Loki Entertainment Explained

Loki Software, Inc.
Type:Privately
Industry:Video games
Founder:Scott Draeker
Fate:Bankruptcy
Hq Location City:Tustin, California
Hq Location Country:US
Num Employees:Approx. 10
Num Employees Year:2001

Loki Software, Inc. (Loki Entertainment) was an American video game developer based in Tustin, California, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux. It took its name from the Norse deity Loki.[1] Although successful in its goal of bringing games to the Linux platform, the company folded in January 2002 after filing for bankruptcy.

History

Loki Software was founded on November 9, 1998, by Scott Draeker, a former lawyer who became interested in porting games to Linux after being introduced to the system through his work as a software licensing attorney. By December of that year Loki had gained the rights to produce a port of Activision's then-upcoming strategy game for Linux.[2] [3] [4] This was to become Loki's first actual product, with the game hitting stores in May 1999.[5] From there they gained contracts to port many other titles, such as , Railroad Tycoon II, and Eric's Ultimate Solitaire.[6] Throughout the next two years up until its eventual closure the company would continue to bring more games to Linux.[7] BSDi had also partnered with Loki to ensure its Linux ports ran on FreeBSD through a compatibility layer.[8] After facing financial difficulties,[9] Loki filed for bankruptcy in August 2001.[10] [11] [12] [13] The majority of the staff was laid off in January 2002 and Loki formally closed on January 31.[12] [14]

Legacy

Loki Software, although a commercial failure, is credited with the birth of the modern Linux game industry.[15] Loki developed several free software tools, such as the Loki installer (also known as Loki Setup), and supported the development of the Simple DirectMedia Layer. They also started the OpenAL audio library project (now being run by Creative Technology and Apple Inc.) and with id Software wrote GtkRadiant. These are still often credited as being the cornerstones of Linux game development.[16] They also worked on and extended several already developed tools, such as GCC and GDB.[17] The book Programming Linux Games written in the early 2000s by Loki intern John R. Hall explains the major APIs Loki used to produce Linux games.[18] [19]

Loki also offered a start to many figures still in the Linux and gaming industries. Ryan C. Gordon (also known as icculus), a former employee of Loki, has been responsible for the Linux and Mac OS X ports of many commercial games after the demise of the company. Mike Phillips would help start Linux Game Publishing, which was itself founded in response to Loki's closure.[20] Nicholas Vining would go on to do some porting work and is currently the lead programmer at Gaslamp Games, which would later release their game Dungeons of Dredmor for Linux.[21] [22] Sam Lantinga would also later join Blizzard Entertainment and found Galaxy Gameworks to commercially support the Simple DirectMedia Layer; he would later also join Valve's Linux team.[23]

Although many Loki ports are unsupported since Loki's closure, Linux Game Publishing managed to pick up the rights to MindRover and offer a supported and updated version of the game's Linux port. id Software picked up the support for the Linux release of Quake III Arena,[24] hiring Timothee Besset to maintain it; he would later also be responsible for porting some of id's later products to Linux.[25] Running with Scissors, to celebrate the release of the movie Postal in 2007 published a multiplayer only version of Postal 2, without the single player campaign.[26] In 2004 the source header files for Rune were released freely by Human Head Studios.[27] But so far no one has updated the Linux version of Rune, though the company stated that a game sequel is in the making, and delayed the development of Prey 2.[28]

Software contractor Frank C. Earl claimed in 2010 to hold the porting rights for the entire Myth series and says he will port it to Linux.[29] Kevin Bentley worked in 2009 on a Descent 3 patch for Linux,[30] which was re-released in 2014 on Steam by Rebecca Heineman, who got blessed source code access.[31] On October 16, 2011, Project Magma released a new version of for Linux.[32] [33]

Games published

TitlePlatforms
IA-32PowerPCSPARCAlpha
Descent 3
Descent 3: Mercenary (expansion, as downloadable installer only)
Eric's Ultimate Solitaire
Heavy Gear II
Heretic II
Heroes of Might and Magic III
MindRover
Postal Plus
Railroad Tycoon II Gold Edition
Quake III Arena
Rune
(expansion)
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack[34]
Sim City 3000: Unlimited/World Edition
Soldier of Fortune
Tribes 2
Unreal Tournament (as downloadable installer only)

