[Jace Falco]

(Original post by Profesh)
Independent, and basically free:



Download it here.

I used to play that, good fun.

Reminds me of a similar game, Liero. Similar to Worms in play style, except it's usually only two people, and it's real time rather than turn-based. It's a lot of fun, although I haven't played in a while.

[Jace Falco]

Oh, and I thought I'd point out - the guy who made the Chzo Mythos that I posted earlier (which you should definitely play if you like adventure gaming and amazing stories) has also made a few other games, including a couple of very nice platformers. Trilby: The Art of Theft is a particular favourite of mine. The website is here, and it's all free; although with some games you can buy a 'special edition' for 5USD.

[omicronlyrae]

Free stuff!

Grand Theft Auto:

http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/gta.html

Grand Theft Auto 2:

http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/index.html

Command and Conquer

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/c...ml?sid=6178099 (note: you need to burn it to a disc or have something that can mount ISO files)

^.^

[Jaterade]

Anyone that's into indie or freeware gaming should definitely check out Bytejacker www.bytejacker.com. Episodes every monday and thursday, mondays they review a few freeware games and you can vote for your favourite in the week. They also review bigger indie stuff like World of Goo etc. You can tell that they're really passionate about games and a lot of effort goes into it. So yeah, recommended!

[Dalimyr]

(Original post by vox)
There's copious student-made games available for free download. For instance, my university runs an annual games competition called Dare to be Digital -- entries for which can be downloaded here (registration required). I also recommend: https://www.digipen.edu/gallery/games/. Enjoy.

Edit: I'll post a selection of titles later.

Dare to be Digital? I've heard of that...are you at Abertay?

[Profesh]

(Original post by Jace Falco)
Oh, and I thought I'd point out - the guy who made the Chzo Mythos that I posted earlier (which you should definitely play if you like adventure gaming and amazing stories) has also made a few other games, including a couple of very nice platformers. Trilby: The Art of Theft is a particular favourite of mine. The website is here, and it's all free; although with some games you can buy a 'special edition' for 5USD.

Speaking of which: 1213.

[Jace Falco]

(Original post by Profesh)
Speaking of which: 1213.

Quite. I should go back and complete that. I got caught up in the Art of Theft, and neglected it somewhat.

[Dalimyr]

(Original post by vox)
Yes; 3rd year CGT (since you ask). By the by, I'm mildly surprised someone's heard of Dare -- were you thinking of entering?

~

Oh, and this may be of interest to those who enjoy rhythm games:
http://www.stepmania.com/wiki/Downloads

Me? No, I don't have the talent to compete with the likes of the guys who do that, though it's certainly a career track I've been very interested in following. I remember our CompSci lecturers brought it up in St Andrews when I was in first year, though, which is how I've heard of it Some of the entries you've pointed out (Ragnarawk jumps out at me, for starters) have also been featured in games magazines such as PC Gamer, which helped give a bit of publicity to the Dare to be Digital competition.

[JammyP]

I know at least a few people here play this, and I am suprised that it isn't already in this list!

Dwarf Fortress, while the manual on the site is sort of useful to get fully appreciate the game you need to access the wiki. The wiki can guide you through your first fortress and help with the more difficult to grasp concepts in the game and help out with the VERY steep learning curve.

From the Wiki Page:

Dwarf Fortress is an ASCII game which includes both a roguelike adventure mode, and the more popular Dwarf Fortress Mode, which focuses on the creation and survival of a small dwarven settlement. It has a very steep learning curve, partly due to its ASCII graphics, but also due to the fact that it is one of the most complex games ever released. Dwarf Fortress is completely free.
Before you play, you must generate a world to play in, which persists until you create a new one. World generation can be time consuming, even on modern computers, but be patient. It's worth it.

Dwarf Fortress has three major game modes and a fourth non-game mode:

Dwarf Fortress Mode: In this mode you manage a number of dwarves whose task is to create a fortress.
Reclaim Fortress: Once you have created and abandoned or lost a fortress, you can take a band of military dwarves to fight the monsters that now inhabit it. If you succeed, the fortress is yours to play in once more, just like in the standard dwarf fortress mode.
Adventure Mode: In this mode you explore the world in a fashion similar to Rogue, NetHack, or Angband, completing quests and killing monsters. In adventure mode you can uncover details about your world's legends.
Legends: In the fourth mode you can read more about the legends of your world, provided you've discovered them through adventuring.
An important part of Dwarf Fortress is that it creates a randomly generated, persistent world for you to play in. (The world is only "on" when you are actually playing in it, however.) When you die in either the adventure or fortress modes, your next game will be in the same world, albeit a few days later. You can visit your old fortress, or get revenge on the monster that killed your adventurer. If your fortress or your adventurer had done anything of particular note, there's a chance that the game will generate a legend for them, which you can read about in the legends section. (Provided you've discovered enough information about the legend.)

The screenshots: (don't let the ASCII graphics put you off, there are tilesets available if you really can't bear it).





If you like your games in-depth and are not daunted by the graphics go for it!

