Linux-based operating systems can be used for playing video games. Because few games natively support the Linux kernel, various software has been made to run Windows games, software, and programs, such as Wine, Cedega, DXVK, 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.
Doom was one of the first major commercial games to be released for Linux.
The beginning of Linux as a gaming platform for commercial video games is widely credited to have begun in 1994 when Dave D. Taylor ported the game Doom to Linux, as well as many other systems, during his spare time.[11][12]Shareware copies of the game were included on various Linux discs,[13] including those packed in with reference books.[14][15][16]
From there Taylor would also help found the development studio Crack dot Com, which released the video game Abuse,[17] with the game's Linux port even being distributed by Linux vendors Red Hat[18] and Caldera.[19] The studio's never finished Golgotha was also slated to be released by Red Hat in box.[20]
In 1991 DUX Software contracted Don Hopkins to port SimCity to Unix,[21] which he ported to Linux in 1995 and eventually released as open source for the OLPC XO Laptop.[22]
A website called The Linux Game Tome, also known as HappyPenguin after its URL, was begun by Tessa Lau in 1995 to catalogue games created for or ported to Linux from the SunSITE game directories as well as other classic X11 games for a collection of just over 100 titles.[23]
1996–1997
id Software, the original developers of Doom, also continued to release their products for Linux. Their game Quake was ported to Linux via X11 in 1996, once again by Dave D. Taylor working in his free time.[24][25] An SVGALib version was also later produced by Greg Alexander in 1997 using recently leaked source code, but was later mainlined by id.[26] Later id products continued to be ported by Zoid Kirsch[27] and Timothee Besset,[28] a practice that continued until the studio's acquisition by ZeniMax Media in 2009.[29] Initially, Zoid Kirsch was responsible for maintaining the Linux version of Quake and porting QuakeWorld to Linux.
Inner Worlds was released for and developed on Linux.[30]The UNIX Book of Games, a 1996 publication by Janice Winsor, described various games with an accompanying CD-ROM containing executables and source code for Linux and SCO Unix.[31]
1998
The Simple DirectMedia Layer provided platform independent abstraction.
The Linux Game Tome was taken over by Bob Zimbinski in 1998 eventually growing to over 2000 entries, sponsored by retailer Penguin Computing and later LGP until it went down in 2013, although mirrors still exist.[32][33]
The site LinuxGames covered news and commentary from November 1998 until its host Atomicgamer went down in 2015.[34][35] It was established by Marvin Malkowski, head of the Telefragged gaming network, alongside Al Koskelin and Dustin Reyes;[36] Reyes passed away August 8, 2023.[37]
Zoid Kirsch from id Software ported Quake II to Linux. Two programmers from Origin ported Ultima Online to Linux and MP Entertainment released an adventure game Hopkins FBI for Linux[38][39]
On November 9, 1998, a new software firm called Loki Software was founded by Scott Draeker, a former lawyer who became interested in porting games to Linux after being introduced to the system through his work as a software licensing attorney.[40] Loki, although a commercial failure, is credited with the birth of the modern Linux game industry.[41] Loki developed several free software tools, such as the Loki installer (also known as Loki Setup),[42] and supported the development of the Simple DirectMedia Layer,[43] as well as starting the OpenAL audio library project.[44][45] These are still often credited as being the cornerstones of Linux game development.[46] They were also responsible for bringing nineteen high-profile games to the platform before its closure in 2002.
Loki's initial success also attracted other firms to invest in the Linux gaming market, such as Tribsoft, Hyperion Entertainment, Macmillan Digital Publishing USA, Titan Computer, Xatrix Entertainment, Philos Laboratories, and Vicarious Visions.[48]
The ports of Quake and Quake II were released physically by Macmillan Computer Publishing USA,[49] while Quake III was released for Linux by Loki Software.[50] Red Hat had previously passed on publishing Quake for Linux, since it was not open-source at the time.[51]
Philos Laboratories released a Linux version of Theocracy on the retail disk. Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin from Xatrix Entertainment released a Linux version of Software:Kingpin: Life of Crime.
