Open source games roundup

Week of September 14 - September 20, 2014

In this week's edition of our open source games news roundup, we go Starbound for open source development tools and end up on Another World . All that, and more!

Starbound developer outlines open source workflow

Chucklefish, the folks behind Starbound and Wayward Tide , have written about their open source game development workflow. It includes tools like Haskell, Elerea, and SDL2. Their in-house engine, called Cove, is being built in the open and they hope it will support further open game development in Haskell.

Tiy, the founder and director of the studio, said on Twitter this week:

I think we're going to open source Starbound one day, I'd like all of our games to be OS from now on — Tiy (@Tiyuri) September 15, 2014

I reached out to Tiy via email for some clarification. "We're hoping to open up Starbound as an engine and a project to the people out there that love collaboration," he said. "I think Starbound has more or less hit the point now where it's big enough that in spirit it belongs to everyone and I want to give everyone the chance to add to it or modify it should they wish to."

He added: "I got into the industry on open source projects and I'm hoping I can give something back."

Watch Valve's SteamOS talk from DebConf 2014

John Vert of Valve talked at last month's DebConf about why open platforms are important, the dangers of closed systems like modern game consoles and the iOS store, and what the SteamOS project aims to accomplish. He touched on the tech behind the various SteamOS versions, its release schedule and workflow, and what's next for the operating system. Check out the full video over at GamingOnLinux.

Another World available for Linux

Major thanks to Gaming On Linux for showcasing Cheeseness's detailed and thoughtful exploration of 1991's ahead-of-its-time platformer Another World . The game, released in North America as Out of This World , combined rotoscoped animation and polygonal vector art in a revolutionary way. It was punishingly difficult and atmospheric and Cheeseness does a fantastic job of exploring its creation, why it's so beloved, and how Ryan "Icculus" Gordon took the original game and ported it to Linux. You can purchase Another World DRM-free on GOG.com.

Open source alternative to Minecraft

Last week, we reported on the rumored acquisition of Minecraft developer Mojang. Turns out that everyone was wrong. Microsoft wasn't offering $2 billion for the company and their mega-hot voxel building game, but $2.5 billion. Now a lot of folks are wondering what the future holds for Steve and friends, especially considering Microsoft's less-than-stellar track record for their game company acquisitions. But if you have the Minecraft blues, RootGamer suggests trying out the Minetest alternative. It doesn't have combat or mobs yet, but it's free and open source and is still in active development.

Did we miss something in our roundup? Follow Opensource.com on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news on everything open source. If you have any news you'd like to submit, shoot us an email through our contact form or reach out to me directly on my personal Twitter account. And check out our what is open gaming resource and let me know what we need to add. Collaboration!

Big thanks to Opensource.com staffer Jason Baker and moderator extraordinaire Robin Muilwijk for their help in gathering stories this week.