Game recommendations?

[GreyGeek]

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As for Steam (steam?), I think I had that installed at one point. To test something for someone here, IIRC. And it worked, I posted shots, and then...I have no idea. But that was a long time ago. Is there anything in particular I need to know about steam?
.....

The main thing about Steam is that they have dramatically increased their number of Linux offerings in recent years. But, they are profit driven and if a title doesn't sell it will soon disappear from their site. I played Portal for a while and then forgot about it. Several installs later I re-installed Steam and refreshed my library holdings. Portal wasn't among them, but they offered Portal 2. I don't recall how much it costs but it was cheap ... maybe less than $10. Beautiful game. Bought it for my two grandsons as well. Another Steam game I liked really well was Castle. The task is to build a castle by mining and constructing, all while defending against gnomes that attack at random times. Defense requires a strategy. Then, it suddenly began having display problems. The very small triangles which created the geography became large and the game would hang. I haven't tried it since then (about 4 or 5 years ago).

My oldest grandson is now 23, married and lives in Nashville. He is a song writer and producer. He produced and co-wrote the Tennessee Titans newest fight song. He was into flight sims.

My middle grandson is now 19 and is in his freshman year at Central College, Pell, IA, majoring in energy engineering. I gave him my Acer V3-771G and bought a new computer for myself. He complained that the Acer wasn't fast enough so I took back the Acer and gave him my new one, which wasn't a game machine, as his school laptop. A couple months ago he texted me asking how he could speed up Minecraft on that new computer. Some java settings and display settings later he said MC was faster but not fast enough. A couple weeks later my daughter texted me asking if I could pitch in some $$$ for a new computer for Tyler. His birthday was 9/28 and my gift could be considered both a birthday and an xmas gift My daughter texted that he got his new GAMING computer a week ago, just in time for xmas.

My youngest grandson is now a freshman in HS and he's a gaming guru. He's had every flight sim M$ has released, including peddles and controls, every playstation released, a 3D gaming device with headset and hand controls, and a ton of other games. But, what did he play the most? Online Fortnight and a WWII shoot'm up. He was so addicted that his folks blocked the IP addresses of those games using their router and forbid him from playing them. I don't know how they are blocking his phone from accessing them. He's learned to play the drums, the Cello, the piano, and now the Sax. He's now getting straight A's in HS. I hope he keeps it up for his own sake. /bragging

[DoYouKubuntu]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Keep 'em coming!

I failed to mention that in addition to scouring Synaptic, I've also done numerous searches online, and the results were kind of overwhelming. Regardless of how I fine-tuned my search, I always ended up with at least some games that are for ... *cough* ... those other OSes, or don't fit what I'm looking for. I must say, though, I've been very impressed by the great graphics of the Linux games I've seen along the way.

I'm glad there's no longer the assumption that if you're using Linux, you want to play greed at a command line. (The 'greed' I'm referring to came with my SCO Xenix distribution; it may or may not be the same 'greed' as in other *nix distros from the time. It was fun! I loved it. Spent many a few minutes playing it while giving myself a break. But that's not what I'm looking for right now.)

As for Steam (steam?), I think I had that installed at one point. To test something for someone here, IIRC. And it worked, I posted shots, and then...I have no idea. But that was a long time ago. Is there anything in particular I need to know about steam?

Oh--my all-time favorite computer game was Roller Coaster Tycoon, which I played on every computer I owned since its inception. Last year, I wanted to play it--and couldn't FIND its disc. I had a no-disc patch which allowed me to play it without the disc, but it wasn't cheating/stealing. You had to own the actual game, install it, then apply the no-disc patch, and from then on, on that computer, you'd no longer need to insert the disc to play. Anyway, I don't know where it went while I was busy doing other things!

FWIW, one time, when I had just gotten a new computer--that came pre-installed with window$--I fired it up, installed RCT and played it for a few minutes. Then I wiped the drive, installed Kubuntu, and installed RCT. You know what? It played better on Linux (using wine) than it did on window$! On the same machine. Seriously, it was much smoother, had no lag time, overall was just better.

