Clonk
| Clonk | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Studio | RedWolf design | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1994 | ||
| platform | PC ( Windows , Linux ), Intel Mac (Beta) | ||
| genre | Genre mix | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer (Internet, LAN & Split Screen ) | ||
| control | Keyboard , mouse , gamepad / joystick | ||
| Current version | Clonk Rage (4.9.10.7), May 5, 2014 | ||
| Age rating |
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Clonk is a series of computer games by RedWolf Design. The games see themselves as a colorful genre mix of skill , action , building strategy and jump 'n' run . The games in the series are now completely distributed as freeware and some are available in source code. Using the developer mode, more experienced players can create game expansions themselves.
content
In Clonk, small, human-like beings, called clonks, are controlled by joypad / keyboard and / or mouse through a two-dimensional , dynamically changeable landscape and interact with an abundance of animals, buildings and objects. This is possible both alone, with up to 4 players on a PC ( split screen ), as well as via LAN or the Internet with any number of players. The game has its own physics engine ; According to the developer, this requires a significant amount of computing power , which is why any physical inconsistencies, such as in the interaction between different liquids (water, lava, oil, acid), would be accepted. The goal of the game depends on the scenario being played and varies from hectic melees in which everyone fights everyone, to strategic siege rounds and cooperative missions.
Extensions
Clonk uses a script language and a modular object definition system internally. This enables flexible expansion of the game. From creating your own scenarios to adding new play objects to the development of completely new play worlds, everything is possible.
Official extensions
Using these functions, RedWolf Design also offers several official extensions. Each one of these expansions represents a complete reorientation of the game and mostly only uses the basic functions of the original game. This is also the reason why they are often referred to as “standard packs”. The packs have mostly developed in parallel to the main game and have often been updated or reinvented during this time.
These are in detail:
- Knights : Knights fight each other with swords, axes and bows in a medieval setting - on foot and on horseback, in modular castles and underground vaults. Also for times of peace there are branches of industry that are adapted to the conditions of castle life.
- Fantasy , Golems : Focuses on magically gifted clonks who live a world full of dragons and adventure. Magic already existed in Clonk Planet, but it wasn't until Clonk Rage that the pack was redesigned in such a way that exciting magic duels were possible. It has now become one of Clonk's most popular packs.
- Hazard : A futuristic pack in which the Clonk fights against aliens or other Clonks with different weapons. Also existed for Clonk Planet, but the development was later taken over by players. These breathed new life into the pack with a radical focus on contemporary effects and action-packed battles. Since Clonk Endeavor, this pack is no longer included in the official packs. For this reason, a team came together on the “Comprehensive Clonk Forge” (CCF) platform to develop a new hazard pack for Clonk Rage.
- Distant worlds : Summary of three different game worlds (deep sea, jungle, arctic) in which the player ends up in various inhospitable realms. Despite specially adapted clonks, tools and buildings, survival is a real challenge.
- Western : Recreate stereotypical Westerns with Indians, whiskey, dynamite and wild firefights. Originally published incompletely by RedWolf Design, this pack was developed into one of the most comprehensive packs by Clonk Rage as a result of a competition.
Expansions from players
Since Clonk Planet, the game has not only offered its players an integrated developer mode and comprehensive documentation, but also a complete insight into the scripts of the original game content and its expansions. This openness has led to the development of a lively developer community who are constantly producing new expansions and modifications for the game.
The largest collection point for these developments is the Comprehensive Clonk Archive Network ( CCAN ). Since the opening in 2000, more than 3000 extensions have accumulated here. The active development community even led to the establishment of its own portal for project organization, called Clonk Forge ( CCF , formerly known as Clonk Planet Partner and Project Exchange , CPPP ), which houses many of the more complex projects around Clonk.
RedWolf Design also actively promoted this culture, through competitions that took place at irregular intervals and the takeover of active developers from the community into the development team.
History
- DOS games
- Clonk 1 (1994)
- Clonk 2 Debacle (1994)
- Clonk APE (Advanced Player Edition) (1995)
- Clonk 3 Radical (1996)
- Windows games
- Clonk 4 (1998)
- Clonk World (1998)
- Clonk Planet (1999); was also ported to Linux and GP2X
- Golden Wipf Edition (2001)
- Clonk Endeavor (2004)
- Games with versions for Windows, Linux and Macintosh with Intel processor
- Clonk Rage (2007)
- Clonk Extreme (development discontinued)
- OpenClonk (2010)
- LegacyClonk (2019)
history
After 2001, RedWolf Design gave up the further development of Clonk Planet in order to devote itself to the development of the successor Clonk Extreme (see below) and released the source code of the Clonk Planet engine. As a result, a team of players quickly formed who further developed the engine on their own - Clonk Planet GWE was created . In the years that followed, up to GWE 4 (2003), this fan project retrofitted many long-missed features such as increasing the color depth to 32 bits and major improvements in editability.
Finally, in 2003, RedWolf Design decided to officially revive the line and, in collaboration with the team and other developers from the community, created the Clonk title Clonk Endeavor , which was then replaced by Clonk Rage and among other things enables a significantly faster and more comfortable internet game. Work was also carried out on further improvements.
The big development goal , which is why Clonk Planet was originally frozen, was called Clonk Extreme , or ClonkX for short . This version is supposed to implement the known 2D game principles of the predecessor in 3D. Several videos were released in early 2009 that showed an almost final version. A few weeks later, however, the lead developer (Matthes Bender) confirmed that they would no longer work on Clonk Extreme.
