Latest Humble Bundle Comes With Uplink Source Code 96
SharkLaser writes "The latest Humble Bundle comes with four great indie games from Introversion. Included in the pack are Uplink, Darwinia, DEFCON and Multiwinia. Bonus games include Aquaria, Crayon Physics Deluxe and the recently added Dungeons of Dredmor. Introversion also showcases some of their prototypes, like Subversion City Generator which demonstrates procedural generation of complex city environments, and Voxel Tech Demo for showing destroyable environments using voxel technology. Hackers and open source programmers around the world should also celebrate — Introversion will release source code for their games Darwinia, Multiwinia, DEFCON, and most importantly, Uplink, the legendary hacking simulation that is one of a kind."
The License (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The License (Score:5, Informative)
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Because, you know, you had every right to expect to do whatever the hell you wanted with it?
They've done something many companies never, ever do, which is impressive bearing in mind Multiwinia is three or so years old on the PC.
Members of the Introversion forums have always hoped for the source codes, because without them games like Uplink are very had to mod and experiment with. They generally weren't programmed with modability in mind. This move most likely wasn't intended so you could do whatever the h
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>> "Because, you know, you had every right to expect to do whatever the hell you wanted with it?"
If someone gives you a horse you don't expect fine print saying you can't ride it.
It is implied when someone announces they are opening code that they are doing so because they are allowing the public to create new projects based on that code.
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It is implied when someone announces they are opening code that they are doing so because they are allowing the public to create new projects based on that code.
Really? Even GPL disagrees with that "here's the code, do whatever you want with it".
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If someone gives you a horse you don't expect fine print saying you can't ride it.
Thats good, Ill remember never to give you a gift since you apparently cant be gracious about receiving them.
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I've been told people shouldn't look them in the mouth...
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Good thing nobody is claiming this is "FOSS."
Re:The License (Score:4, Insightful)
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The only thing they've really allowed here is for volunteer developers to contribute to their proprietary product. Gee, thanks.
I like the idea. I can't even begin to list how many games would benefit greatly from something like this....
...Projects like GHost++, [codelain.com] which is a full client/server implementation for Warcraft III, enables the game to take advantage of current, high-bandwidth internet connections and provides administrative control over what was designed to be a "head-to-head" protocol. It is one of the few things that let popular mods, like DotA, grow to what they are today.
It was painstakingly built through years of r
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Re:The License (Score:5, Interesting)
That's because one of the previous humble bundles included a source code release, and it was ported to iOS and sold by another team as though they'd made it.
http://www.destructoid.com/lugaru-shamelessly-resold-without-consent-on-itunes-193156.phtml
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which was completely illegal, since the data/art was not GPL, so no excuse for not licencing it with something a little more open. At least make it possible to distribute the code (not the art) freely so that a git repository can be made.
Re:The License (Score:5, Insightful)
No other company goes that far. Almost no one releases sources for their games. And honestly, after reading this crying, I can't really blame them. No matter how much they try to please geeks, they always rant about how it's not exactly something they want, how they don't want to pay for it (even if that's $1) and how it's not on their favorite repo. They even have Linux versions of their games, which is a common rant topic here on slashdot. But now that it doesn't fit, you still have to rant about something just for the hell of it.
Even sometimes, be thankful for something good.
Re:The License (Score:5, Insightful)
Even sometimes, be thankful for something good
It's possible to be thankful *and* point out possible improvements
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Do you do that at christmas or birthday parties? Im sure it would go over really well, you should try that-- "yea, this gift is good, but you know what would have been really nice?"
Re:The License (Score:4, Insightful)
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A handful of people noisily whinging on internet forums are not usually representative of the general population. People don't usually feel the urge to rant about how content or satisfied they are.
whine. whine whine whine. NOT WHING.
</whine>
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Whinge, actually. It's British.
Re:The License (Score:5, Informative)
whine. whine whine whine. NOT WHING.
</whine>
Actually, the root of whinging is whinge and if you haven't spent time in the British Isles, you probably don't recognise the term.
From the freedictionary.com
whinge (hwnj, wnj)
intr.v. whinged, whinging, whinges Chiefly British
To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.
