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.

Infinite Tux

Infinite Tux is a free and open source variant of a game called Infinite Mario and replaces the proprietary graphics with free alternatives. The game generates platforming levels procedurally so you will always have something new to play. It creates both worlds and levels and seems to play really smooth and well. Have a go if you fancy some fast-paced platforming!

Running along the platforms in Infinite Tux.

The Legend of Edgar

I just noticed that I have completely missed to mention the nice metroidvania-like platformer The Legend of Edgar here! This exploration-focused 2D platformer with huge persistent levels, boss battles, several weapons to wield, etc. is really well made and also has the benefit of being complete, with story and all! Also you can play with a gamepad, which I always find is a big plus.

Edgar with sword in hand on his epic quest.

SuperTux - 0.6.0

Legendary platformer SuperTux has got a huge update called 0.6.0. Since it was some time since the last one, there are loads of new things included. The Ice and Forest worlds has got a complete redesign, graphics have been updated and effects have been added, the rendering engine has been improved which means the game will perform better, etc, etc. This is a very fun game with lots of content, well worth it for fans of the genre.

An underground level with cool light effects in SuperTux.

Laundred Sheep

3D Platformers! I can't get enough of them yet so few are released. A project that tries to mitigate this fact is Laundred Sheep. A completely Free 3D platformer inspired by the Blender Open Movie Cosmos Laundromat. The game is still early in development, but there are several levels to explore, items to pick up and enemies to avoid. This project will be interesting to follow!

Hexoshi

I'm temporarily stepping away from my usual practice of only featuring games that has a playable release, because Hexoshi looks so cool! Inspired by the fantastic Metroid series of adventure-platformers, Hexoshi will be spanning hundreds of rooms in a huge maze-like world ripe for exploring. Collect artifacts to gain new abilities and reach new areas while fighting hoards of dangerous creatures. Work is currently ongoing for the Milestone 1 release, which shouldn't be too long away and will feature many of the games main features. If you want to support the project, check the crowd-funding campaign, where you can also read more on what's in store for this very interesting Free title.

A screne from Hexoshi, showing some really nice pixel art and character design.

ReTux

Todays title is ReTux. You might recognize the art assets from another Free platformer: SuperTux. However, ReTux has been written entirely from scratch and has a different take on platformer gameplay. Collecting coins yields hearts which represent health. Taking damage removes hearts, so you'll have to keep grabbing those coins. Cleverly utilizing this levels can be kept balanced but still challenging. There are of course powerups to help and lives and checkpoints are infinite, meaning you can always try a hard portion of a level again. The game containts 41 levels with both action and some lighter puzzle elements. Another cool feature is that the game is described as "fully accessible to colorblind and color deficient people". Nice to see developers be including like that.

A castle-themed level in ReTux.

SDLPoP

I just found an open source version of Prince of Persia. More childhood memories! I was very young when I played this in the early 90's, but I can still remember the layout of the entire first level. ;) This release seems to include necessary data, so it's just to download and play! If you want music you need to download it separately though. Check the instructions for that here.

Back in the day, these animations were very impressice due to their smoothness. They still look good today.

The Bub's Brothers

More blasts from the past, as another game from my childhood makes an open source comeback. The Bub's Brothers is based on Bubble Bobble, a classic little platformer that is really fun to play in two-player mode. The Bub's Brothers takes this to a whole new level offering multiplayer for up to 10 players! Three players can play on the same computer and for more players the game has network support. Compared to the original there is also new levels, a random level generator and a big set of crazy bonuses. Polished 2D graphics are included as well!

Lots of players makes for some rather crazy situations in The Bub's Brothers.

Lugaru HD - 1.1

Lugaru HD is a third-person action game starring an anthropomorphic bunny fighting to save his friends from slavery. It has a focus on martial arts fighting and was previously a commercial title that now has both Free source and art. Thus the entire game is available to download, and several improvements have been done upon the original. It is now possible to add new campaigns and mods and three new adventures are included with the release. Lots of under-the-hood changes have also been made to improve the code-base, and work goes on for more improvements in the future. This is a cool and rather unique game, well worth a try.

Impressive and dynamic fighting animations make up the core concept in Lugaru.

