Linux gaming
Encyclopedia
Linux gaming refers to playing or developing video games for the Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

s.

Background

Linux gaming refers to all game titles that can run on Linux based operating systems. This can refer to free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 / open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 games, which may also be commercial, that run natively on Linux, or proprietary games that have Linux ports. Linux gaming can also refer to Linux based gaming devices such as the Pandora
Pandora (console)
The Pandora is a handheld game console designed to take advantage of existing open source software and to be a target for homebrew development...

 gaming console, or gaming oriented distributions such as SuperGamer
SuperGamer
SuperGamer is a Linux distribution for the x86 platform originally based on the PCLinuxOS distribution, and is currently based on VectorLinux. Focusing on gaming, it is designed to be run directly from a Live DVD.- Features :...

. Linux gaming can also be considered to be related to gaming on the Android platform, although there are distinct differences between the two systems and industries. In recent years Linux gaming has also become more closely related to gaming on other alternative platforms, such as Mac gaming.

As far as development is concerned, library support for Linux gaming is provided by OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...

, ALSA, OpenAL
OpenAL
OpenAL is a cross-platform audio API. It is designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three dimensional positional audio. Its API style and conventions deliberately resemble those of OpenGL.- History :...

 and SDL
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....

, a cross-platform multimedia wrapper around system-dependent libraries, as well as Pygame
Pygame
Pygame is a cross-platform set of Python modules designed for writing video games.It includes computer graphics and sound libraries designed to be used with the Python programming language...

. The DRI
Direct Rendering Infrastructure
In computing, the Direct Rendering Infrastructure is an interface and a free software implementation used in the X Window System to securely allow user applications to access the video hardware without requiring data to be passed through the X server. Its primary application is to provide...

 project provides open source video card drivers, and NVIDIA
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...

 and ATI
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...

 also release binary kernel modules for their video cards. Linux also runs on several game consoles, including the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

, PlayStation 2
PS2 Linux
Linux for PlayStation 2 is a kit released by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2002 that allows the PlayStation 2 console to be used as a personal computer. It included a Linux-based operating system, a USB keyboard and mouse, a VGA adapter, a PS2 network adaptor , and a 40 GB hard disk drive...

, PlayStation 3, GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...

, and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

 which allows game developers without an expensive game development kit to access console hardware. Several gaming peripherals also work with Linux, such as gaming mice from Roccat
Roccat
Roccat GmbH is a manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories best known for their high-end computer mouse Roccat Kone....

 which have official Linux drivers and even a free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 user-space utility. Several game development tools also run on Linux, including Game Editor
Game Editor
Game Editor is a 2D game authoring package. It supports multi platform development to iPhone, iPad, Mac OS X, Windows , Linux, Windows-based Smartphones, GP2X, Pocket PCs, and Handheld PCs...

 and GtkRadiant
GtkRadiant
GtkRadiant is a level design program developed by id Software and Loki Software. It is used to create maps for a number of video games. It is maintained by id Software together with a number of volunteers.-History:...

.

History

Linux gaming started largely as an extension of the already present Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

 gaming scene, with both systems sharing many similar titles. These games were either mostly original or clones of arcade games and text adventures. A notable example of this is BSD Games, a collection of interactive fiction
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...

 titles. The free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 methodologies which spawned the development of the operating system in general also spawned the creation of various early free games. Popular early titles included NetHack
NetHack
NetHack is a single-player roguelike video game originally released in 1987. It is a descendant of an earlier game called Hack , which is a descendant of Rogue...

, Netrek
Netrek
Netrek is an Internet game for up to 16 players, written almost entirely in cross-platform open source software. It combines features of multi-directional shooters and team-based real-time strategy games...

, XBill
XBill
XBill is an arcade style game for the X Window System. It was very popular among Linux gamers at the end of the 1990s, beating out Quake, though not Quake II, as Linux Journal reader's favourite Linux game in 1999....

, XEvil
XEvil
XEvil is a free software side-scrolling computer game developed by Steve Hardt at M.I.T. The game is a free-for-all deathmatch that pits any player against another player or a computer player...

, xbattle
Xbattle
xbattle is a multi-player real time strategy game released in 1991 by Steve Lehar and Greg Lesher.The game was originally written for unix systems using the X Window System. Many military-type scenarios can be played out in this game. The board is very generic, consisting of repeated geometric...