BlackHoleSun Software released Krilo and Futureware 2001 released a trading simulation Würstelstand for Linux. [52]
The Indrema Entertainment System (also known as the L600) was also in development since 1999 as a Linux based game console and digital media player,[53][54][55] but production halted in 2001 due to a lack of investment,[56][57] although the TuxBox project attempted a continuation.[58]
2000
Loki published Descent 3, Heavy Gear II, SimCity 3000, and Soldier of Fortune for Linux. They also released the expansion Descent 3: Mercenary as the downloadable Linux installer.[47]
During this time Michael Simms founded Tux Games, one of the first online Linux game retailers,[60] later followed by Fun 4 Tux,[61] Wupra,[62] ixsoft, and LinuxPusher.[63]
The period also saw a number of commercial compilations released,[64] such as 100 Great Linux Games by Global Star Software,[65]Linux Games by Walnut Creek CDROM,[66][67]Linux Games++ by Pacific Hitech,[68][69]Linux Cubed Series 8 LINUX Games by Omeron Systems,[70]Best Linux Games by SOT Finnish Software Engineering,[71][72][73]LinuxCenter Games Collection,[74]Linux Games & Entertainment for X Windows by Hemming,[75][76]Linux Spiele & Games by more software,[77]Linux Spiele by Franzis Verlag,[78] and play it! Linux: Die Spielesammlung by S.A.D. Software.[79] Numerous Linux distributions and collections packed in Loki games and demos,[80] including Red Hat Linux,[81]Corel Linux and WordPerfect Office,[82][83] and the complete Eric's Ultimate Solitaire bundled with PowerPlant by TheKompany.[84]
2001
Loki published Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.², Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns, MindRover: The Europa Project, Myth II: Soulblighter, Postal Plus, Rune, Rune: Halls of Valhalla, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and Tribes 2 for Linux. [47]
Linux Game Publishing was founded in 2001 in response to the impending demise of Loki. Creature Labs ported Creatures: Internet Edition to Linux, which was published by LGP.
Hyperion Entertainment ported Shogo: Mobile Armor Division to Linux, and Tribsoft created a Linux version of Jagged Alliance 2, both published by Titan Computer.
BlackHoleSun Software released Bunnies, and worked on Atlantis: The Underwater City - Interactive Storybook published by Sterling Entertainment.[85]
GLAMUS GmbH released a Linux version of their game Mobility and Oliver Hamann released the driving game Odyssey by Car.[86]
Small Rockets published Small Rockets BackGammon, Small Rockets Mah Jongg, and Small Rockets Poker for Linux.[citation needed]
The company TransGaming marketed as a monthly subscription its own proprietary fork of Wine called WineX in October 2001, later renamed Cedega in 2004 and discontinued in 2011, which aimed for greater compatibility with Microsoft Windows games.
A special Gaming Edition of Mandrake Linux 8.1 was released that featured WineX packed in with The Sims.[87] The fact that the fork of Wine did not release source back to the main project was also a point of contention, despite promises to release code after achieving a set number of subscribers.[88][89]
The release of ScummVM in 2001,[90] Dosbox in 2002,[91] as well as video game console emulators like MAME from 1997 and released as open source in 2016, helped make Linux a viable platform for retro gaming (facilitated by the RetroArch frontend since 2010).[92][93] This is especially the case for the GP2X series of handheld game consoles by GamePark Holdings in addition to the community driven Pandora and DragonBox Pyra. Dedicated emulation setups are also built on single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi released in 2012, which are most often Linux based including with Raspberry Pi OS.[94]Wine is also useful for running older Windows games,[95] including 16-bit and even some 32-bit applications that no longer work on modern 64-bit Windows.[96] The Sharp Zaurus personal data assistants adopted a Linux derived system called OpenZaurus, which attracted its own gaming scene.[97][98] This was also the case with the Agenda VR3, advertised as the first "pure Linux PDA".[99][100]
2002
Former Loki Software employee Ryan C. Gordon
After Loki's closure, the Linux game market experienced some changes.[101] Although some new firms, such as Linux Game Publishing and RuneSoft, would largely continue the role of a standard porting house,[102] the focus began to change with Linux game proponents encouraging game developers to port their game products themselves or through individual contractors.[103] Influential to this was Ryan C. Gordon, a former Loki employee who would over the next decade port several game titles to multiple platforms, including Linux.[104]
Ryan ported America's Army, Candy Cruncher, Serious Sam: The First Encounter, and Unreal Tournament 2003 to Linux.[105][106][107]
Linux Game Publishing had initially tried to pick up the support rights to many of Loki's titles, but in the end it was only able to acquire the rights to MindRover: The Europa Project. They released the updated version of Mindrover and its downloadable update for owners of the old Loki version.[108]
Return to Castle Wolfenstein was released for Linux and with the Linux port done in-house by Timothee Besset[109]
Chronic logic released Bridge Construction Set and Triptych for Linux.
