Mega Games Pack For Linux Games

[GlennLChugg]

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Beta Test now Available:
http://www.lastos.org/team/LastOS/mg....0.0-11.tar.gz

Source Code (RealStudio 2011):
http://www.lastos.org/team/LastOS/mg...-11-src.tar.gz

------------------*********************************------------------

Included Games (472):

0 A.D.
20.000 Light Years Into Space
2H4U
3D Chess
5Ball - A simple logic game
8Kingdoms
A7Xpg
Abe's Amazing Adventure
Abuse
Adanaxis
Advanced Strategic Command
Airstrike
AisleRiot Solitaire
Alex the Allegator 4
Amoebax
Angband (X11)
Angry Drunken Dwarves
Ardentryst
Armagetron Advanced
Ascal
AssaultCube
Astromenace
Asylum
atanks
Atomix
Atris
Attal
B.A.L.L.Z.
Balazar
Balder2D
Battle for Wesnoth (1.8)
Battle Tanks
Battleball
Beneath A Steel Sky
Berusky
Billard-GL
Biloba
Biniax-2
Bitfighter
Black Box
Black-Box
Blob Wars : Blob And Conquer
Blob Wars : Metal Blob Solid
Blobby Volley 2
Bloboats
Block Attack - Rise of the Blocks
BlockOut II
Blocks Of The Undead
Blood Frontier
Bomber
Bomberclone
Bombic
Bos Wars
Bouncy the Hungry Rabbit
Bovo
Bridges
Brikx
Briquolo
Brutal Chess
bsnes
Bubble Train
Bug Squish
BurgerSpace
bygfoot
BZFlag
Cannon Smash
Caph
Capitan Sevilla
Ceferino
Chess
Childsplay
Chinese chess
Chocolate Doom
Choria
Chromium B.S.U.
Circus Linux!
ColorCode
Connectagram
Crimson Fields
Criticalmass
Crossfire GTK Client V2
Cube
cube-escape
Cuby
Cultivation
Cytadela
Deadly Cobra
Defendguin
DeSmuME (Gtk)
DFArc - Dink frontend
Do'SSi Zo'la
Dodgin Diamond 2
Dominosa
Dopewars
Dreamchess
Dungeon Crawl
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
Eat The Whistle
Egoboo
Einstein
Emilia Pinball
EMPCommand
Enemylines3
Enemylines7
Enigma
Epiphany
Eternal Lands
Extreme Tux Racer
Fall of Imiryn
Fifteen
Filling
Fish Fillets
Five or More
Flight of the Amazon Queen
Flip
FloboPuyo
FLTK Block Attack!
FLTK Checkers
FLTK Sudoku
FoFiX
Foobillard
Four-in-a-Row
Free DM
FreeAlchemist
FreeCell Solitaire
Freeciv
FreeCol
FreeDink
Freedoom
Freedroid
FreeGish
FreeTennis
Frets on Fire
Frogatto
Frozen-Bubble
Funny Boat
Galaga:Hyperspace
Galaxies
Gamazons
gbrainy
Gelide
GFCE Ultra NES Emulator
gl-117
Glest
Globulation 2
GLPeces
glTron
GMAMEUI Arcade Machine Emulator Frontend
GNOME Breakout
GNU Backgammon
GNUbik
GNUDoQ
GNUjump
Go
Gondola
Goonies
gPlanarity
Gravitation
Gravity Wars
GRhino
Gridlock
GtkBalls
Gtkboard Board Games
Guess
Gunroar
Gweled
Haxima
Hearts
Hedgewars
Help Hannah's Horse
Heroes
Hex-a-hop
Hexalate
Hitori
HoDoKu
HoldingNuts
Holotz Castle
I Have No Tomatoes
Iagno
IceBreaker
ii-esu
Inertia
Irrlamb
JAMP
JBrickShooter
jigzo
jpcsp
Jump'n'Bump
JVGS
Jwltief
Kajongg
Kanagram
Kapman
KAtomic
KBall
KBlackBox
KBlocks
KBreakOut
KDiamond
Keen
KETM
KFourInLine
KGoldrunner
KHangMan
Kigo
Kiki the nano bot
Killbots
Kiriki
KJumpingCube
Klickety
