Loki Software - Legacy

Legacy

Loki Software, although a commercial failure, is credited with the birth of the modern Linux game industry. Loki developed several free software tools, such as the Loki installer (also known as Loki Setup), and supported the development of the Simple DirectMedia Layer. They also started the OpenAL audio library project (now being run by Creative Technology and Apple Inc.) and with id Software wrote GtkRadiant. These are still often credited as being the cornerstones of Linux game development. They also worked on and extended several already developed tools, such as GCC and GDB. The book Programming Linux Games by Loki Software and John R. Hall is recognized as one of the prominent tutorials for the Simple DirectMedia Layer. Many of Loki's free tools are still actively used and being developed, often by former employees of the company, many of them having moved to other computer game or Linux companies.

Loki also offered a start to many figures still in the Linux and gaming industries. Ryan C. Gordon (also known as icculus), a former employee of Loki, has been responsible for the Linux and Mac OS X ports of many commercial games after the demise of the company. Mike Phillips would help start Linux Game Publishing, which was itself founded in response to Loki's closure. Nicholas Vining would go on to do some porting work and is currently the lead programmer at Gaslamp Games, which would later release their game Dungeons of Dredmor for Linux. Sam Lantinga would also later join Blizzard Entertainment and found Galaxy Gameworks to commercially support the Simple DirectMedia Layer; he would later also join Valve Software's Linux team.

Although many Loki ports are unsupported since Loki's closure, Linux Game Publishing managed to pick up the rights to MindRover and offer a supported and updated version of the games Linux port. id Software picked up the support for the Linux release of Quake III Arena, hiring Timothee Besset to maintain it; he would later also be responsible for porting some of id's later products to Linux. Running with Scissors still sells a Linux port of Postal on its website. In 2004 Human Head Studios has released the source code for Rune, but nobody make updates for Linux version. Software contractor Frank C. Earl claims to hold the porting rights for the entire Myth series and says he will port it to Linux. Kevin Bentley is working on the Descent 3 patch for Linux. In 16 October 2011, The Tain release a new version of Myth 2 for Linux. Linux installers for linux gamers also offers installers for many Loki titles to help them run better on modern systems.