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**claydoh** · Dec 22, 2020, 08:54 PM

I can't make any useful suggestions, but Steam has a yuuuge library of games, not just the shoot-em-ups, and if they don't have native Linux support, they probably run using it's built-in Proton thingy (custom Wine, essentially)
Worth a browse, at least.
And GoG, as well...

**GreyGeek** · Dec 22, 2020, 10:09 PM

I second Claydoh's suggestion.

I have several Steam games but my favorite is Universal Sandbox^2. Their Kerbal Space Program is neat.

In other areas I've installed SpaceEngine-0.98.exe under WINE. It runs super.

Another game I've enjoyed for the last 10-11 years is Minecraft, especially running a server for my grandkids. However, my grandkids appear to have found other interests and Microsoft is beginning to force people to create Microsoft accounts in order to log into the game. When that happens I'm bailing. It was a great ride, though.

There is a Minecraft clone in the repository called Minetest. Like Minecraft, you can run it in the peaceful mode and not have to contend with dangerous mobs. Richard Jeffries had created several hundred videos of several versions of Minetest, and lately Mineclone2. He doesn't do mobs and uses the building features of Minetest to build all sorts of buildings, landscapes, etc.

**TWPonKubuntu** · Dec 22, 2020, 10:17 PM

I play several games, all from the Linux repositories:

0ad - "zero ad" - Sprites do die but you are omnipotent until you lose your entire army. Many campaigns available.
BOS Wars - Sprites do die in the game, so you might not like it.
Endless Sky - Ships go boom in the game, but no blood. This can be a long campaign game with hidden sub-plots and you may die many times as you get started.
Dink - Freedink version. Many Dink Mods (Dmods) available.

And let us not forget Solitaire, the card game. Kpat in the repositories.

**oshunluvr** · Dec 23, 2020, 10:08 AM

Kubuntu:
Pingus - Problem solving and slight hand-eye. Remake of the old Lemmings game
KGoldrunner - Problem solving and moderate hand-eye. Remake of the old Lode Runner
KMahjongg - Classic tile game
KBounce - Moderate or better hand-eye. Remake of the old Jezzball Windows 98 game.

Steam:
Cogs - Puzzle solving.

I also play Railroad Tycoon on Steam. You can tell I like the classic games since most of theses are at least decades old.

I used to play Railroad Tycoon, Lode Runner and Lemmings off of floppy disks on my Apple IIc!

**oshunluvr** · Dec 23, 2020, 10:16 AM

I do play 0 A.D. (love it) and War Thunder on Steam also but the request was non-violent.

There is blood in 0 A.D. but it's a lot of fun and a neat concept - a real time-killer though. I've played games that take 4-5 hours! I can't wait for them to populate the campaigns!

No blood in War Thunder, but a military game where you kill other payers on-line. A ton of fun but not easy. I die a lot!

**DoYouKubuntu** · Dec 23, 2020, 12:22 PM

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Keep 'em coming!

I failed to mention that in addition to scouring Synaptic, I've also done numerous searches online, and the results were kind of overwhelming. Regardless of how I fine-tuned my search, I always ended up with at least some games that are for ... *cough* ... those other OSes, or don't fit what I'm looking for. I must say, though, I've been very impressed by the great graphics of the Linux games I've seen along the way.

I'm glad there's no longer the assumption that if you're using Linux, you want to play greed at a command line. (The 'greed' I'm referring to came with my SCO Xenix distribution; it may or may not be the same 'greed' as in other *nix distros from the time. It was fun! I loved it. Spent many a few minutes playing it while giving myself a break. But that's not what I'm looking for right now.)

As for Steam (steam?), I think I had that installed at one point. To test something for someone here, IIRC. And it worked, I posted shots, and then...I have no idea. But that was a long time ago. Is there anything in particular I need to know about steam?

Oh--my all-time favorite computer game was Roller Coaster Tycoon, which I played on every computer I owned since its inception. Last year, I wanted to play it--and couldn't FIND its disc. I had a no-disc patch which allowed me to play it without the disc, but it wasn't cheating/stealing. You had to own the actual game, install it, then apply the no-disc patch, and from then on, on that computer, you'd no longer need to insert the disc to play. Anyway, I don't know where it went while I was busy doing other things!

