I thought this game was well known but I haven’t seen almost any mentions of it recently. It’s very weird for a FOSS enthusiast not to advertise one of the best open-source games of all time so here I am trying to make it spoken about again.
Disclaimer: this game may be addictive for some individuals. Player discretion is advised. If you notice any symptoms of addiction while and/or after playing the game, stop playing immediately and consult with your doctor. Untreated gaming addiction may result in severe consequences such as digestive disorders, social behavioral disorders, loss of job, and depression.
Java? Sorry OP I only download open source software developed with Rust /s
Rust
C better. /s (probably)
Assembly is the only REAL gaming language! Look at Roller Coaster Tycoon!
Any one got other FOSS game tips?
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead! I don’t recommend it on mobile unless you have no other choice (I’m largely not a fan of mobile games anyway though) but it’s amazing on desktop. If you can get past the simple graphics (like dwarf fortress it hss ASCII graphics, but you can easily get different tile sets to add graphics for everything), it’s an amazing game with a ton of content.
It’s a zombie survival rogue-like game, you don’t gain skills or anything between runs (you can unlock different scenarios and professions though, or just unlock them all from the settings), but you do gain your own experience. You can have a character for hours, then die and make a new one that dies in 5 minutes, etc. Save scum if you want, but the whole point is to let your characters die and try something new (I save scum on longer-running characters when I run into new mechanics or monsters but that’s it). When I say there is a ton to do, I mean it. People have added (and continue to add) a ton of content, and mostly with a focus on making interaction as realistic as possible.
Want to kill zombies with traps? They can start with a basic tripwire to trip zombies to slow them down and alert you, and go up to mechanized blade traps that cut them in half quickly.
Want to do a stealthy run? For melee, the Ninjutsu martial art has silent attacks and makes you walk quieter. For ranged, bows and crossbows are quiet (and can be made quieter with mods that reduce bow-string noise), but you’ll want to make your own arrows eventually - and you can!
Want some transportation? Cars! Plenty of broken ones scattered in cities and towns - decent amount that still work too. There’s gas, diesel, electric, hybrid, and several other kinds of vehicles. You can train up your mechanics skill (or start with a high mech skill, if you want) for replacing/repairing parts, adding onto to existing cars, or even assembling them from scratch. Got something you don’t know how to kill? A random car you find driving 40+ mph works wonders for turning problems into smears.
Want to eat just candy and junk food? Your character will eventually get to varying levels of overweight which reduces your stamina and speed. Don’t eat enough calories? Become skinny, decreasing your strength and health. It’s not hard to eat balanced, but it is something to keep in mind.
Find too many things you’re trying to bring back to your car or base? Find a shopping cart (or my preferred item mover - industrial trash cans) and load items up, much easier to move more and heavier things in a single trip can even mount your shopping carts and trash cans to a car with bike racks so you can bring them with. Can also weld baskets or install trash cans in/on cars to increase your storage area.
Want to do colony survival? You can recruit NPCs you find in the world and make a compound.
Farming? Yep. Brewing/distilling? Yep. Magic? There’s a mod for that. Loony-toons esque killing a big scary zombie with an anvil (or other heavy object)? Just put one on the roof and push it over the edge. Guns? Whole stores of them. Fire? I like lighting 2 story houses on fire, they make a ton of noise and draw in all the nearby zombies, then the falling debris and fire kill them.
https://pioneerspacesim.net/ Although, after watching a few videos on how to play it, felt an itch to play Elite Dangerous. So haven’t played Pioneer much.
What do you mean?
I wouldn’t call the game ‘extremely high difficulty’, it even has some easier levels early on (at least when I played it a couple of years ago). I’m not a regular tower-defense or sim game player and I was able to complete Serpulo. It can be a challenging puzzle at times, but it’s not a game I’d feel a need to warn people about difficulty-wise.
Disclaimer: this game may be addictive for some individuals.
Seconding (although I have a tendency to marathon the campaign of any game I think is excellent). No need for predatory tricks like loots, this is just a damn fun game.
It’s very weird for a FOSS enthusiast not to advertise one of the best open-source games of all time so here I am trying to make it spoken about again.
IIRC I found it in a ‘top 100 FOSS games’ list because it was one of the first which wasn’t an open-sourced cloning of an existing game. No disrespect for clones and adaptations at all, but it’s extra special to see original softwares so good that even people who don’t care about FOSSness would use them.
it even has some easier levels early on
Yes but that’s the thing. The difficulty increase is probably one of the highest in the game industry and all levels except for the first ones are quite hard. Also this is not just from my experience. I read an article about it somewhere in the past.
but it’s extra special to see original softwares so good that even people who don’t care about FOSSness would use them.
