TUAW's Daily App: Battle for Wesnoth

Just the other day I mentioned Battle for Wesnoth in this very space, and then right after that, the game releases its 5th major update. If you like turn-based strategy games, this one is a must-have.

It was originally an open source title, and fans have added so much to the game that there are now tons of various units, six factions to play as, and campaign after fan-made campaign to play through -- over 300 hours of playtime in total. The latest update adds yet another campaign, a bonus tower defense game, OpenFeint integration and a whole slew of other features.

The iPhone version isn't bad, but I'd say the iPad version is better, as the bigger screen makes controlling the game a little easier. The game is US$5 on both platforms, and there's no free version, but the original title is still open source (which is why there are so many fan-made features), and available for a free download on the Mac. So go try out the game there, and if it's something you're interested in, consider supporting the iPhone developers.

Personally, I love Battle for Wesnoth -- while the graphics aren't exactly cutting edge, the strategy is fine-tuned by a whole legion of coders, and the fantasy setting and storytelling are great for a game of this kind. If you haven't given it a look yet, now's your chance.

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Source: http://www.wesnoth.org/

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Just the other day I mentioned Battle for Wesnoth in this very space, and then right after that, the game releases its 5th major update. If...

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Kyle Poole

This is the "official" port of Wesnoth, meaning that the project was started with full support from the Wesnoth founders, we split the revenues generated, and it is in full compliance with the GPL. For more information, see the wesnoth.org website forums.

I have worked more than 8 months fulltime on this project, and it's still getting better with each update! :)

June 14 2010 at 11:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

PonTelon

It should also be noted that there is a Linux and Windows version too, and all of them can play together. We had an epic battle between a Linux, a Mac, a PC, and an iPod Touch one day.

June 14 2010 at 1:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ryan

Yes, of course you can charge for GPL applications, just provide access to the source for the distributed binary.

This was an issue in the early days of the app store as the iPhone OS API was under a NDA, as such you couldn't distribute your code without violating the Apple NDA.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html

June 14 2010 at 1:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mike

A similar question to robsletten above, I'm also wondering about porting open-source apps to the iPhone and putting a fee onto it. I notice Battle for Wesnoth is licensed under the GPL, as is the app I'm intending to port, so I'm assuming that's within the license?

June 14 2010 at 9:11 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Mike's comment

Mike

Another point to add, if I did port this app, then I would also make the source code freely available, even if the App Store-published one is not.

June 14 2010 at 9:13 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

robsletten

So they took an open source game and potted it to the iPhone game and are charging $5 for it? Isn't that illegal per the open source license? Or at least, highly immoral?

June 14 2010 at 9:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to robsletten's comment

James Norton

They make the source code available for iPhone/iPad version (and every other platform). So they are not violating the GPL. The GPL allows developers to charge for software, it just requires the source to be made available.

June 14 2010 at 9:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

droslovinia

I really love Wesnoth as a free, multi-platform, open source game. Yes, it's a bit less flashy than other games, but it's still a great game for my MBP. I suppose the iPad/iPhon versions might be good, too.

Now when are we going to have someone port Realmz over into something we can play? I really miss that game...

June 14 2010 at 8:53 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply