''Clonk'' is a single player and multiplayer

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 ...

series. The games feature a mix of the

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...

and

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

genres. Developed between 1994 and 2014 by RedWolf Design, the games of the series were originally released as

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

and became

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...

and later

open source software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open ...

around 2008 and 2014. The game's community has since developed the series under the name ''

OpenClonk ''OpenClonk'' is a free and open-source 2D multiplayer action game, in which the player controls small humanoids called "clonks". The main mechanics of the game include mining, settling, player vs player combat, and tactical gameplay. The game ...

''. The series was compared and described as a mixture of ''

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city **Worms (electoral district) *Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio, Italy Arts and entertainme ...

'', ''

The Settlers ''The Settlers'' (german: Die Siedler) is a City-building game, city-building and real-time strategy video game series created by Volker Wertich. The The Settlers (1993 video game), original game was released on the Commodore Amiga in 1993, wit ...

'', ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the approp ...

'', ''

Lemmings A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...

'' and ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...

''.Matthes Bender packt aus (echt jetzt!)
on rebell.at by Sigfried Arnold (in German, February 26, 2007)5 open source remakes of classic PC games you won't want to miss
by Mike Williams on

betanews eFront was an affiliate marketing network which purchased successful websites, such as '' Penny Arcade,'' SquareGamer, and BetaNews, and pooled traffic to those sites to command higher prices for advertising during an industrywide ad revenue slow ...

.com ''"2. OpenClonk is a free, open-source multiplayer version of RedWolf Design’s "Clonk". ..(think Minecraft, Terraria, Worms or Settlers), it’s great fun if you’re a fan of those games, and OpenClonk’s powerful customization tools means it’s easy to extend the program with new maps and scenarios."'' (May 2015) The game was noted for the easy game "extension" mechanic with an integrated editor and developer mode, which allows experienced players to create their own modifications directly into the game.

Gameplay

In ''Clonk'', the player controls small, humanoid beings - the so-called Clonks - within a

two-dimensional In mathematics, a plane is a Euclidean (flat), two-dimensional surface that extends indefinitely. A plane is the two-dimensional analogue of a point (zero dimensions), a line (one dimension) and three-dimensional space. Planes can arise as s ...

, dynamically modifiable landscape using

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

. Clonks interact with their surrounding landscape, animals, weather, buildings and objects. The game can be played alone or in

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

split-screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts * Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen * Split Screen (TV series), ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001 * Split-Scree ...

or via

local network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a larger ...

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. Four different keyboard settings, combined with the option of using a mouse or

gamepad A gamepad is a type of video game controller held in two hands, where the fingers (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. They are typically the main input device for video game consoles. Features Gamepads generally feature a set of ...

, result in allowing up to six players on one computer. The game goal depends on the scenario being played, varying between melees, in which players fight each other, strategical team siege scenarios and cooperative missions.

Extensions

The expandability of the games is a core gameplay aspect and feature of the ''Clonk'' series. Several extensions were made over the years and offered for the registered users of the game. There are medieval (''Knights''), futuristic (''Hazard''), fantasy and "Cowboys and Indians" (''Western'') themed packs available. An elaborated scenario extension is ''Far worlds'' which features the

deep sea The deep sea is broadly defined as the ocean depth where light begins to fade, at an approximate depth of 200 metres (656 feet) or the point of transition from continental shelves to continental slopes. Conditions within the deep sea are a combin ...

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

and

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

. The ''Western'' object pack was originally created for a design contest, but has been developed into an official extension.

Community made extensions

Additionally, many unofficial extensions have been created by players. One example is the modern military-combat extension called "Codename: Modern Combat", which includes various weapons, vehicles, and scenarios in a modern-combat setting. Since the release of ''Clonk Planet'', players may start a development of their own extension by using the integrated developer mode. It is possible to add new objects (such as Clonks, weapons, buildings, etc.), scenarios or complete packs such as the official

Extensions Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * Ex ...

. Many players have used these options and created extension packs, which can be downloaded from the fan sites. The Comprehensive Clonk Archive Network (CCAN) is one of central hubs for the ''Clonk'' community to share self-made extensions for the game. Extensions for older (freeware) versions of ''Clonk'' can be downloaded there.

