Many free open-source apps got new releases before new year 2022. The side-scrolling game SuperTux 0.6.3 is one of them!

The Super Mario Bros look like game added many exciting new features in v0.6.3, including:

• WASM compilation to play in browser.
• Swimming
• Wall jumping
• Autotiles
• New snow tiles, objects
• Add-on creator
• Optional integration with Discord
• Official binaries for FreeBSD, Linux 32-bit and Ubuntu Touch
• Custom particles, in-game progress statistics, skippable cutscenes.
• Updated animations, rework of the Revenge in Redmond worldmap.

How to Install SuperTux via PPA in Ubuntu:

The game offers official Linux packages via universal Flatpak, non-install AppImage, and 32-bit portable tarball. They are available to download at the link below:

For those prefer the native DEB package for Ubuntu based systems. I’ve uploaded the packages into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and Linux Mint 20, etc.

Besides 64-bit package for modern PC and 32-bit for old PC (Ubuntu 18.04 only), there are also armhf/arm64 packages for devices such as Apple Silicon and Raspberry Pi.

1. Add the Ubuntu PPA:

To add the PPA, firstly press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal (or search from start menu). When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/supertux

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

SuperTux also has an official daily PPA which builds the game packages almost every day. You may use the PPA instead for the bleeding edge version:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:supertux-dev/daily

2. Update package cache:

For Ubuntu 18.04 and some Ubuntu based systems, user may need to manually update the system package cache via command:

sudo apt update

3. Install / Upgrade SuperTux:

The package in PPAs is a little bit different. The stock versions in Ubuntu repository built the package into supertux and supertux-data. Apology for being lazy, the PPA packages built into single supertux.

Which means, upgrading from the stock Supertux version to v0.6.3 using “Software Updater” may not work. Instead, user need to run the command in terminal to install or upgrade the game package:

sudo apt install supertux

How to Remove or Downgrade SuperTux:

For any issue, user may purge the PPA repository which also downgrade the game package to the stock version in Ubuntu repository (change PPA name depends which one you use):

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/supertux

Or, remove the game package directly by running command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove supertux

And, user may remove the PPA instead of purging it via “Software & Updates” utility.

2D jump’n’run game SuperTux released 0.6.3 Beta recently with many exciting new features.

SuperTux is a free open-source side-scroller inspired from the Super Mario Bros. Player may control a penguin called Tux in game to run and jump through multiple worlds, fighting off enemies, and reclaim Penny.

By releasing the 0.6.3 Beta, the game supports for WASM compilation. So, it can be played directly in the browser. There are also many great new features introduced in the release, including:

• Swimming
• Wall jumping
• Autotiles
• New snow tiles, objects
• Add-on creator
• Optional integration with Discord
• Official binaries for FreeBSD, Linux 32-bit and Ubuntu Touch
• Custom particles, in-game progress statistics, skippable cutscenes.
• Updated animations, rework of the Revenge in Redmond worldmap.

How to Get SuperTux:

The game works on Linux, Windows and macOS. Its website provides the binary packages as well as the source tarball for downloading:

For Ubuntu and other Linux, it’s available in the system repositories. Just search for and install it via your system app store (Ubuntu Software).

And the package for the latest 0.6.3 Beta is available to download in Github releases via Assets. For Linux user, download the ‘.Appimage’ package, add executable permission in file Properties dialog, and finally click run it to start the game.

After more than 2 years of development, the new major Battle for Wesnoth 1.16.0 was finally available to download.

With Wesnoth 1.15.x development releases, it introduced new campaign: Wings of Victory, an Intermediate level Drake campaign with 11 scenarios. A new new single player or coop survival scenario, Isle of Mists is added.

The add-on World Conquest II (now called World Conquest) has translations support. And users now has ability to add translated titles and descriptions to add-ons.

It has overhauled the Dunefolk to improve balance against the six Default factions. Most of the Dunefolk faction’s units have new and-or updated animations. There is also a new unit called falconer, which is a branch in the skirmisher line.

For multiplayer, it added roll N chat command, new Information button in the lobby to show server related information and ongoing tournaments being held. It’s possible to press F1 to view in-game help in the multiplayer lobby. And, the Private Replay checkbox is available in the game create screen.

It also merged several experimental AI candidate actions (CAs). The campaign AI Controller feature is now deprecated, and has been removed from mainline campaigns.

