Liberated Games Launches

Crusader writes "Two LinuxGames staff members have launched Liberated Games, a site devoted to cataloguing full commercial titles that have been released for free by the developer or publisher, either with the full source code or without. The current list is available here; the site tracks releases for all major computer platforms (Windows, Mac OSX, Linux), so feel free to submit any missing games to the list."

Linux needs games!

[g-to-the-o-to-the-g]

I really hope companies like Epic games and id Software make lots more linux games! I'm still waiting for the Linux doom 3 build, and Linux is seriously in the need of more games. Hopefully Epic and id will motivate more big companies to port their games to linux. While they're at it, they should pressure ATI to fix their linux drivers.

On a similar note, I think Linux is a good candidate for future gaming platforms (I'm thinking ps3) because of it's flexibility. Last I checked, sony has already made use of Linux in their products.

nice Compilation

[Grant29]

This is a great way to find lots of Linux games in one place. Previously I had to search Google, follow tons of broken links, get pisssed off, etc... I've stil had better luck playing games under windows. Maybe I'll check out some of the source code. Reading others' source code can be a nice learning experience.
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Play the Gmail game, win a free Gmail invitation! [retailretreat.com]

I'd like to see a list of liberated non-game SW

[Anonymous Coward]

Ingres and Firefox (the database) comes to mind; as does OpenWatcom (C). Others?

Oh yeah... soon Linux'll be free'd by SCO.

CloudScape

[nurb432]

There are 3 more for ya..

CloudScape
NetBeans
OpenOffice

How much of a geek is the poster...

[ltwally]

"...the site tracks releases for all major computer platforms (Windows, Mac OSX, Linux)..."

Wow, how much of a geek do you have to be to include Linux as a "major computing platform" and leave out MS-DOS when the subject of said platform is gaming.

I don't have any hard numbers to back this up... but I wouldn't be at all suprised if the number of MS-DOS games out-strips every other platform around.

Googled JA, I didn't know it is opensource! MOD++

[Anonymous Coward]

Jagged Alliance was such a cool game. I've kept it in my Win32 box of games that don't work well with Transgaming Cedega (WineX 4.0) [trannies.com].

Thanks for the update! Whoever modded you down deserves hell on earth!

Timing?

[magefile]

Wouldn't the timing have been better if this was yesterday (i.e., the UN-declared Software Freedom Day)?

/me goes off to download Bungie's Aleph One yet again ...

Vantage Master

[david.given]

I've become rather fond of Vantage Master [falcom.co.jp], which someone pointed me at the last time this topic came up. It's a rather cool tactical wargame featuring two dueling wizards on a three-dimensional hex board. Your primary mode of attack is to summon various strange creatures.

It's deceptively sophisticated --- put more simply, I suck. Each creature you summon has an associated element, and there's a strict order of precedence between the elements. Choosing your creatures to counter your opponent's is the key to the game. It's definitely made for wargame fans.

Despite being quite dated, it's still a lot of fun. The graphics are old but well done and perfectly adequate; it's full of well-presented little animations whenever anything happens. It's got a lot of nice touches like the fact that when you create a character, it runs you through a short personality test to find the right one for you... and there's something going on with Tarot cards I haven't figured out yet.

One of the attractions is the really, really bad translation from the Japanese. There's enough information there to actually play the game, but there's a weird air of surreality about the whole experience; particularly the cut scenes describing the ongoing plot. I've no idea what they're about --- my character seems to spend a lot of time talking to some woman with a dog, uttering the kind of cryptic runes you get when you try and speak Japanese without the right font installed!

Oh, yeah, and the fact that the title theme song is a direct ripoff of Limahl's Neverending Story has to be a point in its favour.

Alas, it's Windows only and doesn't run properly under Wine (it runs, but there's no sound and it's far too slow).

Re:Linux needs games!

[Minna Kirai]

Also, delivering the source code as mandated by the GPL would be a problem, where would you store it?

On an offer, valid for at least 3 years, to deliver the source code to any third party, on a medium customarily used for software exchange, for not more than the cost of shipping and handling.

Re:Most are not fully liberated!

[Anonymous Coward]

Note that one of the games on this list, Golgotha, is backwards from your claim: they released only the game data, and no working code (because they had none).

Star Control II (released as The Ur-Quan Masters due to trademark issues) was a similar case: in that case, the only source code the owners had left was from the 3DO port (remember the 3DO? Part of the same ill-fated generation as the CD-i and Sega's 32x). So people had to start by porting that back to standard hardware...

Re:Two points

[EzInKy]

I see a lot of people linking to abandonware sites. Abandonware is still copyright violation, and its status in that respect is no different from zero-day warez (only the arguments and justifications surrounding it are slightly different).

The purpose of copyright protection is to increase the amount of works available to the public. Abandoned software can fade into obscurity and become lost forever. Congress not requiring an anual renewal of copyrights was a diservice to the public. Personally, I don't care if "the mouse" is forever copyrighted as long as Disney renews its copyright forever. But don't let works fade away because the creator becomes disinterested.

Re:Most are not fully liberated!

[Anonymous Coward]

Game data, as all artwork, is subject to copyright. It might be nice if they gave it away for free, but it cannot be open-sourced. At best it can devolve to the public domain after 25 years (or is it more?).

This is not an issue worth complaining about when the developers are good enough to give you the code.

Re:Pretty soon we can add...

[dark_inchworm]

Aye, Dink Smallwood.. a fun game, that :) I've been a member of the community ever since it was released as freeware in '99, and the source was released earlier this year, making things ever-so-interesting. Since I will soon be the webmaster of the one and only living Dink Smallwood fan site, I may as well 'pimp' it: The Dink Network [rpgplanet.com] Feel free to bother us all.

Re:Linux needs games!

[KDR_11k]

I didn't say development has to take place in low level. Of course you can use libraries, but you have to statically link them and you could alter them to your heart's content. CodeWarrior, for example, says in its feature list that it can optimize libraries by removing functions that never actually get used. With a shared OS you'd have to keep the entire library in memory, whether you like it or not. Since consoles are notoriously low on RAM (the XB2 will use 256MB, that's less than Doom 3 can take up just for the textures) such optimization can become critical.

Failed effort

[Chris Siegler]

I remember when Golgotha released their code and game data I was sure that somebody would pick up the torch and create a nice game out of it but nothing significant ever came of it. Considering the amount of press it got in the Linux press I'm sure that people knew about it, so that wasn't an excuse. And although it was still very rough around the edges they did include all the needed code,maps,textures,audio to get a good running start. So why did it fail? From what I could tell somebody ported it to run with OpenGL and there was a lot of discussion on licensing terms, but no real usable results. Maybe the code just sucked, but there was something like 1 1/2 years of commercial effort in the game that should have gone to some good use! It would just be instructive to learn why it failed.