Platform Game Engine

The Platform Game Engine project is exactly what it sounds like, a game engine and toolkit for creating platform games. It seems very complete and feature-filled, with an advanced editor with all sorts of tools as well as advanced game features such as warps, doors and world maps. Long story short, if you want to create a platforming game without coding, this might be a good place to start!

Editing backgrounds in The Platform Game Engine.

Cytopia

Cytopia is a city building game with isometric retro-styled pixel art and a focus on mods. Lately it has moved from a promising engine to a promising game. There is already support for a custom UI system, terrain manipulation, roads and water, buildings and much more. The pixel art looks great and many cool features are planned for the future such as procedural terrain generation, OpenGL rendering and a scripting language for mods. Also, it seems like the project is currently looking for more developers, if you happen to be interested.

Buildings, roads and hills in Cytopia.

FAR Colony

FAR Colony is a space strategy game that can be played both in realtime or in a turn based fashion, depending on what the player prefers. It's complex and in-depth game where lots of thought has got into every part. I have mentioned it a few times before, but it was quite a while ago now so I thought it deserved a heads-up. Development still seems very active, with something new almost every week. If you are looking for a really grand space strategy game, this might be where to look!

An overview of a settlement in FAR Colony, showing a Nuclear Fission Reactor.

The Dark Mod - 2.05/2.06

There really is something about The Dark Mod and how it is framed. The moonlit streets, the clockwork designs and the atmospheric font all resonate with me, saying "You will really like this game." And while stealth-games usually isn't my thing I have still played quite a bit of The Dark Mod due to it being so well made. It's also a project that really feels like it has high production values all the way through. Just look at the screen below! Since I mentioned it on this blog last time two new releases has come out with a wealth of improvements in each. 2.05 brought hundreds of new models, making scenes much more interesting and easier to create. There was also a new introductory mission, improved performance, a new AI opponent and loads of other smaller improvements. 2.06 comes with improved visuals, especially regarding shadows which can now be soft instead of sharp, EAX sound effects for all users, menu improvements, more new assets and a lot of other things including performance and gameplay improvements. All in all a very polished game with loads of content that needs to be experienced.

Soft shadows displayed in The Dark Mod.

EasyRPG

EasyRPG is a role playing game creation tool. It is inspired by the similar software RPG Maker and EasyRPG is also compatible with RPG Maker 2000/2003 games. The player seems further along than the editor, but the latest release certainly seems massive and there a loads of supported platforms, so you can get this to run on most devices if you feel like playing a few classic RPG:s.

A test-game loaded into the EasyRPG player.

EmptyEpsilon

EmptyEpsilon is a multiplayer starship bridge simulator. Each player takes command of a certain station, such as Helm, Science or Engineering, each having a unique screen with information, controls and functions. There is also a main screen that displays what happens outside the ship. The challenge is coordinating all this, as the players must work together operating the ship to complete various missions. If you have ever watched Star Trek and (like me) dreamt of being captain of your own starship, this is as close as you can get. A very cool simulator with a unique concept and really smart co-op gameplay. An extra cool feature is that one player can act as a game master, controlling the game for the other players, a feature that can be used for cool RPG-like setups. It's also possible to script your own missions. If you have a few interested friends and enough computers this is a must try!

 

The relay officers station from EmptyEpsilon. Only that player sees this screen.

And here is an example of what the main screen displays. All players see this.

Mindustry

Mindustry is a very unique tower defense game where it's not enough to construct turrets to defeat the hordes of incoming enemies – you must also construct supply lines with conveyor belts to provide them with ammo. For those of us who love building and optimizing this game should provide plenty of fun! The game can be downloaded or it can be played directly in the browser. There is an editor so you can create your own maps and there is even cross-platform multiplayer over LAN or WAN, so get your friends together and start constructing!

Look at these amazingly intricate designs!

Planet Blupi

I read a headline saying Planet Blupi had been open-sourced, and it didn't sound familiar at all. But then I saw the screenshots of small yellow creatures exploring and building stuff and realized: I have played this! A really long time ago, but if I remember right it was quite fun... Turns out Planet Blupi is completely free now, including media assets. The game is described as both adventure and strategy. Using the Blupi-creatures you will build things, grow flowers, make food, devise traps or in other ways try to overcome the games 30-ish levels. This version seems to have many bug-fixes and code modernisations compared to the original, so if this unusual mix sounds interesting I believe it could be fun to try.

Cute animations of idle Blupies.

CorsixTH

Can't get enough of the classic title Theme Hospital? The modern engine-implementation CorsixTH has got you covered with a new release called 0.62. There are several fixes and improvements to this already very complete engine. Just load up your old Theme Hospital CD and copy the data files and you're ready to go! And if you don't have the original, you can try the demo which is available from the CorsixTH page.

Getting a zoomed-out high-res view like this is possible using CorsixTH.

Beyond Dying Skies

Beyond Dying Skies is a 3D FPS-RPG with a futuristic setting, survival elements, crafting, a leveling system and classic skill-based FPS movement, inluding things like jet packs and grappling hooks. It's designed as a single-player experience, which is commendable as many games of this type seem to be multiplayer-focused. This unique genre-blend certainly has some interesting ideas and I was thrilled to read through the description thinking "This sounds really cool!". Development also seems really active. Have a look at some videos here and get the game here.

