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PC Games (Games) Role Playing (Games) Software Linux

Devil Whiskey to Bring Back RPG Gaming 25

Posted by Zonk from the rpgs-for-for-the-crotchety dept.
jSpectre writes "Remember how much you loved The Bard's Tale? Or maybe you're looking for something a little different than the current crop of RPG games? Then check out Devil Whiskey for both Linux and Windows. The developer also promises to release the source after some of the development costs have been recovered! O'Reilly has an article discussing development of the game as well."
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Devil Whiskey to Bring Back RPG Gaming More

Devil Whiskey to Bring Back RPG Gaming

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  • They're only going to release the source after they sell 50,000 copies. As crappy as their website is, good luck.
    • My browser does not have a "Gamma" adjustment.
    • The game isn't great either. Not to mention old. I bought this game many months ago. I stopped playing because their linux support sucked and I was tired of their fixes changing where stuff was located in the game. It could have been cool, but the game just isn't.
  • The game was fully released in July. This is news because....?

  • This is news, now? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    (anon 'cos I forgot my password, damnit)

    I bought and downloaded Devil Whiskey last December the day of the release, and even had a dozen of the first bugs submitted. It was fun for a few weeks and really was good ol' fashioned Bard's Tale style gaming, but c'mon, Slashdot, that was NINE MONTHS AGO that they announced their intention to give away the source.

  • Ransomware... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dmayle ( 200765 ) * on Saturday October 02, 2004 @01:27PM (#10414376) Homepage Journal

    First we had shareware, then we had freeware, now we have ransomware...

    I'm not sure that I'm so happy with the recent trend in software development. The whole idea of ransomware is a bit, shall we say, reprehensible. I'm happy for all of the projects that have finally made it to open source, but there are many more that were abandoned, and could have become something if people hadn't just gotten tired and gave up.

    We all know (or should know), that the GPL isn't a philosophy, it's a contract. But it comes from an idea. That which says that pooling our work in software development is better for all of us, including myself when I write something to release, or you when I use something of yours.

    There are many companies who are trying to find the "loopholes" in the GPL. It's companies who try to find ways to hamper the use of their code to make it more worthwhile to purchase their product. Some companies to it to greater or lesser degrees. Like the guys who publish the WineX CVS sources, but threaten to shut it down if anyone tries to make it easy to build from there. (Shut down Gentoo project, anyone?)

    But the ransomware idea is step below even them, as they won't even go that far, instead demanding payment before giving back. If you're going to do that, you might as well go closed source, because trying to cash in on our good will is just that, trying to cash in.

    If you really believe what you say, and want to put it out, and want the good will of the open source community, put the code up in escrow, such that if you stop updating frequently, it will go open source as well, then I will gladly help you along with the ransomware thing. (And this is meant directly for the Devil Whiskey developer. If you escrow your code, I'll put up and pay the $25 for your software, even though I have no intention of actually playing.) Until then, it's just extortion...

    And for those who wonder how I can be self righteous, I'm a software developer, and yes, I've released the source to one software project so far, and it was TPOP, a Tivo email client, which I had to drop development of when I sold my Tivo to move to France. I'm constantly starting little projects at home, and the next one that I code to more than just a skeleton phase will get open sourced as well..

    (I'm currently working on a webmail system inspired by both GMail [gmail.com] and CSS ZenGarden [csszengarden.com], I'm really hoping this one gets off the ground).

    • Re:Ransomware... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mrgreen4242 ( 759594 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @01:56PM (#10414562)
      See, I look at it this way... Suppose that it was Blizzard who said, ok if we sell 1 million copies of World of StarDiablo 9 at $50, we will release the code to the game under the GPL. If that hapened, everyone would go apeshit crazy about how great Blizzard was, etc etc, even though they just did some math that says, "hey if we make $25 million (their cut of the $50m in sales), we will have made a tidy profit, and they we can stop supporting this game, thereby saving us $5m over the next 5 years!" But it's not Blizzard, it's some little independant shop, so instead of being "wow, that's a great show of support for the community", it's "ransomware".

