Overgrowth (video game)

Last updated

Overgrowth
Overgrowthlogo.png
Developer(s) Wolfire Games
Publisher(s) Wolfire Games
Designer(s) David Rosen
Artist(s) Aubrey Serr
Composer(s) Mikko Tarmia
Anton Riehl
Platform(s) Windows, macOS, Linux
Release
  • WW: October 16, 2017
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s) Single-player, local multiplayer (with included mod)

Overgrowth is an action video game released by Wolfire Games available for Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux. It was announced on September 17, 2008, and released on October 16, 2017, after 9 years of development and early access. [1]

Contents

Overgrowth is the sequel to Lugaru , a 3D action game from the same company. The player character is Turner, an anthropomorphic rabbit with combat skills. The game plays as a 3D third-person action game, set in a pre-industrial world of anthropomorphic fighter rabbits, wolves, dogs, cats and rats. [2] The game is designed by David Rosen.

Plot

Overgrowth's story takes place several years after the events of Lugaru and follows the same protagonist: Turner. After avenging the murder of his family, killing the Alpha wolf, and killing the corrupt king Hickory, Turner refused to take Hickory's place on the throne, instead choosing to leave the monarchy headless and wander the island in search of some new purpose.

The game takes place on the island of Lugaru, an unknown number of years after the fall of the human race, indicated by the ruins of tall man-made structures overrun by vegetation. Lugaru is a chaotic world, inhabited by anthropomorphic rabbits, wolves, rats, cats and dogs living at a pre-industrial level of technology.

Gameplay

Overgrowth is built on the gameplay of its predecessor, Lugaru , [3] and as such uses a hand-to-hand combat system that bases attacks and counters on timing and context using context-sensitive action buttons rather than different key combinations.

Development

Since November 25, 2008, Wolfire Games has released new Alpha tests every 2–5 months, containing most of the features so far implemented in the game. These are available to people who have pre-ordered the game. [4] Overgrowth was released December 17, 2013, as an Early Access title on Steam. [5] On January 18, 2017, the game was officially updated to beta status. [6] The game reached 1.0 and was released on October 16, 2017, which had been revealed as the release date a week earlier. [7] On April 21, 2022, the source code of Overgrowth was made open-source, being licensed under the Apache License version 2.0. [8] [9] [10]

Parts of the game are scripted with AngelScript. [11] The level editor is included with the game. The game supports free or inexpensive mod tools such as Blender. [12]

Related Research Articles

jMonkeyEngine Open source Java game engine

jMonkeyEngine is an open-source and cross-platform game engine for developing 3D games written in Java. It uses shader technology extensively and can be used to write games for Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Android, and iOS. It uses Lightweight Java Game Library as its default renderer and another renderer based on Java OpenGL. it also supports OpenGL 2 to OpenGL 4.

<i>Elite Dangerous</i> 2014 space trading and exploration simulator

Elite Dangerous is a space flight simulation game developed and published by Frontier Developments. The player takes the role of a pilot of a spaceship, and explores a realistic 1:1 scale, open-world representation of the Milky Way galaxy, with the gameplay being open-ended. The game is the first in the series to attempt massively multiplayer gameplay, with players' actions affecting the narrative story of the game's persistent universe, while also retaining a single-player mode. Elite Dangerous is the fourth game in the Elite video game series. It is the sequel to Frontier: First Encounters, released in 1995.

<i>Lugaru</i> Free and open-source video game

Lugaru: The Rabbit's Foot is the first commercial video game created by indie developer Wolfire Games. It is a cross-platform, open-source 3D action game. The player character is an anthropomorphic rabbit utilizing a wide variety of combat techniques to battle wolves and hostile rabbits. The name Lugaru is a phonetic spelling of "loup-garou", which is French for werewolf. It was well reviewed and was fairly well received among the shareware community, especially among Mac users. A sequel, Overgrowth, was released in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blender Foundation</span> Non-profit organization responsible for the development of Blender

The Blender Foundation is a Dutch nonprofit organization (Stichting) responsible for the development of Blender, an open-source 3D content-creation program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blender Game Engine</span> Discontinued game engine

The Blender Game Engine was a free and open-source 3D production suite used for making real-time interactive content. It was previously embedded within Blender, but support for it was dropped in 2019, with the release of Blender 2.8. The game engine was written from scratch in C++ as a mostly independent component, and includes support for features such as Python scripting and OpenAL 3D sound.

Mac gaming refers to the use of video games on Macintosh personal computers. In the 1990s, Apple computers did not attract the same level of video game development as Microsoft Windows computers due to the high popularity of Microsoft Windows and, for 3D gaming, Microsoft's DirectX technology. In recent years, the introduction of Mac OS X and support for Intel processors has eased porting of many games, including 3D games through use of OpenGL and more recently Apple's own Metal API. Virtualization technology and Boot Camp also permit the use of Windows and its games on Macintosh computers. Today, a growing number of popular games run natively on macOS, though as of early 2019, a majority still require the use of Microsoft Windows.

