SuperTux

SuperTux is a free and open-source two-dimensional platform video game published under the GNU General Public License (GPL).[7] The game was inspired by Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. series; instead of Mario, the hero in the game is Tux, the official mascot of the Linux kernel.

SuperTux
Original author(s)Bill Kendrick (code), Ingo Ruhnke (art)
Developer(s)SuperTux Development Team
Initial release0.1.1 / May 11, 2004 (2004-05-11)[1]
Stable release
0.6.3 / December 22, 2021 (2021-12-22)[2]
Repository
Written inC++,[3] Squirrel[4]
PlatformLinux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, BeOS, PSP, PlayStation 2,[5] Wii (homebrew, ported), Wii U (homebrew, running in vWii mode, ported), Nintendo 3DS (Homebrew port), Wiz, Pandora, BlackBerry, TI-Nspire, Android, Ubuntu Touch[6]
TypeSingle-player Platformer
LicenseGPLv3
Websitesupertux.org

History

The game was originally created by Bill Kendrick and is maintained by the SuperTux Development Team. It is written mostly in the C++ programming language.[8] Many of the in-game graphics were created by Ingo Ruhnke, author of Pingus.

The game was developed under usage of Simple DirectMedia Layer as cross-platform middlelayer targeting OpenGL and OpenAL. Game engine and physics engine are own developed. The game's metadata are S-Expressions of the programming language Lisp, scripts are written in Squirrel.

Updates

The development occurs in a series of stable milestones, each one improving steadily upon the last:

  • The versions[9] 0.0.0 (2000)[10][11] to 0.0.6 (2004)[12] were betas with only one level called "Antarctica"
  • Milestone 1 (versions 0.1.0 to 0.1.3) was released in 2004[1]
  • Version 0.3.0 was released on December 17, 2006, and features a whole new forest world.[13]
  • Version 0.4.0 was released on December 20, 2015, which features significant improvements to gameplay, all new graphics, a switch to SDL2, and new features.[14]
  • Milestone 2 (versions 0.5.0 and 0.5.1) was officially released as stable in 2016. It adds a built-in level editor and temporarily moves the forest worldmap to a "Contributed Levels" tab.[15][16]
  • Version 0.6.0 was released on December 23, 2018 with redesigned Icy Island and Forest, revamped rendering engine and many minor improvements.[17]
  • Version 0.6.3 was released on December 22, 2021 with ability to play in the browser, new features and many minor improvements.[18]

On January 13, 2022, SuperTux was released on Steam as an Early Access game.[19]

Gameplay

Gameplay in SuperTux is similar to Super Mario Bros.. Tux can jump under bonus blocks marked with question marks to gain coins or retrieve power-ups such as the egg, which makes Tux bigger and allows him to take an extra hit before dying. Other objects such as trampolines and invincibility granting stars can also be obtained from these blocks. Tux can defeat some bad guys by jumping on them, and most can be defeated or frozen by shooting bullets after collecting a fire flower or an ice flower. Earth flowers grant Tux a miner helmet with a spotlight for dark areas and can give invincibility for a few seconds, and air flowers allow Tux to glide in the air, jump higher and move faster. If Tux gets hit after he collected a flower, he loses his helmet and transforms back into big Tux. The objective of each level is to get to the end, usually marked by checker-patterned poles.[20]

At the end of "Icy Island", the first world in the game, the Yeti boss awaits Tux.

At the end of each world is a boss, such as the Yeti boss on Icy Island or the Ghosttree on the Forest World.

Contributed Levels
Level editor in 0.6.2

In addition to the two main worlds, there are contributed levels, which include the 4 Bonus Islands, a christmas and hallowen levelsets and a special retro levelset (Revenge in Redmond) designed to celebrate the game's 20th anniversary (2020).[21] In addition to these, there are installable addons and custom levels added by the player, either created in the internal Level Editor or added manually.

