New Loki Games Repository Emerges

[phoronix]

Phoronix: New Loki Games Repository Emerges

The folks over at Tux Games have opened up a repository containing a collection of old software titles ported by Loki Games. This repository contains game updates as well as demos for some of their games ported during their short lifespan.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjA3Mw

[joshuapurcell]

I've looked all over for Tribes 2... now at least I'll have the demo. The crappy thing about it is that I bought Tribes 2 on Windows. I wonder if Tribes 2 still has a community? SHAZBOT!

EDIT: Anyone try to run the Tribes2 demo? I get the following error:joshua@desktop:~/downloads/games/tribes2$ ./tribes2-preview.run
Verifying archive integrity...tail: Warning: "+number" syntax is deprecated, please use "-n +number"
OK
Uncompressing Tribes 2 Previewtail: Warning: "+number" syntax is deprecated, please use "-n +number"
.............................
./update.sh: 60: loki_patch: not found
The program returned an error code (1)

ANOTHER EDIT: I think my problem is that I need the Loki Installer application, and I think I found it but:joshua@desktop:~/downloads/games/tribes2$ sh ./loki-demos-1.0d.run
Verifying archive integrity...tail: Warning: "+number" syntax is deprecated, please use "-n +number"
OK
Uncompressing Loki Demos 1.0dtail: Warning: "+number" syntax is deprecated, please use "-n +number"
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .........................................
Loki Update Tool not found, running installation program
This installation doesn't support glibc-2.0 on Linux / x86_64

Please contact Loki Technical Support at support@lokigames.com
Continuing with install ...
Loki Uninstall Tool not found, running installation program
This installation doesn't support glibc-2.0 on Linux / x86_64

Please contact Loki Technical Support at support@lokigames.com
Continuing with install ...
This installation doesn't support glibc-2.0 on Linux / x86_64

Please contact Loki Technical Support at support@lokigames.com
The program returned an error code (1)
Guess I'll get in touch with Loki support on this one... oh wait :( . I hope one day Loki comes back. I promise to buy any game you sell if you start up again. I know there are some people around here who has connections to the original Loki people... put a good word in me ok?

[yoshi314]

wow, an installer for descent3 mercenary using windows cds. i've never seen it available on download on loki site. strange...

time to dig my room for those d3 windows cds :]

I've looked all over for Tribes 2... now at least I'll have the demo. The crappy thing about it is that I bought Tribes 2 on Windows. I wonder if Tribes 2 still has a community?gentoo has loads of ebuilds for loki games. even a hacked unreal tournament that runs unreal 1. (haven't seen deus ex ebuild, though :/)

[Svartalf]

Guess I'll get in touch with Loki support on this one... oh wait :( . I hope one day Loki comes back. I promise to buy any game you sell if you start up again. I know there are some people around here who has connections to the original Loki people... put a good word in me ok?

Heh... Loki won't come back in it's current form- ever. Scott Draeker saw to that.

Having said this, LGP rose from some of the ashes and is still around, and hopefully about to really get moving in the next 6-12 months if things go right.

As for the installer app, I suggest snagging the source code for the installer app from off of icculus.org (Under Loki Setup Tools...) or to give the LGP installer a whirl and see if it'll play nicely with the Loki installation apps... Michael wouldn't have put this stuff up for download if it wasn't able to be used in some fashion after some futzing with it.

I'll pull some of it down over the next couple of days and see if there's any way to kick-start most of this stuff.

[Svartalf]

wow, an installer for descent3 mercenary using windows cds. i've never seen it available on download on loki site. strange...


Heh... I think Michael had some hand in that one ending up in the mix on the site... :D

[Thetargos]

gentoo has loads of ebuilds for loki games. even a hacked unreal tournament that runs unreal 1. (haven't seen deus ex ebuild, though :/)
To the best of my knowledge, they never concluded the Deus Ex port, most of it was in place when Loki went down, and even though I don't know the specifics, they were very close to finishing the port of Deus Ex (dayum, that is about the only game aside from UT and U1, that I really looked forward buying from Loki :( ), I wonder if they still got files and I wonder if either Eidos or Ion Storm (or who ever owns now IS) would allow DE1 at last see the light in Linux (I highly doubt it, though)

[Svartalf]

To the best of my knowledge, they never concluded the Deus Ex port, most of it was in place when Loki went down, and even though I don't know the specifics, they were very close to finishing the port of Deus Ex (dayum, that is about the only game aside from UT and U1, that I really looked forward buying from Loki :( ), I wonder if they still got files and I wonder if either Eidos or Ion Storm (or who ever owns now IS) would allow DE1 at last see the light in Linux (I highly doubt it, though)

It is my understanding from conversations online in IRC with Mike Phillips that the source code WAS given back to their respective studios- with that being the case, ION Storm Austin would be where Deus Ex went back to. There might be a couple of copies of the source floating about in the hands of the development team that was working on it, but I doubt that they would be able to release it if they DID have the code.