<i>The Age of Decadence</i> 2015 video game

The Age of Decadence is a role-playing video game for Microsoft Windows developed by Iron Tower Studio, led by the pseudonymous "Vince D. Weller". Set in a low-magic, post-apocalyptic world inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire, the game aims to return to the 'golden era' of role-playing games by emphasizing choices and consequences and providing multiple solutions to quests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open-source video game</span> Video game whose source code is open-source software

An open-source video game, or simply an open-source game, is a video game whose source code is open-source. They are often freely distributable and sometimes cross-platform compatible.

<i>Natural Selection 2</i> 2012 video game

Natural Selection 2 is a multiplayer video game which combines first-person shooter and real-time strategy rules. It is set in a science fiction universe in which a human team fights an alien team for control of resources and territory in large and elaborate indoor facilities. It is the sequel to Natural Selection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan C. Gordon</span> Computer programmer

Ryan C. Gordon is a computer programmer and former Loki Software employee responsible for icculus.org, which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as others. Gordon's site hosts projects with the code from such commercial games as Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Quake III Arena and other free and open source projects for multiple platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfire Games</span> American independent video game development company

Wolfire Games is an American independent video game development company founded by David Rosen. Wolfire Games develops video games for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

<i>Sintel</i> 2010 film

Sintel, code-named Project Durian during production, is a 2010 computer-animated fantasy short film. It was the third Blender "open movie". It was produced by Ton Roosendaal, chairman of the Blender Foundation, written by Esther Wouda, directed by Colin Levy, at the time an artist at Pixar and art direction by David Revoy, who is known for Pepper&Carrot an open source webcomic series. It was made at the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation. The plot follows the character, Sintel, who is tracking down her pet Scales, a dragon. Just like the other Blender "open movies," the film was made using Blender, a free and open source software application for animation, created and supported by the Blender Foundation.

Humble Bundle, Inc. is a digital storefront for video games, which grew out of its original offering of Humble Bundles, collections of games sold at a price determined by the purchaser and with a portion of the price going towards charity and the rest split between the game developers. Humble Bundle continues to offer these limited-time bundles, but have expanded to include a greater and more persistent storefront. The Humble Bundle concept was initially run by Wolfire Games in 2010, but by its second bundle, the Humble Bundle company was spun out to manage the promotion, payments, and distribution of the bundles. In October 2017, the company was acquired by Ziff Davis through its IGN Entertainment subsidiary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sketchfab</span> 3D modeling platform website

Sketchfab is a 3D modeling platform website to publish, share, discover, buy and sell 3D, VR and AR content. It provides a viewer based on the WebGL and WebXR technologies that allows users to display 3D models on the web, to be viewed on any mobile browser, desktop browser or Virtual Reality headset.

<i>Receiver</i> (video game) 2012 first-person shooter video game

Receiver is a first-person shooter video game developed by Wolfire Games. The game attempts to portray realistic gun mechanics through a unique reloading system, where each step of reloading is assigned a different button. The player scavenges items and audio tapes which reveal the story in a procedurally generated world.

<i>Starpoint Gemini 2</i> 2010 space trading and combat video game

Starpoint Gemini 2 is a space trading and combat simulator developed by the Croatian-based Little Green Men Games development studio. It is a direct sequel to Starpoint Gemini, which was released in 2010.

<i>Running with Rifles</i> Tactical shooter game

Running with Rifles is a top down open world tactical shooter game published and developed by Osumia Games. It was developed by Pasi Kainiemi in Tampere, Finland and Jack Mayol in Stuttgart, Germany, working under the team name Modulaatio Games. The game is primarily voxel-based, with the map texturing done using "splat map" texture layering, and with the modeling being done with typically low-poly or simple .mesh files. Because of this, the game runs very well on old hardware, making it more accessible to more players.

Stride is a free and open-source 2D and 3D cross-platform game engine originally developed by Silicon Studio. It can be used to create video games for PC, mobile devices and virtual reality.

References

  1. "Official announcement". Blog.wolfire.com. September 17, 2008. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  2. "Races in Overgrowth".
  3. "Overgrowth FAQ: Overgrowth will be inheriting the spirit of Lugaru's tried and true combat system". Blog.wolfire.com. February 12, 2009. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
  4. "Announcing Weekly Alphas! - Wolfire Games Blog" . Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  5. "Overgrowth on Steam Store" . Retrieved December 18, 2013.
  6. "Overgrowth – Now in BETA, with Lugaru campaign mode! - Wolfire Games Blog" . Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  7. "Overgrowth 1.0". Wolfire Games. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  8. Mike (April 22, 2022). "Wolfire Games Release Overgrowth Source Code –". GameFromScratch.com. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  9. "Wolfire Games Releases Overgrowth Game As Open-Source". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  10. Obedkov, Evgeny (April 22, 2022). "Wolfire turns Overgrowth into open source game, making it free for modding and changing". Game World Observer. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  11. "Overgrowth alpha 62 changelog".
  12. "Blender as an animation editor" (Blog post).