''Yo Frankie!'' is an open source

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 ...

made by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation, originally scheduled for release in August 2008. It is based on the universe and characters of the free film produced earlier in 2008 by the Blender Institute, ''

Big Buck Bunny ''Big Buck Bunny'' (code-named Project Peach) is a 2008 short computer-animated comedy film featuring animals of the forest, made by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation. Like the foundation's previous film, '' Elephants Dream'', ...

''. Like the Blender Institute's previous open film projects, the game is made using

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 ...

. ''Yo Frankie!'' runs on any platform that runs

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

and

Crystal Space Crystal Space is a framework for developing 3D applications written in C++ by Jorrit Tyberghein and others. The first public release was on August 26, 1997. It is typically used as a game engine but the framework is more general and can be use ...

, including

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, w ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

and Microsoft Windows.

Plot

In the game, players assume the role of Frank, the

sugar glider The sugar glider (''Petaurus breviceps'') is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its abili ...

who was the antagonist of the film ''

'', or Momo, a monkey created especially for this game.

History

Development

The project started February 1, 2008, and development was completed at the end of July 2008. Due to technical delays, the actual DVD release date was postponed to November 14. The name ''Yo Frankie!'' refers to the game's antagonist, Frank. It was suggested by

Ton Roosendaal Ton Roosendaal (; born 20 March 1960) is a Dutch software developer and film producer. He is known as the original creator of the open-source 3D creation suite Blender and Traces (an Amiga ray tracer which was the forerunner of Blender). He ...

, and selected by a community vote. The game is

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

under either the GNU GPL or LGPL, with all content being licensed under

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/lyric ...

Attribution 3.0.

Release

Since December 9 2008, the game is available to download. There are two versions of the game on the DVD, one with the Blender Game Engine, and a version with Crystal Space. The Blender Game Engine version of the game is titled "A Furry Vendetta", while the Crystal Space version is titled "Furry Funny Frankie". Though some of the assets for making the levels and the characters are shared, the gameplay differs between versions.

Technology

As with previous "open" movie projects, the game is partly designed to promote the open source modeling and animation tool Blender. The modeling, animation and level design were done in Blender. The game itself is rendered with both Blender's internal game engine and the Crystal Space 3D engine, using

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

as a scripting language. The initial decision to use Crystal Space over Blender's own built-in Game Engine was due to the perceived need to create a more "serious" game platform. The development team later partly reversed this decision, by making a new version of the game playable on the Blender Game Engine. This allows artists and level designers a more rapid workflow than rebuilding for the Crystal Space engine on every change (the Blender Game Engine only takes about 2–5 seconds to

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

—in Crystal Space, this can take up to a minute).

Reception

The game was noted by the gaming press.Yo Frankie
on

chip.de ''Chip'' is a computer and communications magazine published by CHIP Holding (formerly Vogel Burda Holding GmbH) in several countries of Europe and Asia. The German edition of ''CHIP'' was launched in September 1978 and is one of Germany's oldest ...

(2009 July 6)

References

External links

*
Podcast interview with Campbell Barton (Game Logic and Developer) of ''Yo Frankie!''
on opengamingnow.com (MP3/OGG) {{Blender Foundation 2008 video games Blender Foundation Creative Commons-licensed video games Linux games Open-source video games MacOS games Python (programming language)-scripted video games Video games developed in the Netherlands Windows games Single-player video games Video games based on films