Fairtris 2: The Ultimate Challenge is a Tetris clone and another excellent contribution to the games list of Pascal SDL2 games! It improves classical Tetris by a lot of settings you can modify, e. g. you can choose from 6 additional pieces generators, or, of course, you can use the classical one. The original description shares more details:
Fairtris 2: The Ultimate Challenge is another installment of the game Fairtris, this time not in the form of a tool for testing various mechanics and generators, but as a normal video game. The engine remained the same, but it was modernized, I added a lot of improvements and fixes (including bug patches), and it also received a new graphic design, much nicer than that of its predecessor — a graphical jump from NES to SNES. The game is of course free, the source code is open and unlicensed, so you can do anything you want with it.
Project name: Fairtris 2: The Ultimate Challenge
Author: Jarosław Baran a. k. a. furious programming
Latest version: 3.0
First release date: 22 Aug. 2021 (Ver. 1.0)
Compiler and SDL version: Free Pascal / Lazarus / SDL2
The description of this project found on it’s Wiki page says it all, nothing to add other than that this project is really capable of spawning some good, nostalgic feelings (!):
“Fairtris is a video game, a clone of the 32-year-old Tetris® game produced by Nintendo for the Famicom and NES consoles, designed for modern Windows and Linux systems. Fairtris is not an emulator — it is a full-fledged game, created from scratch in Free Pascal language (using the Lazarus IDE) and with Direct3D and OpenGL support via the SDL library. Thanks to this combination, it is super-fast and ultra-light.”
Project name: Fairtris
Author: Jarosław Baran a. k. a. furious programming
Latest version: 3.0
First release date: 22 Aug. 2021 (Ver. 1.0)
Compiler and SDL version: Free Pascal / Lazarus / SDL2
FFPlay4Laz2 is the SDL2 version of the older SDL 1.2 based (Win32 only) FFPlay4Laz FFmpeg Video and Media Player. FFPlay4Laz2 is extended to have more features than FFPlay4Laz and provide better performance. It is designed to be cross-platform by replacing Win-API calls by SDL2 calls. The project is open source and can be found on the official Lazarus forums.
Console menue of FFPlay4Laz2. (Image source: Captured from FFPlay4Laz2_Images.pdf, see link below; 28/12/2022)
This project has no official website and the author provides updates via the official Lazarus forums (see link below).
Project name: FFPlay4Laz2
Author: metis
Latest version: v2.5.2
First release date: Thread startet in Dec. 2014
Compiler and SDL version: Free Pascal / Lazarus / SDL2
Menue screen of the engine. (Image: With permission of the author.)
Well, the introduction for this amazing project over at the Kirinn’s (developer) website says it all!
SuperSakura is a free, open-source visual novel engine that can run quite a few old games, mostly published by JAST, one of the first developers in the field. In addition to well-known localised titles, Japanese companies produced lots of fairly good games in the 90’s that were never translated.
And this project is fully written in Free Pascal and uses SDL2. Amazing work! I was happy to hear, the author got started with Free Pascal and SDL2 right here, with these tutorials :-)!
Could you please give a short description of Savage Vessels for those who have never heard of it?
Within fields of asteroids and fragmented freighters you scavenge and combat against robot vessels. At the same time you have to keep away from the surrounding void. With your carrier you got into this threatening area. In order to escape you have to determine your location repeatedly: leave the carrier, visit some navpoints, land again and move on. But the robots won’t let you. So you have to arm against them by gathering and crafting.
The visuals are based on top down pixel-art and a dynamic field of view. Modern physics provide inertia and collision. Sound fx creates an eerie atmosphere. It’s a spiritual successor to Teleglitch.
Why did you decide to choose Pascal as a programing language and SDL/SDL2 as a library for this project?
Pascal is my mother tongue. It’s capable of everything I need and I’m feeling comfortable with it.
SDL is versatile, platform-agnostic and plain.
What do you think is the most interesting Pascal/SDL/SDL2 project out there (besides of your own, of course :-D)?
