SJ Klein's call for games on the OLPC Children's Machine XO is starting reap crazy-good dividends. First Ninja Boy John won an OLPC XO in the Game Developer's Challenge for his game design (which I hope he shares with OLPC News readers).
And now we have SimCity on the OLPC!
According to Next Generation and Don Hopkins post on Slashdot, Electronic Arts and Will Wright are finalizing the technicalities to make an Open Source version of SimCity for the OLPC. While its not official or available yet, Don Hopkins is already crunching code:
Time to build games!
I've done the first basic cut of porting the X11/TCL/Tk based multi player version of SimCity to run on the OLPC, and the next step is to integrate it with Python and Sugar in a deep way, that will make SimCity scriptable in Python, enable all kinds of interesting hooks and plug-ins, and result in a set of reusable general purpose components for building games.Now the only question is, which virtual community will millions of children flock to: OLPC SimCity or OLPCities, the Second Life for students.For example, the next step I've taken is to rewrite pie menus in Python with Cairo and Pango, so SimCity and other applications can use them.
The point is not just to port a game to the OLPC, but rather to use SimCity and other games to drive the development of an open framework to enable and teach kids to program their own games!
The goal is to enable the open source community to renovate SimCity and take it in new educational directions, by applying Seymour Papert's ideas about constructionist education, Alan Kay's ideas about interactive user interfaces and object oriented programming, Ben Shneiderman's ideas about direct manipulation and info visualization, and many exciting ideas about multi player games, blogging, storytelling, game mods, player created content, and lessons learned from World of Warcraft, The Sims, Spore, etc.
Soon Right?
We will be so happy when you give out the units.
Once the program starts then you tech guys can get away!Or will you be having to check the units every day by hand because you lost your mind? So happy!!
I don't know what you will do now that the laptops have owners. When you own something its yours.Thats why they did this you know $ there was something so funny about you guys . To close to the laptop.
No Little girl don;'t press m like that. Then real people that respect people can start writing to the governments to tell them all what we know about what you said behind there back. Some people believe that you are not going to deliver thats why no one said any thing.
Think of all the ideas we can submit to the governments once you deliver.
If the Wiki goes then we can write to you directly. Thats what i did at first i wrote and called MIT and said "What is this?" Now I go to the Wiki and cry. You'll see. Thanks for all the support for my program.I go after you. Love you guys. Hey good is stronger the Evil.
Sister LING
Hands of Love
back at yah AH=@ get it Mirror.
SimCity for the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) programme is a good idea. Using SimCity and other games to drive the development of an open framework will be very worthwhile. It will expose more kids to games and enable them to program their own games. OLPC will help children in developing countries around the world. But it will also change the world of laptops forever. The marketpace will benefit, and I’m sure that every home in the developed world will have one.
What is becoming clear is that the OLPC is a not the solution but a starting point for development. This project needs to be handled in a sensitive way. Different needs and cultures must be addressed properly. Only then will the OLPC project be a success.
the problem with this is it assumes that programming python is a skill you actually want to have.
Good news from OLPC on Sim City for the XO:
SimCity is now available under the GPL, thanks to the generosity of EA and the hard work of Steve Seabolt and Chuck Normann, John Gilmore, and Don Hopkins See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/SimCity
The game is in the process of being "sugarized", but is already playable on the XO. This is the first time that a major publisher has open sourced the original of a popular title. EA should be congratulated.
http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/community-news/2007-November/000084.html
Played a bit of SimCity on the X0 today... You can see a screenshot of one of my cities over on my blog at: http://christoph-d.blogspot.com/2007/11/simcity-running-on-olpc-x0.html
Simcity isn't the first open source game that has been Released... Doom andf Quake games are open source.
Though of course if by "open" you meant the content as well then yeah you're correct