[MrFlibble]

Well, for one, there are quite a few liberated games on the list, and some free-from-the-start projects also have good quality (e.g. C-evo or The Battle for Wesnoth, although I dislike the latter's combat mechanics). Many others have their own charm in spite of not-so-great quality, or are mostly of historical interest (for example, Jason Storm in Space Chase as a Duke Nukem clone; but the game is certainly playable on its own too).

[leilei]

....how is Amulets & Armor equal to Battlespire?! What the hell. Have you even played the games?! You can't be a naked elf picking up random enchanted thongs and bras in a hard as hell dungeon in Amulets & Armor. Battlespire is also much further limited so to say A&A's an alternative of it is illogical (especially considering when Battlespire came 11 months later)

Furthermore, how is Cube / Cube2 like Unreal? There's hardly anything in common. You don't even pick up weapons or have alternate fire. There's also a lack of full OO scripting.

Scorched3D is no Scorched Earth alternative either. It shouldn't even be named Scorched3D. It's more of an alternative for Blast Doors - and plays far worse, but is more overrated because it has pretty water and pretty lens flares to sell itself while overlooking the overencumbering terrible issues on the aiming interface that is integral to the gameplay.

Alien Arena switches flavors of imitation every few milestones so it can't be called a Q3A alternative any more. It started off being a very Q2 feeling imitation of Q3A (kinda like early Q3test) then it tried to be like UT2004 (obvious influence of DM-Gael from UT2003 is seen in most places, as well as the main menu) and last time I checked, it tried to be UT3 with heavy influence from UT3's bio goo materials and shaders. I don't want to know where it's going next... but somehow sticking some 50's alien invasion movie motif doesn't work in any of them.
It's also worth noting it started out as a singleplayer Mars Attacks! TC for Quake2, so being completely derivative is in its very core since the beginning.

[Person of Color]

"It's like Unreal Tournament, but there's no tournament."

[MrFlibble]

leilei, your criticisms are highly appreciated

leilei, on 27 June 2013 - 11:58 AM, said:

....how is Amulets & Armor equal to Battlespire?! What the hell. Have you even played the games?! You can't be a naked elf picking up random enchanted thongs and bras in a hard as hell dungeon in Amulets & Armor. Battlespire is also much further limited so to say A&A's an alternative of it is illogical (especially considering when Battlespire came 11 months later)

Heh, I actually drew that parallel from a passage found at your unofficial A&A shrine, which goes as follows:

Quote

this game is much better than Ultima Underworld, Stonekeep, Anvil of Dawn, Elder Scrolls: Battlespire, and the much later Arx Fatalis IMO.

I don't know why Battlespire stuck in my memory instead of some of the other games you mention here, but if you suggest another one I'll be happy to change it (Ultima Underworld perhaps? After all, it's an ur-example of the fantasy FPS RPG genre.)

Quote

Furthermore, how is Cube / Cube2 like Unreal? There's hardly anything in common. You don't even pick up weapons or have alternate fire. There's also a lack of full OO scripting.

Okay, I agree that Cube ~ Unreal is a big, big stretch, it's just that I didn't want the Cube games to go unmentioned so I did that. Once again, you're an expert in FPS games and your suggestions as of what could be a better parallel are more than welcome.

Quote

Scorched3D is no Scorched Earth alternative either. It shouldn't even be named Scorched3D. It's more of an alternative for Blast Doors - and plays far worse, but is more overrated because it has pretty water and pretty lens flares to sell itself while overlooking the overencumbering terrible issues on the aiming interface that is integral to the gameplay.

That game was someone else's suggestion IIRC and I put it on the list without checking.

Quote

Alien Arena switches flavors of imitation every few milestones so it can't be called a Q3A alternative any more. It started off being a very Q2 feeling imitation of Q3A (kinda like early Q3test) then it tried to be like UT2004 (obvious influence of DM-Gael from UT2003 is seen in most places, as well as the main menu) and last time I checked, it tried to be UT3 with heavy influence from UT3's bio goo materials and shaders. I don't want to know where it's going next... but somehow sticking some 50's alien invasion movie motif doesn't work in any of them.
It's also worth noting it started out as a singleplayer Mars Attacks! TC for Quake2, so being completely derivative is in its very core since the beginning.

Well, I think I'll have to add some generic categories to keep some of the titles.

[MrFlibble]

You know what guys, you're right. Thinking of liberated games as some kind of Ersatz for other titles is counter-productive, so I've decided to drop the whole liberated game part from the list - after all, liberated games can be listed elsewhere.

In fact, the OP in its recent form was a result of my attempt to cram at least three separate lists into one:

1. More or less straightforward remakes or clones of well-known games. In many cases the authors will openly point to the game that they are trying to remake, and if not, the similarity is often quite obvious anyway.

2. Shareware clones of popular titles, mostly from the DOS era. These are generally of historical interest.

3. Games that are definitely inspired by famous titles, but the authors have added enough ideas of their own to make these games something more then direct recreations. As usual, this is the grey area as YMMV what makes for a simple clone and what constitutes an "inspired by" game.

