Category Archives: computer games

Loki Software

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Loki Software, Inc. (sometimes also called Loki Games or Loki Entertainment Software) was a software firm based in Tustin, California, United States, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux. It took its name from the Norse deity Loki.

Legacy

Loki Software, although a commercial failure, is credited with the birth of the modern Linux game industry. Loki developed several free software tools, such as the Loki installer (also known as Loki Setup), and supported the development of the Simple DirectMedia Layer. They also started the OpenAL audio library project (now being run by Creative Technology and Apple Inc.) and with id Software wrote GtkRadiant. These are still often credited as being the cornerstones of Linux game development. They also worked on and extended several already developed tools, such as GCC and GDB.

The book Programming Linux Games by Loki Software and John R. Hall is recognized as one of the prominent tutorials for the Simple DirectMedia Layer. Many of Loki’s free tools are still actively used and being developed, often by former employees of the company, many of them having moved to other computer game or Linux companies.

— Wikipedia on Loki Software

2012.06.15 Friday ACHK

Humble Indie Bundle

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The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and humble bundle organizers.

    2.1 Main bundles
        2.1.1 Humble Indie Bundle 1
        2.1.2 Humble Indie Bundle 2
        2.1.3 Humble Indie Bundle 3
        2.1.4 Humble Indie Bundle 4
        2.1.5 Humble Indie Bundle V
       
    2.2 Game/Developer-specific bundles
        2.2.1 Humble Frozenbyte Bundle
        2.2.2 Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle
        2.2.3 Humble Voxatron Debut
        2.2.4 Humble Introversion Bundle
        2.2.5 Humble Bundle Mojam
        2.2.6 Humble Botanicula Debut
       
    2.3 Android-based bundles
        2.3.1 Humble Bundle for Android
        2.3.2 Humble Bundle for Android 2

— Wikipedia on Humble Indie Bundle

       
     
2012.06.02 Saturday ACHK

Machinarium

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Machinarium is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design.

Development

Machinarium was developed over a period of three years, by seven Czech developers, who financed the project with their own savings. The marketing budget for the game was a scant $1,000.

The game was in development for the Xbox 360 platform for a period of six months; however, Microsoft, whom the developers had approached to publish the title on Xbox Live Arcade, ultimately decided not to do so. Microsoft does not allow games to be released on Xbox Live Arcade without a publisher attached to the title, and the developers were reluctant to approach a third party to publish the game, as this would mean that profits for the developers from sales over Xbox Live Arcade would be greatly reduced.

Subsequently, Amanita Design approached Sony, whose policies do allow for self-publishing on the PlayStation Network platform, and have submitted the game to them for approval, in order to release the game on the PlayStation Network.

— Wikipedia on Machinarium

2012.05.31 Thursday ACHK

Transformers: War for Cybertron

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Transformers: War for Cybertron is a third-person shooter video game developed by High Moon Studios and published by Activision.

The game takes place on the planet Cybertron, prior to the Transformers arrival on Earth. The Autobots and Decepticons are engaged in a civil war. The game can be played starting from either faction’s perspective, but begins chronologically with the Decepticon campaign. The game revolves around the use of a substance known as Dark Energon, which the Decepticon leader Megatron believes will allow him to return the planet to what he refers to as a golden age.

— Wikipedia on Transformers: War for Cybertron

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The game’s frame rate is capped at 30 FPS. To work around this limitation, the key is to use Lossless Scaling.

— Me@2025-10-31 11:08:42 AM

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2012.05.18 Friday ACHK

Batman: Arkham Asylum

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Batman: Arkham Asylum is an award-winning 2009 action-adventure stealth video game based on DC Comics’ superhero Batman.

Arkham Asylum, written by veteran Batman writer Paul Dini, is based on the long-running comic book mythos, as opposed to most other Batman games, which are adaptations of the character in other media besides the source material.

— Wikipedia on Batman: Arkham Asylum

2012.05.12 Saturday ACHK

Computer games, 4

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Like many software developers, my introduction to programming was my Dad telling me if I wanted to play video games at home, I had to write them first. Tough love hurts. Home game consoles were the gateway drug of choice for parents who imagined their children as young programmers, a sneaky way for parents to trick their lazy game-playing kids into learning BASIC.

— Rediscovering Arcade Nostalgia

— Jeff Atwood

2012.05.08 Tuesday ACHK

Portal

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時空幻境 3

Portal is a 2007 single-player first-person puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation.

The game primarily comprises a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player’s character and simple objects using “the handheld portal device”, a device that can create inter-spatial portals between two flat planes.

By Kaini [CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

The game’s unique physics allows momentum to be retained through portals, requiring creative use of portals to maneuver through the test chambers.

— Wikipedia on Portal (video game)

2012.04.21 Saturday ACHK

And Yet It Moves

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And Yet It Moves is set in a world reminiscent of a paper collage. The game focuses on rotating the world around the player character in order to surmount walls too steep to climb or maneuvering around complex objects.

— Wikipedia on And Yet It Moves

2012.01.13 Friday ACHK

Braid

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時空幻境

Braid is a platform and puzzle video game developed by independent software developer Jonathan Blow.

The game features traditional aspects of the platform genre while integrating various powers of time-manipulation.

Blow designed the game as a personal critique of contemporary trends in game development. He funded the three-year project with his own money.

— Wikipedia on Braid (video game)

2011.12.28 Wednesday ACHK

Dungeons & Dragons

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Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a role-playing game (RPG) in a fantasy setting originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR).

D&D’s publication is widely regarded as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry.

— Wikipedia on Dungeons & Dragons

2011.11.11 Friday ACHK

Chrono Cross

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Chrono Trigger 2

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An Ancient Fort-
Chasing phantoms in one’s dreams…

Arni Village –
Where the tides start to turn…

Opassa Beach –
A calling from beyond time…

Arni Village –
Nothing has changed but everything!

Cape Howl –
A reminder of one’s former self…

Heading North –
In search of some answers…

The Port Town of Termina –
The pride of the Acacia Dragoons…

Viper Manor –
Where lies the key to the past…

Guldove –
Where ripples become waves…

Hermit’s Hideaway –
Meeting with the ‘other’ swordsman…

From Pirate Ship to Ghost Ship –
A mariner’s worst nightmare…

On to Water Dragon Isle –
In search of the dragon blue…

Fort Dragonia –
Ancient dragons’ dream in ruins…

Temporal Vortex –
Where lost souls wander…

The Lost Portal –
Isolation of people from the world…

Termina –
Knight or day…?

Marbule –
The village of the demi-humans…

The Masamune –
The blood-stained sword of evil…

The Dead Sea –
A place forsaken by the gods…

A Portal Reopened –
And the planet began to shake…

Back to Viper Manor –
A captive audience awaits…

Surprise Attack!!! –
Pursuers with heavy-hearts…

To the Sea of Eden –
Through the hidden holes in time…

The Arbiter of Time –
On whom the three Fates smile…

Terra Tower –
Caught in an echo of time…

Chrono Cross –
The point where destinies meet…

For all the Dreamers –
Our planet’s dream is not over yet…

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– Chrono Compendium

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2011.02.26 Saturday ACHK

World of Goo

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by 2D Boy

World of Goo is a physics-based puzzle game by 2D Boy, an independent game developer consisting of Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, both former Electronic Arts employees, released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS and WiiWare. 

— Wikipedia on World of Goo

2011.01.01 Saturday ACHK