, Xconq
Xconq
Xconq is an open source computer strategy game and game engine. First posted to comp.sources.games in 1987, it is notable as one of the first multi-player games to be released for the X Window System...

and XPilot
XPilot
XPilot is a multiplayer computer game. It is open source and runs on many platforms. Although its 2D graphics have improved over time, they still resemble the style of Thrust. Gameplay includes Capture the Flag, base defense, racing and deathmatches...

. As the operating system itself grew and expanded, the amount of free and open source games also increased in scale and complexity.

The beginning of commercial gaming on Linux is often credited to have begun in 1994 when Dave D. Taylor
Dave D. Taylor
Dave D. Taylor is an American game programmer, best known as a former id Software employee and noted for his work promoting Linux gaming.In 1993 he graduated from University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering....

 ported the game Doom in his spare time to Linux as well as many other systems. From there he would also help found the development studio Crack dot Com
Crack dot Com
Crack dot Com was a computer game development company. The company was co-founded by ex-id Software programmer Dave Taylor, and Jonathan Clark....

, which released the video game Abuse, a game of which a Linux port was published by Linux vendor Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....

. id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...

, the original developers of Doom, also continued to release their products for Linux. Their game Quake was ported to Linux in 1996, once again by an employee working in his free time. Later id products continued to be ported by David Kirsch
David Kirsch
David "Zoid" Kirsch is a computer game designer and programmer. His first notable project was Threewave CTF modification for Quake, in 1996. He was hired by id Software in 1997 to develop the CTF modes, which he over time implemented for Quake II and Quake III Arena. He was also one of the...

 and Timothee Besset
Timothee Besset
Timothee Besset is a software programmer currently employed by id Software who is most well known for creating and supporting Linux, as well as some Macintosh, ports of id Software's products. He has been involved with the game ports of various id properties over the past ten years, starting with...

 respectively. Other early commercial Linux games included Hopkins FBI
Hopkins FBI
Hopkins FBI is a 1998 point-and-click adventure game from MP Entertainment, most famous for very large amounts of gore.Players assume the role of FBI agent Hopkins, who is on the trail of a criminal mastermind named Bernie Berckson...

, an adventure game released in 1998 by MP Entertainment, and Inner Worlds
Inner Worlds (video game)
Inner Worlds is a 1996 fantasy platform game by Sleepless Software Inc. incorporating some RPG elements. The game is concentrated on a werewolf character called Nikita who travels through a magical world fighting monsters and learning spells.-Gameplay:...

in 1996, which was released for and mostly developed on Linux.

In 1998, a new software firm called Loki Software
Loki Software
Loki Software, Inc. was a software firm based in Tustin, California, United States, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux...

 was founded by Scott Draeker, a former lawyer who became interested in porting games to Linux after being introduced to the system through his work as a software licensing attorney. Loki, although a commercial failure, is credited with the birth of the modern Linux game industry. Loki developed several free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 tools, such as the Loki installer (also known as Loki Setup), and supported the development of the Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....

, as well as starting the OpenAL
OpenAL
OpenAL is a cross-platform audio API. It is designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three dimensional positional audio. Its API style and conventions deliberately resemble those of OpenGL.- History :...

 audio library project. These are still often credited as being the cornerstones of Linux game development. They were also responsible for bringing nineteen high profile games to the platform before its closure in 2002. Loki's initial success also attracted other firms to invest in the Linux gaming market, such as Tribsoft
Tribsoft
Tribsoft was a Canadian software company that specialized in porting computer games to the Linux platform.It was responsible for porting Jagged Alliance 2, as well as gaining the porting rights to Europa Universalis, Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, and Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business...

, Hyperion Entertainment
Hyperion Entertainment
Hyperion Entertainment CVBA is a Belgian software company which in its early years focused in porting Windows games to Amiga, Linux and Macintosh. Later on, they were contracted by Amiga Incorporated to develop AmigaOS 4 and retired from the gaming business...

, Macmillan Digital Publishing USA
Macmillan Publishers (United States)
Macmillan Publishers USA, also known as Macmillan Publishing, is a privately held American publishing company owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than 30 others....

, Xatrix Entertainment, and Philos Laboratories
Philos Laboratories
Philos Laboratories was a Hungarian computer software development company known for working with producer Ubisoft and CDV Software Entertainment....

. During this time Michael Simms
Michael Simms (software developer)
Michael Simms is the creator of the Tux Games website and the founder of Linux Game Publishing.- Biography :Simms began using Linux when he was at university in 1992. From 2000 — 2001 he worked at Wcities as Lead product architect....

 founded Tux Games
Tux Games
Tux Games is one of the first still active online Linux game retailers, founded on January 1, 2000 by Michael Simms, who would later also found Linux Game Publishing...