So I've separated these lists in the OP, and also added the following titles:

Crayon Physics

• Numpty Physics

Dungeon Keeper

• OpenDungeons

Elite

• Galaxias

Lemmings

• Lix

Natural Selection

• Tremulous
  
• Unvanquished

RPGMaker

• EasyRPG

SimCity

• Lincity

X-COM: Enemy Unknown

• UFO2000

Bos Wars, Command & Conquer: Red Alert

• Commander Stalin

Diablo

• FreedroidRPG

Empire Deluxe

• GEMpire

Frontier: Elite II

• Pioneer

Puzzle Bobble

• Frozen Bubble
  
• Hex Bubbles
  
• Zorx

Ultima series

• Nazghul

Wizardry VII

• LostHero - story of Gilgamesh

[uraganotkirki]

A humble addition:

Super Monkey Ball alternative:

• Neverball

Tilt the floor to roll a ball through an obstacle course before time runs out. Neverball is part puzzle game, part action game, and entirely a test of skill.
Also found here is Neverputt, a hot-seat multiplayer miniature golf game, built on the physics and graphics engine of Neverball.
Neverball and Neverputt are both known to run under Linux, Win2K/XP, FreeBSD, and Mac OSX. Hardware accelerated OpenGL is required. A 500MHz processor is recommended.

Quake III alternative:

• Red Eclipse

It's on the CUBE2 engine, not sure, it's a casual arena shooter, p. fun.

[MrFlibble]

Nice, thanks for the suggestions!

I remember reading about Red Eclipse some time ago, it's indeed the Cube 2 engine, but they planned some extensive overhaul of the playing mechanics compared to the more classic arena shooter titles.

[Hank]

MrFlibble, on 28 June 2013 - 06:01 AM, said:

Elite

• Galaxias

Cheers! I would not have found this in a million years!

[leilei]

Man, I wish there was a Duke Nukem 3D alternative up there. At least there's Dave Gnukem for a Duke Nukum alternative.




(Yeah i'm aware of the excellent ReDuke but that's not a data project)

[Richard Shead]

leilei, on 28 June 2013 - 07:24 PM, said:

Man, I wish there was a Duke Nukem 3D alternative up there.

I think most of us would rather have a Duke Nukem Forever alternative.




And fact that it's free would merely be the icing on the cake!

[MrFlibble]

leilei, on 28 June 2013 - 07:24 PM, said:

Man, I wish there was a Duke Nukem 3D alternative up there. At least there's Dave Gnukem for a Duke Nukum alternative.




(Yeah i'm aware of the excellent ReDuke but that's not a data project)

Wow, this is awesome!!! Thanks, I never heard about that one before

Also, nice new avatar you have here

[uraganotkirki]

I'm glad that I can contribute, I'm all about FOSS gaming whether it being an alternative, a supplement or outright better than the commercial, closed source counterpart.

Thanks for sharing Dave Gnukem, the latest version is available here: http://sourceforge.n...m/files/gnukem/

The main site is not updated, I guess.

[MrFlibble]

Alrighty, added some more titles (including the ones suggested above):

A-Train

• FreeTrain

Carrier Command

• Thunder&Lightning

Duke Nukem

• Dave Gnukem [download]

Escape Velocity

• NAEV

Half-Life: Counterstrike

• Assault Cube Reloaded

Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament

• Arena of Honour
  
• Red Eclipse

Star Wars: TIE Fighter, Descent: Freespace

• Space Combat

Super Monkey Ball

• Neverball

Also added another section to the list, with the liberated games that have both the source code and all assets released for free, thus making it possible to create new builds of the entire game.

[MrFlibble]

Risk

• JavaRisk
  
• NetRisk
  
• OpenFracas
  
• yura. net Domination

[Richard Shead]

Many of these games seem to fall more into the "blatant rip-off" category as opposed to being "alternatives" but considering the price of admission(zilch), I can't complain. In fact, that's probably WHY most of them come at no cost- if the devs were to start charging gamers, plagiarism lawsuits could soon arise.

[uraganotkirki]

I don't think the devs started out with the intention of ripping off and cashing in on something, but just to develop a game that had the playstyle of a game they enjoyed 10 years back.
It can be a learning experience from them, it's also great because they continue to create and update new content for the game. Prime example is OpenTTD.

Elasto Mania alternative:

• X-moto [wiki link]

This game can get so weird when you are upside down and your front tire is lodged somewhere - somehow.

[leilei]

Trepidation is a OA fork that steals old community maps and models for Q3A and illegally relicenses them under the GPL without any source available, plus the guy that runs it also pushes a pirated version of Elite Force around. You should probably remove it.

[MrFlibble]

Duke Rocks, on 29 June 2013 - 12:55 PM, said:

Many of these games seem to fall more into the "blatant rip-off" category as opposed to being "alternatives"

Well, in fact that was one of the reasons I started compiling the lists, because blatant rip-offs are of a certain interest - as compared to the run-of-the-mill commercial clones that try to at least mimic originality so as to avoid copyright infringement lawsuits.

