GamedevOnLinux

Happy Christmas! Thanks all of you two who came by mistake here. 3 months when I did create one post every week and now it is time to go into next phase. From next month I want to make some changes in style of the posts. First is rewriting posts, maybe creating them as more formal and making information about scripting language, platforms where to deploy without need of Windows machine to deploys on console. Second making a post with list of the engines, something like "hello world". Third I will try to add link to some courses. Fourth adding information from gamedev scene, about new changes in engines - godot got new version this month. By the way thanks and I hope that the story will not end here. Have a good time and Happy new Year. thanks dead90man

The engine which is a synonym for Visual Novel in FOSS world. It was made for it in 2005 and still rocks in their genre. It is made with python. Now like in Godot there is two version one for older projects with only bug fixes and new version 8. Because it is made for VN, and only for this, it is easier for artist and script writers to make games in it. On their forums you can find tutorials for writing and how to make everything from idea to deployment the game. Links Website:  RenPy Download:  8.x  |  7.x Community:  Documentation  |  Forum  |  Discord  |  Github

Personally, it was my first attempt to make game, because in high school I learned pascal on the IT lessons. What do we have here is engine which connects the old, very simple and friendly, language (Pascal) with never version of programming paradigm - Objective Pascal - and it is optimized so you no longer need to add the Assembler to make it quicker. In other words if you want to feel like guys who made games in last decade of the XX centaury but there is small fear of complex from C and C++ you can use this engine. I see that it evolve through years and you can work not only on 2D games but 3D too. And on PineTab/Raspberry PI so it is nice to learn main things from the programming and practicing it. The small con for the engine is the script editor is needed to use due to lack inside of the engine. Links Website:  Castle Engine Download:  Engine Community:  Manual  |  Developers Blog  |  Forum  |  Reddit

Another Monkey in the Zoo, if you are one of the guys who started programming on the hype of Java language, or because of its simplicity, and always wanted to make your own game this engine is welcome. It was designed with all the advantages of Java in mind. The portability of language, making easier the 3D work with the backend from various frameworks, and bullet physics. The engine is ready for mobile, after a few years android got devices that finally have enough computing power to play games. It is now changed to being a simple Java library with a starter project made from their website. Links: Website:  jMonkeyEngine Download:  ProjectChoose  |  SDK 3.6.1 Documentation:  Documentation  |  Github  |  Discord  |  Ask/Forum

The graphic engine which began his story in the beginning of XXI centaury. Due to one purpose - best graphics - it was easier for the team to develop efficient and powerfull optimised engine. Since few years they splitted their work to two projects, one which is rock stable for various devices and one which is more experimental but shows new paths in the project. More about differences at their site -  Stable or Next . There is one thing to remember - THIS IS ONLY THE GRAPHICS ENGINE. So the rest of the middle ware is by your side. Links: Website:  Ogre3D Download:  Ogre Stable  |  OgreNext Community:  Documentation/Tutorials/ApiReference  |  forums  |  Wiki

If someone think that SDL is too low level and pro(grahmer) thing for him. There is other project which simplifies most of things connected with 2D development. It has it's own communiti and is still in active development besides that someone could think that it is too easy. Some people say that it is grown mainly due to C++0x generation but in real it was clearly designed to be easy for newcomers and some of the design decisions are clearly connected to this. Like in SDL this is something which let you made your own engine. And it is good due to all easy things, there are many bindings for other languages nad platforms. Links Website:  SFML Download:  Download  |  Bindings Community:  Wiki  |  Github  |  Forum  |  Discord

Another framework on the list. One of the oldest and used as the base for many games and engines. If someone choose this must be ready for very hard work due to low level programming and doing most of things from scratch. but for the cost of hard work it will give you very nice product with really good foundations for future releases. The project is done mainly in C and C++ but have bindings for other languages and is ready for releasing on many platform, but it need more testing than most of other game engines due its nature. Links Website:  SDL Download:  Github Community:  Forum  |  Wiki

From developers to developers with LÖVE. In real it is really nice and easy to work framework. Lua as the scripting language could be old but it is really easy to show the concepts of the gamedev. In this software you have very good documentation and helpful community. Links Website && Download:  Love2D Community:  Forum  |  Documentation

The engine which make the indie gamedev on another level of popularity. Low entry, 2D and 3D capabilities, popular scripting with C#, many types of exports to other platforms, even Nintendo started with them to say hello for indie devs on 3DS.  From the other side problem with licensing and with linux runtime. It is true that it will be easier to make build for windows and use proton or wine to run than native varsion. But the company behind are trying to make it easier. Even after last problems with runtime and licensing fee which made big exodus of users that ship is still on the water. It is solid engine, nothing less nothing more. But with another year some people could think that it is easier to develop on windows version than native. Links Website:  Unity Download:  Linux Hub download Community:  Blog  |  Forum  

One of the new players on the market. It is CryEngine which was rewritten in open source and free way when it was under the name Lumberjack from Amazon studios. Now it is baked by many tech companies, there is easier way to integrate with AWS which could be nice if someone think not only the gamedev projects in the cloud. So because, it is based on CryEngine, this engine like unreal could be really nice if someone think more about graphics side of the game. Due to scripting language like Lua and their own visual script it can be really good alternative for Unreal Engine. The only problem for me is the license, and how it will comply with the AWS cloud. Of course main engine is on the Apache and some parts are in MIT, there are information about other license for some components. Links Website:  o3de Download:  Main  |  Binaries  |  Snap Community:  Documentation  |  Forums/github |  Discord

Industry standard software comes to wigwam. There is nothing to write here, one of best if not the best engine if someone look mainly on the graphic side of the project. If you want to work on the software with the quality of AAA this engine is one of better choice, there are more game studios which take it as their main engine. The software is matured enough to not worry that company will exit in any moment. If someone think about this engine there is a big ecosystem, from starting with download the engine to sell it in the Epic store, the cons is that it is still not on Linux. The problem could be the high requirements for the developing, someone says that this engine is nice for artists, they can made quickly beautiful landscape and program it with the blueprint. The price of the engine is 5% of royalties after the game reaches 1 million USD in their lifetime gross revenue. Website:  Unreal Download:  Register to get the source code Community:  Documentation  |...

Now with version 4, it is the most complete and universal engine in the world of FOSS. It is small, efficient, and has a helpful community. There are two versions of the engine which are currently supported. Now there is the 4th generation, which has been redesigned in many ways, with Vulkan as the main graphics backend, and the gdScript which was redesigned, faster and more reliable than before. The 3rd series, which is the old version, is now mainly in maintenance mode. God for older computers with integrated graphics but it will get too many new features like the 4.x. Some people say that there is a lack of documentation, but it was true at the beginning of the project. Now the problem does not exist. The cons, sometimes due to new features there is the possibility, that the project will break with the new version of the engine and there will be no possibility of reversing. But in the end, it is possible to stick with one version for longer. Links Website:  Godot Download: ...

Hi, after another failure I want to go back with this blog, and I hope this time it works as I want and I will made my own game thanks to this. Wat do I want to cover lets say I will do it in few phases. Main: Engines/framework/libraries Stores Jams Optional: information from the world of gamedev updates from the engines maybe some thoughts about what is happening.  I hope that I will publish minimum one post weekly. Lets hope that this time it will work.  Best regards