Sunspire Studios released in retail commercial expansion of the game titled Tux Racer.[110]
2003
Ryan ported Devastation, Medal of Honor Allied Assault, and Serious Sam: The Second Encounter to
Linux.[111]
LGP took interest in publishing Pyrogon games on physical CDs and they released Candy Cruncher.[112] Mathieu Pinard from Tribsoft got LGP in contact with Cyberlore to save the Linux port of Majesty because Titan Computer get out of Linux publishing. This turn of events helped LGP to release a Majesty for Linux after Pinard closed his company in 2002.[113]
Timothee Bessett from id Software ported Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory to Linux.[114]
Around this time many companies, starting with id Software, also began to release legacy source code leading to a proliferation of source ports of older games to Linux and other systems.[115] This also helped expand the already existing free and open-source gaming scene, especially with regards to the creation of free first person shooters.[116] In addition, numerous game engine recreations have been produced to varying levels of accuracy using reverse engineering or underlying engine code supporting the original game files including on Linux and other niche systems.[117][118]
2004
Ryan ported Unreal Tournament 2004 to Linux for Epic Games[119] and Timothee Bessett from id Software ported Doom 3 to Linux.[120]
David Hedbor, founder and main programmer of Eon Games ported NingPo MahJong and Hyperspace Delivery Boy! to Linux, which later were published by LGP.[121]
2005–2007
Ryan ported Postal²: Share The Pain to Linux published by LGP.[122]
CodeWeavers offered an enhanced version of Wine called CrossOver Games.[123][124] The reliance on such compatibility layers remains controversial with concerns that it hinders growth in native development,[125][126] although this approach was defended based on Loki's demise.[127][128] PlayOnLinux, established in 2007, provides a community alternative,[129] with various guides being written on how to get games to run through Wine.[130]
2008–2011
Number of sales of the first Humble Indie Bundle across systems[131]
The Linux gaming market also started to experience some growth towards the end of the decade with the rise of independent video game development,[132] with many "indie" developers favouring support for multiple platforms.[133] The Humble Indie Bundle initiatives inaugurated in 2010 helped to formally demonstrate this trend,[134] with Linux users representing a sizable population of their purchase base, as well as consistently being the most financially generous in terms of actual money spent.[135][136] The Humble Indie Bundle V in 2012 faced controversy for featuring a Wine-based release of Limbo prepared by CodeWeavers,[137] while a native version was later released in 2014.[138] Humble eventually began offering Windows-only games in their bundles and on their store.[139][140]
In 2009, the small indie game company Entourev LLC published Voltley to Linux which is the first commercial exclusive game for this operating system.[141][142] In the same year, LGP released Shadowgrounds which was the first commercial game for Linux using the Nvidia PhysX middleware.[143] The GamingOnLinux website was launched on July 4, 2009, and eventually succeeded LinuxGames as the main source of news and commentary.[144]
The release of a Linux version of Desura in 2011,[145] a digital distribution platform with a primary focus on small independent developers, was heralded by several commentators as an important step to greater acknowledgement of Linux as a gaming platform.[132][146][147] Shortly before this, Canonical launched the Ubuntu Software Center which also sold digital games.[148] The digital store Gameolith also launched in 2011 focused principally on Linux before expanding in 2012 and closing in 2014.[149][150]
2012–2016
In July 2012, game developer and content distributor Valve announced a port of their Source engine for Linux as well as stating their intention to release their Steam digital distribution service for Linux.[151][152][153] The potential availability of a Linux Steam client had already attracted other developers to consider porting their titles to Linux,[147][154][155][156] including previously Mac OS only porting houses such as Aspyr Media and Feral Interactive.[157]
In November 2012, Unity Technologies ported their Unity engine and game creation system to Linux starting with version 4. All of the games created with the Unity engine can now be ported to Linux easily.[158]
In September 2013 Valve announced that they were releasing a gaming oriented Linux based operating system called SteamOS with Valve saying they had "come to the conclusion that the environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself."[147][159] This was used for their Steam Machine platform released on November 10, 2015, and discontinued in 2018.[160]
In March 2014 GOG.com announced they would begin to support Linux titles on their DRM free store starting the same year, after previously stating they would not be able due to too many distributions.[161] GOG.com began their initial roll out on July 24, 2014, by offering 50 Linux supporting titles, including several new to the platform.[162]
Despite previous statements, GOG have confirmed they have no plans to port their Galaxy client to Linux.[163] The free software Lutris started in 2010,[164] GameHub from 2019,[165] MiniGalaxy from 2020,[166] and the Heroic Games Launcher from 2021,[167] offer support for GOG as well as the Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect and Origin.
In March and April 2014 two major developers Epic Games and Crytek announced Linux support for their next generation engines Unreal Engine 4 and CryEngine respectively.[168][169]
Towards the end of 2014 the game host itch.io announced that Linux would be supported with their developing open source game client.[170] This was fully launched simultaneously on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux on December 15, 2015.[171] The service had supported Linux since it was first unveiled on March 3, 2013, with creator Leaf Corcoran personally a Linux user.[172] The similar Game Jolt service also supports Linux and has an open source client released on January 13, 2016.[173][174]GamersGate also sells games for Linux.[175][176]
2017–present
Steam Deck, a handheld game console running a Linux-based operating system
On August 22, 2018, Valve released their fork of Wine called Proton, aimed at gaming.[177] It features some improvements over the vanilla Wine such as Vulkan-based DirectX 11 implementation, Steam integration, better full screen and game controller support and improved performance for multi-threaded games.[178] It has since grown to include support for DirectX 9[179] and DirectX 12[180] over Vulkan. The itch.io app added its own Wine integration in June 2020,[181] while Lutris and PlayOnLinux are long-standing independent solutions for compatibility wrappers.[182][183]
As with Wine and Cedega in the past, concerns have been raised over whether Proton hinders native development more than it encourages use of the platform.[184][185]Prodeus dropped native support in favour of Proton shortly before final release[186] and Arcen Games cancelled planned native support for Heart of the Machine.[187] Valve has expressed no preference over Proton or native ports among developers.[188]
Linux Game Publishing published Candy Cruncher, Majesty Gold, NingPo MahJong and Soul Ride to Linux PowerPC. They also ported Candy Cruncher, Soul Ride to Linux SPARC and Soul Ride to Linux Alpha.[206][207]
Runesoft hired Gunnar von Boehn which ported Robin Hood – The Legend of Sherwood to Linux PowerPC.[211] Later Runesoft ported Airline Tycoon Deluxe to Raspberry Pi was running Debian GNU/Linux.
Iain McLeod ported Spheres of Chaos to Linux on the PlayStation 2 consoles and later re-released it as a freeware game.
Market share
The Steam Hardware Survey reports that as of January 2024, 2% of users are using some form of Linux as their platform's primary operating system.[212] The Unitygame engine used to[213] make their statistics available and in March 2016 reported that Linux users accounted for 0.4% of players.[214] In 2010, in the first Humble Bundle sales, Linux accounted for 18% of purchases.[215]
Supported hardware
The Pandora was a Linux integrated game console from 2010.