Klotski
KMahjongg
KMines
KNetWalk
Knights
Kobo Deluxe
Kolf
Kollision
Kolor Lines
Konquest
koules
KPatience
Krank
KReversi
KsirK
KSnakeDuel
KSpaceDuel
KSquares
KSudoku
Kubrick
Laby
LBreakout2
Light Up
Lights Out
Lincity-NG
Liquid War
Liquid War 6
llk_linux
LMarbles
LMemory
Loopy
LSkat
LTris
Lugaru
Luola
Mad Bomber
Maelstrom
Magnets
Mah-Jong
Mahjongg
Mana
ManaPlus
Map
Mastermind
Maze of Galious
Mega Glest
Meritous
Micropolis
Mine Escape
Mines
MirrorMagic
Mokomaze
Monkey Bubble
Monster Masher
Monsterz
Moonlander
MoonPy
Mu-cade
Multiplication Puzzle
Naval Battle
Net
Nether Earth
NetPanzer
Netslide
Neverball
Neverputt
Nexuiz
Nibbles
Nikwi Deluxe
Njam
Noiz2sa
One Is Enough
Open Invaders
Open Sonic
Open Yahtzee
OpenAlchemist
OpenArena
OpenCity
OpenLieroX
OpenTTD
OpenTyrian
Orbital Eunuchs Sniper
Othello
Out Of Order
Overgod
Palapeli
Pang Zero
PARSEC47
Passage
Pathogen
Pathological
Pattern
Pax Britannica
Peg Solitaire
Peg-E
Peg-Solitaire
Pegs
Penguin Canfield
Penguin Command
Penguin Freecell
Penguin Golf
Penguin Mastermind
Penguin Merlin
Penguin Minesweeper
Penguin Pegged
Penguin Solitaire
Penguin Spider
Penguin Taipei
Penguin Thornq
Performous
Pingus
PipeWalker
Plee the Bear
PokerTH
pouetChess
Powder
Powermanga
Primrose
Progress Quest
Project Diaspora
ProjectL
pyKsoko
Pynagram
pyRacerz
PySol Fan Club Edition
PyTraffic
qgo
QJoyPad
Qt NetHack
Quadrapassel
Quarry
Racer
Raincat
Range
Rectangles
Red Eclipse
rejoystick
Ren'Py
Ri-li
Road Fighter
Robocode
Robombs
Robots
rRootage
S.C.O.U.R.G.E.: Heroes of Lesser Renown
SameGame
Sauerbraten
Scorched 3D
ScummVM
SDL-Ball
Secret Maryo Chronicles
Seven Kingdoms
Shisen
Shisen-Sho
Signpost
Simutrans
Singles
Singularity
Sixteen
Slant
Slime Volley
Smokin' Guns
Snake4
SnowballZ
Sokoban
SolarWolf
Solo
Somyeol2D
Sopwith
SoulFu
SpaceZero
Speed Dreams
Stendhal
StepBill
Stepmania-ssc
Stormbaan Coureur
StroQ
Sudoku
Super Transball 2
SuperTux
SuperTux 2
Supertuxkart
Syntensity
Tagua
Tali
Tanglet
Tangrams
Tatan
TecnoballZ
Teeworlds
Tennix!
Tents
Tetravex
Tetzle
The Mana world
The Powder Toy
The Question
THE SCND GENESIS
The Ur-Quan Masters
Tile World
TileRacer
Titanion
TORCS
Torus Trooper
Towers
Toy Cars
Trackballs
Transcend
Tremulous
Trigger
Triplane Classic
TripleA
Tumiki Fighters
Tuxfootball
Tuxpuck
Twiddle
UFO: Alien Invasion
Unequal
Untangle
UrbanTerror
uri_link_play
uxTank
Val & Rick
Vavoom - Doom
Vavoom - Heretic
Vavoom - Hexen
Vavoom - Strife
VBA Express
VDrift
Vectoroids
Vertris
Violetland
Virus Killer
vodovod
VoR
Vulture-Nethack
Vulture-SLASH'em
Vulture-UnNetHack
Warmux
Warsow
Warzone 2100
Waste's Edge
Which Way is Up
Widelands
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
World of Padman
XBoing II
XJump
xmahjongg
Xmille
Xmoto
Xoids
Xonotic
XQF Game Server Browser
Xscorch
Xshogi
XWelltris
Xye
YahtzeeSharp
Zaz
Zero Ballistics
Zod Engine

