''Pingus'' is an
open-source video game
An open-source video game, or simply an open-source game, is a video game whose source code is open-source. They are often freely distributable and sometimes cross-platform compatible.
Definition and differentiation
Not all open-source games ...
programmed by German developer Ingo Ruhnke. It is a
clone
Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to:
Places
* Clones, County Fermanagh
* Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland
Biology
* Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...
of ''
Lemmings
A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...
'' with
penguin
Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
s instead of
lemmings.
Gameplay
Pingus has 55 levels, grouped into 5 level sets, as well as 21 winter-themed tutorial levels. Pingus 0.7.2 introduced 'levelsets', which are lists of related levels; levels in levelsets usually must be completed in order. However, there are many more levels included with the game not accessible from its GUI, some with entirely different graphics.
Development
Work on the game began in
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
. Version 0.6 was released in 2003 for
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
, and featured new levels and a level editor. On February 11, 2006 the game began being
ported from
ClanLib
ClanLib is a video game SDK, supporting Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, with partial support for mobile platforms. It has full hardware accelerated graphics support through OpenGL, and also a software renderer. ClanLib also helps in playing ...
to
Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL). On August 27, 2007 version 0.7.0 (the first version to use SDL) was released. In addition to
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and Linux, the switch to SDL enabled Pingus to be easily built on other platforms, including
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
's
OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
. On September 23, 2007 version 0.7.1 was released with a new
level editor. On October 31, 2007, version 0.7.2 was released with a set of
Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
-themed levels. There is a Windows 0.7.6 and an Intel OS X binary of 0.7.2 available from the Pingus website. There is a
PPC
PPC may refer to:
Computing
* Personal programmable calculator, programmable calculators for personal use
* Pay-per-click, an internet advertising model
* PearPC, a PowerPC platform emulator
* Peercoin, a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency
* Periphera ...
OS X binary of version 0.7.0, while version 0.7.3 contains minor bug fixes that allow the game to work better with the
GNU Compiler Collection
The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is an optimizing compiler produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages, hardware architectures and operating systems. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) distributes GCC as free software ...
. The latest version, 0.7.6, adds additional
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
and Halloween-themed level sets.
In July 2008, the game was
relicensed from the
GPL-2.0-or-later to the
GPL-3.0-or-later.
Reception
This game was the first "Game of the Month" by
The Linux Game Tome
Linux gaming refers to playing video games on a Linux operating system.
History
Linux gaming started largely as an extension of the already present Unix gaming scene, with both systems sharing many similar titles. These games were either m ...
. Critics were favorable toward ''Pingus''. TechGage named Pingus among the "Top 10 Free Linux games" in 2006.
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
and
PC-Welt
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
ranked it as one of the best free games available for Linux.
Thinkdigit
''Digit'' is an Indian technology media publisher (magazine and website) owned b9.9 Group Digit's tagline is "Your Technology Navigator" and it uses the testing done via its Test Centre and reviewers to provide technology buying advice Indians ...
2009-05 ranked Pingus among the "Most addictive Linux games".
Linux For You September 2009 ranked Pingus 5/5.
Linux-For-You-Issue-80
in Linux For You (September 2009) About.com called it a great game, while acknowledging its debt to ''Lemmings''.
See also
* List of free and open-source software packages
* List of open source games
References
External links
Project home page
Pingus project
on gitlab
GitLab Inc. is an open-core company that operates GitLab, a DevOps software package which can develop, secure, and operate software. The open source software project was created by Ukrainian developer Dmitriy Zaporozhets and Dutch developer S ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pingus (Video Game)
2003 video games
Fangames
Free educational software
Linux games
MacOS games
Puzzle video games
Open-source video games
Windows games
Video game clones
Video games developed in Germany