FWIW, one time, when I had just gotten a new computer--that came pre-installed with window$--I fired it up, installed RCT and played it for a few minutes. Then I wiped the drive, installed Kubuntu, and installed RCT. You know what? It played better on Linux (using wine) than it did on window$! On the same machine. Seriously, it was much smoother, had no lag time, overall was just better.

And, in case anyone cares, I have nothing against shoot-em-up games. Remember Wolfenstein? I was an ace at that. It's just at this point in my life, after what I've been through, I actively avoid certain things and focus only on others. I used to be an avid fan of crime shows, both fictional and real life; now I don't touch them. I used to watch a lot of news; now I only watch a limited amount each day so I know what's going on in the world. I used to love medical shows...now? Not so much!

And so on. I focus on lighthearted, upbeat stuff.I want games to be entertaining, not bloody and depressing.

**GreyGeek** · Dec 23, 2020, 01:04 PM

Originally posted by DoYouKubuntu View Post

....
As for Steam (steam?), I think I had that installed at one point. To test something for someone here, IIRC. And it worked, I posted shots, and then...I have no idea. But that was a long time ago. Is there anything in particular I need to know about steam?
.....

The main thing about Steam is that they have dramatically increased their number of Linux offerings in recent years. But, they are profit driven and if a title doesn't sell it will soon disappear from their site. I played Portal for a while and then forgot about it. Several installs later I re-installed Steam and refreshed my library holdings. Portal wasn't among them, but they offered Portal 2. I don't recall how much it costs but it was cheap ... maybe less than $10. Beautiful game. Bought it for my two grandsons as well. Another Steam game I liked really well was Castle. The task is to build a castle by mining and constructing, all while defending against gnomes that attack at random times. Defense requires a strategy. Then, it suddenly began having display problems. The very small triangles which created the geography became large and the game would hang. I haven't tried it since then (about 4 or 5 years ago).

My oldest grandson is now 23, married and lives in Nashville. He is a song writer and producer. He produced and co-wrote the Tennessee Titans newest fight song. He was into flight sims.

My middle grandson is now 19 and is in his freshman year at Central College, Pell, IA, majoring in energy engineering. I gave him my Acer V3-771G and bought a new computer for myself. He complained that the Acer wasn't fast enough so I took back the Acer and gave him my new one, which wasn't a game machine, as his school laptop. A couple months ago he texted me asking how he could speed up Minecraft on that new computer. Some java settings and display settings later he said MC was faster but not fast enough. A couple weeks later my daughter texted me asking if I could pitch in some $$$ for a new computer for Tyler. His birthday was 9/28 and my gift could be considered both a birthday and an xmas gift

My daughter texted that he got his new GAMING computer a week ago, just in time for xmas.

My youngest grandson is now a freshman in HS and he's a gaming guru. He's had every flight sim M$ has released, including peddles and controls, every playstation released, a 3D gaming device with headset and hand controls, and a ton of other games. But, what did he play the most? Online Fortnight and a WWII shoot'm up. He was so addicted that his folks blocked the IP addresses of those games using their router and forbid him from playing them. I don't know how they are blocking his phone from accessing them. He's learned to play the drums, the Cello, the piano, and now the Sax. He's now getting straight A's in HS. I hope he keeps it up for his own sake. /bragging

**oshunluvr** · Dec 23, 2020, 03:55 PM

Roller Coaster Tycoon - all of them - are on Stream, but only Windows.

**claydoh** · Dec 23, 2020, 04:11 PM

Originally posted by oshunluvr View Post

Roller Coaster Tycoon - all of them - are on Stream, but only Windows.

You have heard of Steam's Proton, haven't you? I play quite a few games that don't have a native Linux version, and can't tell the difference, most times.
Recent high end, like Metro Exodus play like they were native

https://www.protondb.com/search?q=ro...aster%20tycoon

https://gamecrate.com/linux-gaming-p...x-proton/25263

Currently playing Max Payne 3
Looking at my Steam Library, it is easy to see why I don't have many suggestions, lol

But I forgot the awesomely fun and violence-free Portal games.

**DoYouKubuntu** · Dec 23, 2020, 04:15 PM

Excellent, GG! That's very exciting about your grandson and the Titans' fight song. Brag away. I enjoy hearing stuff like this.

Thanks for the info about Steam, too. From my recent searches I knew they have a LOT more to offer now than before, but it was so overwhelming, well, I came here! Games I enjoy right now are themed, mystery-ish, problem solving, exploring/discovering, adventurous to a degree, with a strong story-line and great graphics. I don't want to jump/shoot/swing/dig etc.

