Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) is a cross-platform software development library designed to provide a hardware abstraction layer for computer multimedia hardware components. Software developers can use it to write high-performance computer games and other multimedia applications that can run on many operating systems such as Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Loki Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Tustin, California, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux. It took its name from the Norse deity Loki. Although successful in its goal of bringing games to the Linux platform, the company folded in January 2002 after filing for bankruptcy.
OpenAL is a cross-platform audio application programming interface (API). It is designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three-dimensional positional audio. Its API style and conventions deliberately resemble those of OpenGL. OpenAL is an environmental 3D audio library, which can add realism to a game by simulating attenuation, the Doppler effect, and material densities.
Postal is a 1997 isometric top-down shooter video game developed by Running with Scissors and published by Ripcord Games. A sequel to the game, Postal 2, was released in 2003. Two additional sequels, Postal III and Postal 4: No Regerts, were released in 2011 and 2022, respectively. Director Uwe Boll bought the movie rights for the series and produced a film of the same name. A March 2001 re-release of the game, called Postal Plus, included a "Special Delivery" add-on. A remake of the game, Postal Redux, was released for Microsoft Windows on May 20, 2016, and was later released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch digital stores. At the end of 2016, the game's source code was released under the GNU GPL-2.0-only. At the end of 2019, Running With Scissors released the game as freeware.
id Tech 3, popularly known as the Quake III Arena engine, is a game engine developed by id Software for their video game Quake III Arena. It has been adopted by numerous games. During its time, it competed with the Unreal Engine; both engines were widely licensed.
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.
Sam Oscar Lantinga is a computer programmer. He used to be the lead software engineer at Blizzard Entertainment, where he was known to the community as Slouken. He is best known as the creator of the Simple DirectMedia Layer, a very popular open source multimedia programming library, and also developed the compatibility database for Executor, a proprietary Mac OS emulator.
Linux Game Publishing was a software company based in Nottingham in England. It ported, published and sold video games running on Linux operating systems. As well as porting games, LGP also sponsored the development of Grapple, a free software network library for games. As well as acting as a Linux game porter in of themselves, they also functioned as a publisher for other Linux game developers and porters. The company was dissolved on 3 May 2011.
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.
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.
Linux-based operating systems can be used for playing video games. Because many games are not natively supported for the Linux kernel, various software has been made to run Windows games, such as Wine, Cedega, and Proton, and managers such as Lutris and PlayOnLinux. The Linux gaming community has a presence on the internet with users who attempt to run games that are not officially supported on Linux.
Hammerfight, previously known as Hammerfall, is a 2-dimensional physics-based video game published by Kranx Productions and 1C for Windows in 2009.
Wolfire Games is an American independent video game development company founded by David Rosen. Wolfire Games develops video games for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Black Shades is a free and open-source video game developed by Wolfire Games. Originally released for Mac OS 9 it was ported to other platforms due to the source code availability. The player controls a psychic bodyguard who is tasked with protecting a VIP from a horde of zombies, snipers and other assorted would-be assassins.
Timothée Besset is a French software programmer, best known for supporting Linux, as well as some Macintosh, ports of id Software's products. He has been involved with the game ports of various id properties over the past ten years, starting with Quake III Arena. Since the development of Doom 3 he was also in charge of the multiplayer network code and various aspects of game coding for id, a role which had him heavily involved in the development of their online game QuakeLive.
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.
Gaslamp Games, Inc. was an independent game developer based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada which designed video games for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux operating systems. Their first game, Dungeons of Dredmor, was released in 2011. Their most recent game, Clockwork Empires, was released in 2016. While the company did not appear to announce it was no longer operating, employees posted on social media that they no longer worked there after the Christmas holiday in 2016. There have also been no social media posts by the company and no further developments to their games after that time. In May 2019 they confirmed that the company had ceased all operations and officially removed Clockwork Empires from sale on all platforms.
The Mac App Store is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event. Apple began accepting app submissions from registered developers on November 3, 2010, in preparation for its launch.
Desura was a digital distribution platform for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X platforms. The service distributed games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent game developers rather than larger companies. Desura contained automated game updates, community features, and developer resources. The client allowed users to create and distribute game mods as well.