As to whether or not Eidos would let it go out for Linux, your guess would probably be as good as mine- and would be identical (I highly doubt it too...).

[Thetargos]

Yes, they did a terrific job at some game ports. I know that the SoF and FAKK2 ports were really good... maybe Loki arrived too soon? Hardware support in Linux at that time wasn't still very mature, and even though there were many installations with 3D enabled, 3D acceleration was still in its infancy in Linux (back in 1998). They were visionary, though, and who knows, maybe they contributed to spark the Linux gaming flame, that now seems to roar for attention and support from companies.

[Svartalf]

Yes, they did a terrific job at some game ports. I know that the SoF and FAKK2 ports were really good... maybe Loki arrived too soon? Hardware support in Linux at that time wasn't still very mature, and even though there were many installations with 3D enabled, 3D acceleration was still in its infancy in Linux (back in 1998). They were visionary, though, and who knows, maybe they contributed to spark the Linux gaming flame, that now seems to roar for attention and support from companies.

Heh... The stories I could tell you...

I started out as one of their Vendor Support Contacts (i.e. Driver Developers) for Loki Games. I got access to pretty much every one of the 3D titles as I was one of the main people supporting Utah-GLX at the time. They wanted to make sure Rune, Fakk2, and others just worked fine with the 3D options of the day.

The truth of the matter is that Loki was little before their time- and, in my not so humble opinion, they were plagued with problems of the CEO not knowing a blasted thing about running a business.

Loki took on too many high-profile deals too soon, too quickly. The royalties to get the deals in the door bled them of cashflow to pay people and to operate with. There's a threshold that you have to hit before you can do ANY AAA titles without the studios cutting you a break- they usually want money that'd be commensurate with being able to sell about 5-10k units to break even with payroll, replication, etc. Loki went out of the gate with a BUNCH of AAA titles in hand with only a market prospect of being able to sell 2-5k units per batch at best.

Draeker did (in my not so humble opinion...) brain-dead things like ordering a 50k unit order of the replication of the Q3:A discs, and then followed that bone-headed thing up with delaying the release of the Official Linux Version by three additional weeks over insisting upon packaging each and every one of these units in a special edition tin whose order was held up in Customs for that time. This made for an abyssmal sales figure due to Id's policy of making the binaries available to "patch" from one OS to another- everyone bought the Windows version because they didn't want to wait, which caused a situation where Loki owed over a quarter million in royalties (Of which part are almost always owed to the publisher or studio at the time that you replicate, and another part that's owed when you actually sell the title...) with no ability to pay Id back.

Loki will be missed. But it was a whole raftload of factors that brought them down.

[Thetargos]

Ouch! The problem is the lack of continuity. Loki left so many projects "in the air" and even now there'd be a market for those in Linux... *sigh*, at any rate, I hope LGP fairs much better than Loki did, I know I've gotten a few games off them, plus other companies such as frictional (with their amazingly good Penumbra title... Ok, I like those kinds of games :P)... I know you've got quite a bit of inside information and that you've got your hands tied and can't talk about much of it (alas you've hinted to some great stuff!), I certainly wouldn't want to get you into trouble, but MAN! I hope the companies and parties involved in whatever it is that's cooking would come out soon and break the news! :D

[yoshi314]

i wish somebody would restart/continue where loki stopped. and do it right for a change.

[Svartalf]

i wish somebody would restart/continue where loki stopped. and do it right for a change.

Uh... Hopefully Michael will have the deals done here I've been alluding to. If so, that'd be really close to that with this current crop of titles. He's trying to do it right for a change- this means building up from the ground up with decent cash flow to be in it for the long run. That also means no AAA titles that the studio/main publisher doesn't cut special deals with LGP for a short while yet. Now, having said this... :D

[joshuapurcell]

I consider myself a strong supporter of LGP both in terms of telling other Linux users about the site and by purchasing games from them (I've bought three or four so far). It's that much better to know that LGP is in some ways (of which I don't yet know the details) what is left of Loki. I've said it before, but if anyone here is interested in Linux gaming then do try to support LGP and any other company that provides Linux games. The next LGP game I'm looking forward to is X3, but I'd like to know more about what is in the near future.

[Thetargos]

Uh... Hopefully Michael will have the deals done here I've been alluding to. If so, that'd be really close to that with this current crop of titles. He's trying to do it right for a change- this means building up from the ground up with decent cash flow to be in it for the long run. That also means no AAA titles that the studio/main publisher doesn't cut special deals with LGP for a short while yet. Now, having said this... :D

As always with these cryptic messages Svartalf, you leave me salivating ;)

There's a ton I could read "between the lines" and a lot more that's "in your face"... Now I have to ask: is Icculus** in the plans in some way or another? :D

I... couldn't... resist... Temptation... too... great... Curiosity... too... strong... *sigh*

** And by that I mean RCG!

[Svartalf]

As always with these cryptic messages Svartalf, you leave me salivating ;)

There's a ton I could read "between the lines" and a lot more that's "in your face"... Now I have to ask: is Icculus** in the plans in some way or another? :D

I... couldn't... resist... Temptation... too... great... Curiosity... too... strong... *sigh*

** And by that I mean RCG!

I knew precisely whom you were referring to. :D

Yes, isn't he ALWAYS in the plans somewhere in there? I mean, America's Army, Postal2, Serious Sam, Serious Sam 2, Unreal 2 engine, many, many others. If I gave too much you might figure out the games I'm hinting at- and where'd the fun be if I can't taunt ya all? :D

I will say that he's done stuff that has been published by LGP in the past. As to if he's involved with current projects, I am unable to say either way.

