I'd like to bring your attention to a new open source platform for multiplayer 3D games, Syntensity. Here is a screenshot of the lobby (from where you can enter portals that send you into different games):
(click for bigger version)
Syntensity isn't a single game, but rather a platform that can run all kinds of 3D games. There are already a few games, and we and other people are working on more. Currently the main games are a racing game, a first/third person shooter (sort of like Quake 3 Arena), and a simple drawing game. All of the games are multiplayer (the racing and drawing games are also fun in singleplayer).
You can see both games in action in this video.
Links:
Getting started
- .debs for Ubuntu on Playdeb (32/64-bit)
- Downloads for other OSes, instructions for how to compile from source if you want that, etc.
- Log in (you need to register on the website first), and then click 'connect to lobby...'
- It will download a little content (only stuff that changed since the .deb was built), and then you will enter the world you see in the screenshot above.
- Press 'H' for an interactive tutorial (it explains basic stuff like the controls).
- Further explanations appear in the Quick Start Guide and Introduction.
More Details
Among the main features of this platform is that it downloads game content for you automatically. So once you have the Syntensity client installed, you can play any of the games without needing to manually download or install anything (like you can use Firefox to view websites). Also, when you create or modify a game, you can easily upload the new version, and then everyone can immediately play it. Basically, we are trying to make it as easy as possible to create and play 3D games.
Another major feature is that anybody can modify any game on Syntensity. So if you're playing a game and you think, "it would be cool if that weapon did more damage", or "the game would be more balanced if that position was less fortified", then you can modify a version of that game, and other people can play your modified version.
Note that this is what we are doing on Syntensity (letting anybody modify any game), but you are free to use the open source engine to run your own games, however you want.
Background and Engine Stuff
Syntensity is the result of about a year and a half of intensive coding, and also uses a lot of existing open source code. To briefly summarize, we started with Cube 2/Sauerbraten, made it much more flexible and generic, added a new scripting API using Google V8, and wrote a lot of infrastructure like asset distribution and management in Python.
The core engine is in C++, while games are written in JavaScript and plugins can be written in Python. The master (metadata) server is written in Python and Django. All the components (client, server, master server) are open source under the AGPL (note that just like Blender, the license only applies to the engine, not to games you make with it. You own copyright to your games and can license them however you want).
Binaries are currently available for Windows and Ubuntu (Ubuntu is where I did most of the development, btw, so it probably works better there). Compiling on other Linuxes, and/or on 64-bit, is very easy.
Summary
Disclaimer: There may be bugs, please let us know if you find one. If you are having trouble starting the client, try to run it on the commandline ('syntensity') to see the output (you can also get it to show more logging output, see here).
Feedback is welcome, here, or on IRC (I - kripken - am usually on FreeNode, at #syntensity, #intensityengine, #ubuntu-gaming, etc.).
Thanks for reading this far
- kripken and the Syntensity people
Adv Reply
Originally Posted by Vadi
also yo-yo ma is great.
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