I wonder why a Linux version never materialized? I suppose if they are successful selling it that someone could finish it off with Linux and Mac ports... There's got to be a few nerds in the Linux community that would love it
Winning real $$$ in tournaments would also be cool.
Probably because noones proved theres a Linux market that pays $$ for software
As it happens I knwo this rpoduct pretty well and porting to Linux (or Mac now that we have Java3D) should be a weekend effort for anyone who knows those platforms. (It has a total of 3 lines of C code, the rest is java.)
And yeah its a damn cool product... the later versions even perform pretty well
IMO they suffered from the following problems:
(1) A niche market. Coder-gamers is a pretty small niche.
(2) A lack of advertising/marketing budget. Because it was a niche, they couldn't interest a publisher. Going it alone they didn't have the marketing funds.
(3) Dated graphics. They weren't cutting edge to start with (though their models and textures I thought were nice), and the game is something like 3 or 4 years old now.
Finally keep in mind that its not a total flop, it DID survive a few years, and I still see it on the shelf at Frys. Not bad for an indie game.
