Libre games thread

[Spike's iconSpike]

Apparently this used to cost back in the day but since then the devs made it and the 70ish asset packs free (excluding a couple because the original artists were stingy). As far as game maker engines goes it's complete shit but stumbling across this when I was small had a massive hand in forming my appreciation for game development. As well there used to be a bit of a community surrounding this engine with some popular mods including the Black Ice multiplayer mod (might have botched the name).

For a kid's first encounter with proper game dev this engine is actually pretty sick.
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Oh and as well there's M.U.G.E.N
If you like fighting games or like any character from anything ever I'm sure you can find some enjoyment in M.U.G.E.N. Even gamblers love it because of Salty Bet
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Btw, awesome thread, OP. I only clicked on to see what it was but this is actually a super cool list to have so sorry if these don't count and I messed it up

MUGEN as a fighting engine might be free but the moment you added all those copyrighted characters it's copyright infringement, trademark infringement or both.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

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Doom is great but I think this is the only aspect it cannot fulfil:

The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others.

The game is still copyrighted and sold (on Steam or other stores) so you cannot really redistribute copies like that or else it's considered as piracy (although I don't care that much if someone got the Iwads online).

For those interested, there's a fork called Freedoom which replaces all the games assets (everything that's not the code itself, which is already under GPL) with new ones that are libre.

Freedoom

Freedoom's website

freedoom.github.io

I'm currently doing Phase 2, it really feels a bit like a bootleg "Doom at home" but the engine itself is strong enough to make it feel good.

 

[Varyag]

Pretty much every game I came here to talk about has already been mentioned. There's quite a few pretty good FOSS games around that you can play nowadays. DOOM itself is almost fully libre now, but you can use the FreeDoom assets (and play their own original campaigns, which are pretty good!) to run pretty much any community created map pack or mods, on one of the many freely available sourceports.

Then, there are several other games that aren't necessarily just a reimplementation of a beloved classic. Luanti started out as "Minecraft at home" but it's quite a bit more now, even though most played games in that engine are still Minecraft-likes. I recommend trying out Asuna on their content page, it's a nice base for modding. I don't think I need to explain OpenTTD, the classic transport management game. Battle For Wesnoth is a very nice fantasy wargame, with RPG elements and story campaigns. BAR is probably my favorite modern RTS game of all, just an incredibly good time. And, lastly I have to mention MegaMek - the free implementation of Battletech Classic rules, that I've been playing A LOT lately.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I think Cube 2 Sauerbraten and Warsaw are both Open Source? I need to verify.

Is there a site referencing every games that are FOSS?

 

[fake-kun]

I think Cube 2 Sauerbraten and Warsaw are both Open Source? I need to verify.

Is there a site referencing every games that are FOSS?

Libregamewiki

LibreGameWiki the free gaming encyclopedia for games developed as open source and using open media.

libregamewiki.org

 

[Varyag]

I think Cube 2 Sauerbraten and Warsaw are both Open Source? I need to verify.

Is there a site referencing every games that are FOSS?

I'm pretty sure that they are, and on this vein, I forgot to mention Xonotic! Great arena shooter, super fast and something in between Quake and Unreal Tournament. Which are both also, effectively free nowadays, with OpenArena, QuakeWorld and OldUnreal...

 

[MrChester]

MUGEN as a fighting engine might be free but the moment you added all those copyrighted characters it's copyright infringement, trademark infringement or both.

Maybe in your country...

"Your intellectual property? OUR intellectual property"

Post automatically merged: May 12, 2025

Doom is great but I think this is the only aspect it cannot fulfil:

The game is still copyrighted and sold (on Steam or other stores) so you cannot really redistribute copies like that or else it's considered as piracy (although I don't care that much if someone got the Iwads online).

I'm currently doing Phase 2, it really feels a bit like a bootleg "Doom at home" but the engine itself is strong enough to make it feel good.

So, not to be a fuckin nerd about it but you actually can redistribute DooM for profit since the source code was released publicly in 1997. It's hard to get a clear list on what is officially licensed by id and what isn't but I do have 2 clean cut example of a title that are selling modified DooM with no ties to id.

It's literally just a conversion of DooM.

And if you want a further back example with it's own unique history regarding the issue, I'd recommend reading up on...

They called up John Carmack himself and he said no because supposedly he thought that DooM would not run on an amiga, so they just morphed it and released anyway.