Performance
In 2013, tests by Phoronix showed real-world performance of games on Linux with proprietary Nvidia and AMD drivers were mostly comparable to results on Windows 8.1.[216] Phoronix found similar results in 2015,[217] though Ars Technica described a 20% performance drop with Linux drivers.[218]
Software architecture
Linux kernel
The subsystems already mainlined and available in the Linux kernel are most probably performant enough so to not impede the gaming experience in any way, however additional software is available, such as e.g. the Brain Fuck Scheduler (a process scheduler) or the Budget Fair Queueing (BFQ) scheduler (an I/O scheduler).[219]
Similar to the way the Linux kernel can be, for example, adapted to run better on supercomputers, there are adaptations targeted at improving the performance of games. A project concerning itself with this issue is called Liquorix.[220][221]
Available software for video game designers
Game creation systems
Several game creation systems can be run on Linux, such as Game Editor, GDevelop, Construct and Stencyl, as well as beta versions of GameMaker.[222] A Linux version of Clickteam Fusion 3 was mentioned, but has yet to be released.[223] The Godot, Defold, and Solar2D game engines also supports creating games on Linux,[224] as do the commercial UnrealEd[225] and Unity Editor,[226][227] The visual programming environments Snap!, Scratch 1.X[228] and Tynker are Linux compatible. Enterbrain's RPG Maker MV was released for Linux.[229] In addition, open-source, cross-platform clones of the RPG Maker series exist such as Open RPG Maker, MKXP and EasyRPG,[230] as well as the similar OHRRPGCE and Solarus.[231] The Adventure Game Studio editor is not yet ported to Linux, although games made in it are compatible, and the Wintermute and SLUDGE[232] adventure game engines are available. ZGameEditor,[233] Novashell,[234] GB Studio,[235] and the ZZT inspired MegaZeux[236] are also options. Versions of Mugen were made available for Linux,[237] and open-source re-implementations such as IKEMEN Go are compatible.[238] The JavaScript based Ct.js[239] Pixelbox.js,[240] and Superpowers[241]
are also options.
Several game development tools have been available for Linux, including GNU Debugger, LLDB, Valgrind, glslang and others. VOGL, a debugger for OpenGL was released on 12 March 2014.
Available interfaces and SDKs
There are multiple interfaces and Software Development Kits available for Linux, and almost all of them are cross-platform. Most are free and open-source software subject to the terms of the zlib License, making it possible to static link against them from fully closed-source proprietary software. One difficulty due to this abundance of interfaces, is the difficulty for programmers to choose the best suitable audio API for their purpose. The main developer of the PulseAudio project, Lennart Poettering, commented on this issue.[251]
Physics engines, audio libraries, that are available as modules for game engines, have been available for Linux for a long time.[time needed]
The book Programming Linux Games covers a couple of the available APIs suited for video game development for Linux, while The Linux Programming Interface covers the Linux kernel interfaces in much greater detail.
As the result of their cooperation with Valve, Nvidia announced a Linux port of GameWorks.[252] As of June 2014, PhysX, and OptiX have been available for Linux for some time.
Beside majority of the software which acts as an interface to various subsystems of the operating system, there is also software which can be simply described as middleware. A multitude of companies exist worldwide, whose main or only product is software that is meant to be licensed and integrated into a game engine. Their primary target is the video game industry, but the film industry also utilizes such software for special effects. Some very few well known examples are
A multi-monitor setup is supported on Linux at least by AMD Eyefinity & AMD Catalyst, Xinerama and RandR on both X11 and Wayland. Software:Serious Sam 3: BFE is one example of a game that runs natively on Linux and supports very high resolutions and is validated by AMD to support their Eyefinity.[253]Civilization V is another example, it even runs on a "Kaveri" desktop APU in 3x1 portrait mode.[254]
Voice over IP
The specifications of the Mumble protocol are freely available and there are BSD-licensed implementations for both servers and clients. The positional audio API of Mumble is supported by e.g. Software:Cube 2: Sauerbraten.
