https://web.archive.org/web/20100306130735/http://happypenguin.org/show?SimCar #Happypenguin RSS Games! By Name By Date Added By Last Update By Rating By Type __________ [Advanced Search] The Linux Game Tome Register Login News Submit a Game Forums About/FAQ SimCar Version: 3.0.0 Author: Matei Category: Simulation Rate this game yourself! Average of 8 Ratings: 4.29 4.29 4.29 4.29 SimCar Screenshot 3D car simulation game ( software rendering ) 3D game with the objective of simulating the action of driving a vehicle on a road. SDL library is used for display and there is no requirement (or support) for a 3D accelerator card. License: free Additional System Requirements: SDL - www.libsdl.org Sound: Play in X: Play in Console: Multiplayer: Network Play: 3D Acceleration: Source Available: yes yes no no no no yes * SimCar home page * Download SimCar If you try this software, don't forget to come back to this page and rate it! Submitted by Matei on 2010-01-03. ____________________________ [ Submit an update about this game ] ___________________________________ [Post a new comment] Comments [Show all 12 comment threads on one page] [1-10] [11-12] SimCar posted by xteraco @ 75.68.170.165 on Mar 4 2010 10:47 AM 5 5 5 5 5 [Reply] love software rendering posted by xteraco @ 75.68.170.165 on Mar 4 2010 10:47 AM 5 5 5 5 5 I love this project. Software rendering should get more attention imho. Not everyone has a nice videocard that can do 3d accel, and for that SW is the answer. Plus if more people used software rendering, we'd be less dependent on video card companies! HAHA. Keep it up man! [Reply] Re: love software rendering posted by xteraco @ 75.68.170.165 on Mar 4 2010 11:47 AM 5 5 5 5 5 Oh almost forgot DONT port it to C++ for the love of god. I saw someone suggest it and turned pale. [Reply] Fine demo posted by star@play @ 84.223.103.233 on Mar 1 2010 6:30 PM 4 4 4 4 Ok it's not a real game it is a simple demo of an engine but i love old school fascioned graphic so GOOD JOB! [Reply] Re: Fine demo posted by Matei @ 188.27.204.143 on Mar 1 2010 7:27 PM Well ... it doesn't have menus, or racing ... and you don't get to save the girl in the end (or the planet), so it definitely fails in providing the user with a sense of accomplishment, but now it has (almost) everything that I ever cared about in games with cars (by the way, I don't like real cars .. I even hate them). AND it runs on my Pentium 2, 400 MHz, which has no 3D drivers for the graphics card. Those features which would make it "a real game" are just annoying from my point of view. I don't need to kill pesky enemies for an hour before I can finally look at the landscape, or to race frantically to the finish and then be upset that I only got 3rd place. As far as I'm concerned, computer games are for spending 5 ... 10 minutes with them and then finding something more interesting to do. So "demo" is really just a matter of perspective. [Reply] Nice! :) posted by qubodup @ 79.242.129.22 on Mar 1 2010 6:12 PM 4 4 4 4 I like the new content and the new grass behavior is very much pleasant! Just an idea: direction and/or speed limit signs. [Reply] Great engine posted by Pantamorph @ 80.84.181.218 on Feb 20 2010 8:14 AM 5 5 5 5 5 The game is a demo so we can forgive it's shortness, but the code is pretty cool and the openoffice made graphics show that you can make cool stuff out of nothing [Reply] SimCar posted by qubodup @ 94.223.108.187 on Feb 6 2010 10:17 PM 4 4 4 4 If the horrid sound would be replaced by some nice motor hum, I would be able to enjoy this much more. Getting stuck on the grass is very annoying.. The new content is great :) [Reply] Re: SimCar posted by qubodup @ 94.223.108.187 on Feb 6 2010 10:17 PM 4 4 4 4 PS: I'm getting Unable to get AUDIO_U8 or AUDIO_U16 format all the time. [Reply] Re: SimCar posted by qubodup @ 94.223.108.187 on Feb 6 2010 10:18 PM 4 4 4 4 PPS: the controls are much better :) [Reply] Re: SimCar posted by qubodup @ 94.223.108.187 on Feb 6 2010 10:28 PM 4 4 4 4 PPPS: When you stop, while trying to get up a mountain... you can't accelerate.. Bug or feature? You decide! :D [EMBED] [Reply] Re: SimCar posted by Matei @ 188.27.206.146 on Feb 6 2010 10:48 PM When you stop, while trying to get up a mountain, press "R" for "reverse", go back and try again with more speed. So it's a feature, also mentioned in the "README" file. For more engine power, change the value of "pmax" in "simcar.c" at line 143. To avoid getting stuck on the grass, you can stay on the road, or, alternatively, look at the previous comments and assign some smaller values to variable "drg". I thought you might get some problems with the sound. Delete line 194 in "game.h" and change some numbers at line 208 in the same file if the horrid sound is too intense. Also, you can delete or comment lines 122...125 in "simcar.c" and listen to some music instead. The sound is probably horrid because none of the audio formats supported by your soundcard are supported by my soundcard. And the whole idea with free software is that I publish it, other people improve it, and then give it back to me so I can enjoy the modified and improved version ... or maybe not :) [Reply] Open Source development opinions posted by enjomitch @ 81.219.36.40 on Feb 7 2010 9:36 AM 4 4 4 4 "And the whole idea with free software is that I publish it, other people improve it, and then give it back to me