I enjoy Linux gaming via WINE/Proton, but I often wonder about Linux-native FOSS games. You often see brilliant titles like 0AD and Mindustry mentioned, but there are also some unspoken gems in the “genre” like Minetest and it makes me wonder what other FOSS games are out there, that people just don’t talk about much? I’m looking to discover and play more of these titles.
@theshatterstone54@feddit.uk Sonic RoboBlast 2 and Sonic RoboBlast 2 Kart.
The former is a fork of the original Doom that turns it into a 3D platformer. The latter is a fork of the former that turns it into an online kart racing game
I spent several years on OpenBSD playing mostly foss games (no WINE support) before I got my steam deck, so I feel fairly qualified with recommending Cataclysm DDA, Xmoto, and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Say goodbye to the next several months of your life. Other cool FOSS games that grabbed me, but not to the same level: Ur Quan Masters (Star Control 2), and endless-sky.
I’m a fan of Freedroid Classic, a FOSS remake of a commodore 64 game called “Paradroid”. You’re a robot on a deserted space ship full of other malfunctioning robots, and you have to hack / shoot all of them. You start out as the worst robot, but if you encounter a better one, you can hack it to take over its body – if it doesn’t kill you first.
Takes a few runs to get the hang of it, but it’s a lot of fun.
Endless Sky is an amazing one. I’ve put tons of hours into it. It’s a top down 2d space trading/fighting game, very similar to Escape Velocity if you’ve ever played that game.
Really! I got started on Simutrans and had a lot of difficulty moving to oTTD. The straw that broke the camels back was having to lay down rail tile by tile instead of routing between two point.
It’s a functional programming language, so you have to think quite differently when using it if you’re used to imperative programming languages (e.g. C++, Java, Python, Basic). I learned it at uni and it was quite fun, but I wouldn’t know how to write a larger project in it.
Language on the broad scope doesn’t matter, but something with a niche—especially not another object-oriented framework as dominates video games but less so elsewhere in the last decade where encapsulation & state have been seen more as anti-patterns in most cases—can make it either a better tool for the job or at least a curiousity on how to construct a full application of the type in said language—which helps fans of this or adjacent languages have a repository of ideas to draw upon.
@theshatterstone54@feddit.uk Sonic RoboBlast 2 and Sonic RoboBlast 2 Kart.
The former is a fork of the original Doom that turns it into a 3D platformer. The latter is a fork of the former that turns it into an online kart racing game
I spent several years on OpenBSD playing mostly foss games (no WINE support) before I got my steam deck, so I feel fairly qualified with recommending Cataclysm DDA, Xmoto, and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Say goodbye to the next several months of your life. Other cool FOSS games that grabbed me, but not to the same level: Ur Quan Masters (Star Control 2), and endless-sky.
ssh nethack@alt.orgSupertuxkart and supertux
Every couple of years I throw 40-80 hours into (eg) https://crawl.akrasiac.org:8443/#lobby
I’m a fan of Freedroid Classic, a FOSS remake of a commodore 64 game called “Paradroid”. You’re a robot on a deserted space ship full of other malfunctioning robots, and you have to hack / shoot all of them. You start out as the worst robot, but if you encounter a better one, you can hack it to take over its body – if it doesn’t kill you first.
Takes a few runs to get the hang of it, but it’s a lot of fun.
also check out libregamewiki its got lots of free games
its pretty complex and can be hard to learn, but flightgear is super fun once you get the hang of piloting.
Endless Sky is an amazing one. I’ve put tons of hours into it. It’s a top down 2d space trading/fighting game, very similar to Escape Velocity if you’ve ever played that game.
Dr. Robotnik’s Ring Racers
Here are some less mentioned FLOSS games, that are excellent quality:
Fillets-ng (2D fish sokoban)
The Dark Mod (3D stealth game, bow and sword)
Crrcsim (3D model glider flightsim, slope soaring)
Open transport Tycoon deluxe. Been going for years and it’s still great.
Simutrans, surely.
Simultrans is good but it’s a bit barebones for my liking.
Really! I got started on Simutrans and had a lot of difficulty moving to oTTD. The straw that broke the camels back was having to lay down rail tile by tile instead of routing between two point.
Nikki and the Robots, it’s written in Haskell
For those unaware, what is the significance of it being written in Haskell?
It’s a functional programming language, so you have to think quite differently when using it if you’re used to imperative programming languages (e.g. C++, Java, Python, Basic). I learned it at uni and it was quite fun, but I wouldn’t know how to write a larger project in it.
Language on the broad scope doesn’t matter, but something with a niche—especially not another object-oriented framework as dominates video games but less so elsewhere in the last decade where encapsulation & state have been seen more as anti-patterns in most cases—can make it either a better tool for the job or at least a curiousity on how to construct a full application of the type in said language—which helps fans of this or adjacent languages have a repository of ideas to draw upon.
Games which I have played for more than 100 hours.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon: A traditional rougelike dungeon crawler.
Rhythia or Sound Space Plus: Rythm-based aim game.
Taisei: A Touhou FOSS Fangame.
Osu!: A rythm based game.
Adding to what others have said If you are looking for or interested in game engine clones https://osgameclones.com/