This project is a program to load GoldSrc BSP files. The GoldSrc BSP file format has been derived from the id’s Quake 2 file format by Valve Software for their Half-Life game series.
It has been realized with
Lazarus, Free Pascal
SDL2, OpenGL.
The BSP Loader powered by Lazarus.Loading a WAD file and displaying a selected texture from it.Textured rendering of a scene (estate). The blue colorkey is not interpreted to be transparent yet.Scene: Oilrig.Scene: Assault.
02/08/2018, v0.1 alpha
Capabilities
Load BSP files and show contents of data lumps (exception: VIS Lump)
Load WAD files and render contained textures
Load BSP file and all WAD files which are necessary to render the fully textured scene
Navigate by simple camera through scene
To-Do’s
lightmapping from lightmap data
VIS Lump: treat it at all
collision detection
face culling
have spaces between textures in atlas texture to prevent bleeding-effect (esp. in tiled textures recognizable)
make blue colorkey transparent
sky cube
release the source code (if beta stadium reached)
Important Sources
BSP and WAD File Formats
I cannot state how important these documents were in understanding the structure of the BSP and WAD file formats. Without them, this project wouldn’t have been possible.
Why did you decide to choose Pascal as a programming language and SDL as a library for your projects?
Kornel Kisielewicz: Pascal was my first language, and in those days C++ was quite messy. I liked the clean syntax of Pascal and it’s default strong type system. SDL was a no brainer, we wanted a platform independent layer for OpenGL context creation and Input handling, and SDL was the only reasonable choice in that regard at the time.
What do you think is the most interesting Pascal/SDL/SDL2 project out there (besides your own, of course :-D)?
Kornel Kisielewicz: I have been out of touch with the Pascal scene for a long time now.
Are there any new projects planned?
Kornel Kisielewicz: We’re currently working on Jupiter Hell, a spiritual successor to DoomRL, but it’s in full 3d, and written in C++.
Could you please give a short description of Monsterland for those who have never heard of it?
Aleksey: Monsterland is a 2D realtime shooter portrayed entirely through ASCII characters. This includes blood, lighting, particles, etc. Its only gameplay mode is a 3-hour story campaign, which has voiceovers, triggers and scripted sequences. The gameplay of Monsterland was heavily influenced by original Doom games (1 and 2).
Why did you decide to choose Pascal as a programming language and SDL as a library for your projects?
Aleksey: Pascal is an underrated, well-rounded programming language. It has good diagnostics and strict syntax, which removes ambiguity from error messages. It also helps that I was first introduced to it in 1992.
SDL was chosen because I’ve also been writing an engine tied to DirectX, and given where Windows is heading, it was a mistake I didn’t want to repeat. SDL 1.2 didn’t have accelerated 2D though, so I had to do it via OpenGL manually.
What do you think is the most interesting Pascal/SDL/SDL2 project out there (besides your own, of course :-D)?
Aleksey: If Dwarf Fortress still used Pascal, I’d name that. Otherwise, DoomRL I guess.
Are there any further steps planned for the Monsterland series? What will they be?
Aleksey: Aw, you flatter, but Monsterland will not be continued.
Are there any new projects planned?
Aleksey: I’m starting to work on a new type of IF (interactive fiction) game. I clearly have an obsession with text visuals.
There’s also the ambitious isometric RPG I’ve been writing in C for years, the “magnum opus”, but it’s too ambitious at the moment, even though a lot of work has been done. I wish I wrote it in Pascal instead – it would’ve been easier to debug.
GearHead 2, successor of GearHead: Arena, is a turn-based, rouge-like role-playing game where you can explore futuristic worlds with benign graphics.
Showcase and Basic Data
(no showcase screenshots provided)
Project name: GearHead 2
Author: Joseph Hewitt, plus the work of several contributors
Latest version: 0.628
Release date: The first public release was August 23 2005; the most recent was June 1 2010. After I’ve updated GearHead-1 to my satisfaction I plan to do some revisions to this one as well.
