# Fun Open Source PC games? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040 "2006-01-15T02:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@Joools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joools)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/1 "2006-01-15T02:57:18Z")
I’m looking for a new PC game to play, and I thought it’d be fun to try an open source game next. The idea of playing something a little indie, plus something that I could crack open the source code to, or even potentially contribute to, seems appealing. What are the open source games that you just can’t stop playing? Or that make for a nice diversion for a couple of hours here and there? I’m fine with something that’s graphically rough around the edges, but I’d like a game that’s relatively stable, and that doesn’t require a lot of configuration to set up. Also, I’m looking for something that will run on Windows or OS X. (Ideally on both.) I’m pretty open as to the genre. My preference would be for a game that isn’t just a clone or remake of a commercial game or board game. The best ones I’ve found so far tend to be strategy games. I’ve played a lot of [MegaMek](http://megamek.sourceforge.net/), which I find to be loads of fun, since I’m a big fan of the original Battletech board game. [FreeCiv](http://www.freeciv.org/) looks fun too. Although both of these fail the clone/remake test. I’ve also downloaded [NetHack](http://www.nethack.org/), [Battle for Wesnoth](http://www.wesnoth.org/), and [NetPanzer](http://netpanzer.berlios.de/). Am I on the right path? Missing anything critical? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/2 "2006-01-15T03:25:22Z")
My own personal obsession is at [http://www.u5lazarus.com](http://www.u5lazarus.com) – it’s a remake of Ultima 5. Only downside is, you need a working copy of Dungeon Siege to play it. But the mod is intentionally open source! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/3 "2006-01-15T04:33:28Z")
Drat. As I only now realize, you wanted stuff that wasn’t remakes. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/4 "2006-01-15T11:11:27Z")
From your listed choices it may not be your cup of tea, but I used to enjoy a good game of [bzflag](http://www.bzflag.org/). Back in university where all the machines were \*nix based and we only had 10M of disk, Nettrek (?) was popular. I think [this](http://www.netrek.org/) is the main site. Think I’ll check out NetPanzer tomorrow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/5 "2006-01-15T11:50:00Z")
> [@Joools](#): > > What are the open source games that you just can’t stop playing? Or that make for a nice diversion for a couple of hours here and there? [Maelstrom](http://www.devolution.com/~slouken/Maelstrom/). (I have a really short attention span for games, preferring to spend the bulk of my unproductive computer time on message boards, so my suggestions would tend to favor quick arcade games rather than drawn-out strategy games.) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/6 "2006-01-15T12:20:10Z")
You will either love me or hate me for suggesting [Nethack](http://www.nethack.org/). The graphics range from ASCII to primitive, but many, many people can’t stop playing. From the Nethack info page: > [@](#): > > What is NetHack? > NetHack is a single player dungeon exploration game that runs on a wide variety of computer systems, with a variety of graphical and text interfaces all using the same game engine. Unlike many other Dungeons & Dragons-inspired games, the emphasis in NetHack is on discovering the detail of the dungeon and not simply killing everything in sight - in fact, killing everything in sight is a good way to die quickly. Each game presents a different landscape - the random number generator provides an essentially unlimited number of variations of the dungeon and its denizens to be discovered by the player in one of a number of characters: you can pick your race, your role, and your gender. My younger brother showed me this game some years ago (he’s a total geek) and I haven’t decided yet whether he did me a favor or not. ---
**Author:** ![Procyon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@Procyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procyon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/7 "2006-01-15T15:29:41Z")
I’m going to have to second the recommendation of Nethack as well as the words of warning. Do not start playing this game you have a lot of more important things to be doing. Although most of the open source gaming that I’ve done has been remakes (Doom, Star Control 2, etc.), I did find a pretty fun arcade style sidescrolling game called [Blobwars](http://www.parallelrealities.co.uk/blobWars.php) that might be enjoyable if that’s your kind of game. ---