Wine is a compatibility layer that provides binary compatibility and makes it possible to run software, that was written and compiled for Microsoft Windows, on Linux. The Wine project hosts a user-submitted application database (known as Wine AppDB) that lists programs and games along with ratings and reviews which detail how well they run with Wine. Wine AppDB also has a commenting system, which often includes instructions on how to modify a system to run a certain game which cannot run on a normal or default configuration. Many games are rated as running flawlessly, and there are also many other games that can be run with varying degrees of success. The use of Wine for gaming has proved controversial in the Linux community as some feel it is preventing, or at least hindering, the further growth of native gaming on the platform.[255][256]
Emulators
There are numerous emulators for Linux. There are also APIs, virtual machines, and machine emulators that provide binary compatibility:
Anbox and Waydroid for the Android operating system;
Native gaming is a form of Linux gaming that emphasizes using only native games or ports and not using emulators or compatibility layers.[255][126][266][267]
DRM-free gaming
DRM-free gaming is a form of Linux gaming that emphasizes boycotting DRM technologies. This can include buying games from GOG.com, certain Humble Bundles or itch.io and avoiding Steam and similar services.[268][269]
A number of games can be played from live distributions such as Knoppix, allowing easy access for users unwilling to fully commit to Linux.[281] Certain live distros have specially targeted gamers, such as SuperGamer and Linux-Gamers.[282][283]
Cloud gaming is the streaming of games from a central server onto a desktop client.[290] This is another way to play games on Linux that are not natively supported,[291][292] although some cloud services, such as the erstwhile Google Stadia,[293][294] are hosted on Linux[295][296] and Android servers.[297] GamingAnywhere is an open source implementation.[298]
On Windows
Although less exploited than the reverse,[299] as few programs are Linux exclusive,[300] support does exist for running Linux binaries from Windows.[301][302] The Windows Subsystem for Linux allows the running of both command line[303][304] and graphical Linux applications[305] from Windows 10 and Windows 11.[306] An earlier implementation is Cygwin,[307] started by Cygnus Solutions and later maintained by Red Hat,[308] although it has limited hardware access[309] and required adaptation.[310] The use of Wine can even allow for the running of Windows games on Linux from Windows. The LibTAS library for tool assisted speedruns currently recommends WSL to run on Windows.[311]Naughty Dog meanwhile have used Cygwin to run old command-line tools for use in their game development,[312] which is a broader use for the platform.[313] As with running Windows applications on Linux, there is controversy over whether running Linux applications on Windows will dilute interest in Linux as distinct platform,[314] though it has speciality uses.[315]
Owing to a common Unix-like heritage and free software ethos, many games for Linux are also ported to BSD variants[347] or can be run using compatibility layers such as Linuxulator.[348] BSDi had partnered with Loki Software to ensure its Linux ports ran on FreeBSD.[349] The Mizutamari launcher exists to facilitate running Windows games through Wine,[350] which can still be used standalone.[351] A 2011 benchmark by Phoronix even found certain speed advantages over running games on Linux itself, comparing PC-BSD 8.2 to Ubuntu 11.04.[352] Most BSD systems come with the same pack in desktop games as Linux.[353] The permissive licensing of BSD has also lead to its inclusion in the system software of several game consoles, such as the Sony PlayStation line[354][355] and the Nintendo Switch.[356]
OpenHarmony gaming
HarmonyOS with custom kernel[357] and OpenHarmony-Oniro based operating systems distros[358] of these newer platforms has a dedicated gaming ecosystem with compatibilities with third-party Linux libraries by developers on Linux kernel subsystem such as musl-libc of C standard library that targets the Linux syscall and POSIX APIs compatibility for native compatible games as well as limited virtual machines such as Android-based sandboxed ones.[359][360]
↑Barkakati, Naba (1996). Linux Secrets. United States: IDG Books Worldwide. p. 96. ISBN9781568847986. https://books.google.com/books?id=HnqBQgAACAAJ. "This disk set contains a collection of well-known UNIX games (X is not required), such as Hangman, Dungeon, and Snake. The set also includes id Software's DOOM. (This game comes in two versions, one runs under X, and the other runs without X.) You may want to install this disk set just so you can try out DOOM."
↑Parker, Tim (1996). Linux Unleashed. United States: Macmillan Computer Publishing. p. 981. ISBN0672313723. https://books.google.com/books?id=IZ5kQgAACAAJ. "DOOM - This exciting, though controversially gory, game is now ported to Linux as well. Complete with sound support and exquisite graphics, this Linux port does its DOS counterpart justice."