Pascal compiler: Free Pascal
SDL Version: 1.2
Further libraries: Only those that come with the FPC compiler
GearHead: Arena (also known as GearHead 1) is a turn-based, rouge-like role-playing game where you can explore futuristic worlds with benign graphics.
Showcase and Basic Data
Developer granted permission to use these screenshots.
GearHead 2
GearHead: Arena
GearHead: Arena
Project name: GearHead: Arena, also known as GearHead 1
Author: Joseph Hewitt, plus the work of several contributors
Latest version: 1.201
Release date: The first public release was May 10 2002; the most recent was March 3 2016. After version 1.100 I stopped development for nine years before returning to update the program earlier this year.
Pascal compiler: Free Pascal
SDL Version: 1.2
Further libraries: Only those that come with the FPC compiler
Interview with Klaus Vor der Landwehr from Turtle-Games
Could you please give a short description of No One’s Space for those who have never heard of it?
Klaus Vor der Landwehr: No One’s Space (NOS) is a single-player Retro 2D-Science-Fiction-Shooter with modern physics. It was created as a cross-breed of the classic games Wing Commander I and Star Control II. In NOS, the player experiences a cosmic conflict between four powerful races, taking the role of different heroes. In 54 challenging missions, reaching from manageable duels to large combats, the player controls a variety of vessels and has to go all out to improve his skills to master them all.
Why did you decide to choose Pascal as a programming language and SDL/SDL2 as a library for this project?
Klaus Vor der Landwehr: It wasn’t really a choice. I’m used to Pascal since my school days. I’m a self-taught. I like it.
What do you think is the most interesting Pascal/SDL/SDL2 project out there (besides your own, of course :-D)?
Klaus Vor der Landwehr: Hm, as far as it concerns the programming language, games are rarely tagged. But I’ve seen some impressive stuff right here: Projekt “W” – Phase 2 http://www.saschawillems.de/?page_id=829 (Although I can only assume that it uses SDL).
Are there any further steps for No One’s Space and/or are any new projects planned? What will they be?
Klaus Vor der Landwehr: If the game gets Greenlit, we want to release it on Steam this year (early access) and work further on it.
Developer granted permission to use these screenshots.
Colorful
Colorful
Project name: Colorful
Author: suve
Latest version: 1.2
First release date: 2012-12-16
Compiler: FPC 2.6.2
SDL Version: 1.2
Further libraries: Originally BASS for audio handling, later replaced with SDL_mixer as to move away from proprietary library; SDL_image; Sour could probably count, too; OpenGL
Could you please give a short description of Colorful for those who have never heard of it?
suve: Colorful is a simple game where the player moves freely around a 2D world, fighting multiple enemies and trying to retrieve colourful artefacts. Originally created in 48h for Ludum Dare, the game is heavily inspired by Hero Core, featuring simplistic graphics and sounds, and a no-game-over approach balancing the overall difficulty level.
Why did you decide to choose Pascal as a programming language and SDL/SDL2 as a library for your projects?
suve: I chose Pascal mostly as it’s the language I’m most proficient and comfortable with. As for SDL, after working with a few different libraries in the past, I’ve found SDL easy to use, but nonetheless really versatile and fitting my needs. The library itself doesn’t really enforce anything on you, so you don’t have to change your habits (much), and the seemingly simplistic API is greatly extended by the supplementary SDL_XYZ libraries.
What do you think is the most interesting Pascal/SDL/SDL2 project out there (besides of your own, of course :-D)?
suve: Supraleiter seems the most awesome of them all, I think. Shame that quite probably I won’t be able to play sit, seeing as I only have an integrated GPU.
Are there any further steps for your projects or any new projects planned? What will they be?
suve: I have two projects underway right now, but one is too early in development and I don’t want to disclose it for fear of not delivering… and the other, for a change, is written in C instead of Pascal. 🙂
Developer granted permission to use these screenshots.
