Thank you for your response.

Quoting: HamishThe changelog just mentions it was "rebuilt using futureproof libraries" so I don't think there were any internal bug fixes and the newer libraries might actually be counterproductive on a retro system.

It's still a commercial game, and I don't know what they fixed with many of these patches. You can't access a bug tracker anymore, and it's one of the companies that tested their games on much older systems. You can see the software requirements, which aren't demanding.

I understand that you don't want modern features released many years later, and I played older versions of games myself for fun. However, it could be an interesting tidbit for other users if you want to include it.

I think it's still the retro version of the game if LGP created patches for older systems. Of course, they did it many years after releasing it.

Quoting: HamishIt reminds me of when I tried installing my Desura version of the Penumbra Collection on a period system that did not have SDL 2 built for it. The original binaries would have ran fine but not the update.

I had to upgrade my system to play the first version of Penumbra many years ago. Some companies focus only on the current distributions, which is bad.

I played some other games when the installer was much more modern than the game.

I won't reveal too many details because it could be a subject for your articles. For example, I played the LGP game from 2005 on a Linux distribution from 2003, and the other one was from 2009 running on a system from 2006 with patches from 2012.

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Quoting: Hamish

Quoting: gbudnyWhat version of Candy Cruncher did you play?

You can see it in the titlebar of the screenshot. Version 1.51.03 of the game.
Changlog [External Link]

Thank you for your response.

I'm sorry, I have to look more carefully at these screenshots.

These names of patches and installers are quite confusing, so I have to use archive.org

The new installer is from 2007, but it contains an older version of the game than the patch released in 2006. The patch from 2006 is candycruncher-1.52-x86.run, and after installing it, it displays version 1.53.00. I checked it out, and it's the last patch that doesn't support PenguinPlay:

https://web.archive.org/web/20131225032146/http://updatefiles.linuxgamepublishing.com//candycruncher [External Link]

I don't know if this patch works with Red Hat 7.3, but it could fix some of the issues.

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Thank you for your response.

Quoting: HamishI'm guessing that PenguinPlay can now cause some issues in Candy Cruncher because this website was closed.

The installer that I used patched the game up to just before they added in support for PenguinPlay, so that sidestepped that particular issue for me.

What version of Candy Cruncher did you play?

Quoting: HamishI have never been that invested in competing for the highest possible score myself, but for those who are so inclined, I can definitely see it adding an appreciated extra dimension to the game.

I have never been a fan of multiplayer games, and I very rarely play them. I don't like competing with other users, and I have never been very good at it. However, this game was an exception because I was interested in checking a high score table with PenguinPlay. It made Candy Cruncher more addictive for me.

It's an interesting idea for LGP to add the multiplayer mode, which was available only for the Linux version of Candy Cruncher.

It's a shame that LGP never made PenguinPlay accessible for the Linux versions of commercial games that weren't published by LGP. However, it would be impossible to make money out of it and keep it online.

Madblox! with the PenguinPlay support would be great for me.

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Thank you so much for the article!

You are definitely better at playing it because I didn't get so far. I'm guessing that PenguinPlay can now cause some issues in Candy Cruncher because this website was closed.

I played the full version of Candy Cruncher 16 years ago, and it's one of the most addictive games for Linux. I was easily losing track of time with Candy Cruncher. I eventually decided I'm not going to play it anymore. I ran it last year, but I decided to play a few times. I didn't want to get stuck playing for hours. Losing motivated me to improve my score. It was too much fun for me.

It's a great game, and it was even more entertaining with PenguinPlay. You could compare your scores with those of other users. This feature wasn't available for Windows and Mac users.

The most interesting part is that the box version of Candy Cruncher was available exclusively for Linux users. The box version of Candy Cruncher for Windows and Mac doesn't exist. Additionally, LGP had been regularly publishing new patches only for the Linux version for many years.

You can also find the PowerPC and Sparc versions on the CD, which is only available for Linux users. You can probably play it on PlayStation 2 (and other PowerPC computers), which is amazing, but I don't have this console. It's the only Linux game where you can see Sparc on the box in the system requirements.

Linux had this advantage over Windows that commercial games weren't limited to x86/x86-64. Companies like Loki and LGP were investing time in porting some games to Alpha and Sparc. Interestingly, Microsoft never tried to port any commercial games, even for Windows NT PPC/DEC Alpha. LGP was one of the five companies that published commercial games for PowerPC. Of course, I have never heard about the company that ported a commercial Linux or Windows game to MIPS.

I was disappointed seeing a piece of paper instead of a manual. LGP also didn't include any manuals on the CD.

