Only a select few games where made available for Linux. Loki helped a lot, but it was no where near the options we have today.
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
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Agreed there were native linux games written for linux, but remind me because I forgot - I believe Doom had been ported or something. Because I remember running it both at home in linux and I remember people running it in the computer labs off the Unix mainframe.
Doom was officially ported to Linux in 1994, and a modified version of Linux Doom was made source-available in 1997, then open-source (GPLv2) in 1999. It was one of the first high-quality open-source games. Those versions do not work on current Linux distros, but they have enabled modern source ports such as PrBoom+ and Chocolate Doom to be developed, and those are available in nearly every distro's repository.
Ya there is prboom which is installable on Linux. Also dosbox was a thing for playing dos games on Linux
90's Linux gaming was a lot of Freeciv, Doom, Quake 3, and Tux Racer.
Wine really didn't work for shit for AT LEAST another decade, and even then, didn't really really work for a further decade after that. It took a very very long time for Wine to get to where it is now with Proton and playing basically everything that doesn't need a rootkit to run.
As for finding Linux games, I could just go to Microcenter. They had a whole shelf full of Linux software ranging from distros, to games, to commercial office suites, to just random shit that looked like it was boxed up in some guy's garage and contained just... stuff. I miss being able to buy software in big shiny boxes, though :(
Not an American but, other than the odd actual Linux distribution ( like Red Hat ), I do not think I ever saw boxed Linux software for sale. That sounds amazing.
I mean, you could order things like WordPerfect I guess. But I never saw it on a shelf.
I mean, it wasn't a shockingly large amount of software or anything, but they always had a good selection of software.
The store opened here in like 1993 or 1994, and they always had a full selection of OSes and software for them: Dos, Windows, OS/2, Linux, BeOS, and so on.
Still open and still a cool place, but mostly just computer hardware bits and a section full of games and maker stuff now and not really any more software.
I think you may have made the same mistake that I did. Freeciv and DOOM are mid-90’s but Tux Racer did not appear until 2000 and Quake 3 did not come to Linux until even later.
What I remember as 90’s Linux gaming is probably from the early 2000’s.
Check-out the “Top 10” at the end of 2000:
https://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/20/linux.games.idg/index.html
I remember playing Q3 at home before graduating high school, and that appears possible (though barely), but uh, it maaay have been on Windows at that point since I did swap between Linux and Windows.
My brain just kinda lumped it in to the '90s games on Linux' group, I guess.
Windows and DOS games started working well later, as WINE and DOS emulator were evolving.
But Linux had a thriving gaming scene of its own:
- You've already mentioned Loki who made native ports.
- Another type of "ports" were game engines made from scratch that used the level files of the original, games like Doom, Transport Tycoon, Caesar III, Panzer General, Stunts, ReVolt etc. You had to own the game files but the executable was FOSS.
- There were lots of cool native games, many shooters (Warsow , Nexuiz, Cube, Tremulous), strategy games, cool arcade games (Tux Racer, Atomic Worm, H-Craft, Droid Assault), the rogue genre which debuted on UNIX and had tons of variants and so on.
I'm only a casual gamer so this is just stuff I ran across occasionally, there was probably more.
Another type of “ports” were game engines made from scratch that used the level files of the original
ScummVM is one of these which plays (some) LucasArts point'n'click adventure games, like Day of the Tentacle. But it's a bit newer than 1990s, quick search says that it was released around 2001/2002.
All the ID Software stuff worked ( eg. DOOM, Quake ) but outside of them and Loki, not a lot of commercial stuff. And I don’t think the Loki catalogue was very current or extensive.
There were lots of Linux native games but they were much more primitive ( though not necessarily less fun ) like Tux Racer and Pingus. There were also adventure games.
There was also a thriving game engine “clone” scene, especially for Blizzard stuff. Not all of it ever really got there in terms of features or quality. These were designed to work with the “assets” from actual commercial games. There was Stargus for Warcraft and StarCraft for example. There is DevilutionX for Diablo which is great. Often there were fully open source games built off these same engines ( BosWars? ).
By the standards of today, the Linux gaming scene would have seemed pretty shitty. You were not playing the same AAA titles as your Windows friends. However, if you were a Linux enthusiast, there were plenty of really fun options to keep you entertained.
I think Linux has always been a bit better off than Mac with regards to gaming.
[ Edit: Memory correction - DevilutionX is way more recent. Even Stargus did not appear until 1998 as did Pingus. Tux Racer was not until 2000. Loki was a 1999 thing too. So, my comments above are perhaps more valid for 1998 - 2005 than 1991 - 1998. DOOM was 1994 at least and Quake was 1996. ]