FOSSPicks
Prince of Persia clone
SDLPoP
Prince of Persia is one of the best 2D platform and adventure games of all time. Originally released in 1989 at the end of the 8-bit era and developed by Jordan Mechner on an Apple II, the game was remarkable for several reasons. The first was its realistic character animation. The sideways animations for the main character and his various enemies were all drawn by hand from actual video footage of Jordan Mechner running, jumping, and sword fighting. This gave the game an uncanny realism that was only matched when motion capture became prevalent many years later. Another reason the game was so compelling was its game play. You start in a palace dungeon with only 60 minutes to escape and save the heroine. Through countless hours of play testing, the game difficulty and playability was fine-tuned perfectly, making the quest not too difficult but not too easy either. The gaps between platforms were perfectly placed, as were the enemies and challenges in finding your way out. There was just enough variety and challenge to keep you hooked, as many of us were.
While the original game has never been released as open source, and the franchise continues on modern hardware, the hand-assembled original has now been decompiled and the resultant code rebuilt using SDL, creating SDLPoP. It's a perfect recreation of the original game, including the graphics, sound, music, and immortal gameplay. Even now, with the game more than 30 years old and modern games bundling ray tracing, AI, and hundreds of simultaneous online players, Prince of Persia is a lot of fun to play. This version also includes cheats (skip level, room navigation, kill and resurrection keys, and slow falling), mod support, and the ability to record video replay videos and save games, which also make it more accessible to a younger generation – or perhaps to those of us without the same wits and agility of our youth.
Project Website
https://github.com/NagyD/SDLPoP

Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
The GNU Project Celebrates Its 40th Birthday
September 27 marks the 40th anniversary of the GNU Project, and it was celebrated with a hacker meeting in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.
-
Linux Kernel Reducing Long-Term Support
LTS support for the Linux kernel is about to undergo some serious changes that will have a considerable impact on the future.
-
Fedora 39 Beta Now Available for Testing
For fans and users of Fedora Linux, the first beta of release 39 is now available, which is a minor upgrade but does include GNOME 45.
-
Fedora Linux 40 to Drop X11 for KDE Plasma
When Fedora 40 arrives in 2024, there will be a few big changes coming, especially for the KDE Plasma option.
-
Real-Time Ubuntu Available in AWS Marketplace
Anyone looking for a Linux distribution for real-time processing could do a whole lot worse than Real-Time Ubuntu.
-
KSMBD Finally Reaches a Stable State
For those who've been looking forward to the first release of KSMBD, after two years it's no longer considered experimental.
-
Nitrux 3.0.0 Has Been Released
The latest version of Nitrux brings plenty of innovation and fresh apps to the table.
-
Linux From Scratch 12.0 Now Available
If you're looking to roll your own Linux distribution, the latest version of Linux From Scratch is now available with plenty of updates.
-
Linux Kernel 6.5 Has Been Released
The newest Linux kernel, version 6.5, now includes initial support for two very exciting features.
-
UbuntuDDE 23.04 Now Available
A new version of the UbuntuDDE remix has finally arrived with all the updates from the Deepin desktop and everything that comes with the Ubuntu 23.04 base.