Lastly, Candy Cruncher for Linux was a much better product back then than the digital versions for Windows and Mac.

@Hamish, you should try playing Madblox! for Linux. I keep it on my Desktop, and play it when other games start to get too annoying for me.

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Quoting: HamishIt is all part of the experience. If I wanted stable and supported I would just be playing the game through Crispy Hexen on my modern Arch Linux computer after all.

You are right.

You reminded me why is I still like playing the beta version of Mohaa even if OpenMoHAA is more advanced in many ways like a support for official mods. Both versions are great, but I have more memories of the first version of this game.

I frequently play the first versions of other games like Doom 3 or RTCW on the old PCs.

Quoting: HamishNext article should not take nearly as long to publish though.

Great!

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Thank you for the article.

I wonder if you have stability issues if you used the same distributions as authors of these ports.

I have to admit that I liked reading how you sorted out all these issues. It probably wasn't fun for you to frequently encounter them.

You reminded me this video when NCommander wanted to play Doom on AIX with a source port:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzhCGSE7KKw [External Link]

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Quoting: PenglingYou know that an awful lot of people here, including those you're trying to avoid responding to, were there to witness all of that personally, right? :tongue:

We have the views we have on Linux gaming history because we saw how things were on less-popular platforms too; GOL has plenty of people who used those before shifting to Linux.

I know some people here used Linux before 2010 or earlier. I don't think that is the majority of users on this website. Unfortunately, I have doubts that people know what was released back then because more Linux users knew about ID software, Epic games, and a few other companies. That's it.

You had to use websites like holarse, linuxgames.com, or happypenguin.org to get only some news. Tracking promotions was also almost impossible because you had to use the RSS feeds. You didn't have a store that had no more than 60 titles for Linux on sale. I suspect users share their opinions based on the LGP/Runesoft resellers. The Linux games lists were sometimes the better source of information.

Now you have wishlists and big online stores with games for Linux.

Users cared more about the AAA titles for Windows or the game consoles than indie games for Linux. We have Linux as the gaming platform that has existed for 30 years. The Linux retro community is tiny compared to the other platforms like Amiga or Mac.

Why did Amiga and Mac users know more about the gaming history of their systems?

I know about a few issues with it.
It had something to do with the prices of games, shipping costs, and customs duties. We had a community of Cedega users who also strongly believed it solved all their problems, just like Proton users today. I think it will always be the version of Wine that people think about too seriously.
It's a repetitive process thinking about Linux with the different versions of Wine as the new OS/2. IBM had the source code from Microsoft, and it didn't help.

Let's say that Wine/Proton is the future of Windows games on Linux.
Linux need Microsoft to support Wine to see the radical change in the market. Otherwise, Linux will be in the same position as Mac OS X for many years. I don't know if Microsoft will ever do it.

Why they should do it is the better question.

Can you give me an example of a system, or a game console that achieved success based mainly on games created for their competitors?

I don't care how buggy or unstable are some Linux games because you can see this issue on other operating systems or game consoles. That's the part of the gaming experience on every platform. Users can accept this situation, or reject it.

I think every successful gaming platform needs users who will generate enough money for companies to keep it alive. Linux achieved it with mainly indie games.

Is it enough for everyone?

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It's hard to answer all users because it takes some time. My opinion about the Linux gaming history is different for a good reason. I think about what was happening on less popular platforms before 2010.

We had many professional operating systems with few commercial games like AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Irix, Zeta, etc.

Linux x86 was the official winner in the commercial games in 2009 compared to the other Linux architectures. The porting process of popular games to Linux running on computers with processors like PowerPC, Sparc, and Alpha was over.

We had more serious platforms like AmigaOS and MoprhOS that slowly started to have less popular games. Linux users could enjoy playing more games that weren't available for Mac OS X..

It's time to talk about 2009 and 2011.

Quoting: omer666Before Valve invested in Linux I had to buy consoles to get my gaming fix. After a while I was considering buying one again, native games were slowly declining in number and Wine pre-DXVK was not able to play recent releases. Then Proton arrived, and man, I never looked back.

In 2009, the indie comapnies started to get more active, and we could expect the AAA titles mainly from LGP, or Ryan Gordon. For example, Jack Keane was the popular adventure game. Unfortunately, the pre-orders for the Linux version were probably disappointing for Runesoft, so they stop doing it for few years.

Impressive games wre available for Linux like Penumbra, Savage 2, Oil Rush etc., but from smaller companies. The existing indie companies started to port more games like Anawiki Games, Basilisk Games, Winter Wolves, Tycoon Games, My Game Company. Some of them with the long history like InterAction Studios decided to join.

