$20 Game of the Week: Retribution Game Engine (PC)

So this week’s $20 GOTW (or should I say free) isn’t so much a game as it is a tool. However, it comes with free games and you can always download more for it. The engine was created by Andrew Gardner, who in 1997 had set out to create a first person shooter game entitled Corridors of Power (which by the way is one of the games included in the download). After releasing some teaser levels, modders discovered that they could use the engine to create their own levels. Developer Paul Moxon joined Gardner and created a level editor using the software. After several difficulties throughout the years, the project was temporarily shut down in 2006 only to be restarted less than a year later as an open source project. Thus the fruits of their labor are available for download on their website at http://www.apgardner.karoo.net/. The download comes with three full games (Corridors of Power, Sinister, Dead Man Walking), several individual levels, several challenge levels, and a suite of editing tools. There is a map creator, a model editor, an episode editor, and more. They are designed to be user friendly, so anyone can jump right in regardless of programming skills. While the graphics in the included material look as if they were from the Dreamcast days, the engine makes use of many of the latest OpenGL features. The games themselves are throwbacks to the early days of the genre, so FPS fans will get a kick out of their simplicity. If you got a decent computer, you will definitely want to check this out. Weather you want to create games or simply play what other people make, the Retribution Engine is a great open-source package.