, one of the first still active online Linux game retailers.

After Loki's closure, the Linux game market experienced some changes. Although some new firms, such as Linux Game Publishing
Linux Game Publishing
Linux Game Publishing is a software company based in Nottingham in England. It ports, publishes and sells video games running on Linux operating systems. As well as porting games, LGP also sponsors the development of Grapple, a free software network library for games...

 and RuneSoft
RuneSoft
Runesoft GmbH is a German publisher founded in 2000 that ports games to alternative platforms such as Linux, Mac OS X, AmigaOS, MorphOS, and magnussoft ZETA...

, would largely continue the role of a standard porting house, the focus began to change with Linux game proponents encouraging game developers to port their game products themselves or through individual contractors. Influential to this was Ryan C. Gordon
Ryan C. Gordon
Ryan C. Gordon is a former Loki Software employee who is now responsible for icculus.org, which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as several new projects created by himself and others...

, a former Loki employee who would over the next decade port several game titles to multiple platforms, including Linux. Around this time many companies, starting with id, also began to release legacy source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 leading to a proliferation of source port
Source port
A source port is a software project based on the source code of a computer game's engine that allows the game to be played on operating systems or computing platforms with which the game was not originally compatible. Source ports are created by fans after the original developer hands over the...

s of older games to Linux and other systems. The Linux gaming market has also experienced some growth over the past few years with the rise of independent video game development
Independent video game development
Independent video game development is the process of creating video games without the financial support of a video game publisher. While large firms can create independent games, they are usually designed by an individual or a small team of as many as ten people, depending on the complexity of the...

, with many "indie" developers favouring support for multiple platforms. The recent Humble Indie Bundle
Humble Indie Bundle
The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles, that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and...

 initiatives have helped formally demonstrate this new trend. The release of a Linux version of Desura
Desura
Desura is a proprietary digital distribution platform developed by DesuraNET for Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms, although a client for Mac OS X has also been hinted at. It is used to distribute games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent developers rather than...

, a digital distribution
Digital distribution
Online distribution, digital distribution, or electronic software distribution is the practice of delivering content without the use of physical media, typically by downloading via the internet directly to a consumer's device. Online distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution media,...

 platform with a primary focus on small independent developers, has also been heralded by several commentators as an important step to greater acknowledgement of Linux as a gaming platform.

Original games

A few original open source video games have attained notability:
  • AssaultCube
    AssaultCube
    AssaultCube is a free multiplayer first-person shooter game, based on the CUBE engine. It takes place in realistic environments, with fast, arcade gameplay...

    is a first-person shooter.
  • AstroMenace is a 3D scroll-shooter.
  • BZFlag
    BZFlag
    BZFlag is a free, open source, online multiplayer video game.A first-person tank battle game, similar in concept to Battlezone, it was originally written by Chris Schoeneman for SGI graphics workstations running IRIX, but has now been ported to other operating systems including...

    is a 3D First person tank shooter (With jumping).
  • Battle for Wesnoth
    Battle for Wesnoth
    The Battle for Wesnoth, or simply Wesnoth, is a turn-based strategy game with a fantasy setting, designed by David White and first released in June 2003. In Wesnoth, the player attempts to build a powerful army by controlling villages and defeating enemies for experience. White based Wesnoth...

    is a turn-based strategy game.
  • Blob Wars: Metal Blob Solid is a 2D platform game.
  • Chromium B.S.U.
    Chromium B.S.U.
    Chromium B.S.U. is an arcade-style, top-scrolling space shooter available on Windows, iPhone, PSP, Mac, Linux and numerous other UNIX-like operating systems. It is a free software distributed under the Artistic License....

    is a fast paced, arcade-style, top-scrolling space shooter.
  • CodeRED: Alien Arena
    CodeRED: Alien Arena
    Alien Arena is a free, stand-alone first-person shooter computer game based on source code released by id Software. Begun by COR Entertainment in 2004, the game combines a 1950s-era sci-fi atmosphere with gameplay similar to the Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament series...

    is a sci-fi first-person shooter derived from the Quake II
    Quake II
    Quake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to Id's difficulties in coming up with alternative names.The soundtrack for Quake II...

    engine.
  • Crimson Fields is a turn-based tactical wargame.
  • Cube 2: Sauerbraten is a 3D first-person shooter with an integrated map editing mode.
  • Glest
    Glest
    Glest is a free and open source real-time strategy computer game developed by a team based in Spain.-Development:Release of version 3.0 added online multiplayer LAN/Internet support. Glest is designed to be moddable, with game elements defined by editable XML files, and includes a map editor.Since...