so I can enjoy the modified and improved version ... or maybe not :)" That's true, but having a cenrtalised development is better than running diffs on various versions of the same files and trying to get it all working together. That said, I like the project so much that if I had time, I'd help cleaning the source a bit (no offense), making it more library-like, or maybe even port it to C++. This by the way would help others improve your code. But do you see? You said it yourself: "... so I can enjoy the modified and improved version ... or maybe not", hence the need of being in touch, and doing everything in consent with the main developer, because if you dislike something, all my work will be forgotten. Too many forks is are bad as not getting code back from the community. [Reply] Re: Open Source development opinions posted by Matei @ 188.27.205.214 on Feb 7 2010 11:43 AM No offense taken; I'm a civil engineer (well .. at least I have a degree in civil engineering), not a programmer / computer scientist and I learned programming almost 100% in my spare time. I like C very much and I find C++ unnecessarily complex for what I need. Also, its standard is not very well established yet, from what I read. And what I meant was more like "other people improve it, and then give it back to me ... or maybe not". I would probably enjoy any 3D game that actually runs on my computer. And as far as I'm concerned, 10 games are better than one. If you don't want your work to be forgotten, publish it. I don't know anything about CVS, SVN etc. All I care about is that the program runs, has as few non-standard library requirements as possible (i.e. SDL, which is 100% necessary because otherwise we could not see any image), is as easy to install as possible, all files are under GPL (including 3d models) and that it can be compiled with gcc and openwatcom (almost) without any modifications. [Reply] Re: Open Source development opinions posted by qubodup @ 188.102.144.152 on Feb 8 2010 12:07 AM 4 4 4 4 Your ideals are very nice ones. It might be useful to use a code repository though, if other people want to get involved. [Reply] Re: SimCar posted by qubodup @ 188.102.144.152 on Feb 8 2010 12:06 AM 4 4 4 4 Sorry, I didn't write the criticism well. Unfortunately I'm no programmer and my physics vocabulary is lacking, so I couldn't experiment with variables. br/> So the humm sound isn't horribly annoying (regarding volume, compared to listening to music)? Is anyone else having problem with the audio? [Reply] Better now posted by enjomitch @ 81.219.36.40 on Feb 6 2010 8:09 PM 4 4 4 4 Plays much better now, thanks! Still, I also think that friction on grass is too big. I've seen your code. It's just a parameter, isn't it? [Reply] Re: Better now posted by Matei @ 188.27.204.202 on Feb 6 2010 8:58 PM Variable "drg" in file "simcar.c", lines 178 ... 180. You may have also noticed that there are no collisions with trees, houses etc. Actually, you can even get inside the houses, right through the walls, and see what's inside, since there's no backface culling either. However, the game does work on my Pentium 2, 400 MHz (not that it's my only computer) at 320x240, displaying 30 .. 35 frames/second, depending on the track. Currently, there are very few free 3D graphic card drivers, most computers don't even have usable 3D acceleration available in Linux (or any other free operating system for that matter) and proprietary drivers are incompatible with the GPL license, under which Linux is available. Free game, free operating system, proprietary driver with restrictive license to spoil everything. Anyway, 10 years ago, there were lots of 3D games with software rendering engines, which didn't look so bad. Today, with computers 10 times as fast, there is definitely some potential, which unfortunately appears to be almost completely neglected ... [Reply] Ported to Haiku OS posted by michaelvoliveira @ 201.89.77.38 on Jan 28 2010 3:56 AM 5 5 5 5 5 Thank you for this amazing game http://www.haikuware.com/directory/view-details/games/3d/simcar [Reply] Re: Ported to Haiku OS posted by michaelvoliveira @ 201.66.86.85 on Feb 9 2010 5:56 AM 5 5 5 5 5 Thanks again! version 2.0.0 runs smoothly on Haiku! [Reply] SimCar posted by dusted @ 77.68.146.169 on Jan 4 2010 5:03 PM 3 3 3 Very cool, it reminds me of "Stunts" by broderbund, an ingame level editor, a simple HUD and making the car a bit fater outside the track, and we have something enjoyable :) [Reply] Re: SimCar posted by enjomitch @ 87.205.11.240 on Jan 5 2010 10:07 AM 4 4 4 4 Yes. Matei, if you are interested in knowing what to do to make the game playable, then I'm also with making this game more Stunts - like. Hills, ramps, tunnels, and other stuff. Check out ultimatestunts.nl . Your game has the same potential. [Reply] Sorry posted by Joshua @ 202.46.137.77 on Jan 3 2010 11:59 PM But wheres all the real games? I want a game, not an experiment that usually wont compile very easily, and once it does i can fiddle with for 2 minutes and never touch it again! [Reply] Re: Sorry posted by jamyskis @ 84.61.135.226 on Jan 4 2010 3:17 PM It's experiments and engines like these that help programmers and creators with less programming experience but more creative talent to create good games. [Reply] News Submit a Game Forums About/FAQ Copyright (c) 1999-2005 Bob Zimbinski. Feedback to staff@happypenguin.org.