Known VPN services have identifiable server addresses that can be blocked. Instead, you can set up a cheap raspberry pi (or other) at your home and use an encrypted SSH connection to that [raspberry pi] from far away. Then turn on your SOCKS proxy (part of WiFi Details on Macintosh) and check to see that your IP address shows to the world you access as that of your raspberry pi. I do this all the time, including right now. It also helps to watch sports events.

"It was a failure of technology" copout for incompetence and negligence.

Agreed.. it was very human incompetence that allowed a long rifle to get within 150 yards of that podium, poor tech probably compounded the problem but they didn't secure the area.

Thanks.

Hi, I'm the lead dev so I can also answer:

1. Nothing specific to Linux/BSD. The hardest part of the codebase to work with is probably the movement/collision/AI code which is very hard to follow. It's hard to change because any change can break things in subtle ways.

2. Nope

3. Probably the networking code. Sopwith always had network code (it was written as a tech demo for an early LAN) but almost nobody ever got the chance to really use it. Seeing it finally working over TCP/IP was very satisfying.

4. I'm planning on adding a level editor which I think should really open up the game to expansion.

5. Fun and comical gameplay. Trying to avoid debris as everything around you is exploding in complete chaos is hilarious to me.

6. No plans for these at all, I'd personally be against adding them. I want to keep it as a great old game, not a lame modern one. I could talk at length about this kind of thing but that's the brief summary.

7. I've actually considered this, yes. The original HUD is very ambiguous and hard to read; effectively just some small lines with no labels. I've actually gone as far as to mock up some better graphics but there's no integration into the game yet.

8. Yes, support for custom levels was actually added recently and the latest release includes an example level. There is not yet a level editor, however, which is a big obstacle for modders. I also think that to make modding interesting the game will need expanding to support different gameplay types, new types of planes, enemies and items, etc. I have some ideas but a level editor should be the first priority.

9. I've personally lost interest in the modern game scene. There have been a couple of recent games I've enjoyed, Elite: Dangerous is one example. I suspect it's partly because I'm old now and don't have the time to follow this stuff. In general I tend to prefer playing (and modding) older games and have had fun recently introducing my daughter to them.

Calling it abandonware seems like a strange choice of phrase: it has been open source (GPL2) since the early 2000s, and SDL Sopwith (linked in the post) is based on that source. So it very much still is in active development.

Sure. The SDL port (I'm the maintainer) is still under development, and new features continue to be added. The original graphics and sound are deliberately preserved - the goal is to make it a great old game and not a lame new one. The project was admittedly dormant for a number of years and I've just recently come back to start working on it again.

The most significant development recently is the addition of support for custom levels. Until now there's only ever been a single level that can be played over and over. Other features added in previous versions include medals, swappable palettes (to emulate old displays), the in-browser version and TCP/IP networking.