Slashdot Mirror
What's Your Favorite Open Source Game?
Carlos Camacho asks: "The Inkubator Project is a website for creating free, Open Source Mac games through a collaboration between experienced and inexperienced developers. As webmaster, I am interested in adding to the seven games we have listed in our link section. So, I would like to ask Slashdot readers for their picks of the best Open Source games. The Inkubator Project focuses on Mac developers, however any game project that uses cross-platform technologies is fine."
BZFlag, definitely.
But I found this pretty quickly on google. Has ratings and everything.
Nethack, of course. :) You could also include the graphical Falcon's Eye front end on the list.
Jouni
Jouni Mannonen | Game Designer, Consultant
This one is pretty neat. It's quite challenging, but I'm still learning all the keyboard combos.
Not open source, but free flash games that I really like:
Half-Life!
"Derp de derp."
"None are any good, so why bother even looking?"
Because you cannot prove that something doesn't exist. Therefore, you cannot use that rational to explain why you won't look.
"Derp de derp."
Crossfire of course! The graphics are a bit simple, but it's got nearly as much depth as nethack, and it's a MMORPG. Gameplay is a bit similar to gauntlet, but with CRPG elements.
Vega Strike
Without a doubt one of the premiere open source games. If you've ever played Wing Commander, Privateer, Elite, Escape Velocity Nova, you will love this game!
It's a 3d space combat/flying game where you accept all sorts of different missions (piracy, search and destroy, rescue, cargo hauling, patrol, exploration, etc) for money. You can purchase different starships and upgrade them to top of the line milspec craft. You can take the missions, or just fly around making credits as a tramp freighter, taking profitable cargos from station to planet to base.
There's also a really sweet dynamic universe, with the different empires constructing fleets of ships which do battle (and you can see the battles happen if you are in the same system!), and you can read about the progress of the wars on the dynamic news system.
The artwork is sweet, with a lot of professional-quality stuff. The graphics engine is awesome, and the gameplay rocks too.
This is the game you're looking for.
(Windows, OSX, Linux)
no thanks
Turn based strategy, kinda like Panzer General/Fantasy General.
It's called "find the fastest linux download server".
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Ok, how about. I can spend a few dollars and buy a decent commercial game, OR I can look through thousands upon thousands of crap open source games looking for a decent one. It would cost me more in time to find a decent open source game and of course to compile the thing and fix a few bugs to run a game that has less fun factor than the original X-Wing.
Nethack, of course. I can't see there being any other possible answer to this question. ;)
(I've ascended 9 times... I don't want to think about how much game time I've put into NH)
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Define "decent." You're still being completely subjective. Your statement is definitely true for only one person: yourself.
Flightgear is fun.
It's got to be by far one of the coolest break out games I've played. When you lose the ball it says,"Awww shit!"
I miss it a lot...
But I wasn't the only one, and someone with more time and coding capability than me started making UltimateStunts.
I can't wait 'till it's done...
raptor rox0rz.
Koules is a friggin awesome game. It entertained me for an entire week during the summer of 1998.
Freeciv is an open-source implementation of the classic Civilization I/II games. Go to http://www.freeciv.org to check it out.
"Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
- Sledge Hammer
For anyone actually thinking of playing Ferion, I suggest you don't bother. It's a pyramid scheme for geeks. You can play the game "for free" but half way through a game all the nonpaying players are dropped and only paying players can continue in the arena. Of course, you can "pay" by recruiting other people who pay instead of you, which is why the above poster is advertising on Slashdot.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Ok, Rome Total War is going to be released soon. What open source game exists that is of the same genre and has at least the same quality graphics combined with gameplay which is similar to RTW? If such a game existed it would be "decent". Anything worse than that and I'll pay the few dollars to play a "decent" game.
One of my personal favorites is GLTron, nothing like 4 guys sitting down to 1 keyboard for a test of reflexes, the earlier versions were faster, but the newer ones have turbo.
is a mud- it's open source, but not GPL. http://www.dawnoftime.org More developers are always welcome, and there's a great community in the forums and upcoming wiki page.
By reading this sig, you agree to be bound by all terms and conditions I choose.
Quake.
-- botsex is {grep;touch;strip;unzip;head;mount}
Maelstrom is a supremely addictive game, and it's now released under the GPL so ports to pretty much everything are now available.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
http://armagetron.sourceforge.net/ It's a great 3d Tron Clone.
Despite its simplicity, it's a very fun game.
1) NetHack
2) GNU Chess
3) GNU Go
4) Rogue
5) GNU Shogi
Pretty limited scope... sorry.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, so I'll throw it out there -- PARSEC47 is proof that talented individuals need not be specialists. Tumiki fighters and parsec have been featured on slashdot not too long ago, with source code and windows binaries. I'm pleased to mention that an acquaintance has started up a sourceforge project to port Cho's games to Linux.