[Thetargos]

As far as I *can* say (as is public knowledge, anyway) is that he's involved in UT3's Linux port (with all and the tools, yay! made with wxWidgets), Google's Google Earth, but that's about it. About UT3 he was very vocal in the UT2004 as soon as it was announced (back then still referred to as UT2007), more than that, I cannot say... Goes beyond of my channels of communication :( Is nice to see him "in the game"**, though!

** hehe I love that pun!

[Svartalf]

I consider myself a strong supporter of LGP both in terms of telling other Linux users about the site and by purchasing games from them (I've bought three or four so far). It's that much better to know that LGP is in some ways (of which I don't yet know the details) what is left of Loki. I've said it before, but if anyone here is interested in Linux gaming then do try to support LGP and any other company that provides Linux games. The next LGP game I'm looking forward to is X3, but I'd like to know more about what is in the near future.

Mike Phillips was a former Loki developer. He's the stated Lead developer. Several other former Loki developers and the beta test/ISV contact crowd (:D) for Loki are consultants for LGP, doing the porting work, infrastructure work, etc. for the porting efforts. We picked up support and sales for a couple of the titles Michael managed to get deals with (Most of the publishers and studios were uncertain of the ownership of the codebases, developed or in their final stages- by the time a goodly portion of the assessment was done, it wasn't worth their time in their eyes to re-license their IP to LGP. Shame.)

I'm hoping Michael gets these deals in- I'm waiting to hear from him on one of them so I can start back up and get it done, hopefully in short term, because I thought it was cool when I tried out the Windows version and I was going to ask him if he would consider talking to the studio and their publisher about it when he mentioned it to me out of the blue.

I will only indicate that it was a CRPG.

[Svartalf]

As far as I *can* say (as is public knowledge, anyway) is that he's involved in UT3's Linux port (with all and the tools, yay! made with wxWidgets), Google's Google Earth, but that's about it. About UT3 he was very vocal in the UT2004 as soon as it was announced (back then still referred to as UT2007), more than that, I cannot say... Goes beyond of my channels of communication :( Is nice to see him "in the game"**, though!

** hehe I love that pun!

Heh... I will say that I only WISH we had UT3 at this point- that hasn't been mentioned by Michael; that'd be about as much of a coup as the stuff he told me about.

[Thetargos]

Mike Phillips was a former Loki developer. He's the stated Lead developer. Several other former Loki developers and the beta test/ISV contact crowd (:D) for Loki are consultants for LGP, doing the porting work, infrastructure work, etc. for the porting efforts. We picked up support and sales for a couple of the titles Michael managed to get deals with (Most of the publishers and studios were uncertain of the ownership of the codebases, developed or in their final stages- by the time a goodly portion of the assessment was done, it wasn't worth their time in their eyes to re-license their IP to LGP. Shame.)

I'm hoping Michael gets these deals in- I'm waiting to hear from him on one of them so I can start back up and get it done, hopefully in short term, because I thought it was cool when I tried out the Windows version and I was going to ask him if he would consider talking to the studio and their publisher about it when he mentioned it to me out of the blue.

I will only indicate that it was a CRPG.
Now you truly have me intrigued!!!

There's like 10 titles that come rushing to my head that could be that "CRPG"... I hope he does get the deal... And that'd be our Michael?? Phoronix's own Michael?

[Michael]

There's like 10 titles that come rushing to my head that could be that "CRPG"... I hope he does get the deal... And that'd be our Michael?? Phoronix's own Michael?


When he is referring to Michael with gaming, he is referring to Mike Phillips who owns LGP/their lead dev. :)

[Svartalf]

When he is referring to Michael with gaming, he is referring to Mike Phillips who owns LGP/their lead dev. :)

Actually, Michael, it'd be Michael Simms, who's the co-founder of LGP and is their CEO... :D

[EDIT]
You're probably right, we've got too many Mike/Michael named individuals going on here- so I guess
I need to clarify things when I post... :D

[Michael]

Actually, Michael, it'd be Michael Simms... :D

Oops! yeah. That's the last name. I hadn't talked with him since X2 beta time frame and I remembered his name was Michael and then accidentally stuck in the wrong info once I had read your above post.

[niniendowarrior]

We have too many Michaels around. :D

I do find the thread title "New Loki Games Repository Emerges" a bit funny. New Loki Games Repository? New Loki Games Repository? :D