In the course of time, new leagues were opened in which the players could compete against each other in different levels. Until now there was the Melee League, the closed Micro-Melee League, the Hazard League, the Siedelliga, the Magic League and the Adventure League, in which points were to be gained by fulfilling the game objectives of certain rounds.
At the end of 2010, RedWolf Design stopped active further development of the Clonk series again. As with the first time, the source code of the engine of the current Clonk version (Clonk Rage) was made available to the community for independent further development. This code is now used to create OpenClonk, which is currently being further developed by several volunteer developers as part of an open source project.
On September 27, 2013, Matthes Bender announced an update for the title Clonk Rage after a long time. This corrects some errors and converts the game to freeware. This now makes it possible for unregistered players to use all game content and to develop their own content for the game, since the editor is now also freely accessible.
In a news entry from March 4, 2014 it was announced that the development of the game and the sale of registration keys will be stopped and the forum will be closed at the beginning of April 2014.
The forum was closed on April 2, 2014. The Clonkspot forum has established itself as its successor. Clonkspot also replaces the deactivated clonk.de master server, on which running games are registered so that other players can find them and on which the leagues were administered.
On April 24, 2019, a version of Clonk Rage, refined by community volunteers, was released. This further development was called LegacyClonk and is available under the ISC license license.
LegacyClonk
| LegacyClonk | |
|---|---|
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
2019 |
| platform | Windows , Linux |
| language | German English |
| Current version | 4.9.10.9 [339] |
LegacyClonk is a community-developed version of Clonk Rage based on the source code published in 2010. Various improvements have been made to the rendering of game content, the display settings have been adapted to current screen sizes and technology, the implementation of high-resolution graphics and support for IPv6 . Additional script functions for game content from the community and much sought-after menu functions have been implemented and known errors in the program code have been corrected.
OpenClonk
With the end of the active development of the title Clonk Rage, an open source project was created by the community, which developed a new game using the source code of Clonk Rage licensed under the ISC, thus giving Clonk a new look. However, due to numerous innovations and changes, OpenClonk is not compatible with the content of the game Clonk Rage. The changes compared to Clonk Rage include, for example, the revised controls, the ability to zoom in the game, and the support of 3D objects. In contrast to the previous parts, which were usually only played with the keyboard, OpenClonk is played with a mouse and keyboard. Up to Clonk Rage, zooming was only possible indirectly by adjusting the resolution. In OpenClonk this is now possible during a round using the mouse wheel. Instead of pre-rendered graphics, 3D models can also be used for objects in OpenClonk. These must be in OGRE format. Raster graphics in PNG format, as used since the Golden Wipf Edition, can still be used.
In version 7, the game controls have been changed again so that they are more "conventional" than other games. This means that two objects can no longer be selected at the same time. Instead, the player scrolls through the inventory with the mouse wheel and can either use or throw away objects with the left and right click of the mouse. You can zoom in by pressing the control button and simultaneously pressing the mouse wheel ("scrolling").
Version 8 brought numerous innovations, such as a new improved editor for creating your own scenarios, support for IPv6 connections and UDP hole punching . The latter is of particular benefit to players who have previously not been able to open their own rounds on the Internet due to a lack of access to the router configuration ( port forwarding ).
The developer mode is available as usual. However, the file extensions have been adapted according to the game title. Thus, for example, object definitions no longer have the file extension .c4d , but .ocd . In mid-2016, the command line program C4Group for packing and unpacking OpenClonk files was converted into a complete graphical user interface for editing OpenClonk files. Previously such a surface was only available in the Clonk 4 series. An earlier development of a GUI based on the AutoIt language was abandoned in 2012.
Web links
- Official website
- Clonkspot (blog and successor to the old forum)
- Official website for OpenClonk (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Matthes Bender unpacks (really now!) - Rebell.at
- ↑ Project page of the Hazard project on the Comprehensive Clonk Forge ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ CCAN
- ↑ Clonk Linux Port ( Memento from December 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Opinion by Matthes Bender on the CX development in the clonk.de forum
- ↑ Information on OpenClonk
- ↑ Matthes Bender: Clonk Rage 4.9.10.5 Freeware. ( Memento from October 4, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) News entry on: clonk.de.
- ↑ Matthes Bender: End of Clonk registrations in early April. ( Memento from March 5, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) News entry on: clonk.de.
- ↑ Matthes Bender closes the clonk.de forum
- ↑ Clonkspot forum is the successor to the clonk.de forum
- ↑ a b LegacyClonk [330] - [337] (old versions). In: clonkspot.org . Retrieved March 10, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Announcement on the website. In: clonkspot.org . Retrieved March 10, 2020 .
- ↑ a b OpenClonk download. Retrieved May 17, 2018 .
- ↑ Development - OpenClonk. Retrieved May 5, 2017 .
- ↑ Entry in the FAQ of OpenClonk (English) - Retrieved on March 12, 2014.
- ↑ Entry from the developer documentation: Object definition - Accessed March 12, 2014.
- ↑ OpenClonk Blog »Blog Archive» OpenClonk 7.0 Spotlight - Controls and UI. January 21, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2017 (American English).
- ↑ OpenClonk Blog »Blog Archive» OpenClonk 8 released. February 4, 2018, Retrieved May 17, 2018 (American English).
- ↑ OpenClonk Blog »Blog Archive» OpenClonk Editor. Retrieved May 5, 2017 (American English).
- ↑ OpenClonk Editor, Windows - Retrieved March 12, 2014.