PARSEC is attributed to a single person, Kenta Cho. To sum the game is difficult, but I shall try. It's a stereotypical top down shooter with incredible amounts of ammo coming your way. Part of what distinguishes itself from the crowd is its particular aesthetic. The majority of the visuals are abstract GL_LINES, visually reminiscent of Tempest, and the music is trance/techno. It doesn't pay attention to plot, pacing or any other modern trappings of a "game" but is still very enjoyable. It has no plot, much like tetris has no ending, other than failure. It is a genre distilled and its waiting for you.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
I used to play Scorched Earth almost every day afterschool for a while in high school on my friend's 386SX. Great fun.
Now there's an Open Source, 3D panning, zooming, rendered version of the venerable game.
No first person shooting. No Viet-cong. No Desert Eagle. Just a big gun, an angle, a force, and if you're good enough, a hit.
I like to think of it as a wine that's had sufficient time to age. Doubtless, the younger ones will not appreciate this fine wine in favor of a brand new Mickey's "fine malt liquor." Still, I like it.
- I don't need to go outside, my CRT tan'll do me just fine.
...i nearly always install on new systems:
CoreWar: simulation game where a number of warriors try to crash each other while they are running in a virtual computer.
Battle for Wesnoth: fantasy turn-based strategy game.
BZFlag: multiplayer 3D tank battle game.
Crimson Fields: tactical war game in the tradition of Battle Isle.
Crossfire: cooperative multiplayer graphical RPG and adventure game.
Enigma: inspired by Oxyd on the Atari ST and Rock'n'Roll on the Amiga.
FlightGear: Flight simulator.
FreeDroid: clone of the classic game "Paradroid" on Commodore 64.
Frozen Bubble: puzzle-bobble clone.
Globulation 2: Real-Time Strategy.
LinCity: city/country simulation game.
LBreakout 2: breakout-style arcade game in the manner of Arkanoid.
NetHack - Falcon's Eye: mouse-driven interface for NetHack that enhances the visuals, audio and accessibility of the game, yet retains all the original gameplay and game features.
netPanzer: online multiplayer tactical warfare game designed for FAST ACTION combat.
Pathological: enriched clone of the game "Logical" by Rainbow Arts.
Project StarFighter: xy-axis star fighting game.
SuperTux: classic 2D jump'n run sidescroller game.
XKobo: astpaced multiway scrolling shoot-em-up.
XRick: clone of Rick Dangerous.
XScorch: Scorched Earth clone.
Have fun!
-- search the web
How many of you are fans of xkobo? It's by the far the linux game I've wasted the most time playing...
It's just one of the best implementations of the classic game there is, Open Source or otherwise.
If only there was online play... Anyone up for developing a MMPOLCG?
The ______ Agenda
So it's not similar to Parsec for the TI-99/4A?
With the addon module, the sound and voice was really impressive for a home system.
I saw the name and got my hopes up.
Parsec was a horizontal shooter set in an abstract, futuristic landscape.
Also entertaining was Moonsweeper.
Angband's a great RPG. Although it's more for D&D freaks.. :D
Best. Games. Ever.
is my favorite open source windows racing game. generally.racesincentral.com
-- Andy
OK, we're getting better now. There are, to my knowledge, no good open source RTS games. There is a port of Command and Conquer whose client is open (obviously not the content), but they're "not dead [yet]," in the Monty Python sense of the phrase.
Besides, when you say "game," I'm assuming that you mean that it has at least semi-original content in addition to a completely open game engine. Those open source games tend to be simplistic; this, I believe, is the case because the creative part of any sufficiently multimedia-rich game takes most of the time and effort, and because many more artist-types find themselves unable to make their best work freely available.
Other than that, maybe your only problem is that you equate quality of gameplay with quality of graphics. For example, your argument completely ignores the ability to waste months of your life playing Nethack. Or had Scortched Earth been open source first (and there's xscorch for that). You disallow for the possibility of simple games to entertain---or is this just a reflection of your taste?
Bah! GIMP is for wimps who can't play emacs. You don't even need to know lisp to do gouraud shading, for gosh sakes! Where's the skill in that?
-- MarkusQ
So programmers will work for hours for nothing to make open source games, but no artist is that stupid?
Played nethack. Yes it is good, and of course graphics isn't everything but most simple games get boring after a while and a lot are better played in real life with friends and alcohol. Then you also get drunk girls which is also good.