You also used to be able to sell WADS and MegaWADS freely even prior to 1997 so that's kind of a middleground

Actually as I'm writing this I realised I play a game called I am Sakuya based on Touhou but made in DooM and I spent like €3 on it. Awesome game but yeah, redistributing DooM is fine.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

So, not to be a fuckin nerd about it but you actually can redistribute DooM for profit since the source code was released publicly in 1997. It's hard to get a clear list on what is officially licensed by id and what isn't but I do have 2 clean cut example of a title that are selling modified DooM with no ties to id.

My bad I meant the game itself not the engine.

The engine is entirely fine if there's 0 assets from Doom of course.

I still consider that GZDoom is almost its own engine and I think you need to spend money to be able to license a game using their.

 

[Varyag]

So, not to be a fuckin nerd about it but you actually can redistribute DooM for profit since the source code was released publicly in 1997. It's hard to get a clear list on what is officially licensed by id and what isn't but I do have 2 clean cut example of a title that are selling modified DooM with no ties to id.
It's literally just a conversion of DooM.

And if you want a further back example with it's own unique history regarding the issue, I'd recommend reading up on...


They called up John Carmack himself and he said no because supposedly he thought that DooM would not run on an amiga, so they just morphed it and released anyway.

You also used to be able to sell WADS and MegaWADS freely even prior to 1997 so that's kind of a middleground

Actually as I'm writing this I realised I play a game called I am Sakuya based on Touhou but made in DooM and I spent like €3 on it. Awesome game but yeah, redistributing DooM is fine.

two very different things! Like Ikagura said, Hedon is made on GZDoom, which at this point is it's own wholly separate engine (also open source) that has WAY MORE functionality than base Doom, and CAN be licensed for releasing commercial games. Hedon is great, and I recommend you also check out Selaco, and the (somehow!) Sonic games made in GZDoom. They'll make you question how did people even make these.

And yeah, some other commercially licensed games using the base of Carmack's original Doom code were published, most famously Heretic and Hexen. Nowadays nobody is running ACTUAL DOS Doom unless you're a DOSBox enthusiast (I know a lot of them). Mostly people run the official IWADs to play custom PWADs on their source port of choice, of which there are too many to mention here. Don't even get me started on the Quake engine, too!

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

two very different things! Like Ikagura said, Hedon is made on GZDoom, which at this point is it's own wholly separate engine (also open source) that has WAY MORE functionality than base Doom, and CAN be licensed for releasing commercial games. Hedon is great, and I recommend you also check out Selaco, and the (somehow!) Sonic games made in GZDoom. They'll make you question how did people even make these.

I'll still make a small rant about how when people say "it's impressive because it's running in Doom, a 30+ years old video game" when it's GZDoom, a newer engine that is still being worked on with more possibilities. Same with "it can run Doom" when it's merely an output from a Raspberry...

A game made with the GZDoom engine is like a game made with Source, it's no longer Quake.

PS: The Sonic game is using a modification of Doom Legacy, sorry for rectifying.

And yeah, some other commercially licensed games using the base of Carmack's original Doom code were published, most famously Heretic and Hexen. Nowadays nobody is running ACTUAL DOS Doom unless you're a DOSBox enthusiast (I know a lot of them). Mostly people run the official IWADs to play custom PWADs on their source port of choice, of which there are too many to mention here. Don't even get me started on the Quake engine, too!

I have Chex Quest as a game given from a cereal box but this is merely a bonus.

 

[MrChester]

two very different things! Like Ikagura said, Hedon is made on GZDoom, which at this point is it's own wholly separate engine (also open source) that has WAY MORE functionality than base Doom, and CAN be licensed for releasing commercial games. Hedon is great, and I recommend you also check out Selaco, and the (somehow!) Sonic games made in GZDoom. They'll make you question how did people even make these.

And yeah, some other commercially licensed games using the base of Carmack's original Doom code were published, most famously Heretic and Hexen. Nowadays nobody is running ACTUAL DOS Doom unless you're a DOSBox enthusiast (I know a lot of them). Mostly people run the official IWADs to play custom PWADs on their source port of choice, of which there are too many to mention here. Don't even get me started on the Quake engine, too!

Kinda but I was mainly just speaking from a legal standpoint. I might be off but I believe GZDoom is still legally indistinct from Doom proper - it is after all a fork of a fork of a fork of a fork of original Doom source code. I think in the case of doom it's the assets that are protected by copyright and not the code, and thus why GZDoom is allowed to exist in the first place

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Kinda but I was mainly just speaking from a legal standpoint. I might be off but I believe GZDoom is still legally indistinct from Doom proper - it is after all a fork of a fork of a fork of a fork of original Doom source code. I think in the case of doom it's the assets that are protected by copyright and not the code, and thus why GZDoom is allowed to exist in the first place

So Doom as in id Tech 1 not as a video game.