History

Between 1994 and 1996 RedWolf Design, with the German lead developer Matthes Bender, created four ''Clonk'' games for the

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

/ PC platform. The games of the series were released and commercialized as

Shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

. In 1999 RedWolf released their first

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 ...

Clonk game, ''Clonk 4'' (in retail release under the name ''Clonk World''). Starting from 2001, RedWolf Design stopped development of the 2D engine based ''Clonk Planet'' and started developing ''Clonk Extreme'' with the

Torque Game Engine Torque Game Engine, or TGE, is an open-source cross-platform 3D computer game engine, developed by GarageGames and actively maintained under the current versions Torque 3D as well as Torque 2D. It was originally developed by Dynamix for the 2001 ...

. "Clonk Extreme" - short "ClonkX" - was supposed to transform the game principle of Clonk into a 3D-game. It is also the first game title that doesn't support the digging mechanic. On the development end of ''Clonk Planet'', the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...

of its 2D engine was released, which attracted a team of players who developed ''Clonk Planet: Golden Wipf Edition'' - short ''GWE''. Within this fan-project, several sorely missed features have been implemented, such as more editability and modern

32-bit color Color depth or colour depth (see spelling differences), also known as bit depth, is either the number of bits used to indicate the color of a single pixel, or the number of bits used for each color component of a single pixel. When referring to ...

graphics.

Revival of the series

In 2003, RedWolf Design revived the series' 2D branch by collaborating with the GWE team and

derived Derive may refer to: * Derive (computer algebra system), a commercial system made by Texas Instruments * ''Dérive'' (magazine), an Austrian science magazine on urbanism *Dérive, a psychogeographical concept See also * *Derivation (disambiguatio ...

the next official ''Clonk'' title called ''Clonk Endeavour'' from the previous GWE 4. ''Clonk Endeavour'' received positive attention when it was presented on the

Games Convention The Games Convention (GC), sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment. Its concep ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, and won a newcomer contest held by

GIGA TV Giga ( or ) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a short-scale billion or long-scale milliard (109 or ). It has the symbol G. ''Giga'' is derived from the Greek word (''gígas''), meaning "giant". The ''Oxford English Dic ...

. The game was sold in the CD version for €25 and as digital download for €15. The development continued, and several extensions such as a new network architecture for faster internet games and a fullscreen menu system were being developed. The development led to a new sequel, ''Clonk Rage'', which became the officially current version on May 5, 2008. Its predecessor, ''Clonk Endeavour'', was released as freeware a couple of days later. The other 3D development branch, ''Clonk Extreme'', progressed slowly, and in 2008 only early

alpha version A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

s, some screenshots and one preview video of the game were available. ''Clonk Extreme'' was announced with a release date in 2050, but this was later found to be an

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...

joke. However, in 2009 RedWolf Design's leader Matthes Bender announced he would be working on other projects, and the ''Clonk Extreme'' development was frozen without probable continuing development.Stellungnahme von Matthes Bender zur CX-Entwicklung
im clonk.de-Forum (in German) Development of ''Clonk Rage'' continued until May 2014. In 2014 the forums of ''Clonk'' were closed, and on

end-of-support An end-of-life product (EOL product) is a product at the end of the product lifecycle which prevents users from receiving updates, indicating that the product is at the end of its useful life (from the vendor's point of view). At this stage, a v ...

of all available ''Clonk'' versions, their engine source and game content have been released under

open-source license An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users and commercial compa ...

s to the community. Specifically, ''Clonk 1'' to ''3''

Borland Turbo C++ Borland C++ is a C and C++ IDE (integrated development environment) for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was the successor to Turbo C++ and included a better debugger, the Turbo Debugger, which was written in protected mode DOS. Libraries ...

code, ''Clonk Planet'' v4.65 and ''Clonk Endeavour'' v4.95.5 (engines only) VC6 code and ''Clonk Rage''s current development prototype were released under the Clonk Source Code License (

ISC License The ISC license is a permissive free software license published by the Internet Software Consortium, now called Internet Systems Consortium (ISC). It is functionally equivalent to the simplified BSD and MIT licenses, but without language dee ...