Add-on levels

There are additional add-on levels in SuperTux which can be installed with the built-in add-on manager or manually.[22] The add-on manager lists over 25 add-ons. New add-ons are usually published on the forum or in the Discord server and can be added to the list after testing.[23]

Plot
Tux, Penny, and Nolok

In the game, Tux begins in Icy Island. Tux holds a picnic with Penny, his girlfriend. He starts dancing and gets distracted, he doesn't notice that the villain of the game, named Nolok, kidnaps Penny. Once he finds that Penny is missing, and determined to save her, Tux begins his journey. He then navigates the Icy Island and later Forest to find her.[24]

Reception

In 2007 Punto Informatico described the atmosphere of the game as pleasant and praised the free availability of the game.[25]

In 2008, SuperTux was used as a game for children by school district #73 in British Columbia, which had decided to transition to free and open-source software.[26]

Also in 2008, SuperTux was bundled in the Linux Caixa Mágica distribution, known for its inclusion in the Portuguese Magalhães computer.

The game was ported to other platforms, including GP2X, Pocket PC, PSP,[27] and Palm WebOS.[28] The game was also scheduled to be included in the release of the EVO Smart Console as of April 2009.[29]

In May 2017 download portal Softpedia lists for the Linux version alone over 80,000 downloads,[30] Softonic over 750,000 downloads for the Windows version.[31][32] Between 2002 and May 2017 SuperTux aggregated also over 850,000 downloads via SourceForge.net.[33]

As of 2023, SuperTux has more than 1,000,000 downloads on Google Play[34] and a total of 34,690 downloads on CNET.[35][36][37][38][39]

See also

References
  1. Ruhnke, Ingo (May 10, 2004). "updated changelog". SuperTux Git repository.
  2. "Release SuperTux 0.6.3". GitHub. December 23, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  3. "SuperTux/supertux". GitHub. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  4. "Scripting_reference". GitHub. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  5. "SuperTux on PS2". PSX-Place. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  6. "SuperTux on OpenStore". OpenStore. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  7. "SuperTux license".
  8. "SuperTux/supertux: SuperTux source code". GitHub. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  9. "Super Tux - Browse /supertux at SourceForge.net". sourceforge.net. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  10. Kendrick, Bill (May 1, 2000). "[vox] Super Tux 0.0.0 (alpha!) released". Simple Directmedia Layer. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  11. "New Breed Software - Super Tux". New Breed Software. August 15, 2000. Archived from the original on August 15, 2000. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  12. "Super Tux - Browse /supertux/0.0.6 at SourceForge.net". sourceforge.net. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  13. "BerliOS Developer: File Release Notes and Changelog". December 17, 2006. Archived from the original on November 10, 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  14. "SuperTux 0.4.0". SuperTux. December 20, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  15. "SuperTux 0.5.0". SuperTux. September 25, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  16. "SuperTux 0.5.1". SuperTux. November 5, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  17. "SuperTux 0.6.0". SuperTux. December 23, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  18. "SuperTux 0.6.3". SuperTux. December 23, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  19. Dawe, Liam (January 13, 2022). "SuperTux released free on Steam, an open source classic". GamingOnLinux.
  20. "User Manual". SuperTux Wiki. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  21. "Release SuperTux v0.6.2". GitHub. May 14, 2020.
  22. "Add ons". SuperTux Wiki. Supertux developers. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  23. "Addons repository". GitHub. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  24. "Plot of SuperTux". www.supertux.org. SuperTux developers.
  25. "SuperTux" (in Italian). Punto Informatico. July 26, 2007. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  26. Hendrey, Andrew (April 7, 2008). "Canadian school district serves up lessons on the power of Linux". IT Business. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  27. Johansen, Jomar. "SuperTux PSP Edition". Archived from the original on September 6, 2006. Retrieved September 17, 2006.
  28. Palm Infocenter. "New webOS SDL Ports: SuperTux, TetriCrisis, ScummVM". Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  29. "Linux-Spielkonsole Evo Smart Console kommt auf den Markt" [Linux game console Evo Smart Console will be released] (in German). Die Presse. April 6, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  30. SuperTux Linux on Softpedia "80k" (May 2017)
  31. supertux (Spanish) on softonic (May 2017)
  32. supertux (English) on softonic (May 2017)
  33. stats 2000-05-16+to+2017-05-22 on sourceforge.net (May 2017)
  34. "SuperTux - Apps on Google Play". Google Play. February 7, 2023. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  35. "SuperTux for Mac - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download". CNET Download. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  36. "SuperTux for Windows - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download". CNET Download. June 18, 2023. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  37. "SuperTux for Linux - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download". CNET Download. June 18, 2023. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  38. "SuperTux Portable - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download". CNET Download. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  39. "SuperTux for Linux - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download". CNET Download. June 18, 2023. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
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