Anyway, reading 2 pages of descriptions of a room is crap compared to seeing the room. If I wanted to read I'd read a book.
Can you imagine playing Black & White (Yes I know this game had problems) without graphics?
Your monkey eats a villager. Would you like to spank your monkey or reward your monkey?
It's much more fun to smack the thing in the head.
Or play GTA with text. You are in a street lined with trees. There is a police car to your north. You can either try to shoot the police or run away like a whipped dog. A song is playing on the radio...
Gameplay is good but it is a combination of Gameplay, Graphics and Audio that make a great game.
Hopefully you don't equate old games with good gameplay and new games with bad gameplay. Back in my day, all games were great. Didn't matter that you only had two colors. Hmm, I wonder if ASCII porn is better...
I've wasted alot of time playing the Torcs driving simulator, trying to beat Berniw on the alpine course in a McLaren F1.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Neverball a game based on Monkey Ball.
Fun, addictive and some of the courses can be really challenging.
Does it have to be generally recoginzed as a game?
KSirtet - a tetris clone for KDE
NetHack - text adventure
One of the funnest games I've played is xkoules. It's basically a kind of King-of-the-Mountain type game where you are a ball and try to bounce the other balls out of the arena. Very simple conceptually. But he added a storyline to it which appears like the Star Wars introduction which scrolls into the screen at the start of each level. The story itself is oftentimes hilarious.
As a Total Annihilation fan, I'm planning to try Boson. Has anyone had a go with it yet? The screen shots look good.
Cheap plug and it's not even ported to the mac yet (any takers???) Anagramarama Simple Addictive Fun
... aka Star Control 2
http://sc2.sourceforge.net/
Oh man, when I saw the article name that is exactly what I thought too.
I've been playing for years, and I just cannot get past level 8-12 area. If I'm really careful, I can get through Sokoban, but then BAM! one or two levels later, dead.
Something in Nethack obviously I just don't get. Still, play on.
Bob-
The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
Still in development, but keep your eyes on Planeshift a very ambitious and so far very well done online role-playing game. (It's playable now but not complete and a very large download). I hear that a new preview version (with a MacOSX port) is on it's way.
There are a few other games in progress based on CrystalSpace as well (which works on Mac, Linux, Windows, and other platforms as well with varying degrees of support).
VOS/Interreality project: www.interreality.org
Great game indeed! The original was one of the first and greatest RPG/Strategy/Action hybrid games of all time... incredibly addictive, and I'm talking Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - kind of addictive! Highly recommended for everyone!
xevil is good for a change of pace. It's a 2D shoot-'em-up with cool characters (ninja, robot, hero, etc.), good weapons (napalm grenades, pistols, machine guns, flame throwers, frog gun, etc.), and unusual items (caffeine, PCP, crack pipes, etc.).
The premise of the game is that you've just died and gone to hell, and now you must compete in this killfest to determine your fate in hell.
I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. --Isaac Bashevis Singer
RobotFindsKitten
Really I think Monkey Bubble, Trackballs, Chromium are all pretty cool. One other that I've wasted tons of time. Enigma
I think it's cute: Linberto
What you said may be true, I don't know.
The right thing to do would have been to make it clear you are involved with the project.
www.simutrans.de - Similar to the old Transport Tycoon (Kinda Raiload Tycoonish)
www.openttd.org - An open-source 'clone' of Transport Tycoon
Both work in Windows/Linux/BSD/etc
You mean they actually make games worth playing for Mac?
The best game i've ever played on a mac is Blobbo. Fantastically engaging puzzle game. I played it for five years on and off before i finished all the levels. Not sure if it's open source but it's very old and hasn't been touched since probably 95 so i don't think people will be too picky about liscencing. Oh how i wish i could play blobbo again!
the corporate mind is pointing toward the capitalizing of ignorance
linux?
best text adventure around.
Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
The shareware Pocket Tanks for Windows is much better than Scorched3d. The 3d only makes the game a kill joy and harder to play. You spend so much time zooming in and out and trying to find the right camera angle, scorched3d just adds complexity and heartache to what used to a fun and simple game.
Armagetron. Get a LAN party going with 10 or 15 friends -- it's crazy! The only thing it lacks is powerups, but it's old-school gaming with new-school looks, so who cares? Be prepared to run out of spare time, though.
type
esc -x
tetris
This works on emacs and xemacs.
Of course its only really playable on xemacs.
Tetris in lisp.. Now there is someone with a lot time...
Nothin' like DDR'in infront of your pets to start the day off right.
With Open Sourcing games....then again, crappy developers will then steal code and try to make their games good.
http://www.macinhack.com
They're simple, but very addictive, and great for wasting even five spare minutes. Very bad for my grades in college.