    is a real-time strategy game, with optional multiplayer.
  • NetHack
    NetHack
    NetHack is a single-player roguelike video game originally released in 1987. It is a descendant of an earlier game called Hack , which is a descendant of Rogue...

    and Angband are text-based computer role-playing games.
  • Netrek
    Netrek
    Netrek is an Internet game for up to 16 players, written almost entirely in cross-platform open source software. It combines features of multi-directional shooters and team-based real-time strategy games...

    is a Star Trek
    Star Trek
    Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

    themed multiplayer 2D space battle game.
  • Nexuiz
    Nexuiz
    Nexuiz is a free first-person shooter video game developed and published by Alientrap Software. It is free and open-source software and is distributed under the GNU General Public License . Version 1.0 of the game was released on May 31, 2005. The current version, 2.5.2, was released on October 1,...

    is a first-person shooter.
  • Project: Starfighter
    Project Starfighter
    Project: Starfighter is an Open Source 2D shoot 'em up written by Parallel Realities. It is a mission and objective based game also featuring an intricate plot....

    a multi-directional, objective based shoot-em-up.
  • Slingshot two-person spaceship shooting near planetary gravity.
  • TORCS
    TORCS
    TORCS is an open source 3D car racing simulator available for GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. TORCS was created by Eric Espié and Christophe Guionneau, but project development is now headed by Bernhard Wymann. It is written in C++ and is licensed under the GNU GPL...

    (The Open Racing Car Simulator) - considered one of the best open-source racing simulators, with realistic graphics and vehicle handling.
  • Tremulous
    Tremulous
    Tremulous is a free and open source team-based first-person shooter with real-time strategy elements.The game features two opposing teams: humans and aliens. Each team must attack the enemy's base and team members, while defending their own base...

    is a 3D first-person shooter/real-time strategy game.
  • Tux Racer
    Tux Racer
    Tux Racer is a Free Software 3D computer game starring the Linux mascot, Tux the penguin. In the game, the player controls Tux as he slides down a course of snow and ice collecting herring. Sliding on ice makes Tux go faster, while sliding on snow allows for more maneuverability and sliding on...

    is a 3D racing game featuring Tux
    Tux
    Tux is a penguin character and the official mascot of the Linux kernel. Originally created as an entry to a Linux logo competition, Tux is the most commonly used icon for Linux, although different Linux distributions depict Tux in various styles. In video games featuring the character, female...

    .
  • Urban Terror
    Urban Terror
    Urban Terror, commonly abbreviated as UrT, is a free multi-player first person shooter game developed by FrozenSand. Originally a total conversion of id Software's Quake III Arena, FrozenSand released Urban Terror as a free standalone game in 2007 utilizing ioquake3 as an engine...

    is a standalone Quake III Arena
    Quake III Arena
    Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...

    first-person shooter. (Proprietary mod).
  • Vega Strike
    Vega Strike
    Vega Strike is a first-person space trading and combat simulator, developed for Microsoft Windows, POSIX Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, and Mac OS X systems. Many of the core game mechanics of Vega Strike are indirectly inspired by Elite...

    is a space flight simulation.
  • Warsow is a Quake
    Quake (series)
    The Quake series is a line of first-person shooter video games produced by id Software.-Overview:The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently; the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its predecessors...

    -like, fast-paced first-person shooter.

Clones and remakes

There are a larger number of open source clones and remakes of classic games:
  • FreeCiv
    Freeciv
    Freeciv is a multiplayer , turn-based strategy game for workstations and personal computers inspired by the commercial proprietary Sid Meier's Civilization series...

    is a clone of Civilization II
    Civilization II
    Sid Meier's Civilization II is a turn-based strategy computer game designed by Brian Reynolds, Douglas Caspian-Kaufman and Jeff Briggs. Although it is a sequel to Sid Meier's Civilization, neither Sid Meier nor Bruce Shelley was involved in its development.Civilization II was first released in...

    .
  • FreeOrion is inspired by Master of Orion
    Master of Orion
    Master of Orion is a turn-based, 4X science fiction computer strategy game released in 1993 by MicroProse on the MS-DOS and Mac OS operating systems. The purpose of the game is to lead one of ten races to dominate the galaxy through a combination of diplomacy and conquest while developing...