A glimpse into space from Beyond Dying Skies.

Warzone 2100 - 3.2.3

Soon there will be more updates on this page - there are several new interesting Free game projects I want to mention. But they will have to wait until I have a bit more free time. In the meantime though, here is a small update to the excellent RTS Warzone 2100. Release 3.2.3 is mainly a bug-fix release, but it also adds support for higher levels of anti-aliasing, optimizes graphics and adds some new scripting functions. Also don't forget that this game has excellent modding capabilities with a huge archive of hundreds of interesting addons and maps.

I found this screen in the Warzone 2100 addon archive, from a stat-balancing mod called YAGeSM.

OpenTTD - 1.7.0

Transportation business simulation game OpenTTD has reached a new milestone in 1.7.0. Besides bug fixes and smaller improvements the majority of the work seems to be based around the New Graphics Resource File that should make modifying the game easier and more flexible. (If I have understood this right. :) There are also some UI improvements, realistic acceleration for trains and road vehicles, performance improvements and more. Be sure to check it out if you fancy this rather advanced strategy game.

This screenshot from OpenTTD is old, but I'm having trouble finding new ones. :)

Intricacy - 0.7.0.1

I am not certain how many releases ago I mentioned the cool lock-picking game Intricacy. But this unique puzzler is now on version 0.7.0.1 and among the news is various UI improvements along with some smaller fixes.

A screen from Intricacy looking complicated.

Terasology - 1.4.0

The terribly advanced organic and evolving voxel-world of Terasology has reached alpha 7, also known as version 1.4.0. The changelog is as always impressive, and both the core game and many modules have received changes and improvements. Download it now and see this virtual world come alive even more than before!

A beautiful scene from Terasology.

Liberation Circuit

Liberation Circuit is described as a "rogue A.I. simulator" and is an RTS/programming game where you are tasked with escaping a hostile computer system. It's possible to play the game as an RTS and take control of units or use code to program them to act on their own. A very interesting concept I must say! It looks great too, with colorful abstract worlds.

Various units attacking in Liberation Circuit.

Arcmage

Todays update brings something a bit different: Arcmage - a collectible card game. Yep, you read that right. It's a non-digital game with cards that you can print out and play with. I still think it fits on this blog though, not only is it Free and open source, it's also playable online in a digital variant. I do enjoy deckbuilding, and I must say it looks like a lot of work has gone into artwork for this project, so if you fancy an alternative to Magic the Gathering and the likes this might be for you!

An example card from Arcmage.

Thrive - 0.3.3

Some breaking news here! Super-cool evolution game Thrive has got a big new release. It looks fun, highly polished and I appreciate that it tries to adhere to know scientific theory, possibly making this into a great learning tool as well as a great game. New in this release is a complete overhaul of the interface (it does look very nice and sharp), the simulation now accounts for creatures mass, a much more realistic approach to reproduction, a new system for health and much more. Again, to understand how much thought has gone into many of these things you need to read up on this yourself. Have a look at the changelog or the new feature video!

Various organisms swimming around in Thrive. You ought to see this in motion.

FreeRCT / OpenRCT2

While city-building simulators like Sim City were fun, it was undoubtedly more fun to build and run an amusement park. So many great childhood memories comes from the two games that let me do that. First I played Theme Park (for Sega MegaDrive, even) a lot, and then later RollerCoaster Tycoon. The latter might be a bit hard to run today, but thankfully there are Free open source projects that work on taking care of that!

The most interesting project is FreeRCT. It's homepage appears to be down at the moment and the project has no binary release yet. But a lot of work seems to have been done, and as FreeRCT attempts to create everything from code to graphics from scratch I can image it will take some time before it's complete. I'd love to see it completed though. A fully Free - both code and assets - game of this type would be really fun to have!

Rollercoasters and roads in FreeRCT.

Another alternative is the OpenRCT2 project. It's an re-implementation of the RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 engine, that uses the same data files as the original. Besides being a total recreation of the original game it expands upon it by offering new features such as multiplayer support, fast-forwarding gameplay, OpenGL rendering and more. For me, the most important features is Linux support, which it has! OpenRCT2 is complete and if you have a copy of the original it shouldn't be to hard to get it working!

A slice of scenery from OpenRCT2.

Terasology - 1.3.0

Another big numbered release for Terasology! 1.3.0, also known as Alpha 6, is dubbed "The lots of stuff release". It appears development took some extra time, so it's more filled with stuff than usual. Among lots of closed milestone issues and engine improvements are also a bunch of interesting-sounding modules. How about Alchemy, Cooking or Smithing? :) Those interested can check out the full extent of the release here.

Another breathtaking scene from Terasology, found on the official forum.

RogueBox Adventures - 2.1.0

RogueBox Adventures, roguelike and sandbox mix, keeps on giving. 2.1.0 was just released, focusing on bug fixes and sporting a long list of such. There's also a few new features, like info bars for monster behaviours, coloured item listings to make special items easier to find and GUI improvements in the form of icons showing available actions. Coming in the guture is an optional story mode, which sure sparks my interest more. :)

RogueBox Adventures showing the new action icons.