[Dalimyr]

That middle pic's a bit misleading, as it's about the old 2D version and the other two are for the 3D version (OK, the game isn't really "3D" but we refer to it in that manner because you can build your fortress over several z-levels rather than just across the x- and y-axis. The 2D version has been completely discontinued, having not been updated at all in almost two years, whereas the 3D version will have a new version out...probably next month though I'd hope it'd be sometime this month)

[JammyP]

Ah well i included the middle pic more because it shows a good overall view more than anything, but I take your point could have picked a more up to date image.

[Profesh]

Not free, but independent, and ****ing awesome. Envisage an amalgam of Soldat, Worms and X-Com:

Cortex Command is a 2-dimensional side-scrolling action game developed by Data Realms. In the game, the player takes the role of the boss of a mining company on a newly discovered planet. Through mining the planet, the player accumulates resources and weaponry with the goal of eliminating the competition.
The game was first released as a demo, which was later released for purchase. The full version is still unfinished, but includes unlimited play and extra features unavailable on the demo.

[...]

The game engine was designed and built by Dan Tabar, using several open source libraries. The GUI was built by Jason Boettcher, the artwork is by Arne Niklas Jansson and the Mac OS X port is being completed by ex-Rockstar Games programmer Chris Kruger. As of May 2008, the game was described as being in development for approximately seven years, with Dan Tabar quitting his job in mid 2006 to work full time on the project. Although originally developed for Microsoft Windows, a version for Mac OS X is now also in development. No versions for game consoles are planned. The game allows several components to be modified using the Lua programming language, though use is limited only to game "scenes" or levels at this time. The current game build is number 22.

Download the demo here.

[Dalimyr]

(Original post by vox)
Well I hope job security, money, sleep and holidays aren't important to you!

Certainly not at the moment I know what the career involves and I realise you'd have to be committed AND insane in order to follow it through. It's something I'd love to do, but I realise that my mental health concerns would probably be far too much for me to ever cope in the business; depression, stress and anxiety totally consume me and most things are made rather more difficult for me as a result.

[Profesh]

Independent, and free:

Phun is a free game like 2D physics sandbox where you can play with physics like never before. The playful synergy of science and art is novel, and makes Phun as educational as it is entertaining.

[...]

But watch out, Phun is also totally addictive to the rest of us! Experienced users create fabulous machines and elaborate mechanism using Phun, as well as games, comics and contemporary art. See more of Phun in the media section, or go download it!

[...]

It may look like a toy, but Phun is based on highly competitive technologies for interactive multiphysics simulation, ranging from novel physical models and variational integrators to high performance numerical methods. Phun is off-spring from research at Umeå university, and a MSc project of Emil Ernerfeldt, now further developed at Algoryx Simulation. Algoryx also develops a professional 3D multiphysics engine called AgX.

Download it here.

[Ewan]

DUNGEON MASTER!



Fantastic game, I still play it even now occasionally! Surprised it hasn't been mentioned... not sure if its freeware yet or not though! This is one of the original RPG games, which I'm sure a lot of you have played (if not a long time ago!)

ASCENDANCY!



Another brilliant game (even if the AI is rather predictable), where you go out and conquere the universe. Wiki album here

[Dalimyr]

Just to point out, those two aren't freeware. It's possible to acquire them illegally from sites such as the one I've edited out of your post, but they are abandonware and still protected by copyright.

[Profesh]

Independent, and free (and you get to play as Shiva):

Streets of Rage Remake for Windows was built from the ground up to pay homage to the original series. There are dozens of reasons why any fan of old-school style beat 'em ups should stop reading this immediately and go download the game before Sega calls out the legal hounds. We're talking redrawn sprites; remixes of the original '90s cornball soundtrack; eight playable characters (with two secret unlockables); customizable sprites; and more. You'll even notice multiple unlockables, including a two-player volleyball mode.

I would have alerted everyone to this sooner, but I just spent and hour and forty-five minutes of my day sucker-punching punks, kangaroos, and dudes on jet packs. The team has done a tremendous job bringing this project to life and with classic gameplay like this, plus a slew of unlockables, don't be surprised if you find this on a few of the Destructoid team's upcoming Games of the Week. It sure as hell beats Urban Champion ... and it's $5 cheaper.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go eat an entire cooked turkey I found inside of this wooden crate I rabbit punched earlier; I'm feeling a bit under the weather.

Download it here.

[Jace Falco]

I'm fairly sure my wife is cheating on me. It's the one thing I haven't been able to work out for certain yet. I've played this life through dozens of times, every way I can think of, and I can never quite catch her in the act, nor shake the feeling that there's something she's not telling me. This is the allure of Masq, and the reason it's well-named: there's always more to it than you see.

This is about Masq. The full review, which explains it better than I could, is here.

[nigel_s]

Awesome thread. OK I'm confused about Abandonware - are we allowed to post abandonware or not? Because I know a few good abandonware games, but I don't want to post them if it'll just get deleted.

[c2uk]

(Original post by nigel_s)
Awesome thread. OK I'm confused about Abandonware - are we allowed to post abandonware or not? Because I know a few good abandonware games, but I don't want to post them if it'll just get deleted.

What's confusing about it, that's what it says on the first page:

Title edited. No abandonware allowed, guys (I realise it's a technicality but it isn't legal, hence we don't allow it on TSR)