    .
  • Frets on Fire
    Frets on Fire
    Frets on Fire is a free, open-source Finnish music video game created by Unreal Voodoo. Players use the keyboard to play along with markers which appear on screen, with the aim to score points, achieve a high point multiplier, and complete a song...

    is a clone of Guitar Hero.
  • Frozen Bubble
    Frozen Bubble
    Frozen Bubble is a free software Puzzle Bobble style computer game which is available on several operating systems including Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, the Symbian Series 60, Windows Phone 7 and Android line of smartphones...

    is a clone of Puzzle Bobble
    Puzzle Bobble
    , also known as Bust-a-Move, is a 1994 arcade puzzle game created by Taito Corporation, based on Taito's popular 1986 arcade game Bubble Bobble, featuring characters and themes from the original...

    .
  • Grid Wars
    Grid Wars
    Grid Wars is a computer game inspired by Bizarre Creations' Geometry Wars developed by Marco Incitti. The first version of the game was released as freeware on December 21, 2005 on Marco Incitti's Blitz Creations website....

    is a clone of Geometry Wars
    Geometry Wars
    Geometry Wars is a minigame created by Bizarre Creations as part of Project Gotham Racing 2 for the Xbox, accessible through the in-game garage. An updated version of the game, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, is available for download on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. It can also be played in...

    .
  • Head Over Heels, a ZX-Spectrum action platformer, was remade for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and BeOS.
  • Hedgewars
    Hedgewars
    Hedgewars is a turn-based free and open-source strategy game, artillery game, skill game. It is cross-platform and runs on FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Android. It features a single-player mission/tutorial mode, in addition to multi-team multiplayer gameplay...

    is a clone of Worms
    Worms (1995 video game)
    Worms is an artillery video game developed by Team17 and released in . It is the first game in the Worms series of video games and was initially only available for the Amiga. Later it was ported to other platforms....

    . Worms replaced with hedgehogs.
  • OpenTTD
    OpenTTD
    OpenTTD is an open source remake and expansion of the 1995 Chris Sawyer video game Transport Tycoon Deluxe. It is an "urban planning and simulation game" in which the player aims to earn money through transportation of passengers and freight by land, water and air.OpenTTD duplicates most of...

    is a remake of Transport Tycoon Deluxe.
  • OpenXcom is a clone of UFO: Enemy Unknown game. It is a open-source, multiplatform reimplementation meant to faithfully mimic the original game, with optional add-ons
  • Performous is a clone of Guitar Hero.
  • Pingus
    Pingus (video game)
    Pingus is a free, open source computer game inspired by Lemmings and created by Ingo Ruhnke. It features penguins instead of lemmings. It has been reviewed favorably by CNN.com, about.com, Unix Review, and other publications.-History:...

    is a clone of Lemmings
    Lemmings (video game)
    Lemmings is a puzzle computer game developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis in . Originally developed for PC and Commodore Amiga, Lemmings was one of the most popular computer games of its time, and several gaming magazines gave it some of their highest review scores at the time...

    .
  • Scorched 3D
    Scorched 3D
    Scorched 3D is a turn-based artillery game modeled after the classic DOS game Scorched Earth "The Mother Of All Games". Unlike Scorched Earth however, it is available free in its entirety. Also, Scorched 3D adds, amongst other new features, a 3D island environment and LAN and internet play...

    is a 3D adaptation of Scorched Earth
    Scorched Earth (computer game)
    Scorched Earth is a popular shareware artillery video game, which is a subgenre of strategy game. The game was developed in the DOS era, originally written by Wendell Hicken , in which tanks do turn-based battle in two-dimensional terrain, with each player adjusting the angle and power of their...

    .
  • Spring originally is a clone of Total Annihilation
    Total Annihilation
    Total Annihilation is a real-time strategy video game created by Cavedog Entertainment, a sub-division of Humongous Entertainment, and released on September 30, 1997 by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It was the first RTS game to feature 3D units and terrain...

    , but actually is a platform for real time strategy games.
  • StepMania
    StepMania
    StepMania is an open source and cross-platform rhythm video game and engine. It was originally developed as a simulator of Konami's arcade game series Dance Dance Revolution, and has since evolved into an extensible rhythm game engine capable of supporting a wide variety of rhythm-based game types...

    is a clone of Dance Dance Revolution
    Dance Dance Revolution
    Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...