Remember when video arcades were all the rage? I do. Oh boy, do I! My best friend [at the time], Jeff, and I got really good on all the Pac- games. Our hands-down favorite was Ms Pac-Man; we co-played each game--which would last several hours. In other words, we played 'one player' and took turns clearing screens; how many depended on the game. And it would last hours. We had fan-boys (and girls) who'd huddle around us as we played at our 'home' arcade.

Occasionally, we'd go to an arcade we'd never been to; sometimes, our reputations had preceded us.

We'd get on our bar-stools, put a couple of tokens up on the dash (to indicate we'd be playing again), and start playing. I'm laughing just thinking about this: we were actually asked to leave an arcade once.

That was after we'd been on one token for...maybe...five? hours.

We decided we wanted to roll over a Pac-Man machine. Pac-Man had 255 levels. Once you cleared the last screen, it would 'roll over'--its graphics would go berserk, it acted just like it had been unplugged and restarted. We calculated how long it would take and planned accordingly. During the game, he and I each left for awhile, him to pick up his mom from work and take her home, and me [with my daughter] to pick up my husband from work.

I no longer recall exactly how long it took, but it was an all-day kind of thing. I also don't recall how we kept track of where we were in the game, but somehow we knew when we were nearing the end, and the anticipation was crazy. We made sure my husband and daughter were close so they could see it. And then it happened! Rolled over, restarted, and reset the high score to 0. Such fun!

We made up a set of cards containing answers to our most FAQ. Seriously. One said "no, he's not my husband" and another "no, she's not my wife." Others said things like "yes, we are awesome!" and "no, we will not give up this machine under any circumstances," "we've been playing together since X," "[my][his][our] high score on [Pac-Man][Ms Pac-Man][etc.] is X," and so on. While I was playing, he'd thumb through and find the right cards, and vice versa.

The funniest comment we ever got...well, it's not really funny...I guess you had to be there... Jeff had just arrived and I was already playing. A fan-boy had been watching me play. Just as Jeff got near, the guy said to me, "you're smart at this game!" Jeff and I cracked up laughing. I had to pause the game, I was laughing so hard. I thanked the guy, and eventually went on playing. I don't know why it seemed so funny at the time.

Jeff died exactly one month before 9/11. Totally unexpected...and shocking. He was only 37. I haven't played in years, but I think about him, and our time together, often.

**DoYouKubuntu** · Dec 23, 2020, 04:31 PM

Originally posted by oshunluvr View Post

Roller Coaster Tycoon - all of them - are on Stream, but only Windows.

Originally posted by claydoh View Post

You have heard of Steam's Proton, haven't you? I play quite a few games that don't have a native Linux version, and can't tell the difference, most times.
Recent high end, like Metro Exodus play like they were native

https://www.protondb.com/search?q=ro...aster%20tycoon

https://gamecrate.com/linux-gaming-p...x-proton/25263

Okay, so now I'm confused. In order to play RCT now--keeping in mind that I can't find my disc--what/how would I do that? I don't mind paying for it, again. (I bought the original game, and then its next version and all of its expansion packs; I tried, but did not like, version 3.)

Currently playing Max Payne 3
Looking at my Steam Library, it is easy to see why I don't have many suggestions, lol

But I forgot the awesomely fun and violence-free Portal games.

Portal games? That GG mentioned? So we'd be talking Portal 2? I'll have to take a look, and also at Castle, which GG also mentioned.

**DoYouKubuntu** · Dec 23, 2020, 06:24 PM

Update: I've installed Steam--and was even able to log in using the account I created in 2014!

Personal recommendations, Steam or not, matching my tastes still appreciated.

**GreyGeek** · Dec 23, 2020, 06:55 PM

DKK, did you ever play Tron, and get caught up in it?

**DoYouKubuntu** · Dec 24, 2020, 12:16 PM

GG, I played Tron a few times, but didn't really get into it. My husband liked it better than I did. His favorite was...crap...what was its *name? It had pterodactyls flying around... Damn it. I'll remember, eventually. At Disneyland back then, there was one part of the People Mover ride that simulated Tron. It was really cool!

The Pac-family games were definitely my favorite, but I also liked, and got really good at, Galaga and a few others. My daughter loved Donkey Kong, and was much better at it than I was.

EDIT: *Joust! That was it.

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