And, in case anyone cares, I have nothing against shoot-em-up games. Remember Wolfenstein? I was an ace at that. It's just at this point in my life, after what I've been through, I actively avoid certain things and focus only on others. I used to be an avid fan of crime shows, both fictional and real life; now I don't touch them. I used to watch a lot of news; now I only watch a limited amount each day so I know what's going on in the world. I used to love medical shows...now? Not so much! And so on. I focus on lighthearted, upbeat stuff.I want games to be entertaining, not bloody and depressing.

[oshunluvr]

I do play 0 A.D. (love it) and War Thunder on Steam also but the request was non-violent.

There is blood in 0 A.D. but it's a lot of fun and a neat concept - a real time-killer though. I've played games that take 4-5 hours! I can't wait for them to populate the campaigns!

No blood in War Thunder, but a military game where you kill other payers on-line. A ton of fun but not easy. I die a lot!

[oshunluvr]

Kubuntu:
Pingus - Problem solving and slight hand-eye. Remake of the old Lemmings game
KGoldrunner - Problem solving and moderate hand-eye. Remake of the old Lode Runner
KMahjongg - Classic tile game
KBounce - Moderate or better hand-eye. Remake of the old Jezzball Windows 98 game.

Steam:
Cogs - Puzzle solving.

I also play Railroad Tycoon on Steam. You can tell I like the classic games since most of theses are at least decades old. I used to play Railroad Tycoon, Lode Runner and Lemmings off of floppy disks on my Apple IIc!

[TWPonKubuntu]

I play several games, all from the Linux repositories:

0ad - "zero ad" - Sprites do die but you are omnipotent until you lose your entire army. Many campaigns available.
BOS Wars - Sprites do die in the game, so you might not like it.
Endless Sky - Ships go boom in the game, but no blood. This can be a long campaign game with hidden sub-plots and you may die many times as you get started.
Dink - Freedink version. Many Dink Mods (Dmods) available.

And let us not forget Solitaire, the card game. Kpat in the repositories.

[GreyGeek]

I second Claydoh's suggestion.

I have several Steam games but my favorite is Universal Sandbox^2. Their Kerbal Space Program is neat.

In other areas I've installed SpaceEngine-0.98.exe under WINE. It runs super.

Another game I've enjoyed for the last 10-11 years is Minecraft, especially running a server for my grandkids. However, my grandkids appear to have found other interests and Microsoft is beginning to force people to create Microsoft accounts in order to log into the game. When that happens I'm bailing. It was a great ride, though.

There is a Minecraft clone in the repository called Minetest. Like Minecraft, you can run it in the peaceful mode and not have to contend with dangerous mobs. Richard Jeffries had created several hundred videos of several versions of Minetest, and lately Mineclone2. He doesn't do mobs and uses the building features of Minetest to build all sorts of buildings, landscapes, etc.

[claydoh]

I can't make any useful suggestions, but Steam has a yuuuge library of games, not just the shoot-em-ups, and if they don't have native Linux support, they probably run using it's built-in Proton thingy (custom Wine, essentially)
Worth a browse, at least.
And GoG, as well...

[DoYouKubuntu]

I'm looking for games to play on my laptop, and after scouring Synaptic until my eyes crossed, I thought I'd try a different approach: ask here!

There are specific types of games I really enjoy; these are some Android games I play/played on my tablet and like(d) a lot:

The Lost City
Agatha Christie: the 4:50 from Paddington
Gardenscapes
The Last Express
The Secret of Grisly Manor
Puzzle Retreat

Can anyone recommend Linux games in the same vein as any of these? I don't care whether they're free or paid, as long as they're beautifully designed, engaging, interesting, fun--and [although this probably doesn't apply here] do not have ads. I don't do ads. All of my Android games are paid, unless--like the Candy Crush family--they're free, but do not have ads (because they offer in-app purchases).

You'll note that none of the games I listed involves killing...anything. I'm not into blood and guts. I don't want violence. I prefer upbeat, problem-solving games. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.