, the platforming sections are all very basic and there are absolutely no power-ups save for the stock temporary invincibility item, this coupled with an extremely forgiving difficulty level and you're left with a short, forgettable experience.

At the end of each room you can play a magic cup game for extra lives, it brings in a little variety, but I would've preferred if each zone had a specific game.

The boss fights at least are pretty interesting, I definitely enjoyed fighting the transformer knock-off (he even looked like Starscream) but many of them have the annoying habit of attacking from the background. These can be hard to dodge due to your character essentially being a 2D sprite, making it hard to judge distances.

Graphically the pre-rendered sprites were very impressive for the time, but look a little on the blocky side now. You also get some polygonal items here and there, however, due to the rest of the game being in 2D they tend to stick out like a sore thumb and on some cases even create clipping issues. The backgrounds are colorful but completely static and feature a generally unappealing art-style, I can only look at pink or blue wall for so long before I get tired, though thankfully the kitchen and attic levels do a look a bit more interesting.

The soundtrack is upbeat but and does a good job at keeping the tone light and cheerful... perhaps a bit too cheerful. The intro theme has jazzy feel to it, complete with synthesized trumpets but it's a little too cheesy for its own good. The sound effects all do a good job at reminding you that you are in fact fighting toys with overly exaggerated springing noises or hollow plastic sounds.

It may sound like I'm being harsh on Clockwork Knight, but really it's not a bad game. It's just an average title with a cool theme that was sadly, left underused.

Trivia: Did you know Clockwork Knight was actually launched a year before Toy Story? I bet you thought Sega was just copying Pixar didn't you?

Pros:

- Easy to pick up and play
- Fun in short bursts
- Bright and colorful

Cons:

- The gameplay is too simple for its own good

- Graphically it hasn't aged well
- You'll probably finish it on your first try

Final Grade: C-

We have yet again another 90s CGI cover. The models are clean enough and actually have quite a bit of detail when compared to Virtua Fighter's cover. Unfortunately, they're not really doing anything interesting, they're just standing in a blank background, resulting in a really boring cover.

Thankfully, the manual fares a little better. It fills you in on a little backstory, goes into great detail on how to play the game, provides tips and even has a page where you can write down your high-scores. As with all early Saturn titles released in Europe, Clockwork knight comes in a very flimsy case.

Packaging Grade: D-

DevCorner: Multiple new platforms for Torque2D MIT

I tend to focus a bit on the 3D side of things, but the recently open-sourced Torque2D (note the "2") engine is pretty cool too:



And in fact it got a whole lot better in the last couple of weeks with it being ported to Linux, Android and your browser (through Mozilla's emscripten).

So if you are thinking about developing an open-source 2D game targeting multiple platforms, Torque2D has just became a serious contender.