[Dialectal alteration of Middle English whinsen, from Old English hwinsian.]
whinger n.
whingingly adv.
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Well. You learn something 'new' every day.
Thanks for correcting me, I had no idea!
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That's why I always check things out before I bust on someone for being wrong.
Of course, there are still tons of opportunities to point out real mistakes. :-)
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It's even worse than that. That game was also pirated to the Mac App Store!
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/02/03/1335213/pirated-app-sold-on-mac-app-store [slashdot.org]
Woo! Uplink! (Score:4, Insightful)
I know that admitting this means I have to turn in my Obscure Indie Game Enthusiast card, but I didn't know about Uplink until yesterday when I bought the newest Humble Bundle. Played it some today. Still amazed that they made the idea work at all, and that it's actually quite a bit of fun.
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Introversion for their pioneering work in indie games. I know that their games have a particular flair that doesn't appeal to everyone, but *that's the whole point* of indie games; with enough independent developers, you eventually get something quirky and awesome that fits your particular tastes.
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soundtrack (Score:2)
I actually examined their music.dat (zip file), investigated the .uni file format, and even found one standalone player that could play those. But I didn't like that, so I checked the strings inside the music files, grabbed the author name, and googled. Karsten Koch: The Blue Valley [aufgang.org] (main theme, I like this one the most).
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I've been a big supporter of the Humble Bundles (anyone willing to give me native games for Linux gets my attention), but kind of "ran out of steam" (no pun intended) and gave the Voxatron one a pass.
At the beginning, just the marketing concept was enough to "sell" a bundle for me. But now I actually look at the games and decide if I feel that it's worth my while.
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IMHO, the Voxatron bundle was worth it just for The Binding of Isaac. A very fun and hard game with a ton of content. Highly recommended. :)
I passed on the Frozen Synapse bundle simply because I already had many of the games included (Frozen Synapse, SpaceChem , Trine
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Totally the kind of game I hate to play, so that's entirely subjective.
Same with me for the Frozen Synapse bundle though... though I went and paid for them again just for all the linux versions.
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I've been a big supporter of the Humble Bundles (anyone willing to give me native games for Linux gets my attention), but kind of "ran out of steam" (no pun intended) and gave the Voxatron one a pass.
At the beginning, just the marketing concept was enough to "sell" a bundle for me. But now I actually look at the games and decide if I feel that it's worth my while.
Even if they release new bundles every 2 weeks I will continue to support them. At the very minimum I'll throw in $1 and give it all to charity then evaluate the games themselves and if they are worth more. If they are then I'll kick some more in, but if not then it's another $1 for charity.
Re:Woo! Uplink! (Score:5, Insightful)
This.
Business models based on data theft and/or vandalism for hire, chained anonymizing proxies with various levels of logging capabilities (or compromise :), SWATting opponents by (by faking records to send law enforcement after them), anonymizing bank transfers through the use of expendable proxy accounts, and you did all your hacking by renting a hardware platform of RAM/CPU/disk that existed (and was configured) through the cloud. And shadowy organizations whose agendas only become apparent when it's probably too late to change the color of your hat.
The game - written in 2001 - was set in 2010, which turned out to be just one year away from commercial botnets, Anonymous, Wikileaks, the Lulzsec-vs-Sony-howling-thru-the-wires world tour, and the rise of EC3 and other cloud virtualization/hosting services.
And the soundtrack, which someone else mentioned. They completely nailed the look-and-feel of all those goofy hacker movies of the 90s, while being not only fun, but downright prescient.
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I'm just waiting for the follow-up Uplink MMO. The only thing the game was missing was real people on the other end. Imagine if they added the (eventual) ability to buy and build your own network and required you to learn to defend it.
Please, Introversion, please?
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Already released.
It's called the Real World. ... watch out, I hear getting banned sucks something serious!
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DoD (Score:5, Interesting)
Roguelike Dungeons of Dredmor, if you haven't played it yet, is worth the price of admission. Play it on hardcore mode for a very old-school Nethack experience. (You die, you die. Start over.)
It's a bit biased in favor of wizards, but it has an overall very interesting class generation system and challenging gameplay.
Plus, it's funny. Actually funny. But with good core mechanics beneath it all.
