To anyone else lured in by the "Ubuntu 12.04 (.deb)" install option - you need to add the playdeb repository to your sources list for the big "install this now" button to actually work.
We play a lot of openarena at lunch (private server in the office). We're just trying this out now. First impressions are that the install and configuration steps are really smooth - something often omitted in these kind of projects. It's also fun. Might be that we switch our gaming from openarena to warsow...
It's a bit strange that most these projects seem to look and feel and sound almost exactly like quake 3, maybe with just some odd bits sticking out.
Maybe it's impossible to do coherent art direction in nebulous volunteer efforts. I don't believe the technology limits the style so much. Certainly that is not the case with something as basic as sounds.
The previous versions were more TRON-inspired graphically. I have not seen the project since a few years and was astonished by the changes in presentation.
What differs the most from the other Q3-likes (direct clones like OpenArena and more distant ones like Nexuiz) is the core of the game: while the others merely handle framerate-bound physics, bunny hopping, rocket- and strafe-jumping as gameplay side effects, this one is designed from the ground up to integrate such rule-abusive gameplay into its core. Jump features have been added (bounce-jump on walls), physics has been tweaked to provide less hackish strafe jump, configurations options abound to make the game tunable for enthusiasts (like coloring walls and floors instead of simply disabling textures and lightning). It seems this version goes even farther in configurability, with configurable coloring and extensively configurable/scriptable UI.
I would think that's because Quake3 is held up as one of the best multiplayer FPS games of all time. It really had a buttery smooth feeling to it that's never present in modern games like BF3 or CoD.
You may be grouping "arena shooters" all together (one of my favourite genres, btw). Examples include Quake 3 / 4, Unreal Tournament series, Serious Sam, Open Arena, Nexuiz, Xonotic to name some popular ones. It's somewhat like calling the Battlefield series a clone of Call of Duty.
When this game was founded, about 7 years ago, Quake 3 was at a pretty big peak. The original goal was to make the next big competitive FPS. Though that didn't last too long, even though the scene is still largely very competitive players, there's no big tournaments for the game. Another thing to note, is that Warsow's engine is actually based on idtech 2.
Fantastic game, very happy for the team. I'm a CPMA fan personally and I always preferred Warsow over Quake Live as a replacement for CTF although QL duel is arguably better.
Anyone who hasn't played Warsow CTF 3v3 - 5v5 in a lan setting is missing out!
Just in case your preference for Warsow is solely based on the lack of promode in QL, I'm really glad to tell you that there is promode now in QL, and there's been for a couple of months now.
Granted, it's a premium feature and so on but there are some public promode servers (user-spawned), specially CA and CTF, and I've been having a lot of fun there.
If you like that, you should also check out Nexuiz if you have not yet. It is my favorite of all the Open Source 3D shooters I have tried so far. It comes close to the very fast gameplay I liked so much in Quake3.
Worth mentioning that id Software deserves a ton of credit for open sourcing their engines. Most open source 3D gaming stuff, like Warsow here, is based on their code.
I was actually trying to help the project with their new UI code about nine months ago, but then I moved to the US, had a lot of other stuff to take care of, and ended up abandoning the project. So happy for the development team though, keep it up guys!
Personally I'm a bit more a fan of OpenArena[1], the community is a bit more fun-play focused than most other games (and you'll often get an answer when asking something ingame), but this game is great fun too. Good to hear there is progress, and also cool to see this on the HN homepage :)
Interestingly (as someone who works in games industry doing marketing shit) I've never heard of OpenArena at all... but will definitely read up on it now you've mentioned it.
For Warsow, really pleased for them that they've reached 1.0, but from everything I've heard, specially over the past few months, they've made it a lot harder on themselves than it should have been, by the way they are organised (or not so organised) internally.
[+] [-] dredge|13 years ago|reply
Either install this package: http://archive.getdeb.net/install_deb/playdeb_0.3-1~getdeb1_...
Or otherwise add the repository to your apt sources:
Then do apt-get update (or equivalent) and the install link will work. As would just installing the warsow package, by that point.I'm a little surprised they didn't mention that on the page.
[+] [-] colinhowe|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] planckscnst|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bashzor|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] HannibalLecter|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Gravityloss|13 years ago|reply
Maybe it's impossible to do coherent art direction in nebulous volunteer efforts. I don't believe the technology limits the style so much. Certainly that is not the case with something as basic as sounds.
[+] [-] lloeki|13 years ago|reply
What differs the most from the other Q3-likes (direct clones like OpenArena and more distant ones like Nexuiz) is the core of the game: while the others merely handle framerate-bound physics, bunny hopping, rocket- and strafe-jumping as gameplay side effects, this one is designed from the ground up to integrate such rule-abusive gameplay into its core. Jump features have been added (bounce-jump on walls), physics has been tweaked to provide less hackish strafe jump, configurations options abound to make the game tunable for enthusiasts (like coloring walls and floors instead of simply disabling textures and lightning). It seems this version goes even farther in configurability, with configurable coloring and extensively configurable/scriptable UI.
[+] [-] bberrry|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Scene_Cast2|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zxy|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mkohlmyr|13 years ago|reply
Anyone who hasn't played Warsow CTF 3v3 - 5v5 in a lan setting is missing out!
[+] [-] hypeibole|13 years ago|reply
Just in case your preference for Warsow is solely based on the lack of promode in QL, I'm really glad to tell you that there is promode now in QL, and there's been for a couple of months now. Granted, it's a premium feature and so on but there are some public promode servers (user-spawned), specially CA and CTF, and I've been having a lot of fun there.
[+] [-] gallypette|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] albertzeyer|13 years ago|reply
http://www.alientrap.org/games/nexuiz
[+] [-] frewsxcv|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] azakai|13 years ago|reply
Worth mentioning that id Software deserves a ton of credit for open sourcing their engines. Most open source 3D gaming stuff, like Warsow here, is based on their code.
[+] [-] crizis|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nicholassmith|13 years ago|reply
Downloading and I'll give it a go this afternoon.
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dimitar|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 10098|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] caleywoods|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prezjordan|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oorion|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] krakensden|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icebraining|13 years ago|reply
Damn, I miss W:ET. Best multiplayer FPS I've ever played, hands down.
[1]: http://www.simonoc.com/pages/design.htm
[+] [-] zxy|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bashzor|13 years ago|reply
Personally I'm a bit more a fan of OpenArena[1], the community is a bit more fun-play focused than most other games (and you'll often get an answer when asking something ingame), but this game is great fun too. Good to hear there is progress, and also cool to see this on the HN homepage :)
[1] http://openarena.ws
[+] [-] corin_|13 years ago|reply
For Warsow, really pleased for them that they've reached 1.0, but from everything I've heard, specially over the past few months, they've made it a lot harder on themselves than it should have been, by the way they are organised (or not so organised) internally.
[+] [-] piffey|13 years ago|reply