Wednesday, March 26, 2008

TeeWars becomes TeeWorlds, Stays Fun

A game I reviewed a while back, TeeWars has updated to a newer version 0.40 along with the updated weapons physics and gameplay comes a new name, TeeWorlds, and a new License. This was followed quickly by a bugfix release 0.4.1 a few days later.

I applaud the developers for all their hard work. TeeWorlds is a worthy upgrade and still way too much fun. A new weapon, the Laser Gun, was added. The physics tweaked and a double jump indicator has been added. Also included is a much needed map autodownloader. Gameplay balance has also been tweaked, although I didn't notice the changes in my testing. The game runs fine under Windows and Linux without hassle on my setups.

The laser seems a bit odd, kind of laggy. Could be just me though, as opponents seem to have no trouble hitting me with it.

A map editor is also included, Press Ctrl-Shift E to start it. Good luck figuring it out though as it is not supported by the developer as of yet.

Most interesting to me was the license change. I received many comments about the old license and the fact that it was not Open Source. Mattricks, the lead developer, reassured me that the new license would be.

Here is the text of the new license for TeeWorlds.

Copyright (C) 2007-2008 Magnus Auvinen

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
freely, subject to the following restrictions:

1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software
in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
appreciated but is not required.
2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
misrepresented as being the original software.
3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.
4. Neither this software nor any of its individual components, in original
or modified versions, may be sold by itself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMPORTANT NOTE! The source under src/engine/external are stripped
libraries with their own licenses. Mostly BSD or zlib/libpng license but
check the individual libraries.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that being said, contact us if there is anything you want to do
that the license does not premit.

#4 is a little troublesome, but according to the OSI's Open Source Definition, it qualifies.
Specifically

1. Free Redistribution

The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.

In the final analysis, I highly recommend TeeWorlds. A cute, fun, multiplayer online platform shooter.

For a more in depth look, see our previous review.

MrCopilot

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