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It is a funny game, absolutely, but I must admit that the same-ness of the mobs and dungeons got boring after 20 or so hours of playing. (And, I still enjoy NetHacking from time to time)
But the game is well worth the admission, no doubt about that.
Available since 2003 (Score:1)
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Re:News or an advert? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is this news, or is this just an advert for the Humble Bundle?
Well obviously it is an advert. It is not particularly newsworthy, because - let's face it - how many of us here are going to do anything with the source code for a game that most of us had not heard of until this bundle. That is not to say that it is a bad thing to advertise the bundle, as it is for charity after all.
That said, I'm afraid I am getting a bit bundled out. This is the seventh Humble Bundle since May last year. Add to that the similar bundles that have sprung up (eg. Indie Royale [indieroyale.com] which isn't for charity and does a different bundle every few weeks) and it seems less like an event and more like a perpetual sale.
The biggest problem is that I find myself second guessing my purchases of indie software via the normal distribution methods because I wonder whether I will be seeing the title in a bundle in the near future. Should I pre-order Trine 2, or wait for the inevitable virtual giveaway one of these bundles?
Will the excess of bundles mean that developers lose more profitable sales? Or do these bundles help by getting indie titles into the hands of people who would normally buy mainstream games, and so not really diminish their usual audience?
Re:News or an advert? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Your criticism of my post is well deserved. It does appear that I am judging you and your story, but that was not the intention. I neglected to put something in my message that I had in mind when I hit the reply button. Unfortunately I got sidetracked with the other part about there being too many bundles, and it got omitted.
I do not think that you are a shill. (I wouldn't call anyone that word, for the same reasons that you give.) I do not think that you were wrong to post the story.
However, I do believe t
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Just on point about Trine 2, I doubt it will make it into a bundle. It may technically still be an Indie company but Frozenbyte struck a deal with real game publisher Atlus regarding Trine 2. I wager that may limit their ability to jump into bed with the Bundle again for that particular game.
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a game that most of us had not heard of until this bundle.
Its UPLINK. /.
This is
Maybe you haven't heard of it, that's fine. But don't make assumptions.
Uplink has always been THE ONLY halfway decent hacking game. Hell, it came out in 2001! Uplink is a classic of PC gaming.
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"Will the excess of bundles mean that developers lose more profitable sales? Or do these bundles help by getting indie titles into the hands of people who would normally buy mainstream games, and so not really diminish their usual audience?"
Considering the state of the game industry with heavy handed DRM, the fact that you get a games SOURCE CODE which you can modify/update/change is downright RADICAL in an age of corporate feudalism and creeping fascism. One only has to look at SOPA to see this.
http://en. [wikipedia.org]
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advert.
but humble bundle is like charity man!
(it's still an advert if it's charity or not.. and the humble bundle comes so often it's not really an event even..)
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advert.
but humble bundle is like charity man!
Exactly.
While, marketing an advertising is bad in general - satans spawn, filling the world with bile and garbage, as Bill Hicks characterizes it - unfortunately a good charity should probably play the evil game, none the less.
For example, when Amnesty International does TV ad campaigns they get much more donations. It's stupid and sad, as making ads costs a lot, so it should technically be possible to transfer funds from those who want to contribute to those who need them without marketing, but that's just the way it works in this system - marketing creates demand.
In cases like Amnesty, the ends justify the means. Or do they?
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Note to self: Do not forget to close tags or click the fucking preview button.
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This trend in the comments to label anything listed on the front page that is for sale anywhere as an "advert" is amusing. Even more amusing is the implication that this a journalistic news site and not just a link aggregator.
Neuromancer (Score:2)
Although I liked playing Uplink, the quote "Uplink, the legendary hacking simulation that is one of its kind." is a bit hyperbolic. Does nobody remember the game Neuromancer (PC/C64) which is I believe one of the first and best hacking games till date?
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Uplink is actually a lot closer to the old C64 game Hacker [wikipedia.org] than to Neuromancer. Especially given that Uplink has a really cool beginning where for a second you are not sure if it's a game.
