You might try ETswithc (in repositories, just apt-get it), it SHOULD be able to minimize the game, as it's q3a engine based, even when it's in fulscreen. Not working for me, tho.
Other thing you might do is to launch the game in a different XServer. Slightly more advanced, here's a how-to:
Create a text file /usr/local/bin/rungame (You need to be root to do that) with these contents:
#/bin/sh
#Author: HFechs
#Find a suitable DISPLAY
DISP=`/bin/pidof X | wc -w`
DISP=`expr $DISP + 1`
export DISPLAY=:$DISP
#Launch X server
X $DISPLAY &
#Find out the PID of the X server
PID=$!
#Set up permissions
xauth add $DISPLAY . `mcookie` &
#Launch game
$@
#Terminate X server
kill $PID
Make it executable
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/rungame
.
Now, edit the file /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config change the line
to
You are ready to go. Type
in the console and the game launches in a separate Xserver.
Now you can switch to desktop with Ctrl+Alt+F7 and back to game using Ctrl+Alt+F9.
ISSUES:
- not working correctly sometimes. Once in a while the game doesn't start or freezes immediately.
- A random alg between the mouse and monitor. really annoying, but disappears after a minute or so.
Both may be related to my HW and SW.
If oyu get other issues, try disabling the Compiz before running it.
Source of the howto [cz]
http://www.korecky.org/?p=16