Some of the games here introduce a lot of new concepts though, or re-imagine the original games quite a bit, which is equally interesting

uraganotkirki, on 29 June 2013 - 01:30 PM, said:

I don't think the devs started out with the intention of ripping off and cashing in on something, but just to develop a game that had the playstyle of a game they enjoyed 10 years back.
It can be a learning experience from them, it's also great because they continue to create and update new content for the game. Prime example is OpenTTD.

Yup, that's very true

uraganotkirki, on 29 June 2013 - 01:30 PM, said:

Elasto Mania alternative:

• X-moto [wiki link]

Thanks, I didn't know about either game Added to the list.

leilei, on 29 June 2013 - 03:08 PM, said:

Trepidation is a OA fork that steals old community maps and models for Q3A and illegally relicenses them under the GPL without any source available, plus the guy that runs it also pushes a pirated version of Elite Force around. You should probably remove it.

Done that.

BTW guys, I have this feeling that there's some classic space simulation (maybe strategy, not sure) game clone/remake that I've seen some time ago somewhere but didn't have the time to include on the list, and now I can't seem to find it. Any ideas what it could be?

[MrFlibble]

Driller

• Driller (remake)

M.U.L.E.

• Planet M.U.L.E.

NetWars

• NetWarsGL

Stunts

• Ultimate Stunts

X-COM: Enemy Unknown

• Project Xenocide
  
• X-Force: Fight for Destiny

I think it's NetWarsGL I referred to in my previous post, although I'm still not sure.

[MrFlibble]

Atlantis

• Atlantis

Puzzle Bobble

• Bobble Puzzle

BurgerTime

• Burgerland

Dogfight

• Dogfight: Battle in the Skies

OutRun

• RunOut

Oxyd

• Enigma

Paratrooper

• Dragon Fire

Planet Defender

• Planetary Defense

R-Type

• GazerStar

Rampart

• Cannon Conflict
  
• Kajaani Kombat

Sentinel

• Sentry

SimCity

• Mobility [shareware]

Solar Fox

• Solar Wolf

Space Spartans

• Space Spartans

Star Strike

• Star Strike

Starion

• Starion 2010

Telengard

• Telengard

Lode Runner

• Turbo Lode

Wing Commander

• Flight Commander

[MrFlibble]

I've reworked the list yet again. The shareware clones and the open source liberated game build sections were dropped, and now board game implementations are a separate category.

Also, added the following titles:

Castle of the Winds, Ancient Domains of Mystery

• Fame

Diplomacy

• Ludus Regius

Panzer General II

• OpenGeneral

RPG Maker

• Advanced RPG Maker
  
• Mokoi Gaming
  
• Open Legends
  
• Open RPG Maker
  
• Sphere RPG Engine

Sid Meier's Civilization

• Conquests

Titan

• Colossus

Wizardry VII

• Escape From The Maze

[DustFalcon85]

Here's Epic Megagames' freeware game Xargon w/ it's source code.

[MrFlibble]

And the extra art Allen Pilgrim has released recently to the public, I might add He also gave official permission for a source port of the game, and even said that maybe he'll make some new levels if he ha time

[Lunick]

MrFlibble, on 09 July 2013 - 06:00 AM, said:

And the extra art Allen Pilgrim has released recently to the public, I might add He also gave official permission for a source port of the game, and even said that maybe he'll make some new levels if he ha time

I do wish it was finished :/

[MrFlibble]

Just found this really huge blog dedicated to liberated games:
http://juegosliberados.blogspot.com/

It's in either Spanish or Portuguese (can't tell because I'm not very familiar with both languages), but everything is pretty self-explanatory. The blog seems to feature quite a few really obscure games too.

[MrFlibble]

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness

• Aleona's Tales [screenshots]

[leilei]

Aleona's Tales is another clone of the FreeCraft Media Project apparently (which was c&d'd in 2003 along with FreeCraft). They still have derivative voice acting (new imitation takes on all the original lines of the Warcraft II units), apparently not learning from the history of mistakes from the project it forked off of.

In the older screenshots featured on Stratagus it even uses the copyrighted Warcraft II fonts. And lol their music folder

Quote

All this stuff is from Wesnoth. Work out how to do the copywrite for it.

I think that says it all.

[Person of Color]

Copywright. Fuck me LOL

[MrFlibble]

The list now has a separate section for free content replacement projects that use either the original engine of the respective game, or a game engine remake that is capable of handling original game data.

Also, added the following:

Half-Life

• Black Mesa (Source)

Quake

• Open Quartz (QuakeForge, DarkPlaces)
  
• OpenQuartz 2 (DarkPlaces)
  
• OQPlus (QuakeForge, DarkPlaces) [SVN]

[MrFlibble]

Not much of an update but still:
Hexen: Beyond Heretic

• Zauberer (Doom engine)

Quake III: Arena

• World of Padman (Quake III engine)