**Author:** ![Joools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@Joools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joools)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/8 "2006-01-15T23:48:25Z")
Awesome, thanks everyone. I’ll take the warnings about **Nethack** to heart 🙂 I tried about 15 minutes of **BlobWars** , and it’s great: exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for. I found another game – an arcade-y space shooter – called **Project: Starfighter** at the same website. Looks fun too. Tried a bit of **BZFlag**. The mostly mouse-based controls took some getting used to, so I ended up just dying a lot, but I can see the point of the game, so I’ll put that on my list for ones to spend some time figuring out and practicing. Had less luck with **Netrek** – I couldn’t tell from the website at [http://www.netrek.org/](http://www.netrek.org/) which client I should be downloading, which version, etc. The site is a little light on the documentation. Looks like somebody made a more user-friendly site at [http://www.playnetrek.org/](http://www.playnetrek.org/). I downloaded the Win32 client and tried the default configuration they provided, but ran into technical difficulties. So I might put that one near the end of the list for now, until I can find a guide to help me get started on it. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/9 "2006-01-16T00:00:58Z")
There’s [Transcendence](http://neurohack.com/transcendence/), a Nethack-meets-Subspace sort of game. Buzz around random star systems and upgrade your ship with bigger weapons and miscellaneous doohickies. There’s a plot somewhere, but I get blasted before I get anywhere. Sort of NetHack-light is [IVAN](http://ivan.sourceforge.net/), which is similar but without quite so many permutations (the levels are random, but you’ll always encounter the giant plant in the last Tunnel level, for instance). The armor and damage system is better in my opinion. You can get your limbs lopped off, and if you’re lucky, replaced with something better. Or beat a guy over the head with his own severed leg. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/10 "2006-01-16T00:18:42Z")
> [@Procyon](#): > > Although most of the open source gaming that I’ve done has been remakes (Doom, Star Control 2, etc.), I did find a pretty fun arcade style sidescrolling game called [Blobwars](http://www.parallelrealities.co.uk/blobWars.php) that might be enjoyable if that’s your kind of game. Oooh… even if you don’t want remakes, I heartily recommend The Ur-Quan Masters, an open-source port of the 3DO version of Star Control II (one of the greatest PC games of all time). There are various fanpatches out there, including things like new music and graphics tweaks. Game’s kinda weird to run, since it opens up a DOS command prompt and is constantly extracting stuff from the zip files teh game is stored in, but if you can ignore that going on in the background, the game is super fun. 😃 As for totally indie games… uhm… I can’t think of any that I play ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Joools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@Joools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joools)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/11 "2006-01-16T01:27:43Z")
> [@biqu](#): > > [Maelstrom](http://www.devolution.com/~slouken/Maelstrom/). (I have a really short attention span for games, preferring to spend the bulk of my unproductive computer time on message boards, so my suggestions would tend to favor quick arcade games rather than drawn-out strategy games.) By the way, I should note that I played TONS of Maelstrom back in college, when it was a shareware game. I’m giddy to see that it’s been open-sourced, maintained and improved. Hooray for Ambrosia Software! ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/12 "2006-01-16T01:59:49Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Oooh… even if you don’t want remakes, I heartily recommend The Ur-Quan Masters, an open-source port of the 3DO version of Star Control II (one of the greatest PC games of all time). > > There are various fanpatches out there, including things like new music and graphics tweaks. Game’s kinda weird to run, since it opens up a DOS command prompt and is constantly extracting stuff from the zip files teh game is stored in, but if you can ignore that going on in the background, the game is super fun. 😃 > > As for totally indie games… uhm… I can’t think of any that I play ☹ I downloaded that last week after it had been mentioned earlier. Man, that game is hard. And I’ve yet to find a way to turn off the sound. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-open-source-pc-games/340040/13 "2006-01-16T04:12:37Z")
Ur-Quan link: [http://sc2.sourceforge.net/info.php](http://sc2.sourceforge.net/info.php) Brian figured I’d save opthers the google