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I remember Neuromancer, and while it was fun, I finished it off in a single evening. I recall it being short and linear, though the bit where you get some antagonist arrested by plugging his SSN and other info into an existing warrant in the police network was pretty entertaining and not too obvious. The battles against the AI, however, weren't so interesting. I haven't played Uplink yet (I downloaded it from Home of the Underdogs what seems like a lifetime ago, but never got around to playing it). Mayb
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In addition to those old classics, there's the modern-day "Hacker Evolution" series from exosyphen, which are also pretty well done. Uplink is the only game in this bundle I don't already have, so I'm on the fence about purchasing.
Love Introversion :-) (Score:3)
Regards the source. That has been available for about 6 years now on the Uplink dev disc. This costs about £20. I haven't looked into the restrictions on using it but as the previous poster recommends, contact them before doing anything that might piss them off. They're really nice guys and deserve support for making what are, really enjoyable games. Uplink was in the PC Zone top 50 games, and in LXF's top 20 games for scaring the sh1t out of you.
Hopefully this
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see this [introversion.co.uk]. (thank you AC [slashdot.org])
Happy! (Score:1)
Bought.
DRM not advertised... (Score:2, Informative)
Two games in the suite actually require product activation. I was disappointed to find this out, as this was what started me on my migration from Microsoft, oh so long ago.
The two games in question are: Multiwinia and DEFCON.
So don't plan on enjoying these games sans-DRM.
Re:DRM not advertised... (Score:4, Informative)
Oh come on! Having to use a cd-key has NOTHING to do with DRM! It is a quite valid method to verify you actually bought the game so you can use their matchmaking servers. It would be unfair for such a small studio to be forced with the burden of increased costs due to extra traffic by non-paying users. Plus, both games are multiplayer oriented, which explains the reason behind the keys.
Go on and read CmdrPony's post (#38212004). I think it's valid for you too.
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Because it ONLY tries to validate if you're online, and then offers multiplayer in a seamless way. When offline, it will validate the cdkey locally. The online check is just a different method, just like it happened during the late 90's with Half-Life and Quake 3 Arena.
Plus, DRM usually binds the key/install with a specific system or account, and that surely doesn't happen here. So, please refrain from crying wolf, feel free to discard the tinfoil hat and enjoy the games.
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It actually does talk about this. Clicking on that info icon, the circle with an i in it, right next to the DRM-free statement pops up a dialog that has this statement in it:
Your download page also includes multiplayer keys for Multiwinia and DEFCON, for online access.
It's your own fault for not finding this out before you buy, dumb dumb.
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Actually, it is, but it's the kind that:
a.) Works.
b.) Isn't a burden.
c.) Doesn't deprive people of what they paid for for stupid and unfair reasons.
Thanks for the heads up! (Score:2)
I'm glad that this 'advert' got posted to Slashdot. I wouldn't have been aware of it otherwise and have now given $10 to get these games for my Mac. I used to have Darwinia ages ago, but I think it was just the demo. I've been aware of the other games for some time and will play them when I get around to it. Time to post a link on Facebook and inform my friends as well.
High Average (Score:1)
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I'm amazed at the high average donation this time around. IIRC the last few Humble Bundles I bought into had an average of around $2. At the time of writing the average on this bundle is $3.98. I guess these games offer pretty good value.
Depends on when you buy it in the bundle's lifecycle, too. I know the average for the last Bundle I bought (before this one) was like 4 or 5 when I purchased it. I was glad to drop 10 bucks on it at the time. This one? I had Uplink already, on disk. I'll GLADLY buy it again, get all the other things, and so on. And I got source code? Well freaking awesome. I'd say these Bundles are awesome. They're cheap enough I don't even blink, and they quite often offer much more than one would expect.
I got the one with
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I'm amazed at the high average donation this time around. IIRC the last few Humble Bundles I bought into had an average of around $2. At the time of writing the average on this bundle is $3.98. I guess these games offer pretty good value.
The higher average price might also be - if you pay more then the (at payment time) average price paid then you get another two games (and so then the average goes up slightly)
The average now is $4.06
How to use with multiple Monitors? (Score:1)
both in fullscreen AND in windowed mode the window spans over both monitors, making the game unusable. can i somehow set which resolution to be used in windowed mode or something like this?