Linux Games For Non-Gamers?

Nethead writes "Due to some down-time, I'm looking for some Linux games to pass the time. I've been playing BattleMaster, a PHP web game but it's only two turns a day, and I'd like something a bit faster. I've not really played PC games since the Doom era so I'm really out of touch here. I don't have a real gamer box, just a simple video card. What do Slashdotters think I should try? A simple FPS or some type of networked game would do. What's out there for Linux?"

Comments

Whelp...

[Anrego]

I find xmoto is an excellent time waster ..

http://xmoto.tuxfamily.org/

Also I occasionally delve into the "flash games" arena .. there's actually some decent stuff now days! (And there's always the classics like "defend the castle" and "Champion Archer")

Re:Whelp...

[richlv]

xmoto is nice, but there's so much more :)
some i have played and did like enough :

http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/
http://www.openttd.org/
http://www.wesnoth.org/
http://wz2100.net/
http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/
http://www.bzflag.org/
http://chromium-bsu.sourceforge.net/
http://freeciv.wikia.com/
http://www.ufoot.org/liquidwar/v5
https://sourceforge.net/projects/koules/ (original page seems to be down)
http://neverball.org/

flash games

[Mishotaki]

some flash games are quite decent, like gemcraft http://armorgames.com/play/3527/gemcraft-chapter-0

Linux games wiki

[ljaszcza]

Well, there is a wiki too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Linux_games I've played the Penumbra games, they are ... adventure games really but fairly atmospheric.

Re:Linux games wiki

[RuBLed]

You could also try the appsdb list of Wine. ~ http://appdb.winehq.org/ If you browse the list you can find freeware windows games that runs quite well. (the last one I tried and had fun was Battleships Forever)

Re:Linux games wiki

[apoc.famine]

I'll second the Penumbra games. They were FP without the S. Minimal amounts of killing, good atmosphere, with tons of moderately challenging puzzles to solve. Very reasonably priced as well.
 
The World Of Goo has a very functional linux port, and is one of the better games I've played in years.
 
I haven't been back to the Kingdom of Loathing for a year or so due to time constraints, but it's a pretty damn fun browser game. Free to play, but you can buy vanity items to help support it. And, of course.....TROGDOR!!!!!.......TROGDOR!!!!! ...ahem.

Yes

[gbarules2999]

Cube, OpenArena, Nexuiz are all fair FPS games. Not amazing, but fun diversions. Aside from that BZFlag, Battle for Wesnoth, and FreeCiv.

A word of advice: Never play Frozen Bubble. I've lost days thanks to that bastard.

happy penguin

[micromegas]

Check out http://www.happypenguin.org/. I've got the RSS enabled on the right side of /. If you ever up your video card, http://www.planeshift.it/ is an excellent open source mmorpg.

Civ

[Anonymous Coward]

Freeciv is a good game you can play and leave, then come back to later. It doesn't require a lot of hardware, and while complicated at first, it becomes remarkably simple to play once you've played for a while.

Watch you don't get too addicted though! The urge to play 'just one more turn', or to go to bed 'after I've captured that city' is incredible.
http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

OpenTTD

[Bluecobra]

OpenTTD (which is based on Transport Tycoon Deluxe) is a great game and you can quickly loose track of the time building intricate train networks. You do need the original game files but this is pretty easy to do with the help of Google.

  http://openttd.org/

World of Goo

[Anonymous Coward]

World of Goo - check it out!

Here is a short list...

[Erikderzweite]

Here is a short list of some Linux games I know of:

3D Multiplayer Deathmatch:
Alien Arena
Warsow
Openarena
World of Padman
Nexuiz
Sauerbraten

3D Multiplayer team DM:
Tremulous (aliens vs. humans)
Enemy Territory (allies vs. axis), freeware
ET - True Combat Elite (terrorists vs. specops), freeware
Urban Terror (terrorists vs. specops)

2D Multiplayer Deathmatch:
Teeworlds (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!)

Artillery:
Scorched3D
Hedgewars (Worms clone)
Wormus (Worms clone with OS mascots)

Real Time Strategy:
Warzone2100
Bos Wars
The Spring Project and various mods

Turn-based Strategy:
Battle for Wesnoth (caution, addictive)
Freeciv

Racing (I'm not really into racing):
Supertuxkart
Trackmania

Jump-n-run:
Supertux
Secret Maryo Chronicles

Others:
Neverball/Neverputt
Foobillard
Frozen-Bubble (multiplayer bubble-puzzle clone)
OpenTTD

These games require fairly simple hardware -- I have played most of them on my built-in intel X3100 (i965).

Dwarf Fortress

[Erik Fish]

The deepest Roguelike ever. If you aren't sure why you might want to play it, start here.

Get the Linux 40d16 version from this page

If you prefer graphical tiles to (nearly) pure ASCII (I certainly do) get the Mike Mayday tileset from this page and use the instructions to get it working.

Then watch the 40 tutorial videos to ease the neigh vertical learning curve. You will of course supplement the videos with lots of careful reading of the wiki.

This game is a time vampire, but lots of fun if you have a little patience and an attention span.