Desura and Ubuntu Software Center wanted to sell these classic games from LGP, Runesoft, and hundreds of indie games, some from well-known comapanies like MumboJumbo.

In 2009 - 2011, we gradualy start to have regular weekly releases of the indie games for Linux. Unfortunately, many users didn't want to buy mainly the indie games from less popular online stores. They wanted Steam for Linux.

HIB was the success because users didn't have to spend $25 - $40 (+ other costs) for AAA tittles or $20-25 for the indie game. They can get five or more games for few bucks. Of course, Valve noticed it, and you know the rest of the history.

I think Linux getting back to the point when users have less the native AAA titles, and more indie games.

Quoting: omer666I know I've been hating on John Carmack for saying the future of Linux gaming was Wine, but man, he was absolutely right, and deserves my deepest apologies.

ID software spent a year porting games to Linux and didn't want to lose more money. Quake 3 for Linux was a disaster for them when you think about sales. Id Software released only three Quake games in 1999. The rest of the games were unofficial releases ported by their employees in their spare time. Fans like it, but ID software didn't have any money directly from Linux users after it.

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Quoting: Liam DaweOnce again, scraps, let's take off the rose-tinted glasses for a bit. Pre-HIB era we had hardly anything. I think some of you really have this weird and confusing nostalgia about how things were. I've been here since long before and it was not good. You had a hard time finding anything, most weren't supported at all, and while we had a few indie games they were tiny.

I can agree it wasn't great for people who played every day. Users who wanted to have some fun in their spare time could play many interesting games. Sometimes, I played something big like Sacred or indie games like the H-craft championship.

Linux users had commercial games that weren't even available for Mac. Amiga and MorphOS users could only dream about these games for Linux.

Desura and USC saw potential in Linux back then, but they failed. However, you can't say there was nothing to buy in these online stores.

On the other hand, online stores like Tux Games didn't have even 10% of all games available for Linux. There were websites like linuxgames.com or happypenguin.org. Unfortunately, they weren't always informed about all new commercial games for Linux, and tracking promotions was difficult. Now, you create wishlists with all interesting games to track promotions.

Quoting: Liam DaweGiven your previous posts, you just seem to be anti-Proton / Wine, which in 2024 I just find hilarious tbh. It's a button click to play stuff now, pretty much anything as long as it doesn't have anti-cheat. Proton is easy and it works well.

I'm not anti-Wine, and I use Wine only to open Windows installers for some open-source ports available for Linux. It usually works for this purpose. I don't have any expectations about Wine even If I think about Mohaa for Windows.

It's just not too entertaining for me to play games for Windows.

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Quoting: Liam DaweWhat's with trying to rewrite history? We definitely didn't get big stuff before the Humble Indie Bundle. We had scraps. Loki and then LGP died long before and neither actually did many ports. We had a few random indie games, and the usual open source stuff.

Scraps? I wouldn't call them this way because it was more risky for these companies to port games to Linux. Loki didn't start it because we had games before them: SimCity, Quake, Abuse, etc. We had games like Hopkins FBI, Raptor, Kingpin, and others when Loki existed.

LGP cooperated with many different porting companies, so it's more complicated. There were other companies like Runesoft, Hyperion, Epic Games, Linden Research, Inc., Vicarious Visions, etc. Some ported one or two games, but many others tried after them.

From 1994 they were always companies interested in porting games to Linux. The situation with indie games is very different because there are much more of them. I can present many examples, but If I say that Runes of Avalon, Caster, or Space Ping Pong Match was fun to play. Well, it doesn't mean anything for many users. You can't buy most of these games and play them.

These games are known for the small group of users interested in classic indie games. You can find many unknown indie titles if you like reading about them:

https://happypenguin.altervista.org/ [External Link]

Unfortunately, you can't download the demo versions or see a screenshot. I wish we could fix this issue somehow. There are some small indie games, and we can still contact the original authors. Preserving these pieces of Linux history could be important for future generations.

I rarely get lucky to draw some attention of users to classic games like Halloween: The New Nightmare for Linux, which was a commercial game. Holarse decided to mention Exile 3 for Linux - the first commercial RPG for Linux:

https://holarse.de/news/wochenendr%C3%BCckblick_2024_03_versp%C3%A4tetes_winenachtsgeschenk_wine_9_ist_da_onfoss_lan_mit [External Link]

You can play it now on the old Linux distributions. I appreciate when Liam Dawe or Hamish Paul Wilson write articles about classic or indie games for Linux. In my opinion, it's important for me than games for Windows on Proton. I know users interested in the AAA titles on Proton could disagree with me - it's my preference when I play games.

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