I’m not really a gamer, but I’d like to get some games.

What I would be looking for is a game that:

- has a native linux client (duh!)
- is not violent, if possible. (If you advice me some more or less violent games, that’s ok, but just mention the level of violence) Or maybe: not realistic violence (egaboo like is funny therefor no prob)
- looks really good, nice scenery/landscapes
- runs ok on a PIII700MHz with a gf2mx (not necessarily on anything much slower)
- maybe strategic or adventure or RPG.
- network (lan + internet) gameplay possible, but not required for nice gameplay (should be nice to play in single player mode)
- if possible also suitable for ~13 year olds, or at least please mention the age category it’s aimed at/played by.

Basically I want to vote with my wallet for some linux games.
And it’s my birthday, so actually I may get other people to vote with their wallets.....

As a reference:
I like starcraft, but my girlfriend finds it a bit violent (hated the zerg in the first round, then started to like them in the second, then felt sorry for the poor zerg in the Protoss round... so yes she did play all the way through)...
We like frozen-bubble. And tuxracer.
I like the looks of black and white, never really played, don’t like the idea behind it though.. and heard too many bad comments about the single player version.
I just checked egaboo, looks promising, but needs more work. Good part: it’s gpl.
Checked out Cube (also free, not sure if it’s gpl), too violent (for my girlfriend and her nephew and niece, whom I also have in mind for linux games).

Please mention any game that pops up in your head and post here, even if it doesn’t match 100% with the description/requirements I gave.
Please do mention the website where it can be purchased if you know it.

A tale in the desert:
http://www.atitd.com

its a multiplayer massivley online role play game (mmorpg)
no violence, its based on diplomacy rather than sorting out with violence, really adictive, and its based around teh players ie its up to teh players to suggest new laws for teh society, then to get voted in a petition booths!

its £13 p/month, but worth it!

Also theres an initial 24 hour free trial, to be used in 1st month

Sim City 3000 is always fun if you are a fan of the "sims" sorta games.
Majesty is good, Civilization is always fun / Alpha Centuri.
I cant think of too many games without alot of violence, heh but there are deffinatly good ones out there, py-ddr :wink:
A tale in the desert looks good but is too complicated for me.

for a list of some decent games and links to them check out DOlson's page:
http://icculus.org/~dolson/mdkxp/

Yeah, pyDDR is great. I recommend you get some dance mats from levelsix.com.

Neverwinter Nights has a violence level setting, but not sure if that is good enough for you. You also may want to wait for it to come out of beta.

Other games mentioned above are good choices. Also, Mindrover is cool, although may be a little advanced.

Also, Creatures 3 is very cute and cuddly.

Oh, and MiG Alley should be released any day now.................................

nahh mig alleys far too violent.

I enjoy playing Railroad Tycoon every once in a while

Thanks for the suggestions; Tuxracer also crossed my mind...

RRT may be along the lines I was thinking (the niece and nephew are playing ZooTycoon a lot); I will check some more on NWN.

The company behind Creatures 3 seems to be bankrupt,... too bad. I'll see if I can find a review with some info about the game.

ATitD is not so suitable, as you have to play online (no single player/offline gameplay), and if it's really addictive, it could get quite expensive...

Also, I'll be looking into the games on DOlsons page, thanks for reminding me it's there...

Any more comments or suggestions are welcome.

I finally ordered some games:
Creatures3 IE, Railroad Tycoon II ( ? ) and Majesty.

Delivery:
As I haven't had much time and only yesterday installed Majesty, but in any case: it took a lot longer than the 2 to 3 days that was mentioned on the tuxgames website (close to 2 weeks, 10 working days),....
BTW it was only Creatures and Majesty that I got sofar...

However, since I live in Switzerland, the package has had to pass through customs, which may have taken some extra days. Also, unfortunately, I had to pay an extra 11 dollars on the 60 dollar shipment,... :(
Just 4 dollars (6CHF) for the customs/taxes, but 7$ (10CHF) for the postal service to present the package at the customs.... rhhaaa, if I would have known, I'd have the package shipped to my brother in London; he could then have passed me the discs without any extra payment..

So I don't know when to expect RRTycoon II, and if I will have to pay taxes AND this stupid 10CHF extra charge to the postal service...

The games:
Creatures 3 internet edition:
Installation was easy, have only had a quick look at the game, not really played it yet. It is perfect for my girlfriends niece and nephew, aside from the fact that the manual is not in German.
To my pleasant surprise: the game and videofilm are in plenty of languages: English, french, german, dutch, spanish (maybe more, don't exactly remember).
Now just for a german manual....
The graphics were nice, and I could play it fullscreen on 1600x1200 resolution, but it would get very crowded / full then.
Also, in fullscreen standard (800x600) resolution, the refresh rate would be 60Hz, not cool. The standard 800x600 mode I get when switching to it with ctrl-alt-+/- is at 100 Hz,...
My workaround: play windowed, switch to desired resolution, position viewed desktop area to contain the window exactly, and use ctrl-g to stay inside the window (ctrl-g again to get out).

Majesty:
installation was just as easy, some extra stuff got installed first (lpg_updater and deinstaller), then the game.
I played through the first level yesterday evening, strange strategic game if you're used to RPG's or strategy where you directly command one or more entities (played starcraft, diablo I and II etc)...
I'll be playing this one more soon, I liked it.

BTW same 60Hz problem; same workaround. Also, this game only works in 800x600. Guess it would give those with higher res too much advantage if they could use it...

Other thing: I didn't try network play yet, but have the following 2 questions:
- I'm behind a NAT box, would that be problematic?
- the manual states that for now, it is only possible to play against/with other linux x86 players, not linux ppc or non-linux players. Is that still the case??

I'm behind NAT as well, and I can play multiplayer games. I can't host though, unless I forward my ports.

To hook up with other Linux players, go check it out here: http://multiplayer.linuxgamepublishing.com/
It may take a while for people to use that a lot, so until then, the best way to hook up with people for multiplayer games is to meet in #lgp on irc.freenode.net or you can just use their online chat stuff here: http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/chat.php

I don't know if you can network to PPC users yet, but I know that they were trying to work something out with Cyberlore. Not sure what came of that, if anything.

Every time I order from TuxGames, the shipping time is always more than what is listed. I think I'll try to talk Michael into increasing those listed on the website. You could mention it to him as well, as he's also the CEO of LGP, and he's usually in his chatrooms.