Cube 2: Sauerbraten

Today is part 3 of the Cube series, Cube 2: Sauerbraten

"Free single and multi player 1st person shooter game with some satisfying fast oldskool gameplay. A large variety of gameplay modes from classic SP to fast 1 on 1 MP and objective based teamplay, with a great variety of original maps to play on.


Level editing has never been so much fun: a press of a key allows you to modify the geometry / textures / entities in-game, on the fly. Even more novel, you can make maps together with others online, in the unique "coop edit" mode (!)

The engine, though designed for simplicity and elegance as opposed to feature & eyecandy checklists, still competes nicely thanks to its novel "6-directional heighfield deformable cube octree" world structure that is the basis for its in-game editing. Occlusion culling, pixel & vertex shaders, very accurate lightmapping, robust custom physics system, network system, models, sound, scripting...

Much like the original Cube, the aim of this game is not necessarily to produce the most features & eyecandy possible, but rather to allow map/geometry editing to be done dynamically in-game, to create fun gameplay and an elegant engine.

The engine supporting the game is entirely original in code & design, and its code is Open Source (ZLIB license, read the docs for more on how you can use the engine).


Oldskool fast & intense gameplay (read: similar to Doom 2 / Quake 1).
Many multiplayer gameplay modes, most in teamplay variants as well: deathmatch, instagib, efficiency, tactics, capture (domination/battlefield style), coop edit (!).
Masterserver & ingame server browser.
Lag-free gameplay experience.
Two singleplayer modes: DMSP (fight a monster invasion on any DM map), classic SP (progression driven SP like other games)
7 weapons tuned for maximum satisfaction: double barrelled shogun, rocket launcher, machine gun, rifle, grenade launcher, pistol, fist.

"

Sauerbraten is a great game, and there is, as always no reason to not check it out.
FR:No BS
Rating:NR
Homepage
No direct download for this software.

AssaultCube

This is part 2 of the "Cubathon". Today is AssaultCube(formerly known as ActionCube).

"AssaultCube is probably the best Cube "mod" ever created. It comes with all new content and is playable as a standalone game. The gameplay provides a more "realistic" gameplay experience than Cube, featuring more modern weaponry and environments. Many gameplay modes are provided including CTF."

"19mb AssaultCube is provided as a 19mb package of pure fun."


"56k Thanks to the efficient networking code, AssaultCube requires very little bandwith, you can play it with a 56k modem internet connection. "


"OSS Like its origin Cube, AssaultCube comes with full source code, available under a zlib like OpenSource license. "


"SDL Because AssaultCube uses the SDL library, it can be used on multiple platforms. The officially supported platforms are Windows, Linux and Mac OS. "


"old AssaultCube runs on old hardware, with the correct settings you can run it on a P3 800Mhz gf2. "

"edit Create new maps (virtual worlds) together with other people online. The cooperative editmode makes it possible.."

All in all the mod is much better than the original and tons of fun!


FR:No BS
R:NR
Homepage
No direct download yet. Sorry.

Cube

The original cube is without a doubt a fun game. Though out-dated, it still is damn fun.

"Cube is the original game that started it all. Though it has been surpassed in almost every way by Cube 2, it is a game in its own right. Most importantly, it comes with over 100 (!) maps, most of which are not available in Cube 2, with extensive single and multi player content.

Cube is also smaller in every way, in download, in hardware requirements (runs well on older video cards!), and in source code (the absolutely tiny code base is a very easy start for those wishing to experiment).



It also has some unique engine features such as the high precision dynamic occlusion culling, and its heighfield based level format."

"Cube is an open source multiplayer and singleplayer first person shooter game built on an entirely new and very unconventional engine. Cube is a landscape-style engine that pretends to be an indoor FPS engine, which combines very high precision dynamic occlusion culling with a form of geometric mipmapping on the whole world for dynamic LOD for configurable fps & graphic detail on most machines. Uses OpenGL & SDL.



Allows in-engine editing of geometry in full 3D (you fly around the map, point / drag stuff to select it / modify it), which can even be done simultaneously with others in multiplayer (a first!). Has simplistic but effective fine grain vertex lighting that looks like lightmapping and can do dynamic lights & shadows. Doesn't need any kind of map precompilation, even lighting is done on the fly. Has very simplistic quad-tree world structure that can do slopes (heightfields with caps) and slants, water, does decent collision detection & physics, has client/server networking that goes a long way in giving a lag-free game experience, and features a Doom/Quake-style singleplayer (2 game modes, savegames) and multiplayer (12 game modes, master server / server browser, demo recording) game with some uncompromising brutal oldskool gameplay.


Most of the engine design is targeted at reaching feature richness through simplicity of structure and brute force, rather than finely tuned complexity."

Cube is a must download for everyone, even if you soon switch to the better cube 2.
FR:NO BS
Rating:NR
Homepage