The Coffee Desk

Top Current Open Source Games

Open source games have historically struggled to achieve the user following of proprietary gaming software, but over the past few years open source games have taken a turn for the better in terms of usability, playability, and generally the ability to grasp public interest. Here is an in-depth list of some of the most outstanding open source games currently released and in active development.

They don’t always have a detailed storyline in favor of general player-versus-player combat, the graphics don’t always match those (or the requirements) of proprietary games, and usually they are based off of an existing game or idea, but open source games have a special place in both the gaming industry and the wide variety of open source software alike.

The games we listed here were actually thoroughly tested by most of us, and we weighed them out against proprietary games while attempting to cover a broad spectrum of game genres in the process.

Armagetron Advanced

Armagetron Advanced is a game based off of the “lightcycle” scenes of the Disney movie Tron. It is actually a fork of an earlier attempt called simply Armagetron, but with enhanced graphics, AI, and overall improvements to the original, Armagetron Advanced easily outshines its predecessor.

The game has surprisingly decent graphics for an open source game, which is best demonstrated on a higher-end OpenGL video card (such as those included with Macs) but easily scales down to accommodate lower quality hardware without loss of overall game quality.

The game is a simple player-versus-player or single player versus AI strategy game, and its simple controls and game principles make this one of the best open source games in circulation. The software’s networkability makes its gameplay across a LAN or an official Internet server a pleasant experience, as we have tested over a standard 100Mbps Ethernet LAN many times.

The game’s AI is also nothing to sneeze at, and the classic level-based layout scales well with both enumeration and difficulty level of the game’s AI, presenting a challenge without being to quick to jump to “impossible mode”.

As a clean, family-friendly and work-safe addition to the list, we highly recommend it to everybody, especially Tron fans.

Frets On Fire (X)

Frets On Fire is an open source clone of the classic game Guitar Hero, along with the ability to even load song files from the standard PC Guitar Hero distribution. The game is phenomenal in its emulation of full-blown Guitar Hero, right down to using the keyboard as the guitar.

However, where the game lacks in graphical sophistication and two player gameplay, the Frets On Fire fork Frets On Fire X covers all of the remaining bases. Frets On Fire X allows two player gameplay, extra themes within the game (including true Guitar Hero-ish themes) and extra features and graphics not present in the regular Frets On Fire game, although we feel they should be.

Guitar Hero veterans will have no problem adapting their skills to this open source alternative, and its ability to load Guitar Hero sound files makes it a great dual-boot game, in addition to its “hackability” due to Linux’s Bluetooth integration (I know somebody whom was able to play using an Xbox 360 Guitar Hero controller and Wiimote with no programming necessary thanks to this).

In short, Frets On Fire is a great open source alternative to Guitar Hero, and Frets On Fire X takes it even a step further with additional enhancements and tweaks that rank Frets On Fire X even higher on our list.

Nexuiz and OpenArena

In the first person shooter category, we combined both of these Quake engine-based games into one section since they share many qualities.

For starters, both demonstrate a common theme of open source first person shooters, especially those based off Quake: they place more emphasis on the actual gameplay rather than a definitive storyline. This would not be such a bad thing if shooters of both types existed in the open source community, but the overwhelming list of Quake-based games with no substantial storyline and just action is what turns off many from free gaming software.

Despite this limiting quality, however, OpenArena and Nexuiz are at the top of their genre of Quake-based first person shooters. Nexuiz’s graphics are some of the best demonstrated within an open source game, and OpenArena’s gameplay and AI bring the classic Quake action to more of a modern look and feel, with updated graphics, weapons and AI intelligence.

Both of these games rank higher on our list than other FPSers like Urban Terror due to their AI intelligence and single player gameplay, although their emphasis on LAN and live gameplay also add to their experience and influence our appreciation of them heavily.

Both games are highly recommended to both Quake veterans and modern first person shooter fans looking for a high quality free software game, although it is debatable whether you can find better gameplay in proprietary combat-based first person shooters given the lack of the open source development volume and idea/improvement input from developers and users alike.

LinCity-NG

Lincity is as CNN describes, “a highly sophisticated [SimCity] clone”, and we couldn’t agree more. Building on the principles of the game SimCity, this open source clone further extends the gameplay familiar with Sims players with added features such as the addition of raw materials, and water/ecology management.

LinCity-NG further extends Lincity with even more added features and better graphics while delegating the task of running on slower/older computers to the original Lincity as compensation for the increased system requirements.

LinCity-NG is sure to be enjoyed by SimCity enthusiasts and open source gamers in general, and further widens the variety of available open source game types available in the community.

Hedgewars

A personal favorite, Hedgewars is a very intuitive Worms clone and just as addicting as far as simple-yet-extensive gameplay is concerned. The hours seem to pass like minutes when you begin to “catch on” to the game and begin to play it online with others.

The game is strategy-based, with a wide variety of weapons at you and your team of hedgehogs’ disposal, which can be utilized in ever-expanding ways to dispatch the other team(s) before they do the same to you. But the gameplay is not the only likable aspect of this game, however: it is praised (by us) for its customization and flexible gaming options, which combined with the networkable emphasis of the gameplay creates a very personal and intuitive atmosphere for the game.

It is truly an instant classic: written using largely the QT programming library, it is completely cross-platform and runs just as smooth and perfect on the highest end Mac as the 128MB video card laptop we tested it on (just tick the “Reduce Quality” checkbox in the settings). The game will no doubt be an open source classic for a long time, and each release brings even more features to the game for its users’ enjoyment.

Conclusion

This list of open source games was not arranged in any particular order, since it is difficult to weigh games of differing genres against each other effectively. Instead, we simply provided a very in-depth review of what we feel (as both users and developers) to be the highest-quality open source games currently in both circulation and development. Almost all of the games on this list are cross-platform, even available for Windows, and can be downloaded free of charge as well as patched by any developer willing to take the time.

We hope you enjoy the games on this list as much as we did, as we tried to cover as many game genres as we could from the open source gaming software set. Happy gaming!