Retro gaming with ScummVM

I started gaming pretty late, so I haven't played some old games that apparently are awesome. Thanks to ScummVM, I can play some of these.

The Ubuntu repositories has some of these available for installation. You can even install ScummVM on your Android device and take those classics along with you. Awesome stuff.

Installing on Ubuntu

For Ubuntu, it's as simple as a single command run from terminal:

~$ sudo apt-get install scummvm beneath-a-steel-sky flight-of-the-amazon-queen

That's it. Just wait for the download and install to complete and you're good to go.

ScummVM in Ubuntu Software Center

Alternatively, you can just search for, and install, ScummVM and Beneath a Steel Sky (or, Flight of the Amazon Queen) using Software Center. Not too much of a difference, is there?

The only downside is the game window looks awfully small for today's screen sizes. That can't be helped though since these are DOS era games we're talking about here.

Installing on Android

For your Android device it's a bit more complicated. Here's what you'll need to do.

1. Install ScummVM from Android Market along with the plugin needed for the game you want to play.
2. Download the game data for the games you need from ScummVM's site. There's a few games released as freeware available there.
3. Unzip, and copy to your device.
4. Run ScummVM on your Android device, load the game, press start to play.

It takes a bit more effort on Android, but you'll get some nice games you can take along with you wherever you go.

If you want to enable touch support, you'll need to enable "Mixed Adlib/MIDI mode" in the MIDI tab under ScummVM's options, then restart ScummVM. More info is available from ScummVM's wiki.