Alexland
Alexland
Alexland
Alexland
Alexland
Alexland
Alexland
Alexland
Project name: Alexland
Author: suve & ZbiXs
Latest version: 1.3
First release date: 2010-01-31
Compiler: Free Pascal 2.4.0 (for the 1.3 release)
SDL Version: 1.2
Further libraries: BASS for audio handling, SDL_image, SDL_ttf, SDL_net
License: Back then we didn’t really think about licensing, and seeing how the game contains assets ripped from plenty of places without even keeping track of source… I say it’d be hard for us to claim copyright to anything apart from code and some original graphics (+edits) we created.
Open source: Nope. Maybe if there’s a remake one day.
Could you please give a short description of Alexland for those who have never heard of it?
suve: Born of RPG Maker nostalgia and the hatred for its default graphics set, Alexland is a 2D shooter where the player controls a lone hero in a fight against never-ending hordes of monsters. Featuring 12 weapons to kick ass with, 11 bonuses to enhance the gameplay, 10 monster types to kill, and 60 achievements to unlock, Alexland can provide long hours of mindless, merciless fun. Available in English, Polish, French, German and Russian.
Why did you decide to choose Pascal as a programming language and SDL/SDL2 as a library for your projects?
suve: I chose Pascal mostly as it’s the language I’m most proficient and comfortable with. As for SDL, after working with a few different libraries in the past, I’ve found SDL easy to use, but nonetheless really versatile and fitting my needs. The library itself doesn’t really enforce anything on you, so you don’t have to change your habits (much), and the seemingly simplistic API is greatly extended by the supplementary SDL_XYZ libraries.
What do you think is the most interesting Pascal/SDL/SDL2 project out there (besides of your own, of course :-D)?
suve: Supraleiter seems the most awesome of them all, I think. Shame that quite probably I won’t be able to play sit, seeing as I only have an integrated GPU.
Are there any further steps for your projects or any new projects planned? What will they be?
suve: I have two projects underway right now, but one is too early in development and I don’t want to disclose it for fear of not delivering… and the other, for a change, is written in C instead of Pascal. 🙂
Could you please give a short description of EGSL and Pulsard2D for those who have never heard of it?
Cybermonkey: EGSL (Easy Game Scripting with Lua) is a Lua interpreter which allows one to code 2D games in a simple way. I could say in a “classical way” because EGSL is inspired by old BASIC dialects. The main difference between EGSL and Pulsar2D is that Pulsar2D uses now the newer SDL2 libraries (which gives us the possibility to use multiple windows). It’s as easy as that: write 10 lines of Lua code and start the script and you’ll have already a small sprite moving example. Of course it is possible to use the framework with FreePascal. Apart from that I recently ported the Pulsar2D framework to FreeBASIC. So one can code Pulsar2D games/demos whatsoever in Lua, FreePascal or FreeBASIC.
Why did you decide to choose Pascal as a programming language and SDL/SDL2 as a library for these projects?
Cybermonkey: I started programming back in the 1980s with the Commodore 64 and BASIC. I learned Turbo Pascal in school and started programming with FreePascal a few years ago. It’s the language I have the most experience with. Not to mention that the FreePascal compiler is well maintained. I chose SDL/SDL2 because of its cross platform capabilities.
What do you think is the most interesting Pascal/SDL/SDL2 project out there (besides of your own, of course :-D)?
Cybermonkey: Actually I don’t know of any other … But of course the most impressive Pascal project is Lazarus for me.
Are there any further steps for EGSL and/or Pulsar2D or any new projects planned? What will they be?
Cybermonkey: EGSL will not be developed any further. Pulsar2D wil be improved from time to time. My plans are to implement Box2D physics and easy handling of tiled based maps made with the Tiled editor. But this has no priority so it can take a long time…
At the moment I am developing a little BASIC interpreter called “AllegroBASIC”. It’s a C project, though. (The editor, however, is made with Lazarus…) Since I am using Allegro4 libs which are obsolete now, I am porting at the same time the project to SDL2 which will be named “RETROBASIC”. If there are people interested in AllegroBASIC, have a look at allegrobasic.pulsar2d.org.