). The content of all the games in the series was released under the

CC BY-NC A Creative Commons NonCommercial license (CC NC, CC BY-NC or NC license) is a Creative Commons license which a copyright holder can apply to their media to give public permission for anyone to reuse that media only for noncommercial activities. C ...

Creative Commons license 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/lyrics ...

, making them freely shareable and downloadable freeware.

OpenClonk Community continuation

''OpenClonk'' is an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

continuation In computer science, a continuation is an abstract representation of the control state of a computer program. A continuation implements ( reifies) the program control state, i.e. the continuation is a data structure that represents the computati ...

based on ''Clonk Rage'' by a community of ''Clonk'' enthusiasts and former ''Clonk'' developers. It is not officially developed by RedWolf Design. ''OpenClonk'' is licensed under the

ISC license The ISC license is a permissive free software license published by the Internet Software Consortium, now called Internet Systems Consortium (ISC). It is functionally equivalent to the simplified BSD and MIT licenses, but without language dee ...

with the content under

CC BY-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 ...

(or more

permissive {{about, , the 1970 British film, Permissive (film), the grammatical mode, Permissive mood, the flavor of software license, permissive free software licence A permissive cell or host is one that allows a virus to circumvent its defenses and replica ...

). ''OpenClonk'' is the first ''Clonk'' game not to support

backwards compatibility Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially i ...

for previous expansion packs. Since the requirement for backwards compatibility has been dropped, many new features have been implemented into ''OpenClonk''. These include

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the ...

, traditional run and gun controls, a zooming camera, and a completely redesigned base objects pack. Though ''OpenClonk'' supports 3D graphics, the game world remains a 2D platformer. Development happens on a

git Git () is a distributed version control system: tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data inte ...

repository and, as of March 2017, is active with regularly releases and

nightly build A daily build or nightly build is the practice of completing a software build of the latest version of a program, on a daily basis. This is so it can first be compiled to ensure that all required dependencies are present, and possibly tested to sh ...

Reception

In 2004 ''Clonk Endeavour'' attracted some attention when it was presented on the

and won a newcomer contest held by

.Indigo (GC) 2004: Games Convention Tag Sechs
on Developia by Mathias Kanitz and Alexander Krug (in German, August 24, 2006, archived) In 2007 German

computer magazine Computer magazines are about computers and related subjects, such as computer network, networking and the Internet. Most computer magazines offer (or offered) advice, some offer Programming language, programming Tutorial, tutorials, reviews of the ...

Computer Bild ''Computer Bild'' is a German fortnightly computer magazine published by Axel Springer SE. It is published in nine countries, and is one of Europe's best selling computer magazines. History and profile ''Computer Bild'' was first published in 19 ...

'' lists ''Clonk Planet'' with 4/5 stars. German gaming website ''gbase.de'' reviewed ''Clonk Rage'' in 2009 and gave it 7.5/10 points. A Russian game magazine's review called ''Clonk Planet'' "a plotless masterpiece" comparable with ''

'' and ''

''.САЙТ GAMELAND ONLINE (www.gameland.ru) Журналы : CD №17 (98)
''"This game has no plot! ..It would be appropriate in this respect to compare with "Tetris", "Lemmings" and other "plotless" masterpieces. But the game has a name - "Clonk"."'' (archived) The game was reviewed by several other German game magazines.PC GAMES 9/2003 ClonkPlanet4.65
on

PC Games A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-dete ...

magazine (in September 2003)

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

* http://www.clonk.de/?lng=en - official English site (Redwolf Design) * http://www.openclonk.org/ - official website of ''OpenClonk'' * https://github.com/openclonk/openclonk - ''OpenClonk''

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 ...

code mirror * http://www.ccan.de/ - database of game extensions created by players * https://archive.today/20121231073608/http://www.clonkforge.net/ -sSite used to organize development teams for ''Clonk'' extensions 1994 video games Strategy video games Platform games DOS games Windows games Linux games Multiplayer and single-player video games Open-source video games Freeware games Commercial video games with freely available source code Creative Commons-licensed video games Video games developed in Germany