Stratagus
Encyclopedia
Stratagus was a free
cross-platform
real-time strategy
game engine
used to build other games. It is written in C
with the configuration language being Lua. SDL
, gzip
and bzip2
are among the external libraries
used.
On June 15, 1998 Lutz Sammer released the first public version of a free Warcraft II clone for Linux
he had written, named ALE Clone. In 1999 it was renamed to Freecraft.
Because of its history, all Stratagus games currently inherit the Warcraft II style gameplay. In June 2003, a cease and desist
letter was received from Blizzard Entertainment
, who thought the name Freecraft could cause confusion with the names StarCraft
and Warcraft, and that some of the ideas within the engine were too similar to Warcraft II. The project halted on June 20, 2003.
Soon the developers regrouped to continue the work by the name of Stratagus, with a change in the aim: former interest in using the data-files from WarCraft had diminished; the project using the data-files from Warcraft II was split-off into the new and separate project Wargus and the free media set imitating Warcraft II was discontinued. Development on Stratagus was paused on June 10, 2007. The Stratagus developers are now working on Bos Wars
, which uses its own modified version of the Stratagus engine. In June 2010 some of developers moved Stratagus project from Sourceforge
to Launchpad
and started working on Stratagus and games again. Now Stratagus, Wargus and Stargus are developed by Stratagus team on Launchpad.
Playable Stratagus-based games are: medieval Battle for Mandicor, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness port Wargus, futuristic Battle of Survival, historically-inspired Commander Stalin, StarCraft
port Stargus, and space age Astroseries. Of these, only Wargus is complete.
and other RTS
had come out.
Basing on Lua as their primary scripting language, virtually all the abilities in the engine have been made available so that a user of Stratagus does not have to make changes in the original source unless he wishes to add new features not presently supported by the engine.
Stratagus and Wargus have been ported to run on Pocket PC
, Symbian
and Android devices. Wargus has also been ported to the GP2X
Linux handheld.
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
cross-platform
Cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...
real-time strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
used to build other games. It is written in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
with the configuration language being Lua. SDL
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....
, gzip
Gzip
Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding...
and bzip2
Bzip2
bzip2 is a free and open source implementation of the Burrows–Wheeler algorithm. It is developed and maintained by Julian Seward. Seward made the first public release of bzip2, version 0.15, in July 1996.-Compression efficiency:...
are among the external libraries
Library (computer science)
In computer science, a library is a collection of resources used to develop software. These may include pre-written code and subroutines, classes, values or type specifications....
used.
History
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
he had written, named ALE Clone. In 1999 it was renamed to Freecraft.
Because of its history, all Stratagus games currently inherit the Warcraft II style gameplay. In June 2003, a cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
letter was received from Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
, who thought the name Freecraft could cause confusion with the names StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
and Warcraft, and that some of the ideas within the engine were too similar to Warcraft II. The project halted on June 20, 2003.
Soon the developers regrouped to continue the work by the name of Stratagus, with a change in the aim: former interest in using the data-files from WarCraft had diminished; the project using the data-files from Warcraft II was split-off into the new and separate project Wargus and the free media set imitating Warcraft II was discontinued. Development on Stratagus was paused on June 10, 2007. The Stratagus developers are now working on Bos Wars
Bos Wars
Bos Wars is an open source, cross-platform real-time strategy video game. The project was started by Tina Petersen in 2004, and the current project leader is François Beerten...
, which uses its own modified version of the Stratagus engine. In June 2010 some of developers moved Stratagus project from Sourceforge
SourceForge
SourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
to Launchpad
Launchpad (website)
Launchpad is a web application and website that allow users to develop and maintain software, particularly free software. Launchpad is developed and maintained by Canonical Ltd....
and started working on Stratagus and games again. Now Stratagus, Wargus and Stargus are developed by Stratagus team on Launchpad.
Playable Stratagus-based games are: medieval Battle for Mandicor, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness port Wargus, futuristic Battle of Survival, historically-inspired Commander Stalin, StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
port Stargus, and space age Astroseries. Of these, only Wargus is complete.
Programming
The Stratagus engine is a 2D engine based on a set of pictures in a .png file to show animation. This style was commonly used in the time that WarcraftWarcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
and other RTS
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
had come out.
Basing on Lua as their primary scripting language, virtually all the abilities in the engine have been made available so that a user of Stratagus does not have to make changes in the original source unless he wishes to add new features not presently supported by the engine.
Stratagus and Wargus have been ported to run on Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
, Symbian
Symbian
Symbian is a mobile operating system and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user...
and Android devices. Wargus has also been ported to the GP2X
GP2X
The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only....
Linux handheld.
See also
- Game engine recreation
- GlestGlestGlest is a free and open source real-time strategy computer game developed by a team based in Spain.-Development:Release of version 3.0 added online multiplayer LAN/Internet support. Glest is designed to be moddable, with game elements defined by editable XML files, and includes a map editor.Since...
- bnetdBnetdbnetd is a software package that was reverse engineered from Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net online multiplayer gaming service, providing near-complete emulation. The software allows users to create and play games on their own servers, instead of Battle.net servers...
, a similar in style project for another Blizzard product that was shut down due to a court action