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Let’s make games open source, so future generations can enjoy them (jairajdevadiga.com)

submitted 6 months ago by JairajDevadiga@lemmy.world to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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A lot of old games have become unplayable on modern hardware and operating systems. I wrote an article about how making games open source will keep them playable far into the future.

I also discuss how making games open source could be beneficial to developers and companies.

Feedback and constructive criticism are most welcome, and in keeping with the open source spirit, I will give you credit if I make any edits based on your feedback.

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[-] tired_n_bored@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

I agree

[-] Amaterasu@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Not challenging, what good open source games do we have so far?

[-] fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago

Mindistry is a best in class game that is FOSS

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago

Endless sky
Battle for Wesnoth
Warzone2100
Simon Tatham's puzzle games
Widelands
OpenTTD
OpenRCT2 (needs assets from original game)
SuperTuxKart

Off the top of my head

[-] 31337@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Here are some that I've liked (haven't played them in years though):

Warsow
Red Eclipse
Speed Dreams
OpenTTD
LinCity
FreeOrion
Oolite

[-] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 months ago

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup are two examples off the top of my head. Traditional roguelikes are often open source.

[-] OneCardboardBox@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 6 months ago

Barony is fun as hell. Engine is FOSS, but the default game assets require purchase.

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[-] where_am_i@sh.itjust.works -4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Your nostalgia is a bad reason for starting anything really. Most hopefully you won't push your nostalgia on your children and force them to play outdated games.

It would be great if game developers would open source games when they sunset them, sure. But also this might make it impossible for them to make a remaster of the game and sell it.

You mention doom. But this is a 0.1% case. Thousands of games from that era vanished not because you cannot run them on modern hardware, but because they're utter garbage by modern standards.

https://dos.zone/ exists, and you can play a lot of iconic games in your browser. What's exactly the player count there? And those are the best games from that era.

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago

Your nostalgia is a bad reason for starting anything really. Most hopefully you won't push your nostalgia on your children and force them to play outdated games.

It's a dark path. Next you might start making them watch outdated films, maybe even reading outdated books. Before you know it you're teaching them pre WWII history and Newtonian mechanics.

[-] where_am_i@sh.itjust.works 0 points 6 months ago

History is important, although more recent history books have better evidence and data than old ones. Literature, generally, ages well, although it's mostly survival bias. A lot of it perishes without any loss to the society. Movies sorta age well. Again, only some. Games don't age well.