 | |
| Company type | Privately |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | November 9, 1998 (1998-11-09) |
| Founder | Scott Draeker |
| Defunct | January 31, 2002 (2002-01-31) |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Headquarters | , US |
Number of employees | Approx. 10[1] (2001) |
| Website | www.lokigames.com at theWayback Machine (archived May 26, 2002) |
Loki Software, Inc. (Loki Entertainment) was an Americanvideo game developer based inTustin, California, thatported several video games fromMicrosoft Windows toLinux. It took its name from the Norse deityLoki.[2] Although successful in its goal of bringing games to the Linux platform, the company folded in January 2002 after filing for bankruptcy.
Loki Software was founded on November 9, 1998, by Scott Draeker, a former lawyer who became interested in porting games to Linux after being introduced to the system through his work as a software licensing attorney. By December of that year Loki had gained the rights to produce a port ofActivision's then-upcoming strategy gameCivilization: Call to Power for Linux.[3][4][5] This was to become Loki's first actual product, with the game hitting stores in May 1999.[6] From there they gained contracts to port many other titles, such asMyth II: Soulblighter,Railroad Tycoon II, andEric's Ultimate Solitaire.[7] Throughout the next two years up until its eventual closure the company would continue to bring more games to Linux.[8]BSDi had also partnered with Loki to ensure its Linux ports ran onFreeBSD through acompatibility layer.[9] After facing financial difficulties,[10] Loki filed forbankruptcy in August 2001.[11][12][1][13] The majority of the staff was laid off in January 2002 and Loki formally closed on January 31.[1][14]
Loki Software, although a commercial failure, is credited with the birth of the modern Linux game industry.[15] Loki developed severalfree software tools, such as the Loki installer (also known as Loki Setup), and supported the development of theSimple DirectMedia Layer. They also started theOpenAL audio library project (now being run byCreative Technology andApple Inc.) and withid Software wroteGtkRadiant. These are still often credited as being the cornerstones of Linux game development.[16] They also worked on and extended several already developed tools, such asGCC andGDB.[17] The bookProgramming Linux Games written in the early 2000s by Loki intern John R. Hall explains the major APIs Loki used to produce Linux games.[18][19]
Loki also offered a start to many figures still in the Linux and gaming industries.Ryan C. Gordon (also known as icculus), a former employee of Loki, has been responsible for the Linux andMac OS X ports of many commercial games after the demise of the company. Mike Phillips would help startLinux Game Publishing, which was itself founded in response to Loki's closure.[20] Nicholas Vining would go on to do some porting work and is currently the lead programmer atGaslamp Games, which would later release their gameDungeons of Dredmor for Linux.[21][22]Sam Lantinga would also later joinBlizzard Entertainment and found Galaxy Gameworks to commercially support the Simple DirectMedia Layer; he would later also joinValve's Linux team.[23]
Although many Loki ports are unsupported since Loki's closure,Linux Game Publishing managed to pick up the rights toMindRover and offer a supported and updated version of the game's Linux port.id Software picked up the support for the Linux release ofQuake III Arena,[24] hiringTimothee Besset to maintain it; he would later also be responsible for porting some of id's later products to Linux.[25]Running with Scissors, to celebrate the release of the moviePostal in 2007 published a multiplayer only version ofPostal 2, without the single player campaign.[26] In 2004 the source header files for Rune were released freely by Human Head Studios.[27] But so far no one has updated the Linux version of Rune, though the company stated that a game sequel is in the making, and delayed the development ofPrey 2.[28]
Software contractor Frank C. Earl claimed in 2010 to hold the porting rights for the entireMyth series and says he will port it to Linux.[29] Kevin Bentley worked in 2009 on aDescent 3 patch for Linux,[30] which was re-released in 2014 on Steam byRebecca Heineman, who got blessedsource code access.[31] On October 16, 2011, Project Magma released a new version ofMyth II: Soulblighter for Linux.[32][33]
| Title | Platforms | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IA-32 | PowerPC | SPARC | Alpha | |
| Civilization: Call to Power | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Descent 3 | Yes | No | No | No |
| Descent 3: Mercenary (expansion, as downloadable installer only) | Yes | No | No | No |
| Eric's Ultimate Solitaire | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Heavy Gear II | Yes | No | No | No |
| Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.² | Yes | No | No | No |
| Heretic II | Yes | No | No | No |
| Heroes of Might and Magic III | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns | Yes | No | No | No |
| MindRover | Yes | No | No | No |
| Myth II: Soulblighter | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Postal Plus | Yes | No | No | No |
| Railroad Tycoon II Gold Edition | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Quake III Arena | Yes | No | No | No |
| Rune | Yes | No | No | No |
| Rune: Halls of Valhalla (expansion) | Yes | No | No | No |
| Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack[34] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Sim City 3000: Deutschland/Unlimited/World Edition | Yes | No | No | No |
| Soldier of Fortune | Yes | No | No | No |
| Tribes 2 | Yes | No | No | No |
| Unreal Tournament (as downloadable installer only) | Yes | No | No | No |
In addition to the published titles, there is also an unfinished port ofDeus Ex. The later update ofDeus Ex for Microsoft Windows features theOpenGLdriver for theUnreal Engine from Loki Software's Linux port. This makes the title more compatible withWine.