Free Games Thread

[*^kyfds(]

What's your favourite free/open source game?
(This includes both browser based games, and local games)

i'll start off with a awesome one:

http://wz2100.net/

[zombifier25]

SuperTuxKart!

[Erik1984]

OpenTTD http://www.openttd.org/en/

[Ji Ruo]

No longer open source but still completely free:

http://www.urbanterror.info/home/

[PeterP24]

Oh boy, were do I begin? :D
Short answer: naev - found it while I was cruising github. Compiled it, solved some weird problems with libsdl and spent months playing it. I have no regrets regarding the lost time :D.

Long answer: started with OpenArena, continued with tuxkart, more shooters and a dozen of board games. Last year I discovered naev and pioneerspacesim on github (sorry if I mispelled the name). I had to compile them from source. naev is in beta and pioneer was in alpha. Interesting concepts both - I am a sucker for sf themed games.

[3rdalbum]

Oh boy, were do I begin? :D
Short answer: naev - found it while I was cruising github. Compiled it, solved some weird problems with libsdl and spent months playing it. I have no regrets regarding the lost time :D.

Long answer: started with OpenArena, continued with tuxkart, more shooters and a dozen of board games. Last year I discovered naev and pioneerspacesim on github (sorry if I mispelled the name). I had to compile them from source. naev is in beta and pioneer was in alpha. Interesting concepts both - I am a sucker for sf themed games.

Oh mate, you missed out by not owning a Mac.

Naev is a clone of the classic Macintosh game Escape Velocity, which also spawned two sequels (Escape Velocity: Override which was my favourite, and Escape Velocity: Nova). Override's universe feels real and alive, and full of surprises. You'll actually feel compelled to destroy any Voinian ships in the Emalgha system to save the poor Emalgha in their little wooden fighter craft :-)

It's fair to say that Naev is a clone of EV's game engine, with a totally new story and assets. But if you can get your hands on an older Mac running Mac OS 9, you absolutely MUST play the original Escape Velocity and Override. Or if you have Windows, download Nova as it's also pretty good and available for Windows - you can only get so far before paying though.

So yes, Escape Velocity: Override is my favourite free game of all time, but not especially easy for Linux users to play due to it only being available for Mac OS 9!

My other candidate for best free game is Marathon 2, also a classic sci-fi Mac game. Can be played on Linux with the Aleph One engine. Pretty awesome single-player FPS that runs on practically anything - it used to be playable on a 25MHz Mac. And a third candidate from my Mac days was Bolo, a multiplayer top-down tank game.

Currently I'm a bit addicted to Top Gun, which is a browser-based game on Facebook. If you hate Facebook then try Hobowars, also a browser-based game but not a Facebook one.

[cyberphrog]

supertux!

[earthpigg]

OpenRA (http://openra.res0l.net/) - Command & Conquer Red Alert 1, now native for Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1968401)

[odiseo77]

Nexuiz, Torcs, SuperTux, SuperTuxKart.

[standingwave]

Cube 2: Sauerbraten
Foobilliard
GNU Backgammon

[Metallion]

http://ufoai.org/wiki/index.php/News

UFO: Alien Invasion. It's an open source remake of X-COM UFO Defence based on the quake 2 engine.

[Artemis3]

I'm getting ufo:ai now to see how much has progressed.

Can vote for Sauerbraten, and Warzone; also add Battle for Wesnoth, play online with mods... If you never played Starcontrol 2, get The Ur-Quan Masters (same game).

Naev is looking good, but last time i tried ran out of things to do too quickly; game is sorely lacking content and a more dynamic universe, hope it gets there.

Stuntrally is another game i like, looking good and with many huge crazy tracks already.

[Brimwylf]

nethack. always nethack.

[*^kyfds(]

I'm getting ufo:ai now to see how much has progressed.

Can vote for Sauerbraten, and Warzone; also add Battle for Wesnoth, play online with mods... If you never played Starcontrol 2, get The Ur-Quan Masters (same game).

Naev is looking good, but last time i tried ran out of things to do too quickly; game is sorely lacking content and a more dynamic universe, hope it gets there.

Stuntrally is another game i like, looking good and with many huge crazy tracks already.

I've played battle for wesnoth and warzone 2100 before....

not starcontrol though...

[forrestcupp]

Cube 2: Sauerbraten


Sauerbraten is great because it's one of the only free FPS that has a decent single player, campaign mode.

[BarfBag]

Seven Kingdoms (in the repos) is dangeriously addicting!

[afixane]

Minetest (http://minetest.net/)
Katawa Shoujo (http://katawa-shoujo.com/, I don't sure this game is Open Source, but it's free :p)

[*^kyfds(]

minetest is hilarious.

[SilentMute]

The entire NES, Sega Genesis, and Super NES libraries are all out of copyright now, so there's a huge number of games, if you're willing to put up with shoddy graphics.

Within that here are a few of my favorites:
Super Contra
Super Mario Bros 3
Double Dragon
Sonic 2
Contra 3: Alien Wars (this is an unfair challenge)
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past

and many, many others, also there are some pretty good emulators out there for Ubuntu right now.

--

[Artemis3]

The entire NES, Sega Genesis, and Super NES libraries are all out of copyright now

Ah yes, if copyright laws were sane, that would be true... But I'm sure thats not the case. In certain countries such as the USA, copyright lasts 95 years after the author is dead or such. According to wikipedia, the countries with the shortest copyright terms are at 25 years after the author passes away. Most countries are over 50 years + life of the author.

The original copyright term (in USA) was 14 years with one possible extension, totaling 28 years max. It was meant to put an end to hereditary rights from English printer guilds, to ensure works would eventually go into public domain, thus advancing arts, science, etc. And in fact everything was public domain by default, you had to explicitly declare copyright if you wanted to have it; but thats not the case anymore; thus the need for the copyleft licenses.

The different pirate parties across the world have the defined goal to reduce copyright terms back to something reasonable.