Piga Software

Piga Software Logo under the GFDL; also available as an SVG.

"Free as in Freedom, Free as in Price"

Welcome to the home page of Piga Software; we are a cooperative and, at present, non-profit organization of programmers developing free software for GNU/Linux and occasionally other systems - with a particular emphasis on game development. Our software is released under the GNU General Public License version 3, though some individual files within projects might be under other copyleft licenses and are listed in project copyright disclaimers.

Although we have used Visual Basic 6, QBasic, Game Maker and even ZZT-oop, most current projects are built in Gambas - a free software BASIC-style programming language consisting of a integrated development environment and run-time inspired by Visual Basic and Java that is well suited to GNU/Linux development. Our particular areas of interest are strategy, adventure and platform games, first person shooters and plot-focused titles; often with a sense of humour, though we work on whatever suits us at the time and some projects are developed with a specific intentional purpose in mind.

More details on who we are and what we do can be found at PigaLore, the Piga Software Wiki, and questions may be asked at the Piga Software Forum.

When we use the word "free" we mean freedom and not price, although you still don't have to pay anything for our software. Our free software grants you the freedom to use, study, modify and redistribute our software in any way. There is only one exception: the software has to remain free and thus has to always be re-released under the GPL, including all public modifications - hence "copyleft."


Programs:

All Piga related files may be downloaded from our file server.

1. Donut Quest is a top-down scroller for Microsoft Windows (or WINE) set in the Brogo web comic universe. (1.00)

2. PigaVision is a free software television tool for using for using the television out ports of video cards. It functions as a front-end interface for the XRandR and Xvattr applications. (1.2.0)

3. Piga's Pumpkin Carving is a small amusment program that allows people to carve virtual Halloween jack-o-lanterns. (2.5.0)

4. Alexei: Part IX is a comedic free software point-and-click adventure game starring master thief Alexei Volkov inspired by the early work of Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw . (1.2.8)

5. Windys is a free software retro-styled action platformer featuring terminal-inspired multimedia and restaurant dark humour. (1.5.0)

6. Piga's Thanksgiving Dinner Hunt is a small amusement program where the player catches turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner. (1.2.0)

7. Piga's Santa Drop Down is an arcade game where the player controls Santa Claus as he gives coal to the naughty and gifts to the nice. (1.5.0)

8. Piga's New Years Dodge 'Em is a New Years themed endurance game where the player guides a hot air balloon away from fireworks whilst conserving fuel. (1.2.0)

9 . Over the Top is an arcade game demonstrating the carnage of the trench warfare of the Western Front during the First World War. (1.0.0)

10. Soul Capture is a utility that captures both the video and audio playback of OpenGL applications such as games; created in Gambas and works as a front-end for the glc capture program - also ffmpeg is required for encoding. (1.0.0)

11. Gambas Examples is a collection of code and some programs to help the aspring Gambas programmer, specifically game developers.


Projects:

The following is only those projects Piga is willing to disclose at this time; we are more likely not to announce things until they are mostly done or are important enough to warrant pre-release publicity. Those that are listed are noted strictly that they will only be done when they are done and we have no committed release dates. Anyone who wishes to contribute is, however, encouraged to offer their services.

1. Gambas Genie is a project to create a free software real-time strategy engine primarily based on Ensemble Studios' Genie Engine but also taking in ideas from other engines and games. It is currently being developed in the form of the Lamp Refugee technical demo (Source Release 2).

2. Free Empires is a project to build a series of historical real-time strategy games ala Age of Empires and Age of Empires II on top of Gambas Genie. It is on hold whilst the engine develops. (Source Release 2)

3. Alexei: Part XIII is a project to create a sequel Alexei: Part IX which will feature a revamped version of the Gambas Adventure Engine with more advanced object interaction, a more modular design, cleaner code and interface as well as features such as fully animated cut-scenes. (Preview Release)

4. Piga Nation is a project to create a strategy game based on making policy and decisions from the seat of power, rather than micromanaging workers, troops, machines and buildings (projected release: October 7, 2012).

