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Tux Racer News Archive

Tux Racer 0.60.2 Released for Linux Sunday, October 15, 2000

This is a bug-fix release affecting the tuxracer Linux package only. This release fixes a bug that allowed cheating in cup mode (yes, I know some of you will be dissapointed :-). The configure script has also been completely rewritten -- it now checks for all OpenGL requirements, and finds OpenGL and Tcl in more locations.

Update (Oct. 15, 11:30 PM EST): I've discovered some problems with the configure script in 0.60.2, so I've released 0.60.3, which fixes those problems. If you downloaded 0.60.2 and it worked, there's no need to get 0.60.3, as the code hasn't changed at all.

Slashdotted! Sunday, October 8, 2000

On Friday, Slashdot ran a nice piece on Tux Racer. Of course, we "suffered" from the Slashdot effect -- receiving over 120,000 hits to our web site, and just under 20,000 downloads (not including mirror sites)!

Kudos to SourceForge for being able to keep up with this traffic!

Tux Racer Rated on FreeGamesWeb.com Thursday, October 5, 2000

FreeGamesWeb.com has rated Tux Racer a "Top Pick!"

Tux Racer Review on Total Demos Thursday, October 5, 2000

Total Demos has posted a review of Tux Racer, giving the game a "Recommended" rating (score 82%, 5/5 for gameplay). Thanks Total Demos!

Tux Racer Review on Tucows Wednesday, October 4, 2000

Tucows has posted a review of Tux Racer, giving the game their highest rating:

(5/5 penguins!)

Tucows is also mirroring the Tux Racer files; links are on the Downloads page. Thanks Tucows!

Debian Packages Available Wednesday, October 4, 2000

Oliver M. Bolzer has updated his Debian packages for Tux Racer. Instructions for obtaining and installing them are on the Downloads page.

Tux Racer 0.60.1 Released Tuesday, October 3, 2000

This is a bug-fix release affecting the tuxracer Linux package only. The fix addresses a compiling problem with older gl.h files. Thanks to Steve Baker for reporting this.

Call for Mirror Sites Tuesday, October 3, 2000

Several users have reported slow transfer rates when downloading from SourceForge. We are looking for mirror sites for our files in order to alleviate this problem. If you are able to mirror what will soon grow to about 40 MB of files, and have sufficient bandwidth, please contact jfpatry@sunspirestudios.com. Thanks.

We thank all of the people attempting to download Tux Racer for their patience while we resolve this matter.

Update (October 4, 10:45 AM EST): Thanks to all of those who stepped up and offered to mirror our files. We now have several mirrors set up, and that should be enough for the time being. Thanks again.

Tux Racer 0.60 Released Monday, October 2, 2000

Tux Racer 0.60 has been released. This is the first public release of the game since Sunspire Studios joined the development. The game now sports a completely revised interface, new gameplay features, improved graphics, sound and music, and joystick support. Both Linux and Windows versions of the game can be downloaded from the Downloads section.

Opening of www.tuxracer.com Monday, October 2, 2000

Sunspire Studios is proud to present a new web site, and new domain name, for Tux Racer. This site will be your source for the latest in news, downloads, and documentation (including the new FAQ and Manual for the game).

Sunspire Studios now developing Tux Racer 3 September 2000

I'm very happy to announce that Tux Racer is now being developed by Sunspire Studios, a very talented team of artists and developers (which happens to include me ;-). This is great news, since it means that Tux Racer development will proceed at a much faster rate. And you needn't worry -- Tux Racer will continue to be an open source game.

We've been working hard on the game over the past couple of weeks; here's a partial list of the new features that have been completed and will be appearing in the next release:

- Audio support (sound effects and music)
- Sky cubes (much nicer backgrounds and sky)
- Hard turns (Tux can now carve his way through a course)
- Jumping and flapping (increased air time!)
- Much improved camera modes
- Multiple tree types
- Course boundaries now definable by course designer
- Tux now leaves tracks in the snow as he slides
- Tux can do kewl tricks (flips and barrel rolls)

... and there's lots more in the works.

Of course, our changes are being committed to the Tux Racer CVS repository, so if you're impatient you can have a sneak peak (we try to keep the CVS version working, though of course there's no guarantee of that).

We're working towards a first milestone release in a couple of weeks. You can view our progress to date by checking out the fresh batch of screenshots that I've just posted.

