ReTux

Todays title is ReTux. You might recognize the art assets from another Free platformer: SuperTux. However, ReTux has been written entirely from scratch and has a different take on platformer gameplay. Collecting coins yields hearts which represent health. Taking damage removes hearts, so you'll have to keep grabbing those coins. Cleverly utilizing this levels can be kept balanced but still challenging. There are of course powerups to help and lives and checkpoints are infinite, meaning you can always try a hard portion of a level again. The game containts 41 levels with both action and some lighter puzzle elements. Another cool feature is that the game is described as "fully accessible to colorblind and color deficient people". Nice to see developers be including like that.

A castle-themed level in ReTux.

Warzone 2100 - 3.2.3

Soon there will be more updates on this page - there are several new interesting Free game projects I want to mention. But they will have to wait until I have a bit more free time. In the meantime though, here is a small update to the excellent RTS Warzone 2100. Release 3.2.3 is mainly a bug-fix release, but it also adds support for higher levels of anti-aliasing, optimizes graphics and adds some new scripting functions. Also don't forget that this game has excellent modding capabilities with a huge archive of hundreds of interesting addons and maps.

I found this screen in the Warzone 2100 addon archive, from a stat-balancing mod called YAGeSM.

Pioneer - May 2017

And of course, cool and complex open-ended space sim Pioneer deserves a mention now and then. It was a while ago since last time now, so the changelog has really piled up. There seems to be several smart UI improvements, a new ship, a new advice and rumour module, real-time recording of ingame videos, police patrols have been added, etc, etc. Fixes and smaller improvements are even more numerous. Have a look at the details or just go try it!

Looking towards a space station in Pioneer.

C-Dogs SDL - 0.6.5

Frequent visitors know I like the game C-Dogs SDL. Besides being very fun, development is very quick with many new features to play around with in each release. This is of course also true with 0.6.5, which contains a new campaign, a new character editor as well as some additional weapons, using a new more advanced collision code. Look at the video below for a small example:

Example of the new hitscan weapons from C-Dogs SDL.

GNU FreeDink

GNU FreeDink is a new engine for the classic Action-RPG Dink Smallwood. Not only does this engine recreate the game, it also has compatibility with various mods and add-ons. Most of the original data-files seems to be free, so the game should be completely playable even though the GNU FreeDink project is still working on replacing a few of the sounds. Included with the project is a front-end for loading various mods and add-ons, so it should all be easy to use. The game sure seems enjoyable and quirky. Enjoy!

Wielding a sword and casting fireballs in GNU FreeDink.

OpenRA - 20170421

Classic RTS engine OpenRA, that lets you play Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Dune 2000 as well as several mods, has got a new major release. As always there are balancing fixes and new maps, and new in this release is also HiDPI font rendering and many improvements to the various supported games such as graphical polish in the Dune 2000 mod. The majority of changes in this release however are behind the scenes, preparing for even better modding capabilities as well as support for the newer game Tiberian Sun.

New shroud generating behaviour is another addition in this release.

Birth of the Empires

I have actually covered Birth of the Empires before, but it seems to have got a lot of polish as well as a new homepage since then so I'll mention it again. It's a turn-based strategy game in the 4X genre with a futuristic space-setting. Victory can be achieved both though diplomatic as well as military means and with lots of dynamic factors no two games will be alike. The game looks complex and feature-filled, and I am very impressed with the nice artwork and interface graphics. Fans of classics like Master of Orion should feel right at home.

An example of the great-looking interface in Birth of the Empires.