A game for a Mac guy and a Linux guy?

December 29, 2008 2:08 PM

My friend has a Linux laptop, and I have a Mac. We'd like to play a fun multiplayer strategy-type game against each other. Can you think of a game on the wide Internets, browser-based or downloaded, that would fit the bill?
posted by bicyclefish to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

The obvious answer is Freeciv. Glorious game.
Barring that, it can be tricky for Linux to work with other systems for gaming, so have you thought about using a Virtual Machine of some form or another? Either using something like VMWare fusion to boot to a Windows environment, or using something like Crossover to run the game in a Wine-like environment.
posted by Lemurrhea at 2:33 PM on December 29, 2008

Oops. And then, using a windows environment, a game:

Age of Empires
Starcraft
Civilization IV / Colonization / Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

would be my first things to try. Alternatively, I don't remember if Gunbound works on Linux/Mac, but it's a fun game. Sorta like a revamped Scorched Earth.
posted by Lemurrhea at 2:35 PM on December 29, 2008

Defcon for Linux, Defcon for Mac.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:37 PM on December 29, 2008

Battle for Wesnoth is my present favorite -- free, expansible, good single and multiplayer modes, the built-in tutorial will get you the basics in about 5 minutes. I (linux) play against buddies on mac/win all the time with no problems.
posted by 7segment at 2:40 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

You guys might be able to play some windows games if he runs wine and you run darwine.
posted by damn dirty ape at 2:45 PM on December 29, 2008

I don't know about the Mac end of it but Civ IV runs flawlessly on linux under Wine. I (linux desktop) play networked games against my wife (xp laptop) all the time. Works great.
posted by ijustwantyourhalf at 3:07 PM on December 29, 2008

Seconding Wesnoth!
posted by phrakture at 3:21 PM on December 29, 2008

Liquid War!

lots of fun multiplayer, cross-platform, free, and (not to be overlooked) a unique concept.

the main site seems to be dead, but the download mirror lives.

Direct link to latest mac binary on download.savannah.gnu.org
Direct link to linux binary on same.
posted by namewithoutwords at 3:32 PM on December 29, 2008

Armagetron - cross platform.
posted by damn dirty ape at 3:36 PM on December 29, 2008

There are builds of Glest and Wormux for Linux and OS X. Spring runs on Linux and Windows.
posted by PueExMachina at 4:23 PM on December 29, 2008

I'm not 100% sure you'll consider Wormux a strategy game, but I'll second that it's fun.
posted by silentbicycle at 7:04 PM on December 29, 2008

You can play Carcassonne online at asobrain, where it's called Toulouse. I'm not sure if you can match a specific opponent, though, but I think that can be arranged.
posted by kprincehouse at 2:10 AM on December 30, 2008