OpenArena

OpenArena
Developer(s) The OA Team
Publisher(s) The OA Team
Engine ioquake3
Platform(s) AmigaOS 4, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OS X, QNX, Solaris, Microsoft Windows, Android, Ouya, Pandora, iOS, Raspberry Pi, BlackBerry 10
Release date(s) TBD
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

OpenArena is a free and open-source first-person shooter (FPS) computer game based heavily on the Quake III Arena-style deathmatch. The OpenArena project was established on August 19, 2005, the day after the id Tech 3 GPL source code was released.

Current version is 0.8.8, and an assets "reboot" named "OA3" is planned, with the aim of steering the art style away from the classic space and gothic themes to "something more manga inspired", while also raising its quality and performances standards.

OpenArena official site includes downloads for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operating systems. Thanks to third-party efforts, it is also available from the default repositories of a number of Open source operating systems, including Debian, Fedora, FreeBSD,[1] Gentoo, Mandriva, Arch and Ubuntu. It is also in development for the Maemo mobile operating system. Ports for Raspberry Pi,[2] Android[3] and iOS[4] are available, too.

Gameplay

OpenArena's gameplay attempts to follow Quake III Arena: score frags to win the game using a balanced set of weapons each designed for different situations, with just minor changes to the rules enabled by default (like awarding a character for pushing another one to his death).

Each match happens in an "arena": a map where players try to kill each other; some arenas are designed for Capture the flag and similar gametypes, so are built with two bases (usually identical, apart from the colors), for the two teams.

The Quake III style of play is very fast and requires skill to be played successfully online. It's an arcade-style gameplay which allows to quickly move through maps thanks to bouncepads, accelerator pads, teleporters and advanced techniques such as strafe jumping and rocket jumping. Some arenas include traps.

The game can be played online (against other human players) or offline (against computer-controlled characters known as bots). "Singleplayer" mode allows to play a pre-defined series of deatchmatches, unlocking a new "tier" of four maps after completing the previous one, or to create custom matches in any gametype through the "skirmish" mode.

Game modes

Gameplay modes exist such as Deathmatch (known as Free For All), Team Deathmatch, Tournament, and Capture The Flag (all modes also in the original Quake III). OpenArena version 0.7.6 adds the new Elimination, CTF Elimination, Last Man Standing and Double Domination gametypes. Domination mode is available, too, and the same are Harvester, One flag CTF and Overload modes (the latter three are from Quake III: Team Arena).

Impact

Quake 3 Arena has been used as a platform for scholarly work in computer science. Some examples include streaming graphics from a central server,[5] and visualizing large amounts of network data.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ OperaArena FreeBSD Port on FreshPorts.org
  2. ↑ OpenArena on Raspberry Pi store
  3. ↑ OpenArena on Google Play Store
  4. ↑ Beben III on iTunes Store
  5. ↑ Peter Eisert and Philipp Fechteler (2007). "Remote rendering of computer games. Proceedings of the International Conference on Signal Processing and Multimedia Applications (SIGMAP), Barcelona, Spain, July 2007.".
  6. ↑ Lucas Parry (2007). "L3DGEWorld 2.1 Input & Output Specifications. CAIA Technical Report 070808A, August 2007.".

External links

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