XInvaders 3D

SporadicPlayableLinux

About

Space Invaders is a 1978 fixed shooter by Taito, released in North America via Midway later that year; it was the first video game with endless gameplay, tasking players with defeating descending waves of aliens using a horizontally moving laser cannon. XInvaders 3D is a vector-graphics Space Invaders clone for the X Window System, originally written by Don Llopis around 2000 and maintained since 2022 by Joe Da Silva, who fetched past fixes, updated the build tooling, and added a two-player duel mode. All objects are rendered as 3D vector graphics so approaching aliens grow larger, and a UFO yields bonus points when hit.

How it differs from the original

Unlike the original arcade cabinet, XInvaders 3D renders all objects with 3D vector graphics that scale as aliens approach, uses keyboard controls instead of a joystick, and adds an optional two-player duel mode (requiring two keyboards) with horizontal- or vertical-split-screen layouts.

Getting started

Install via your Linux distro's package repositories if available, or compile from source with gcc and Xlib development headers using autoconf/automake, then 'make' and 'sudo make install'. Controls use the arrow keys to move and Space to fire; 'p' pauses, 'f' shows the frame rate, and 'q' resets the game.

History

Don Llopis released the original XInvaders3D around 2000; Joe Da Silva picked up maintenance in 2022, fetching past fixes and patches, updating the build tooling, and adding the two-player duel mode.