5. Gambas Platform Engine is a free software platform game engine written in Gambas. It was first used in Windys and a new version is in the works featuring gravity, scrolling and other new features to be used for as of yet undisclosed projects.

6. Piga Animator is a project to create an animation tool using an internal script engine for the Symel animation project.

7. Childish Cannoneer is to feature a little boy building a makeshift air cannon from spare parts only to terrorize his older sister, and potentially the whole neighbourhood. It is the first venture of the "Indie Games" project hosted by White Island Software at the Gambas Forum, alongside Piga Software. (Source Release)

9. Piga Brain is a research project that attempts to create what appears to be a artifical personality ala science fiction.

9. Piga Windows Entertainment Pack is going to be a compilation of small games for Microsoft Windows made in Game Maker between 2005 to early 2007.

10. Wilson Net is a project in which Piga Software idly experiments with web browser features, including implementations from word processors, powered by KHTML.



Piga Staff:

1. Hamish Paul Wilson is the group's "benevolent dictator for life" whose title, beyond jest, grants him the power to make the final decision if consensus can not be reached. Practically however his main role is as a game designer, being the creator of Alexei and most of the levels of Windys. In addition he is the main system administrator for the Piga Software Fedora machines, and his interest in the GNU/Linux graphics stack has lead to projects like PigaVision.

2. Graham Lawrence Wilson (PigaLore) is the group's technical director and thus he is largely responsible for the engine technology used in Piga Software's programs. He is the main developer behind the Gambas Genie engine and created or adapted the engines for Windys, Piga's Santa Drop Down and Donut Quest. He also serves as Piga Software's main web developer. His interest in esoteric programming has lead to the creation of projects such as Piga Brain, 2-Step and a 0D game.

Some other contributors include:

1. Malcolm Wilson Multimedia (PigaLore) is Malcolm Rex Peter Wilson's trade name and he has contributed several times to Piga Software projects. He composed the soundtracks to the unreleased Billy Bear, Donut Quest and most recently Windys, as well as the "Piga Software Theme" jingle, and has created sound effects for Alexei: Part IX and created most of the graphics for Piga's Santa Drop Down and New Years Dodge 'Em among many other cases of multimedia manipulation and conversion. As Brogo's cartoonist, he also designed and drew the artwork for Donut Quest.

2. Iain William Duane Wilson has contributed a number of times in at least a minor capacity such as some work on Donut Quest, projects to port Gambas Genie and Alexei: Part IX to Visual Basic.Net and thus to Microsoft Windows, andLinux testing, as well general suggestions, web development help, play-testing and support for Piga Software. He was also the one to introduce the Piga developers to Visual Basic programming in the first place.

3. Christain Picon, of Extreme Tux Racer, contributed a code block to Gambas Genie.

4. Extreme Tux Racer is a partner of Free Empires.

5. Ryan C. Gordon and icculus.org for kindly supplying hosting after years of being in the darkness of "free" hosting.

6. The good folks at White Island Software, and everyone else who has contributed to the Gambas Forum, Linux Basic and the wider Gambas community!

7. All those who have visited the forum, given a suggestion or have given their support over the years.

Fancy yourself on this list? Get in touch and we'll see how you can help!


Screenshots

Donut QuestPigaVisionPiga's Pumpkin Carving
Walk About Gambas ExampleAlexei: Part IXWindysSoul
Piga's Thanksgiving Dinner HuntPiga's Santa Drop DownPiga's New Years Dodge 'EmOver

Piga Windows Entertainment Pack: Billy BearPiga Windows Entertainment Pack: Harry Rabit's Easter Egg HuntFree Empires Development Shot
Lamp Refugee technical demo for Gambas GeniePiga NationAlexei: Part XIII

GAMBAS!



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