↑"PHT Products". 1998. http://pht.com/products/index.html. "Formerly known as 'Linux Games++', this is a collection of the best entertainment and multimedia programs for the Linux operating system. It also contains multimedia development tools to assist you in creating your own games and multimedia applications for Linux. This is the latest issue, volume 4, and features a new and improved user interface. The CD contains packages for i386, DEC Alpha, and PPC platforms. This product is only available through Walnut Creek CD-ROM."
↑Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. (2008-06-12). "Finally, it's time for Wine". https://www.linux.com/news/finally-its-time-wine/. "According to White in a 2006 NewsForge interview, this forking caused Wine’s development to slow down for years. “Historically, the main interest for volunteer Wine developers was games; that was the primary focus for most of Wine’s early years (~1993-2000). When Transgaming started in 2001, they promised that they would release their DirectX improvements back to Wine. That cast a chill over games in Wine — why work on DirectX if all these improvements would ‘soon’ be coming back? Of course, no meaningful improvements have ever come back, which had the effect of creating a huge hole in what had been Wine’s very best facility.” By 2007, White says, “The Wine community had recovered from the hole created by Transgaming.”"
↑Bisson, Marilyn (October 19, 2020). "Is Linux Good For Gaming?". https://blog.eldernode.com/is-linux-good-for-gaming/. "You can also play through the terminal; Of course, it depends on your expectations and definition of the game! But if the goal is entertainment, the Linux terminal offers you funny and nostalgic choices."
↑Zinoune, M.. "Options for Linux Gamers". https://www.unixmen.com/options-for-linux-gamers/. "The ever increasing popularity of social gaming is a definite threat to traditional forms of gaming. Social gaming comes in many forms, but an obvious example would be games that can be played on Facebook and other social networking websites where games and statistics can be viewed and shared online with a player’s friends. This form of gaming is very limited as the games that can be played via social networks are usually targeted towards casual gamers and not the hardcore PC type. I don’t see social gaming becoming an immediate threat to native gaming in the near future and will probably remain a casual space."
↑McIntyre-Bhatty, Hamish (2018-05-21). "Cygwin review part 1: Running Linux programs… on Windows?". https://www.hamishmb.com/cygwin-review-part-1/. "Can you run games? I have absolutely no idea, but I would guess the answer is no, because of the lack of hardware access. I did have a quick look for games like Neverball and Extreme Tux Racer, but they were nowhere to be found. When I follow this up, I’ll look a bit harder, and maybe try compiling them. Really, it’s kind of pointless, because you could just run the games in Windows."
↑"LibTAS FAQ". https://clementgallet.github.io/libTAS/faq/. "If you have Windows 10, the easiest way is to use WSL 2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) to run libTAS. Otherwise, you can install a Linux distribution (e.g. Ubuntu) on a virtual machine (e.g. using VirtualBox)."
↑Bisson, Simon (2021-04-23). "Linux on Windows: This new upgrade allows you to run graphical apps simply and effectively". https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-on-windows-this-new-upgrade-allows-you-to-run-graphical-apps-simply-and-effectively/. "Mesa3D support should help developers using WSL 2 to port games to Linux, as well as allowing complex Unix CAD applications and other design tooling to use WSLg to work on Windows, without needing a full port. If you’re worried about application support, we’ve yet to find anything that didn’t work over WSLg. We’ve been able to run Ubuntu desktop tools, classic Unix games like Nethack’s X11 port, Linux games from Steam, a host of different editors and IDEs, the LibreOffice productivity suite, as well as Microsoft’s own Edge browser (using it to stream video and audio). The experience of using Linux applications on Windows is much like running Windows applications on macOS via Parallels."
↑Lucas, Michael (2001-03-22). "FreeBSD Gaming". http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2001/03/22/Big_Scary_Daemons.html. "If you're running KDE or Gnome, you already have a few simple games installed. I'm not a fan of either desktop -- both strike me as bloated and obtuse -- but their games packages are a nice way to pick up a dozen simple favorites such as Solitaire, Asteroids, and Tetris."
