the last DEV of Sauerbraten?

Yesterday I talked with Lee Salzman (aka „Eihrul“) about his free open source fps „Sauerbraten“.

Salzmann said he is the last coder of Sauerbraten. He is preparing the update atm and has to do everything alone, even the maintenance of the website. Wouter van Oortmerssen (aka „Aardappel“) is not actively working on the game anymore and forwards all requests to Salzmann.

I asked him if he thinks the game dies and he answered „no“ but it might „fade away“. It would be a pity. The speed of the game is awesome and I like the Ogros, the playermodels, they are cute.

An advantage of the game is the simplicity of mapmaking, but that is also one of the disadvantages of the game. Sounds paradox? The community seems to consist of mapmakers and not of players. People that just like to kill Ogros in an unrealistic game (like me) can get scared off by mapmakers that have to show their 20 new maps. Balance would be good but is difficult to achieve.

For those, that would like to try Sauerbraten, don’t let the stupid menu scare you off. It was created by van Oortmerssen because it was „different“ and „modern“.

The reason why I talked with Salzmann was the deletion of the screenshots he has uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. There was some kind of problem with the licences. The upload of media there is quite complicated and he doesn’t want to waste his time.

I have made some screenshots some time ago and I doubt he minds them.

cute Ogro in singleplayer mode

This server warns the players not to forget to blink.

Sauerbraten in instagib-mode on a castle map