      So, this small game developer is trying to do a couple things, makes some cash (ppl gotta eat!) and also give back to the community. The source for his game could very well turn into the basis for alot of great opensource games, something the community is lacking. If this were, say, an office suite, it'd be stupid, since that's area already pretty well filled with alternatives, but the OSS game scene is, imo, lacking, and I think that any way we can spur some development is a Good Thing (tm).

      • It may be a better idea to release the source for free but not the data. (Or perhaps have demo data and then sell data for the complete game.)

        From what I've seen of the game on their WWW and on the ArsTechnica forum I got the impression that this game could use some OSS additions. (No mouse support and strange keyboard layout eg.)

        • Re:Ransomware... (Score:4, Insightful)

          by mrgreen4242 ( 759594 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @02:27PM (#10414830)
          When you make a game you can sell it that way. My point is that they have produced a game that is (apparantly, I haven't played it) worth paying for, and they are offering to give the source code away after they recoup what they feel is fair compensation for their work. That's better than most games.

          • Re:Ransomware... (Score:2, Interesting)

            by Hast ( 24833 )
            Of course they are free to sell the game which-ever way they want. My point is that that if you want to draw benefits from having an OSS game than it seems that giving away the code and selling the data is an idea that makes it possible to do both.

            Now you have the case where many people may try the demo and conclude that it is lacking in some ways (in the interface) and thus not buy it. If some of those could alter the game and make it more enjoyable/playable then it would seem like a benefit for the produ
            • I think the game (and software in general) industry has striking parallels to the drug (legal kind) industry.

              In both cases you have products that are prohibitively expensive to bring to the point of production and sales. Automobiles, for instance, I would imagine are the other way around. The parts and labor to produce automobiles account for the bulk of the manufacturer's cost for an individual vehicle. For drugs and software the vast bulk of the cost is design and development.

              Right or wrong the legal ph

    • I disagree with calling our software ransomware. The game can be enjoyed without the source code. I personally would have prefered not to annouce when we would release the source code but the rest of the group felt it was important to state.

      Although I'd love for the project to do well, I'd prefer you buy the game because you want to play it. I'll mention the escrow idea to the team.

      I will do my best to get the source release should it no longer remain a viable product.
      • As soon as I can get the demo working (SDL parachute huh?) I'm buying your game. As a big fan of old-school adventure gaming, I'm very big on the idea of escrowing the code. I wish you guys the best, but who's to say where any of us will be 10 years down the road. I think it will create an enormous level of goodwill in the community and a further incentive for those of us who want to a) play the game and b) someday see the project do well.

        Just my $0.016 worth.

        -Leigh

  • A little different? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Flyboy Connor ( 741764 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:02PM (#10416336)
    Remember how much you loved The Bard's Tale?

    I did. I just think it would kind-of suck to play it nowadays.

    Or maybe you're looking for something a little different than the current crop of RPG games? Then check out Devil Whiskey for both Linux and Windows.

    Look at screenshots. Medieval city. Check. Knight. Check. Orc. Check. Elf. Check. Big sword. Check.

    How is that a little different from the current crop of RPGs? I would really like game developers of RPGs to step beyond the world of Fantasy. Please!

    (KotOR was a good start. Now step away from Fantasy AND Science Fiction, please.)

  • Bringing RPG back? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by arhar ( 773548 ) on Sunday October 03, 2004 @10:09AM (#10419759)
    I don't think they ever went away, really. Actually there was a period in the mid-90's, I think 1995, when mainstream gaming media was loudly asking 'Is this the death of RPGs as we know it?!'. But then Diablo came out, even though it wasn't really an RPG, it still brought back the interest in the genre. And since Might and Magic 6 came out, every year there's been a quality RPG (best ones always coming from Bioware/Black Isle) and the genre is, in some sense, I think even stronger than the golden years (late '80's - early 90's)

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