Free games: Difference between revisions
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In general free games are developed by small groups of people in their free time, without aiming for [[profit]]. Some free games are based on formerly commercial projects, whose [[source code]] was released as [[open source]] and game data as open content.<ref>[http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/543/ Linux games] from [[Freshmeat]]</ref> An example is ''[[Warzone 2100]]''.<ref>[http://wz2100.net/about Warzone 2100 Ressuruction project about page]</ref> |
In general free games are developed by small groups of people in their free time, without aiming for [[profit]]. Some free games are based on formerly commercial projects, whose [[source code]] was released as [[open source]] and game data as open content.<ref>[http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/543/ Linux games] from [[Freshmeat]]</ref> An example is ''[[Warzone 2100]]''.<ref>[http://wz2100.net/about Warzone 2100 Ressuruction project about page]</ref> |
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Almost all free games are volunteer run projects, and as such free game developers are principally hobbyists and enthusiasts. The consequence of this is that most games take many years to mature and that means there are only a few complete high quality free games<ref>[http://wiki.freegamedev.net/index.php/Complete%2C_non-casual_open_source_games Complete non-casual open source games]. |
Almost all free games are volunteer run projects, and as such free game developers are principally hobbyists and enthusiasts. The consequence of this is that most games take many years to mature and that means there are only a few complete high quality free games<ref>[http://wiki.freegamedev.net/index.php/Complete%2C_non-casual_open_source_games Complete non-casual open source games]</ref>. |
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== Examples == |
== Examples == |
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Revision as of 14:17, 1 February 2008
Free games are video games which are free software and contain exclusively free content. Because of this they are freely distributable and often cross-platform compatible. Many are included in Linux distributions as a result.[1] Free games are open source, but not all open source games are free software; some open source games contain proprietary non-free content.
Background
In general free games are developed by small groups of people in their free time, without aiming for profit. Some free games are based on formerly commercial projects, whose source code was released as open source and game data as open content.[2] An example is Warzone 2100.[3]
Almost all free games are volunteer run projects, and as such free game developers are principally hobbyists and enthusiasts. The consequence of this is that most games take many years to mature and that means there are only a few complete high quality free games[4].
Examples
A popular example for free games is Freeciv, a clone of the proprietary Civilization. Nexuiz and Tremulous are two examples of free 3D first person shooters based on id Software's engines.
Arguably the most successful free game project is Battle for Wesnoth which has a large community contributing to the game.
See also
- List of free games
- Open source games, which not necessarily have open content.
References
External links
- Libregamewiki, a wiki about free games and closely related topics
- FreeGameDev, a portal for free game development and information
- FreeGameDev forums, the FreeGameDev community
- Free Gamer, a popular blog which mostly covers Free Software games
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