''AssaultCube'', formerly ''ActionCube'', is an open source

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

, based on ''

Cube In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. Viewed from a corner it is a hexagon and its net is usually depicted as a cross. The cube is the only r ...

'' and use the same engine, the ''Cube Engine''. Although the main focus of ''AssaultCube'' is multiplayer online gaming, a single-player mode consists of computer-controlled

bots The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...

. ''AssaultCube'' utilises efficient bandwidth usage, allowing the game to be run with connection speeds as low as 56kbit/s. It can run on older computer hardware as well. ''AssaultCube'' is available for

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

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FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), which was based on Research Unix. The first version of FreeBSD was released in 1993. In 2005, FreeBSD was the most popular ...

and

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

. The

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

, however parts of the accompanying game media, such as the graphics, are released under non-

licenses, the

CC BY-NC-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...

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, which makes the overall game

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Gameplay

''AssaultCube'' was designed to be more realistic and team-oriented than ''Cube'' while keeping ''Cube''s distinctive fast-paced gameplay. In comparison to other games, ''AssaultCube'' is slower than '' Quake'' but faster than ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...

''. There are two different teams in ''AssaultCube'', called the "Cubers Liberations Army" (CLA) and the "Rabid Viper Special Forces" (RVSF). ''AssaultCube'' retains a movement bug from ''Cube'' that allows players to utilize

straferunning Strafing is the act of moving sideways in a video game relative to the player's forward direction. Strafing allows a player to keep the camera focused on a target such as an enemy, while moving in a different direction. Techniques Circle strafi ...

to move at a faster speed. This was left intentionally unfixed by the developers because it was considered an enjoyable feature of ''Cube'', similar to

bunny hopping Strafing is the act of moving sideways in a video game relative to the player's forward direction. Strafing allows a player to keep the camera focused on a target such as an enemy, while moving in a different direction. Techniques Circle strafi ...

in '' Quake''. Another feature of the game is the potential for using the recoil of the weapons (which pushes one backwards) to reach and perform moves that were previously impossible. This was also included intentionally, allowing players to achieve faster movement and jump higher. This feature was inherited from ''Cube'', though it was absent in the original release of ''AssaultCube''. ''AssaultCubes weapons are all fictional and fill the basic niches of a modern first-person shooter: the assault rifle, sub-machine gun, sniper rifle, carbine, shotgun, pistol and knife. Despite its simplistic graphics and gameplay, ''AssaultCube'' maintained a consistent player base of hundreds of players, with over 60 user-run servers online at any given time around 2009. ''AssaultCube'' had several gaming clans, some of which participate in organized tournaments. ''AssaultCube''s engine is an improved version of ''Cube''. These improvements include several features from the '' Cube 2 Engine'', such as more menu features and the possibility to set variables in scripts with the syntax ''variable = value'' (the old syntax, ''alias variable value'', still works).

Mapping

''AssaultCube'' retains an in-game mapping feature from the original ''Cube'' game, resulting in a variety of custom maps. The diverse nature of the ''Cube'' engine's mapping feature allows for creativity and almost endless possibilities for custom maps. Another aspect of ''AssaultCube'' is the ease at which custom maps can be shared. These created maps can be played online fairly easily if they comply with quality pre-requisites.

Game modes

''AssaultCube'' has over a dozen different gamemodes, such as

deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters a ...

capture the flag Capture the flag (CTF) is a traditional outdoor sport where two or more teams each have a flag (or other markers) and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base", and bring it safely back to their own base. ...

and variations thereof.

Development

''AssaultCube'' started out as ''ActionCube'' in July 2004 by a few members of the ''Cube'' community. The first official release was in November 2006. The plan was to create an entirely new game incorporating ''Cube''s simplicity and movement style in a more realistic environment. On May 6, 2007, ''ActionCube'' was renamed to ''AssaultCube'' due to a request from the developers of '' Action Quake''. Version 1.0 was released on November 21, 2008. Version 1.2.0.2 was released on November 10, 2013. The game received no updates until version 1.3.0.0, which was released on December 4, 2021. The latest version is 1.3.0.1, released on January 26, 2022.

Reception

''AssaultCube'', then under the name ''ActionCube'', was named "Free Game of the Month" by the German

video game magazine Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publicat ...

PC Action PC or pc may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Player character or playable character, a fictional character controlled by a human player, usually in role-playing games or computer games * ''Port Charles'', an American daytime TV soap opera * ...

'' in February 2007. ''AssaultCube'' was downloaded between 2006 and March 2017 alone over

SourceForge SourceForge is a web service that offers software consumers a centralized online location to control and manage open-source software projects and research business software. It provides source code repository hosting, bug tracking, mirrorin ...

7,456,000 times. The game was forked into a version with a built-in gaming portal named ''ActionFPS'' in 2017. Features include an authentication system and a match client.

References

External links

*
''AssaultCube''
project page on

GitHub GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous ...

''AssaultCube Mobile''
project page on

''AssaultCube''
former project page at

SourceForge.net SourceForge is a web service that offers software consumers a centralized online location to control and manage open-source software projects and research business software. It provides source code repository hosting, bug tracking, mirroring ...

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