Hello, open gaming fans! In this week's edition, I take a look at creating your own version of a Steam Box and custom controllers based on open hardware, virtual reality hand tracking, and more!
Open source and Linux games: March 22 - 28, 2015
Custom controllers with Arduino
While a game's primarily controls are the keyboard and mouse, there are other controllers that can be added to enhance your gaming experience. At Hackaday, Brian Benchoff writes about some of these projects that are based on Arduino boards. Some of these controllers provide a "control panel, complete with sliders, pots, gauges, and all the other goodies a proper command pod should have."
Kerbal Space Program is a multi-genre game where the players create their own space program. In KSP, you must build a space-worthy craft, capable of flying its crew out into space, without killing them. At your disposal is a collection of parts, which must be assembled to create a functional ship. Each part has its own function and will affect the way a ship flies (or doesn't). So strap yourself in, and get ready to try some Rocket Science!
Raspberry Pi 2 streams games to TV
A great article on lifehacker covers the Possible Unsafe show with Patrick Norton and Michael Hand on their episode about creating a Steam Box-like, streaming device with a Raspberry Pi 2, for playing PC games on the big screen. In this tutorial, Norton and Hand use LimeLight, an open source implementation of NVIDIA's GameStream.
Note: This isn't an official SteamBox, and it doesn't use SteamOS or in-home streaming.
Faceplate and hand tracking for OSVR
There was more news this week on the open source virtual reality headset, OSVR. Leap Motion pushes forward a faceplate that allows for hand tracking. This is done through an embedded camera using the OSVR internal USB ports. Powered by Leap Motion sensors and software, this peripheral will make it easier "to give users some idea of the space around them while still wearing the headset." It will be available from Razer’s store for the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit.
Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle coming to Steam
A new puzzle game for Linux has been announced by HandMade Game, and it's called Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle. This is a sequel to Rooms: The Main Building. As Linux Gaming News writes, a release date has not been announced, but more news is to follow in the coming weeks.
Friendship Club action multiplayer now on Steam
The multiplayer arena shooter Friendship Club for Linux, is now on Steam. "Catch bullets with supreme agility. Headbutt your opponents into oblivion."
Imaginary friends do battle in the mind of young Timmy Bibble! Who will be victorious in this arena of improbable dimensions, where no two rooms are the same and bullets bounce forever?! Get your buddies together for the ultimate showdown in this bullet hell party game!
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