Games: Predictions, Free Software, and Titles Developed on GNU/Linux

• Thrilling Linux Gaming Predictions for 2021 - Boiling Steam

  Last week we reached out to the community at large with a simple question: What do you predict will happen in the world of Linux Gaming by the end of 2021? To make things a little more fun, we asked everyone to limit their Linux Gaming predictions to 5 items, and be as specific as possible as to what they expect to occur. We also asked everyone to work on their predictions individually to avoid any potential bias. Now, we are sharing with you all the predictions we received, from quite a few places across the world as you can see from the below map. The Linux Gaming Community knows no frontiers.

• Team Cherry upgrade the excellent Hollow Knight with Vulkan for Linux | GamingOnLinux

  Team Cherry have given their excellent action-platformer metroidvania Hollow Knight a bit of an upgrade, which you can test out on Steam in a fresh Beta test. Not played it before? You're missing out. Hollow Knight is a classically styled 2D action adventure across a vast interconnected world. Explore twisting caverns, ancient cities and deadly wastes; battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs; and solve ancient mysteries at the kingdom's heart.

• OpenLoco is a free and open source re-implementation of Chris Sawyer's Locomotion | GamingOnLinux

  Just like there's the awesome OpenTTD for fans of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, there's also OpenLoco for players who want to play through the classic Locomotion. Not a project we've covered here before it seems, so we're making that right today. Originally released back in 2004, it's actually a spiritual successor to Transport Tycoon but it was not as loved due to various problems with the original release. Perhaps though it can have a new life thanks to OpenLoco.

• VRWorkout is a free and open source VR fitness rhythm game

  Well, that's certainly one way to get a bit more exercise in. Whatever helps right? No judgement here, I could probably do with a little more myself… It's built with the free and open source game engine Godot Engine, so not only is the source code open for the game itself it's properly open for anyone to put it together from the source and will remain so. Speaking about VRWorkout to us on Twitter, the developer mentioned they actually do develop for it on Linux but they use a Quest headset not supported on Linux so they have to work with that on Windows. Perhaps though, in time, Monado might break down that barrier.

• Free and open source voxel game engine Minetest 5.4 is out, makes mods easier for users | GamingOnLinux

  Minetest, the Minecraft-like voxel game engine (and a basic game that comes with it) has a big new release out with Minetest 5.4.0 and it's worth trying again. As we covered before during the Release Candidate stage, one of the big features for users in this release is vastly easier modding with both small mod packs and entire games. Minetest had a way to browse and download them all directly in the game for a while, but now it will also actually download all the dependencies mods need - making it vastly easier to get what you want and then into a game. No more downloading one mod, then finding all the individual bits it needs.

GNOME 40 Beta Released for Public Testing, Here’s What’s New

As you already know, GNOME 40 will introduce a new Activities Overview design that promises better overview spatial organization, improved touchpad navigation using gestures, more engaging app browsing and launching, as well as better boot performance. But the GNOME 40 beta release is packed with many other goodies, including the ability to switch workspaces with Super+scroll on Wayland, the implementation of a Welcome dialog after major updates, improved fingerprint login support, better handling of a large number of window previews, on-screen keyboard improvements, support for handling monitor changes during screencasts, as well as integration of the clipboard with remote desktop sessions.

How to Install Cinnamon Desktop in Arch Linux

Cinnamon is the default desktop environment for Linux Mint. This quick guide explains the steps to install the Cinnamon desktop environment in Arch Linux.