Hurrican

I had no idea Hurrican was open source! This 2D action run-and-gun, inspired by the classic Turrican, not only has super smooth gameplay and jaw-dropping graphics, it's also complete and features nine worlds and two-player local co-op. Get those gamepads ready and go blast stuff!

I'm so impressed by how good the graphics in Hurrican looks. Super-polished and so very detailed!

zSILENCER

There's just so many Free games out there to find! A quick look around for something new to write about got me zSILENCER. It's a re-created Free version of a game called Silencer, where teams of agents utilize all sorts of technology in order to find and bring home top secret information before the other team. It's sort of like a game of capture the flag, set in a 2D cybercrime setting. The premise sounds both fun and unique, and several agencies with different specializations should give multiplayer-fans something to chew on. Game stats and a list of top agents can be found on the official page, which is fun for those who feel competitive.

The dark cyberpunk-ish graphics give zSILENCER a nice atmosphere.

Liero / OpenLieroX

Liero has a special place in my heart. Somehow we had found this game when I was in the early years of school and played it during breaks. While it can best be described as a realtime version of Worms, the chaos that ensued when we turned loading times on weapons to zero is what I associate with it today. :)

Digging tunnels, swinging around with ninja ropes and harnessing the power of all sorts of crazy weapons: simply put, Liero is great fun multiplayer with potential for both tactical matches and screen-filling mayhem. And if you feel the game could use even more options (like the ability to play as other characters than worms), OpenLieroX is an extra-everything version that should keep any multiplayer session going for a long long time. It even has online multiplayer, but personally I'd say this should be played should to shoulder. ;)

Lots of crazy going on in OpenLieroX.

Nikki and the Robots

Nikki and the Robots is a retro-classic 2D-platformer inspired by the greats of the genre from the 80:s and 90:s. Besides cute and nice graphics it has a unique and interesting gameplay element: various robots in the game can be taken control of through hacking, and can then be used to solve puzzles or in other ways help the protagonist advance thorugh the stages. The game is at 1.0, so it should be finished and fully playable.

Very nice looking pixels in Nikki and the Robots.

Chaos Projectile

Chaos Projectile is not a finished game, nor does it have a release. What it does have is 2D graphics so beautiful I had to mention it anyway. :) It's a run-and-gun type arcade/action game, with character development, role-playing elements and multiple paths through levels. And to top it all of, inspiration is drawn from Lovecraft mythos. I can't wait to see more of this!

I truly love the art-style of this game. Looks amazing!

Clonepoint

Clonepoint is a Free clone of Gunpoint, a puzzle-platformer involving spies, hacking and punching. It looks rather cool, and it's possible to make your own levels using the Tiled map editor. Various levels and a tutorial is included, so it's just to dive in if it sounds like your thing!

Hack stuff and don't get caught.

Supertux 0.4.0

Supertux is another project that has been around since I started getting into the FOSS-world. It has had a few releases now and then, and the latest one 0.4.0, is big! The whole engine has been rewritten to use modern tech, and content-wise there are new effects, levels, badguys, power-ups, etc, etc. There is also a built-in manager for downloadable add-ons and translations (support for various languages is another addition). The changelog is really long and can be read here. A real classic you should at least play once!

Classic 2D platforming at it's finest!

I love how these overworld maps add to a sense of exploration and progress.

The Secret Chronicles of Dr. M.

Remember Secret Maryo Chronicles? It's last release was many years ago, and the project has since been seemingly abandoned. Sad, because this OpenGL-rendered platformer had a lot going for it. But fret not! The Secret Chronicles of Dr. M. is a revival of forementioned SMC and has already had it's 2.0 release! It's still classic 2D platforming with lots of special effects and a map editor. Graphics are clean and professional, control is great. Long story short, a really good game that deserves a try!

Irrlamb 0.2.1

Irrlamb is a physics-based platform/puzzler where you roll a sphere through various levels filled with traps and obstacles. For some reason I've liked this type of game since playing Marble Madness when I was very small, so this game was a fun suprise! A big bonus is that the game supports gamepads - my prefered way of playing pretty much anything that isn't RTS. :)

Version 0.2.1 brings among other things new tutorial levels, nicer GUI and a redesigned replay screen. Get it here.

Balazar Safari Photo

I just found a game called Balazar Safari Photo! I had no idea this game existed, but it looks good and reminds me a bit of Pokémon Snap. Can't be a bad thing! Take a look here.