Update 11 August 2000

It's been a long time since this page was last updated. The bad news is that I haven't had time to work on Tux Racer much over the last few months. The good news is that that has changed, and Tux Racer development has resumed. (In fact, I now have help -- more about that soon.) We hope to have a new release out soon (i.e., this month), so stay tuned!

On to the good stuff: Oliver M. Bolzer has put together Debian Tux Racer packages; get them from the Downloads section. Thanks Oliver!

The latest CVS version includes changes that allow tuxracer to compiler with Cygwin. I've also created a Win32 binary and put it in the Downloads section.

Last but definitely not least, Lee Anderson wrote a great article about Tux Racer for LinuxWorld. Thanks Lee!

RPMs now available; Tux Racer 0.12.1 Released 18 April 2000

I've created Tux Racer RPMs. These are still experimental and may not work for you. I recommend trying the SRPM if the RPM doesn't work.

I've also released version 0.12.1. This release fixes a bug that caused the RPM version to fail on its first run, and it also adds a cool new course.

As usual, everything is available from the Downloads section.

By the way, development has slowed this month as I finish up course projects at school. I should be able to spend more time on development in May.

Tux Racer 0.12 Released 2 April 2000

I've released Tux Racer 0.12 -- you can get it from the Downloads section. The main changes in this release are:

- Four new courses, other courses improved
- Additional Tux animation
- Tux now slides on belly, by popular demand (old style is now an option)
- Added "paddling" action so Tux can push himself along ("k" key by default)
- Performance enhancements:
  - Tux model simplified
  - View frustrum culling
  - Adaptive level-of-detail terrain rendering
  - Now use OpenGL vertex arrays
- Pause key ("p" by default)
- Configure enhancements
- Other minor enhancements

Enjoy!

Level-Loader Script-Fu Script 2 April 2000

Ingo Ruhnke has created another Script-Fu that loads an existing level into a multi-layered Gimp image. It's in the Downloads section.

KDE GUI Installer Updated 19 March 2000

Steffen Sobiech has updated his GUI installer for Tux Racer 0.11.1. You can get it from the Downloads section.

Terrain LOD and other performance enhancments 15 March 2000

Based on user feedback, I've recently been working on enhancing the performance of Tux Racer. One of the things that I've done is to render the terrain with varying levels of detail (LOD) -- roughly speaking, terrain that is closer to the camera is rendered with more detail. Combined with some other performance enhancements (view frustum culling, optimization of the Tux model), I've been able to improve framerates by 30-40% on my system (more if I sacrifice some detail).

This code is only in CVS at the moment; if you're adventurous you can get it from SourceForge. Here's a wireframe screenshot showing the terrain LOD code in action. (Update 19-Mar-2000: here's a screenshot with the LOD code turned off, for comparison.)

I believe that this makes Tux Racer the first open-source game to feature adaptive LOD terrain. Many thanks to Thatcher Ulrich, whose code was used (see Thatcher's excellent Gamasutra article for a description of the algorithm and a link to the demo code).

Tux Racer Development Plan 09 March 2000

I've sketched out a development plan for Tux Racer 1.0. Feedback is welcome.

Do You Script-Fu? 06 March 2000

(Wow, busy news day!) Ingo Ruhnke has created another Script-Fu helper script for the Gimp; this one creates a new image with the correct layer names and useful default colours. It's in the Downloads section.

KDE GUI Installer Available 06 March 2000

Steffen Sobiech has created GUI installer for Tux Racer 0.10.1. It requires KDE. You can get it from the Downloads section.

Script-Fu Helper Script 06 March 2000

Ingo Ruhnke has created a nice Script-Fu helper script for the Gimp; this should be useful to level designers. Grab it from the Downloads section.

Tux Racer 0.11.1 Released 06 March 2000

Well, at the last minute I introduced a silly bug into 0.11, so I've released Tux Racer 0.11.1 (ChangeLog). If Tux Racer 0.11 coredumped on you, this should fix it.

Tux Racer 0.11 Released 06 March 2000

I've released Tux Racer 0.11 (ChangeLog) -- Enjoy! This release introduces several changes for the benefit of course designers; they can now customize lighting, fog, and particle colour to their liking.

The biggest change to gameplay is that courses can now be played in "mirrored" mode, for added variety.

Two new user-contributed courses are also included -- keep them coming!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's offered feedback on Tux Racer so far -- the response has been incredible! 1600 downloads already, and it's only been a week. Wow!