I looked into Mindustry after seeing it on a pretty big gaming YouTube channel (Real Civil Engineer) and there was quite a discussion about it so I would say it’s a very successful indie title in general. That’s also why it’s a perfect advertiser of today’s FOSS (alongside with YouTube downloaders lol).
Unironically, I had to delete this game from my phone because I wasn’t getting work done. This game slaps.
Apparently it was popular in US prisons until it was banned.
https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2024/03/31/popular-video-game-banned-federal-prisons/
From my prison cell in Colorado, I conquered sites on alien planets, used conveyor belts to supply my factories, and organized weapons to defend against enemy attacks. I was playing Mindustry, a world-building game that relies heavily on logistics and strategy.
For less than $2, I could lose myself in my Android tablet at night — then, when I slept, my dreams about the game replaced my usual nightmares. And I wasn’t alone: Inmates talked about the game over meals and at work.
Then came an announcement from officials last July. Mindustry would no longer be on our prison-issued tablets.
“I knew a lot of people would be upset when I read they were taking it away,” one inmate from Nebraska said. “I could walk around the chow hall, my work assignment and other areas — everyone was talking about it.”
According to a statement from a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson, Mindustry was removed because it was “found to jeopardize the safety, security, and orderly operation” of federal prisons.
When Prison Journalism Project asked for specifics on how the game jeopardized safety, security and orderly operation, the spokesperson said the Federal Bureau of Prisons does not discuss specific security practices or internal procedures for security reasons.
The game’s fans here in Federal Correctional Institution at Englewood, a federal prison in Colorado, included a retired colonel for the U.S. Army.
“All they’ve left us with are stripped-down children’s games,” he said.
Another player had one of the most elaborate mining and distribution centers I’ve ever seen, the fruit of many hours of thought — which, of course, is one key to fighting recidivism.
“Whenever I’m feeling upset, I can pick up my tablet,” the player told me. “It calms me down and changes my whole mindset.”
Users have come up with their own explanations for Mindustry’s fate. One theory goes that players had used the game’s drawing pad to sketch dirty pictures or leave secret messages.
Whatever happened, people are disappointed.
“I wanted to buy a tablet,” one person said, “but now that they’ve taken Mindustry I don’t want one.”
Sentiments like that are understandable. We are still without many of the tablet features we were told to expect, including free e-books through Project Gutenberg, video messaging, and a life skills program through Khan Academy.
In a statement, the prison bureau said that games are controlled by a vendor, and that the bureau has “the right to remove any game that it deems inappropriate.”
I miss the game. When I played it, I could stop dwelling on my past or my unknown future. And it encouraged me to be more social with others, especially when we would discuss strategy. My tablet now lies neglected in my locker.
The player who put together the elaborate mining center isn’t shocked that Mindustry is gone.
“It’s not uncommon for the BOP to take away something we like,” he said.
This sucks. :(
Unofficially the stylus on a Samsung phone is great for this kind of game
I have a Samsung phone with a stylus, how do I get this game on my Android? I have almost no technical aptitude, so if you could be so kind to ELI5?
I found out about it on Android first but had a hard time with the interface. I put it on my PC and am now fully addicted.
Same, I played 8 hours in two work days (this is huge for me who usually plays 8 hours a month). This game is addictive as hell
Don’t forget the amazing Soundtrack
Excellent game - highly recommend
environmentalists might not like it for obvious reasons.
Because of the colonization and mining? Didn’t bother me, similarly I don’t like most armies but I can still find a military FPS fun to play.
Definitely interested in trying this one out. Haven’t dove into the FOSS games category yet
I highly recommend this game! I played through it with a friend and really enjoyed it. I think I recommend it with more than one player
Wow this game is great! Who couldn’t enjoy something like this?
Who couldn’t enjoy something like this?
FPS players?
I love a good FPS and I loved Mindustry.
Oops, fare point.
If I want to play a factory game where you need to build defenses I’d go play Factorio and maybe stab myself in the throat a little because that’s about how fun having to deal with enemies in a factory game is.
Mindustry is much closer to the tower defense side of it.
Or maybe the RTS side.
There are even attack modes, where you build up an army to take on a fixed emplacement of enemy units.
