Libre game recommendations list

17 réponses [Dernière contribution]
onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

I've recently decided to compile a list of really good libre games, to the point that they're worth recommending on their own merits (not just because they're libre). It's here:

http://onpon4.github.io/articles/libre-games.html

So far, I have identified around 60 such games. I'd appreciate any comments, and any suggestions for others to add.

jxself
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 09/13/2010

You may find some at https://jxself.org/git/

Of course, most of the stuff in the Games category uses the best graphics chip in the world: Your imagination. :)

Except for KXP (the KGoldRunner eXpansion Pack), which has less interesting graphics than what someone's imagination can come up with. :>

strypey
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/14/2015

Thanks for this list onPon, it's a really good idea. I enjoy FreeDroid, a libre clone of a game called ParaDroid that I loved as a child on my Commodore 64. Note I'm talking about the original top-down version of FreeDroid, not the 3D RPG version which is a cool idea, but I didn't get very far with trying to play it.

onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

Freedroid is nice, but doesn't qualify for my list because it's just (supposed to be) a clone of Paradroid. Freedroid RPG would qualify, but it has problems that need to be addressed first.

GNUbahn
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 02/18/2016

Thank you for this list. I was never into games myself, but I am looking for frees software game alternatives for my five year old daughter.

Can you help by marking each game with an indication of at which age kids can begin to play it?

Or point me to the games most suitable for five six seven year old kids? (if any)

onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

I considered doing that, but this is largely a subjective point that varies from parent to parent. Just to give an example, the first act of Amazon Queen involves the protagonist picking up a pair of "comedy breasts" as part of a disguise where he dresses as a woman. I wouldn't consider this to be inappropriate for children, but my brother disagreed when I tried to show Amazon Queen to my younger brother. Similarly, there's the question of blood: for example, is Jump 'n Bump no good for children because it supports blood, even though you can turn it off? What about guns themselves? Is Teeworlds no good because it has guns, even though it's very cartoony? Is Alex the Allegator unacceptable because part of the gameplay is using your character (an alligator) to eat people (the caveman enemies)? Is Overgod unacceptable because its story is about rebelling against God (as the title implies)? Is Project: Starfighter unacceptable because it has mild swearing?

The list goes on; pretty much any game will have its caveats for some parents. So I think, ultimately, this is something each parent needs to decide on their own. I suggest, as a parent, you look through each of the games you are considering for your child and consider for yourself what is important to you.

But personally, if I had a child that was 4-6 years old, I would keep them away from these games:

- Battle Tanks (blood, death screams)
- C-Dogs SDL (blood, death screams)
- Dink Smallwood (blood, murder, domestic abuse)
- Dopewars (illicit drugs, crime, death screams)

And if the child had epilepsy, I would keep them away from Torus Trooper as well.

Other than that, for me, I would consider all of the games on my list to be perfectly fine for a young child. But that's just my standard.

GNUbahn
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 02/18/2016

Thanks, that was a very useful answer. Actually it answered questions I wasn't considering.

My question was about at which age a kid can figure out and have fun playing a given game.

Do you have an opinion and/or experience with that?

onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

It would depend on the child, really. The first real game I ever played was Lode Runner (or rather, a then-modern remake of it called Lode Runner: The Legend Returns); I was 3 years old at the time. So if it were me, I would just let the child decide.

GNUbahn
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 02/18/2016

Arigatou.

Do you know if these games can be run on a Thinkpad T60? If not, would it help to upgrade to an X200/T400/T500?

(As long as possible I wish her to use librebooted devices)

GNUbahn
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 02/18/2016

I should probably have asked ...which of these games... or even ...if any of these games...?

onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

I don't know for sure, technically, but none of these games are particularly graphically demanding, so you should be able to run all of them just fine. Xonotic has probably the most demanding graphics of all of them, and even that will run on quite low-end, old computers if you turn the graphics settings down enough (and the Thinkpad computers are not low-end). To wit, I used to have a budget laptop purchased in 2007; it couldn't run Xonotic at full settings, but turn down the graphics a bit and it ran quite nicely.

strypey
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/14/2015

Sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but I seem to remember having trouble installing Xonotic. Is it in the Trisquel 7 repos? If so, what package name should I apt-get install? Installation instructions (or links to them) would be a useful addition to your game list.

BTW I remembered I put some notes on my wiki about the various games I've tried using both Trisquel 6 (now defunct?) and 7. Most of these games are clones, so not relevant to your list, and a number didn't work at all, but there may be some useful insights here:
https://www.coactivate.org/projects/disintermedia/libre-games

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

Hors ligne
A rejoint: 10/31/2014

For some reason Xonotic is not in the repository, not in Buguntu and not in Debian. You'll need to download it from the official website, extract the archive and run the executable. Or..if you are willing to spend some time compile the source.

onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

Xonotic isn't in the repo, but just downloading their GNU/Linux binary and running it works just fine in Trisquel.

onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

Just added Flare RPG. Quite a fantastic game, and I'm glad someone at FreeGameDev.net pointed it out. Definitely give it a try if you haven't already!

muhammed
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 04/13/2013

How can I play C-Dogs SDL? Is there a way to install from the terminal?

https://cxong.github.io/cdogs-sdl/

Unrelated: I just noticed that my account is nearly five years old. Where has the time gone.

onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

I ran the pre-built "Linux" binary, but it looks like building just involves running "make.sh".

Note: the binary is in the "bin" directory.

onpon4
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/30/2012

Looking at the contents of "make.sh", you can also do the following:

cmake .
make

You probably can also do this:

sudo make install