Original Proposal:-

I have started a new project in Ubuntu using RealStudio, it's based on my Earlier 211 WINE games for Linux.

This will use an online Database of Games and their PPA/Repository information and packages required to install them. So not only will you be able to browse the local games you have installed, It uses the .desktop files from the usual places on your Gnome based Distro and any other distro that uses the .desktop format).

I mean it's easy enough to see what a game is about by searching on google or visiting the software center, but I am more about seeing what you want to play and double clicking, or pressing Start, to play the thing.

It uses a Collection of screenshots, able to be downloaded from the Internet as it's running, or manually add your own in. It will use a Database of Descriptions (instead of the .desktop comment) and by clicking the Title of the game, it can launch your browser to the games homepage.

As your playing a game the Game Launcher will hide itself until you exit that game. I may incorporate some global hotkeys to quit the running game at any time (like I have for the WINE project and under Windows).

The interface will be themeable (once I complete it), allowing external resources to be placed into your Theme\ subfolder.

Because I am using RealStudio, it will be self contained and not require installation, just download and run.


*** I am making this tool for my self, my friends and family, but if anyone here shows an interest in this project I will be willing to share it publicly ***

I am not copyrighting any of the designs or ideas from this project, so if you want to make a better one, I'd be happy to see that happen.

Let me know what you all think, please.

My daily personal forum is www.LastOS.org, for ideas and development, but I will be stopping by here every day now too

[An Sanct]

This is definitely a good thing!

I will download it later today. (got it bookmarked, don't worry!)

[DangerOnTheRanger]

I definitely like this idea, but I have a few questions/suggestions:

• How exactly is this different from Lucid or Natty's Software Center? Ubuntu's Software Center (Synaptic too) has supported preview screenshots for quite some time.
• Does it support reviews? At least with Linux Mint 11 (and thus Ubuntu Natty), the Software Center supports rating and reviews, which is a really nice feature.
• Why not just use the default look-and-feel on Linux? I mean, the background your app has in the screenshot looks nice, but I'm guessing most people would rather have your app take on their theme of choice.

All in all, you've made a really nice program, but I'm unsure what benefits it provides over the the vanilla Software Center.

[GlennLChugg]

It's NOT a software center, it's a Launcher, but instead of being a menu, or a Dock or any other method people use to start their games up, it gives you a screenshot and summary of categorized games. The ability to actually install the games isn't made yet, all it does is works with existing games you have installed to your current system. I figured I can generate a script that gets run with gksudo that the Launcher calls and it can add PPA's Repository information and then use apt-get to install groups of games from the same sources (in case one is offline at any stage).

I am not making a web based app or a software center, just a way to manage your local games. not only don't I have any experience on how to share ratings and reviews between client, it doesn't interest me what others think about games, most creators lie and most critics care more about the graphics and sound than the story or game play. I'd rather not mess about with managing spam or hacking of such a basic tool.

The app is themeable and the source code will be provided if I get enough interest. Here are some themes for my windows based launcher to show what I mean. Still I am not making this for selling or even because I need it, I just want it and I needed something to work on as my first Linux Project. I know others can do a lot better job than I possibly could, but unless the concept and ideas get out there, some things never seam to advance. To get it to the stage it's at now only took me 5 hours (including rendering the theme) so only about 2 hours of coding. I am a Rapid developer with simple solutions (some call me a spaghetti coder). But if it does the job I want then my concept is complete and the world is free to do with it as they like.

Remember the software centers only show you information before you install it - if your like me you go through the repositories and install 40 - 50 games at once, only to then not know what each one is when you go to play it. This is just a solution to people who either collect games, or package up offline solutions for people with no or slow internet.

Also many people can't operate or navigate around adding PPA's Repositories - yeah we nerds find it fun to do all that, but a home user isn't after that experience, they are looking for a simple solution to their gaming needs.

BTW my windows launcher has over 2600 games in it's database, I have them all available to play from my launcher. if I had to have all them in my Unity etc, imagine how much it would slow down the menu system. My launcher starts in 3-5 seconds and then it stays up until you quit, you can pick between any game and launch the ones you want to play.

So the benefits of this over alternatives:
Information available after you've installed the game (before you start a game).
More information is shown (Screenshot/Description)
Almost instant speed while not tying the OS up with needless menu items (you have just 1 menu item instead )
Easy to find a game to play if your not sure what you feel like playing or what a game is called.

(sorry for the rambling, it's 2:25am here)

P.S. Thanks for the ideas/comments... keep them coming, I always post more information than I need to and a lot of it is my own opinions, but if enough people say something, I usually listen

[Perfect Storm]

Like the idea.
I would really like if you can choose big icons view of each game within. At work (I work with kids from 5-10 years) we got ubuntu machines with games. But what I'm/they're missing is something like that.

[GlennLChugg]

I have 3 3/4 kids , 6, 10, 12. They have all been using the ssWPI games launcher to find the games they want for over 12 months. Yeah the big icons help with smaller collections - but Unity offers icon browsing of the game menu, I am sure someone will make a hack (Launcher/Desktop shortcut) that opens Unity straight to the Games section one day (especially if you request it where appropriate).

The main reason I didn't go with big icons, takes up MUCH more ram and I didn't want to write my own control to handle putting the icon in the right spot. My original design had each item in a section with the icon, but seeing as the ListBox had CheckBoxes available (while programming for windows) I never adapted to using icons. The first Games Launcher I made I wrote in VB6, so not a lot of choices there

I agree an icon view mode would be a nice feature for the future, I'll make sure to code in the extra stuff to handle supplying your icons with your collections.

