Planeshift
A graphically appealing, addictive Linux game.
MATIJA SUKLJE

Free, open-source games are mostly known to be small, fun and inventive. The FOSS community is not exactly known for big games with complicated plots, graphics, music and so forth—or so they say.     However, there is a gaming genre—the oldest of all to be exact—that a
lot of penguin gamers are familiar with and that Linux has inherited from the old times of UNIX domination. Yes, I am talking about adventure and role-playing games (RPGs). Since the ancient classic RPGs, such as Nethack (which
is one of the oldest games still in development) and Rogue, the penguins have been taking their role playing rather seriously. And, I am willing to argue, that the game I present here continues the tradition and applies it to more modern times with 3-D graphics, quality music and sound—and, of course, network playing.
    Planeshift started as a graphical multiuser dungeon (MUD) many years ago. Although the graphics and the interface have changed enormously since those days, it is important to note that the world and main logic behind the game has not changed much. It is very typical of Planeshift that nothing gets into the world or game unless it fits in that world and its logic flawlessly. This is is one of the reasons why true role players love it.
    So, here is a short introduction into the wonderful world of this great free (as in beer) and open-source, massively multiplayer, on-line role-playing game (MMORPG). Hold on to your hat; this will be a pretty wild trip!

STORY AND WORLD
The whole story takes place in a magical place called Yliakum, which consists of nine circular layers, the lowest of which are under water. Light and energy radiates from a giant crystal that the inhabitants call the Crystal Sun. What the races do not know is that their beloved Yliakum is actually in an enormous hollow stalactite.    A shortened version of the publicly known history is that two young gods, Talad and Laanx, ruled together in perfect harmony over Yliakum and created the world. But, when they came to the part where they started creating intelligent life—Laanx and his Lemurs and later on Talad and his Kran—jealousy sprang a crack between the two gods, and Laanx departed in a grudge from Talad. To the present day, they have not made peace, regardless of Talad’s efforts to make peace once more.
    The world of Yliakum is so full of crystals (magical and otherwise) that they also are used as currency. The official currency is—as in real life—made from pieces of different value. Tria is the basic currency, with a Hexa being worth five Tria, an Octa being worth 50 Tria and the Circle being worth 250 Tria.

RACES, SKILLS AND JOBS
There are a dozen playable races--either created by the two gods or those who found their way into the world from the outside.     From the human races are the pale and inventive Xacha and the robust and practical Ylians.  Elven races consist of the ancient amphibious
Nolthrir and the dark-loving Dermorians. From the dwarves are the Stonebreaker clan, which is more inclined to mining, and the Hammerwielder clan, which finds joy in smithing and crafting. Among the other races one finds the already-mentioned intelligent but fragile Lemurs, the tough silicon-skinned and gender-neutral Kran, the horned Diaboli with their resistance to magic, Ynnwns— the most versatile of them all made by the crossing of Diaboli with elves, the wild and strong feline Enkidukai and the slim-winged Klyros.     Each of these races has its own special traits, but there are no restrictions on what job(s) or skills players can have their characters learn. In Planeshift, any character can master any skill if the character puts enough effort into it. Planeshift, for a long, long time, has supported skill-based level-
ing. The idea behind it is that a player’s character is free to develop and make his/her/its (remember Kran?) own destiny. If players  esperately want to make a Kran who is great in herbal lore and a master of all six magical ways, they can do so. And, if those same players decide after a few months that their Krans also should learn fishing and martial arts, the characters are free to learn those skills as well.
    I’ve already mentioned magic, so I think it is high time to dedicate a paragraph to it. In Planeshift, there are six magic ways—Crystal Way,
Azure Way, Red Way, Dark Way, Brown Way and Blue Way. Each way has two neighboring ways with which it works well and an opposing way (Figure 3). Each way has its own magical stones called glyphs. To form a spell, you need to combine glyphs into a specific  ombination in order for the spell to work.    Other skills vary from standard fighting (melee, sword, axe, daggers and so on) and crafting skills to more interesting, less widespread skills, such as special fighting techniques, cooking, herbalism and so on.     Each level of skill needs to be learned first on a theoretical level from a trainer and later on be trained in praxis until that level is mastered.

INTERFACE, LOOK AND FEEL
So far, I’ve described the world itself and nothing about how the game looks. There is a very simple reason for this—Planeshift is mostly about the experience, the story and a world that works (although logically works only in itself), and what I’ve described so far scratches only the surface of it all.     The overall look and feel of the graphics, interface, music and sound effects are quite enjoyable. Do not expect to get the same level of detail that you would get in Neverwinter Nights 2 though—not yet. The graphics are quite detailed, and a lot of effort is put into quality and making sure that everything works together as a whole (and not as though it was thrown together). The animation of characters is good—not yet perfect, but improving all the time.     The interface and interaction are things that some players might find new, but once you get used to it, it’s logical and enjoyable. Character movement is done via the keyboard (WSAD or arrow keys, Shift to run, Alt to strafe, spacebar for jumping), and targeting an object or character is done with the mouse.
    The part that takes the most time getting used to is interaction with NPCs (non-playable characters) and pets. This is not done with  conversation menus (as many are used to), but players have to type their conversations—just like they would do with another PC (player character). NPCs in Planeshift are characters just like any others—that is the big plan. The problem is that to make this work, the NPCs have to be intelligent enough to understand and make conversation successfully. So far, they understand simple phrases and also
synonyms, which makes them usable but far from perfect. However, Planeshift is getting there—at least in the aspects of thinking about every possible situation and having continuing development.

THE END?                                                           
In summary, Planeshift already is a nice, playable MMORPG in which the role-playing community is a key part, and there is still space left for improvement.