The games are now grouped based on completely different principles that hopefully reflect the field in a more meaningful way than before. Note that direct unauthorised/unofficial remakes which use proprietary data or other content are not included in the lists. I decided to focus on accurate recreations of non-free games, and ditched those free projects that can be thought of as an Ersatz of several games in a certain genre, but aren't specifically emulating any particular title (like Cube, MegaGlest or Annex: Conquer the World). O King's Quest II Enhanced Edition ĭid a major update/overhaul of the first post. Note that some of these games actually make rather drastic changes compared to the original titles they emulate, such as the transition to 3D graphics from 2D, or a cosmetic/thematic overhaul by using free software mascots as game characters for example. At least some of these projects are motivated by the desire to create a FOSS alternative to a proprietary game for Linux users, or to fill in what is perceived as an empty niche for modern platforms. This is likely the most common type, with many projects being not only accurate reproductions of the original game mechanics, but often also trying to follow the original "look & feel" of their inspirations. Clones and remakes that faithfully recreate original mechanics These projects are marked with the suffix in the list.ģ. In some rare cases, the author of a recreation received permission from the copyright holders of the emulated game to use original proprietary game data, characters, title etc. Usually such projects start by requiring the original game's data, and then a free/libre replacement data set is created by the community. Very similar to the above, but the original game source is not available in any form, so an attempt is made to recreate it from scratch and/or by means of reverse engineering. Yet another case when the code is not available are various game construction sets that allow users to freely distribute games created with them. In some cases, the source code/engine is still not public, but has been provided by owners to the community so that new free games or mods may be created. Often, a free/libre game data set (levels, graphics, music) is created as a replacement for the original proprietary game data, while the playing mechanics remain the same, but sometimes, other aspects of gameplay undergo considerable alterations, which is reflected by the suffix in the list below. These are games based on the original code of their inspirations. Update from 8: A complete overhaul of the lists, using new groupings, which are hopefully more informative.ġ. I have also tried not to include projects that make use of original assets like graphics and sounds (unless authorized by original copyright holders, as is the case of T2002), so games like Gods Deluxe or Return of the Triad are not on the list.Īny further suggestions as to what games qualify as free alternatives are more than welcome What I have not included on the list are multiplayer-only games, browser-based games, and all kinds of free-to-play and "freemium" online products. Just as the title suggests, this is an attempt to list free games that very closely follow a well-known product or franchise and can thus serve as an alternative to that particular game. Make sure you use the current SVN build of DOSBox, not the latest stable version (0.74-3) from the DOSBox website. It's a bit tricky to get it work with sounds in DOSBox though, but a pre-installed version is available here. Oh, and it fits on a single 3.5" floppy disk too. ![]() ![]() But otherwise the unregistered game is fully featured and has no limitations. The author accepted registrations, which would endow the user with a mission builder, a unit editor and a campaign editor (no idea if anyone registered). There's even an equivalent of Red Alert's rules.ini. If you look past the "programmer art" level graphics (that aren't very bad, actually), it's a fully-fledged game with a single-player campaign (only one side though), skirmish mode against up to three AI opponents, and functional multiplayer mode. It's a free (technically shareware) DOS RTS game, lovingly copied almost verbatim from Command & Conquer and Red Alert (and not in the least ashamed of that mind you!) by Chris Jones, better known for being the author of the Adventure Game Studio toolkit. Recently I found, via the Wayback Machine, this little and apparently highly obscure gem: Future Conflict.
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