OpenArena


OpenArena is a free and open-source video game. It is a first-person shooter, and a video game clone of Quake III Arena.

Development

The OpenArena project was established on August 19, 2005, one day after the id Tech 3 source code released under GNU GPL license.
Its official website includes downloads for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. Thanks to third-party efforts, it is also available from the default repositories of a number of open-source operating systems, including Debian, Fedora, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Gentoo, Mandriva, Arch and Ubuntu. It is also in development for the Maemo mobile operating system. Ports for Raspberry Pi, Android and iOS are available, too.
An assets "reboot" named "OA3" is planned, with the aim of steering the art style away from the classic space and gothic themes to "something more manga inspired", while also raising its quality and performances standards.

Gameplay

OpenArena's gameplay attempts to follow Quake III Arena: score frags to win the game using a balanced set of weapons each designed for different situations, with just minor changes to the rules enabled by default.
Each match happens in an "arena": a map where players try to kill each other; some arenas are designed for Capture the flag and similar gametypes, so are built with two bases, for the two teams.
The Quake III style of play is very fast and requires skill to be played successfully online. It's an arcade-style gameplay which allows players to quickly move through maps thanks to "bouncepads", "accelerator pads", "teleporters" and advanced techniques such as "strafe jumping" and "rocket jumping". Some arenas include traps.
The game can be played online or offline. "Singleplayer" mode allows players to play a predefined series of deathmatches, unlocking a new "tier" of four maps after completing the previous one, or to create custom matches in any game type through the "skirmish" mode.

Game modes

As of OpenArena 0.8.8, maps can be played in at least one of these gametypes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Tournament, Capture The Flag, One Flag CTF, Harvester, Overload, Elimination, CTF Elimination, Last Man Standing, Double Domination and Domination:
The game is one of the most popular open-source first-person shooters, particularly among fans of the original Quake III. It has only really been negatively criticized as somewhat incomplete as of yet, with some saying that this detracts from long term play. OpenArena has also been praised for its portability and ability to run on old hardware. Internet play has also been praised, as well as the number of players found on the average OpenArena server. The game has also been credited for its creativity in bot design, rather than sticking to more traditional tropes. OpenArena is also available on macOS, with one reviewer praising it as one of the best free games for the Mac, noting that it is only slightly behind contemporary commercially funded games for the PC and consoles in terms of graphics and artificial intelligence.
OpenArena has been used as a platform for scholarly work in computer science. Some examples include streaming graphics from a central server, and visualizing large amounts of network data.