2019-05-01_Linux_Format

MMMay 2019891a23Dig13iKmOlv May 2019 LXF249 87

Games hOtPiCKS

ShOOtErGAME

PArtiClESiMulAtiOnGAME

Sandspiel enables

you to build

spectacular

schemes that

everyone will

love to explore.

herearesimplethingsinlifelikeburningwood

logs,flowingwaterstreams,meltingiceand

othersortsofelementsthatcanhypnotise

youincertainconditions.sandspielisanexampleof

therelativelyrarekindofgamethatsimulatesphysical

effectsintherealworld.Playingrequiresacertain

attitudeandparticipation,butweweresurprisedto

realisehoweasyitwastoloseyourselfintheprocess.

Thegameprovidesasandbox(inallsenses)anda

concisesetoftoolsinthetop-rightpartofthescreen.

Toplaythegameyouneedtoselectatoolanddraw

somestructureswithit.Therearetoolsforsand,dust,

water,stone,fire,wind,seedsandothers.

Thejoyfulpartstartsonceyoudecidetoseehow

oneelementinteractswithanother.Youcanbuilda

houseoficeandusethe‘fire’brushtoseehowitmelts

intowater.Or,perhaps,createastonebowlfilledwith

oilandsetitonfire.With 20 availabletoolsit’s

impossibletoimagineallcombinations,andso

sandspielisagorgeousfindforanyonefondof

modellingshapes,potsandotherthingsintheirminds.

omethinghasgonewronginourremote-

controlledserverinfrastructure.Artificial

intelligencesystems,radiationprotection

andpowermanagementhaveallfailed.Theautomated

controlsystemwasnotabletorestarttheservers,so

thereisonlyonewayout:youmustgototheserver

roomandmanuallyrestartthesystems.

Thetaskistrickierthanitsounds:soonyou’re

wanderinginsidethemazeoftheserverroom(armed

withagun,ofcourse)andshootingatthefast-moving

aliengiantspidersthatsuddenlyjumpoutofthe

ominousdarknesstoattack.Youneedtodotherounds

andfindalltheserversbeforethosecreaturescankill

you–andonceyousucceed,advancewiththesame

tasktothenextlevel.

Wecanhardlythinkofanyotheropensource

shooterthatissocaptivatingandfilledwithsuspense,

thrillsandactionasUnderrun.Thisisnotaheavyweight

game,butabrowser-playabletoywithallassets

weighinginatlessthan50K.Anunbelievableratioof

thrillsperkilobyte!Thegraphicsareintentionallylow-

S

t

Underrun

res and blurred due to some brutal upscaling, but it

never spoils the game experience. The character,

whom you control using the standard WASD key set,

moves very smoothly and can even be turned with

your mouse. This means you’ll need to turn to face a

spider before shooting at it.

While Underrun may not be a high-profile shooter,

it’s definitely a vigorous and very playable game

worth spending time with. There are so many

features packed into Underrun that it looks almost

magical, given the game’s miniscule size. Different

enemies, dynamic lighting, sound effects, extra levels,

a game menu with tips and legend description...

That’s impressive!

The game can be played on a webserver, for which

there is the handy build.sh script which will prepare

the bundle. Or you can play it right away online at:

https://phoboslab.org/underrun.

Version: GIT

Web: https://github.com/phoboslab/underrun

Sandspiel

Sandspiel implements very realistic effects for many

real-world materials, and lets you watch wooden

parts slowly burning down, acid drops grinding their

way down through almost everything, and funny-

coloured flowers growing up as in real life.

It’s a gaming application, not a serious simulator,

and therefore has some limitations. We tried to draw

a Pythagorean cup, but the water wouldn’t behave

like a liquid in the connecting vessels. Our cup stayed

full all the time! However, the gravity in all simpler

cases worked like a charm, so we were very happy to

see particles fall to the ground as if they were real.

This browser game is a splendid example of

educational software for all ages. All your innermost

engineering fantasies come true in this physics lab,

so prepare to lose quite a bit of time playing it...

Version: GIT Web: https://github.com/

MaxBittker/sandspiel

Beware spiders in

the game, and in

real-world servers.