In addition to the published titles, there is also an unfinished port of Deus Ex. The later update of Deus Ex for Microsoft Windows features the OpenGL driver for the Unreal Engine from Loki Software's Linux port. This makes the title more compatible with Wine.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2012-03-09 . Linux Today - Loki Entertainment Software -- When's the IPO? . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120309114102/http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=1999-04-12-001-05-NW-LF . March 9, 2012 .
  2. Web site: Loki: A promising plan gone terribly wrong . Dennis E. . Powell . April 9, 2002 . LinuxAndMain . https://archive.today/20020418225227/http://www.linuxandmain.com/features/lokistory.html . April 18, 2002 . dead . September 6, 2009 .
  3. Web site: Interview: Scott Draeker and Sam Latinga, Loki Entertainment Linux Journal . 2023-06-29 . www.linuxjournal.com.
  4. He Finds Open Source Fair Game . Wired Staff . February 1, 2000 . . October 1, 2019.
  5. Web site: 2004-09-28 . Linux Today - Civilization: Call to Power for Linux Ships . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040928104229/https://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/1999050700505NW . September 28, 2004 .
  6. Web site: 2000-12-03 . Loki releases three more games for Linux . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20001203034800/http://www.idg.net/idgns/1999/05/18/LokiReleasesThreeMoreGamesFor.shtml . December 3, 2000 .
  7. Web site: 2001-08-20 . Linux Games - Loki Retrospective . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20010820024435/http://www.linuxgames.com/articles/lokiretro/ . August 20, 2001 .
  8. Web site: Loki and BSDi partner to certify Linux games for BSD. Linux.com. JT. Smith. 2000-08-15. 2023-07-01.
  9. Web site: Loki: A promising plan gone terribly wrong. Dennis E. . Powell . January 14, 2011. https://archive.today/20020418225227/http://www.linuxandmain.com/features/lokistory.html. dead. April 18, 2002. April 9, 2002 . linuxandmain.com.
  10. Web site: 2008-02-24 . Linux Today - Founder, Creditors Differ as to Loki's Future Course . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080224170221/http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-08-17-014-20-NW-BZ-LF&tbovrmode=3 . February 24, 2008 .
  11. Web site: 2012-02-03 . Linux game publisher runs out of funds – Video Games Reviews, Cheats Geek.com . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120203194859/http://www.geek.com/articles/games/linux-game-publisher-runs-out-of-funds-20010814/ . February 3, 2012 .
  12. Web site: 2002-02-02 . NewsForge Loki's Draeker: If I had to do it over, I'd create Linux native games . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20020202221402/http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/01/24/2118235 . February 2, 2002 .
  13. Web site: icculus.org headlines. www.icculus.org. 2019-11-11.
  14. Web site: GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins, Page 2 of 19 . John . Keefer . March 31, 2006 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20070609133045/http://www.gamespy.com/articles/697/697083p2.html . June 9, 2007 . dead.
  15. Web site: Remembering Loki's Linux games from the '90s. Jim. Lynch. InfoWorld. 2016-09-07. 2023-02-26.
  16. Web site: 2018-08-29 . Does Ragnarok for Loki Spell Doom for Linux Games? ITworld . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180829175620/https://www.itworld.com/article/2785732/open-source-tools/does-ragnarok-for-loki-spell-doom-for-linux-games-.html . August 29, 2018 .
  17. Web site: 2004-08-08 . LinuxDevCenter.com: An Interview with Loki Games' Scott Draeker . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040808002214/http://linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2000/03/17/loki.html . August 8, 2004 .
  18. Web site: Warren . Rich . Programming Linux Games: A Book Review . Linux Journal . 2002-02-15 . 2017-04-18 . mdy-all .
  19. Web site: In Memoriam: John R. Hall . Linux Journal . 2005-09-23 . 2017-04-18 . mdy-all .
  20. Web site: LinuxHardware.org - Interview with LGP's Mike Phillips . dead . https://archive.today/20100712202455/http://www.linuxhardware.org/article.php?story=03/06/16/1819216 . 2010-07-12 . 2023-06-29 . www.linuxhardware.org.
  21. http://lgn.linux-hardcore.com/classic-roguelike-dungeons-of-dredmor-is-coming-to-gnulinux-soon Classic Roguelike : Dungeons of Dredmor Is Coming To GNU/Linux Soon
  22. Web site: 2010-10-29 . LinuxGames - Embrace your inner penguin . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101029184631/http://www.linuxgames.com/archives/15938 . October 29, 2010 .
  23. Web site: Valve Picks Up Another All-Star Linux Developer . 2023-06-29 . www.phoronix.com . en.
  24. Web site: 2018-10-22 . Quake 3 Arena takes Linux by force Linux Containers . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181022232458/http://linux.sys-con.com/node/32874 . October 22, 2018 .
  25. Web site: 2004-09-24 . LinuxGames - For the People . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040924113843/http://www.linuxgames.com/?dataloc=articles/ttimo/ . September 24, 2004 .
  26. Web site: Download Postal 2: Share the Pain Linux 1409.2. softpedia. June 13, 2008. english. 2019-11-11.
  27. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20041013080815/http://www.humanhead.com/index.php. October 13, 2004. Human Head Studios releases Rune Headers!. September 28, 2004 . humanhead.com. December 30, 2012.
  28. Web site: 2012-04-19 . Source: Human Head hasn't worked on Prey 2 since November . 2023-06-29 . Shacknews . en.
  29. Web site: Soldak Entertainment Forums - View Single Post - Linux client ? . 2023-06-29 . www.soldak.com.
  30. (2009)
  31. Web site: Olde Sküül . 2023-06-29 . www.facebook.com . en.
  32. Web site: 2011-10-30 . LinuxGames - Embrace your inner penguin! . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111030003750/http://www.linuxgames.com/archives/17664 . October 30, 2011 .
  33. Web site: 2015-09-13 . Project Magma :: Archives . 2023-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150913070827/http://projectmagma.net/archives.php?archive=1325401200&subaction=list-archive& . September 13, 2015 .
  34. Web site: Loki: In The Trenches . October 9, 2000 . linux.com . February 5, 2011 . Emmett . Plant . July 23, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110723232835/http://linux.omnipotent.net/article.php?article_id=10980 . dead .

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