Porting a Game to Linux

[mhumm2]

Hello;

I used to play an amazing first person shooter (FPS) under OS/2 Warp. The game was called Trials of Battle (TOB). I've done the research and as far as I can tell, no one owns the game anymore. It will run on eCom Station which is the the new face of, what was, Warp. I would love to get the game ported over and enhanced for Linux. The graphics probably need to be upgraded for the more powerful GFX cards, but the game play was great.

TOB started out with aliens abducting you and others from different planets and returning the captives to their home world. Once there, you had the opportunity to compete against other lifeforms in an arena. All the competitors used hovercraft. Each craft had defensive shields, radar, and weapons. You collected power-ups for energy, oxygen, and system enhancements. Again, it was a great game and I'd love to see it run natively under linux.

So how would one without the programming skills necessary start the process of such a port?

Mark

[claydoh]

You would need the source code first, to be able to port it.
Many old games run wonderfully well using dosbox, mame, or other similar emulators
But do look at this:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/arenachallenge/
Someone registered a project on sourceforge but never released anything

[HalationEffect]

But do look at this:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/arenachallenge/
Someone registered a project on sourceforge but never released anything

You're gonna kick yourself.... note the name of the sourceforge user at the top of the project page... then note the username of this thread's OP

[mhumm2]

Yes, that's quite a coincidence... and as you guessed HalationEffect, it's not one. Yes, i created that Sourceforge page in order to inspire and attact programmers to the project. I have a copy of TOB, but I do not have an OS/2 Warp machine or an eComStation machine to run it on. I am still interested in persuing this port.

I also have a 3d chess game I'd love to put into the Linux community. 3 chess boards with black and clear squares are stacked vertically. Black starts on the bottom and white starts on the top board. Every traditional 2d move is legal -- the 3d moves are extensions of each pieces 2d capabilities. Example: black king's rook to R1 lvl 3 (that the top board). So the Rook would move straight up 2 levels. On that square, the Rook is still protected from the King's Knight. All the knight has to do is move two levels straight up and one space over -- an extension of both pieces' 2d moves. It's a lot of fun.

Okay, I'm off my soap box for this session. Someday.... somebody..... with skills...will ask me the right question, such as, Send me a copy of the game and I'll see what I can do. I should have a rough beta finished in 2 or 3 months.

Mhumm2

[mhumm2]

Claydoh, yes, I did. That's my sourceforge page I started for this project. Nothing has been released because nothings been done. I was hoping to facilitate that effort or, at least, some effort. I'm not a coder I'm little more than a player of that game. Notice that the game itself ran under IBM's OS/2 Warp, not Windoze. Thanks anyway for answering.