↑Chalmers, Rachel (June 1999). "Sun Releases Tool To Make Linux Apps Run On Solaris". AUUGEN (Australia: AUUG): 29. https://books.google.com/books?id=3I_9M0DRtT4C. Retrieved 2023-03-05. "But the real strength of Linux over Solaris is the availability of games. Kay reveals, "If you've got a developer who's been doing heads-down coding for hours, they might want to take a break to use the latest greatest games," she chuckles. "If games are available on Linux now you can get them and use them on your new Solaris workstation. Managers like making sure that kind of thing is available to their creative end users."".
↑Dyer, Bill (2022-12-28). "Getting Nostalgic With the Historical Coherent Operating System". https://itsfoss.com/coherent-operating-system/. "For a small package, it was remarkably complete. Not only was it a standalone operating system, but came with a big box of goodies, such as a Bourne Shell, C compiler, assembler, debugger, DOS disk support, uucp, at least three editors, some games, mail, and around 200 of the most used and useful UNIX commands."
↑Pendleton, Bob. "Game Programming with the Simple DirectMedia Layer". https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.5555/774727.774728. "SDL officially supports Linux, Windows, BeOS, Mac OS, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BSD/OS, Solaris and IRIX. SDL also works with Windows CE, AmigaOS, Atari, QNX, NetBSD, AIX, Tru64 UNIX and SymbianOS. However, those OSes are not yet officially supported. This means if you write your application using SDL, you can port it with minimal rework to all those OSes. SDL provides a portable way to write games and multimedia applications on every major OS currently in use."
↑Knight, John (May 2021). "Exploring Microsoft's forgotten Unix distribution". https://www.linux-magazine.com/index.php/Issues/2021/246/Remembering-XENIX/(offset)/9. "Thankfully XENIX users weren't all business, and there are at least a few games available for the system. Although the IMG file from Archive.org wouldn't work, we found a working disk image from YouTube user MentionedBefore, who provides a link below his XENIX 2.3.1 VirtualBox tutorial. The disk comes with Worms (not the famous DOS game!), Rogue, Hack, and Trek, plus fortune and mathrec. (And there is a terminal-based version of Tetris somewhere out there!) Once installed, the executables for the games/amusements are found under /usr/games"
↑Armstrong, James; Kent, Les (1993-11-22). "32-bit desktop operating systems". InfoWorld (United States: IDG Communications, Inc.): 75. https://books.google.com/books?id=ATsEAAAAMBAJ. Retrieved 2023-03-05. "Once a user is logged in, a window displays a number of icons that group some standard applications: Accessories, Applications, Preferences, Disks, Games, Shutdown, System Setup, Utilities, and Folder Maps. User can open any file or folder by double clicking on the appropriate icon.".
↑Magee, Mike (1999-09-06). "1.6GHz Alpha to be fastest Quake chip on planet". https://www.theregister.com/1999/09/06/1_6ghz_alpha/. "The beast is not designed for Windows - its OS preference a version of real time Tru64 using current OpenGL for the platform. Real time versions of Tru64 might be used in a high end arcade game console, with workstations using a more "normal" Tru64 Unix with OpenGL. Quake and Quake 2 are native on Alpha Linux platforms."
↑"Fiddling with NeXTSTEP". 2011-12-29. https://posts.boy.sh/fiddling-with-nextstep. "This screenshot shows Facebook, looking rather broken, and DOOM in the front. id Software used NeXT systems to create the famous first person shooter. Relying on the Objective-C based development environment to create most of the tools, like the level editor."
↑Hills, James (1999-06-19). "Interviews - Dave Taylor, Transmeta". https://www.talisman.org/~erlkonig/misc/ddt.shtml. "Anyway, so it felt almost natural to do weird things. Here was a company where hundreds of thousands of dollars changed hands depending on moods and stories, Nextstep was the development environment, and showing up to work and seeing something truly miraculous in John Carmack's office or the art room about once a week was the norm. So when I started calling various workstation vendors like IBM, Sun, SGI, and asking they send workstations in exchange for typing "make", no one was terribly surprised. It was just one more of the weekly miracles, and a lesser one at that. "Oh look. There's our game running in a window on 5 architectures and as many OS's. Huh.""