Other changes in Battle for Wesnoth 1.16.0 include:

• Many changes to unit stats across the board
• Several new fauna units added.
• Many new zombified sprites, monsters, animations, and so forth.
• Campaign changes and fixes.
• WML and lua API changes.
• Require system higher than Windows 7 / macOS 10.11

How to Install Battle for Wesnoth 1.16.0 in Ubuntu Linux:

The Windows EXE, macOS dmg and source tarball are available to download at the link below:

Linux user may play the game via Steam or itch.io. It’s also available to install separately via the universal Flatpak package in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.10, Ubuntu 18.04 and even older releases. And below will tell you how:

1.) Setup Flatpak daemon.

Firstly, search for and open terminal from start menu (activities overview). When it opens, run command to install the daemon:

sudo apt install flatpak

For old Ubuntu releases, e.g., Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04, you need to add this PPA first.

Next, add the Flathub repository that hosts the software packages via command:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

2.) Install Battle for Wesnoth as Flatpak.

After setting up the daemon, run the command below in terminal:

flatpak install flathub org.wesnoth.Wesnoth

Both Wesnoth 1.14.x and 1.16 are available in the repository. You need to type number to choose which to install, and type y to confirm.

When everything’s done successfully, launch the game from start menu (searching from activities overview) and enjoy!

Uninstall Wesnoth Flatpak:

For any reason, you may run command in terminal to remove the package:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.wesnoth.Wesnoth

And clear unused runtime via flatpak uninstall --unused command.

Want to get better performance when playing games in Linux? Try GameMode!

GameMode is a free open-source Linux project allows games to request a set of optimizations be temporarily applied to the host and/or game process.

The project was originally designed as a stop-gap solution to problems with Intel and AMD CPU powersave or ondemand governors. But now GameMode supports for optimizations including:

• CPU governor
• I/O priority
• Process niceness
• Kernel scheduler
• Screensaver inhibiting
• GPU performance mode (NVIDIA and AMD), GPU overclocking (NVIDIA)
• Custom scripts

1. How to Install GameMode in Ubuntu Linux:

The package is available in Ubuntu as well as most other Linux repositories.

Firstly open terminal by either searching from ‘Activities’ overview screen, or pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run command to install it:

sudo apt install gamemode

For Fedora and CentOS Linux, you can install it via command:

sudo dnf install gamemode

(Optional) Install GameMode indicator:

For choice, you can install an indicator applet that shows the current status of GameMode. It’s an extension for the default Gnome desktop.

a.) Open terminal and run command to make sure chrome-gnome-shell browser integration is installed:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell gnome-shell-extension-prefs

b.) Next go to the extension web page by clicking the button below. And turn on the slider icon to install it.

If you don’t see the toggle icon, click the “click here to install browser extension” link to install browser extension and reload the page.

Finally, search for and open ‘Gnome Extensions App’ from start menu. And click on the gear button to configure the status indicator.

2. How to Run Game in GameMode:

Some games and platforms have integrated GameMode support. Which means you don’t have to do anything to activate it. They are:

• DiRT 4
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia
• Total War: Three Kingdoms
• Total War: WARHAMMER II
• ATLauncher Minecraft launcher
• Lutris

For other games, you can now run the executable command by adding gamemoderun at the beginning. For example, run SuperTux2 in GameMode via:

gamemoderun supertux2

For steam, you can simply add gamemoderun %command% as launch option.

And without launching game every time from command line, write the rule into app shortcut file. They are .desktop files generally locate in “/usr/share/applications” directory.

For example, edit SuperTux 2 app shortcut via command:

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/supertux2.desktop

When the file opens, add gamemoderun before executable command in Exec line.

For Hybrid GPU users, the GameMode supports environment variable via GAMEMODERUNEXEC. So you can run GameMode while using dedicated gpu for rendering game which will be displayed using the integrated card. For example:

export GAMEMODERUNEXEC="env DRI_PRIME=1" && gamemoderun supertux2

To set the environment variable globally, add either line into /etc/environment config file for your case.

GAMEMODERUNEXEC=optirun #Bumblebee implementation.

GAMEMODERUNEXEC="env DRI_PRIME=1"

or

GAMEMODERUNEXEC="env __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 env __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia env __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only"