GNU Kart

GNU Kart is a simple racing game for GNU. It uses OpenGL and SDL for graphics and features GNU characters. Its aim will be extensibility so that a general kind of racing game can be made, with any sorts of features.

Download

GNU Kart has not had a stable release in years as it is being rewritten.
An alpha release is available from the GNU alpha server (HTTPS, HTTP, FTP).

Mailing Lists

GNU Kart has a mailing list, but currently doesn't use it. Please contact the maintainer for bug reports and development-related questions. The mailing list archives are still available.

Announcements about GNU Kart and most other GNU software are made on <info-gnu@gnu.org> (web interface).

Getting involved

Development of GNU Kart, and GNU in general, is a volunteer effort, and you can contribute. For information, please read How to help GNU. If you'd like to get involved, please contact the maintainer.

Development: For development sources and other information, please see the GNU Kart project page at savannah.gnu.org.
Maintainer: GNU Kart is currently maintained by Sébastien Diaz <sebastien.diaz at gmail.com>. The previous maintainer was Eric P. Hutchins <hutchiep190@potsdam.edu>.

History

September 14, 2010: GNU Kart Alpha 0.3.0

GNU Kart is a kart racing game for GNU using characters based on GNU/Free Software stuff.

There are currently three characters that have a (incomplete) 3D model to them: GNU, guile, and icecat.

You have to run it from the command line and it only lets you go through one lap and then quits, but the computer characters will drive around the track nicely.

May 11, 2010

SpeedX is now GNU Kart. The “X” in the name “SpeedX” referred to the X window system, which especially made sense because it heavily used X11 libraries. GNU Kart doesn't use X11 libraries directly, and mostly uses OpenGL. If you check out the latest source in Bazaar, you will see that I am testing a track format that is based on spheres of different radii connected by edges that form tubes that tell which edge a player is traveling along and which sphere they are heading toward.

April 15, 2009

I hope to release something in the summer when I have more time. I tried to develop a voxel engine because at the time that I took over the project, OpenGL was not 100% free on gNewSense. Now that it is, I realize that my voxel engine is slow, cumbersome, and extremely limited. Also, I'm not sure how to extend it. So I've been hacking on OpenGL for a bit and I think I should have something good soon. Even without hardware acceleration (which I don't have, since there are very few free 3D graphics drivers), OpenGL seems fine as long as the scene stays simple, and the point of this game is to be a simple, easily playable game that anyone can enjoy quickly so it seems like it will work fine, even on a system where Neverball or SuperTuxKart are not playable.

Licensing

GNU Kart is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.