[DangerOnTheRanger]

It's NOT a software center, it's a Launcher, but instead of being a menu, or a Dock or any other method people use to start their games up, it gives you a screenshot and summary of categorized games. The ability to actually install the games isn't made yet, all it does is works with existing games you have installed to your current system. I figured I can generate a script that gets run with gksudo that the Launcher calls and it can add PPA's Repository information and then use apt-get to install groups of games from the same sources (in case one is offline at any stage).

I am not making a web based app or a software center, just a way to manage your local games. not only don't I have any experience on how to share ratings and reviews between client, it doesn't interest me what others think about games, most creators lie and most critics care more about the graphics and sound than the story or game play. I'd rather not mess about with managing spam or hacking of such a basic tool.

The app is themeable and the source code will be provided if I get enough interest. Here are some themes for my windows based launcher to show what I mean. Still I am not making this for selling or even because I need it, I just want it and I needed something to work on as my first Linux Project. I know others can do a lot better job than I possibly could, but unless the concept and ideas get out there, some things never seam to advance. To get it to the stage it's at now only took me 5 hours (including rendering the theme) so only about 2 hours of coding. I am a Rapid developer with simple solutions (some call me a spaghetti coder). But if it does the job I want then my concept is complete and the world is free to do with it as they like.

Remember the software centers only show you information before you install it - if your like me you go through the repositories and install 40 - 50 games at once, only to then not know what each one is when you go to play it. This is just a solution to people who either collect games, or package up offline solutions for people with no or slow internet.

Also many people can't operate or navigate around adding PPA's Repositories - yeah we nerds find it fun to do all that, but a home user isn't after that experience, they are looking for a simple solution to their gaming needs.

BTW my windows launcher has over 2600 games in it's database, I have them all available to play from my launcher. if I had to have all them in my Unity etc, imagine how much it would slow down the menu system. My launcher starts in 3-5 seconds and then it stays up until you quit, you can pick between any game and launch the ones you want to play.

So the benefits of this over alternatives:
Information available after you've installed the game (before you start a game).
More information is shown (Screenshot/Description)
Almost instant speed while not tying the OS up with needless menu items (you have just 1 menu item instead )
Easy to find a game to play if your not sure what you feel like playing or what a game is called.

(sorry for the rambling, it's 2:25am here)

P.S. Thanks for the ideas/comments... keep them coming, I always post more information than I need to and a lot of it is my own opinions, but if enough people say something, I usually listen

Ah, I see now. You cleared up a lot of misconceptions I had, thanks
I still think a rating/review system is a good idea. You can do something similar to what Slashdot does: Let each reviewer rate each other's reviews. Higher-rated reviews are worth more, and lower-rated reviews are worth less. Below a certain threshold, a review and its rating might not be counted/displayed.

Another suggestion: I think integration with a service like PlayDeb would be a good idea. That way, I don't have to comb through the USC looking for the games I want, install them, and then come back to your program. If you integrate with PlayDeb (which hosts around 341 FOSS + freeware games), you can install and play your games all from one place - indeed, I was thinking of coding something like that a while ago, a sort of Steam for Linux.

Also, you really shouldn't code as rapidly as possible, trying to accomplish something that "works" from an end-user's perspective. That's just asking for your code to become messy, buggy, and hard to maintain. Instead, slow down a bit, sit down with pen and paper to design before you start coding, and always concentrate on making your code as readable as possible. You'll benefit in the long run by having faster, leaner, and more robust code.

[GlennLChugg]

I am currently at the stage of implementing the ability to read the DB files I'll be hosting remotely, once I get that functional I can share what I have and then continue working on the new ideas, Rating's and reviews would be a very nice feature, as my launcher is pretty basic, it doesn't have any animation or modern controls etc, so I'll probably need to see how i go turning the canvas and TextBox into an embedded web form - this will allow me to add the ratings, multiple screenshots and more links/formatting etc. But for now I'll get it out and if it's popular enough I'll keep working on it, or perhaps someone else will build on it to make it more community based (like with python).

Everything works in it now, but it's pretty boring with only 6 games (the ones I have installed) shown, so no point in sharing it until the online DB side of things is working.

[DangerOnTheRanger]

You know, if you release the source now, people will be able to improve upon it sooner.

[GlennLChugg]

Ha ha ha, i don't think many people will want to work on it, the RealStudio only offers a 30 day trial and the code files are not text (gedit can't read 'em).

I've got the Online DB files to parse, now I just need to add in the remote fetching ability for getting/updating them, the meta data remote grabber and the apt-get stuff. Then it will be worth sharing it with the world.