A GNU Dawn

In an act of extreme symbolism (which I hope will be remembered when the time comes to award the next Nobel Prize in Literature), I have ported my artgame, Freedom, to Linux.

This version brings back the window frame because there's basically no cross-platform method for positioning windows with SDL and the window kept showing up at the bottom right of my screen. Now at least it's possible to move it to a nicer location.

Download: Linux

I don't have a whole lot of LInux experience, so I don't actually know if I can just pass around the binary and assume that it will work on other computers. I don't see any immdeiate reason that it shouldn't, though. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh wait. You can't. Because you're the Internet Void, and only people can test the game on other machines and let me know if it works. And we both know that no one reads this.

Yet.

When the time is right...

One last thing. Basically none of the Windows versions of my games are going to run correctly under Wine because I used clock() for timing instead of SDL_GetTicks(). In the future, I plan to stick to SDL_GetTicks(), so my games ought to run just fine in Wine.

Of course, they ought to also have Linux versions that run just fine without Wine.

Edit: Linux version += easteregg

Game: Freedom

I have noticed something about art games: they are exactly like any other art; the artist presents the audience with a thing, and the audience digs up meaning for the thing. Since the artist's job is a fairly simple one, I decided to try taking the place of the artist.

My art game is called "Freedom." The goal is to reach the opposite side of the tunnel. Use the right arrow key to move. When the tunnel changes colors, you change direction and speed.


Download: Windows
Linux

Following the lead of other artists, I have also written an analysis of my game (though it is pretty short).

Freedom represents the journey of a nation as it struggles to remain free in an imperfect world. On the path to freedom, obstacles can cause the people to lose sight of the real goal (to go backwards). There are two ways to reach freedom. Either "stay the course" (hold right) and keep moving in whatever direction seems to be forward, or try to adapt to the rest of the world; when something goes wrong, pull out quickly and wait for the situation to resolve itself before moving forward again (press and release right as the color changes).

However, this analysis merely skims the surface of a deeper meaning. Strangely, the bitmap responsible for holding the numbers used in displaying the final score is located in the root directory instead of in the "bmp" folder. Additionally, it seems as if the images for "4" and "7" have been removed and replaced with hasty mspaint scribbles. No matter what the end result, there is always the potential for capitalism, which is supposed to enforce individuality, to corrupt the system as a whole.

One might argue that the numbers 4 and 7 were chosen at random; however, a closer look reveals that 4 and 7 were the two numbers of the "system" font that did not adapt well to the modified font used in the game. This reveals the exact nature of the capitalist corruption. Those things which do not fit, rather than being carefully (and expensively) repaired are replaced with cheaper, lower quality components.

Additionally, the hexadecimal number 47 represents the letter "G" in ASCII. If "G" is taken to means "GAMES" or "GAMEPLAY," it can be said that the corruption of hex 47 represents the state of the commercial games industry. the gameplay is cheap filler that creates simple context for beautiful graphics and the occasional "GIMMICK."

Etc.