  • SuperTuxKart
    SuperTuxKart
    SuperTuxKart is a Mario Kart-inspired arcade racing game featuring the Linux mascot Tux. The game was originally conceived as an enhanced fork of TuxKart, but with other internet mascots by the Game of the Month team consisting of Ingo Ruhnke, Charles Goodwin, and several others, eventually...

    and TuxKart
    TuxKart
    TuxKart is an open source game for Linux by Steve Baker. Each character in the game has a track named after them. Tracks include Tux's Tollway, Gown's Bow, Geeko Peak, BSOD's Castle, Oliver's Math Class, and Shifting Sands....

    are clones of Mario Kart
    Mario Kart
    is a series of go-kart-style racing video games developed by Nintendo as a series of spin-offs from its trademark Mario series of platformer adventure-style video games...

    .
  • SuperTux
    SuperTux
    SuperTux is a free, open-source two-dimensional platform game. The game was originally created by Bill Kendrick and is maintained by the SuperTux Development Team....

    is a clone of Super Mario Bros.
    Super Mario Bros.
    is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...

  • The Zod Engine is an actively developed open source remake of the game Z.
  • Train Simulation Framework is a train simulator which can read the formats originally used for BVE Trainsim
    BVE Trainsim
    BVE Trainsim is a Japanese three-dimensional computer-based train simulator. It is notable for focusing on providing an accurate driving experience as viewed from inside the cab, rather than creating a network of other trains—other trains passed along the route are only displayed as stationary...

    .
  • UFO: Alien Invasion
    UFO: Alien Invasion
    UFO: Alien Invasion is an open source strategy video game in which the player fights aliens that are trying to take control of the Earth. The game is heavily influenced by the X-COM series . It is based on a modified id Tech 2 engine, and runs on Linux, Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS 4, and Mac OS X...

    is heavily influenced by the X-COM
    X-COM
    X-COM is a series of strategy games created by Julian Gollop. In 2010 2K Marin announced the official reboot of the series, entitled simply XCOM. The original game has a cult following.- Original series :...

     series, mostly by UFO: Enemy Unknown.
  • UltraStar
    UltraStar
    UltraStar is a clone of SingStar, a music video game. UltraStar lets one or several players score points by singing along to a song or music video and match the pitch of the original song well. UltraStar displays lyrics as well as the correct notes similar to a piano roll. On top of the correct...

    is an open source
    Open source
    The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

     clone of SingStar
    SingStar
    SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. 23 English-language instalments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, and six versions for the PlayStation 3 have been released...

  • Ur-Quan Masters is based on the original source code for Star Control II
    Star Control II
    Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters is a critically acclaimed science fiction computer game, the second game in the Star Control trilogy. It was developed by Toys for Bob and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for PC; it was later ported to the 3DO with an enhanced multimedia presentation,...

  • WarMUX is a clone of Worms
    Worms (1995 video game)
    Worms is an artillery video game developed by Team17 and released in . It is the first game in the Worms series of video games and was initially only available for the Amiga. Later it was ported to other platforms....

    using free software project mascots instead of worms.
  • Warzone 2100
    Warzone 2100
    Warzone 2100 is an open source real-time strategy and real-time tactics hybrid computer game, originally developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive...

    is a real-time strategy and real-time tactics hybrid computer game. Originally published by Eidos Interactive
    Eidos Interactive
    Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....

     and later released as open source.
  • Bill Kendrick
    Bill Kendrick
    Bill Kendrick is an American software engineer best known for creating and maintaining Tux Paint, an open source bitmap graphics editor for children. He is also co-founder of the Linux Users' Group of Davis in Davis, California...

     has developed many free software games, most inspired by games for the Atari 8-bit and other classic systems.


Independent game developers

Independent developer 2D Boy
2D Boy
2D Boy is an American independent video game development company founded by Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, former Electronic Arts employees who left their jobs to form an independent development and production company....

 released World of Goo
World of Goo
World of Goo is a physics-based puzzle game by 2D Boy, an independent game developer consisting of Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, both former Electronic Arts employees, released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, Android and WiiWare...

for Linux. Role-playing video game
Role-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...

 titles like Eschalon: Book I
Eschalon: Book I
Eschalon: Book I is an isometric turn-based computer role-playing game by Basilisk Games. In the style of classic computer role-playing games, it features a large and openly explorable game world, comprehensive management of character stats and skills, and a non-linear storyline...

, Eschalon: Book II
Eschalon: Book II
Eschalon: Book II is an isometric, turn-based single player role-playing video game by Basilisk Games. Like the first game in the series, Eschalon: Book I, it features a large and openly explorable game world, a comprehensive management of character statistics and skills, and a non-linear...

and Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is an episodic action-adventure video game series based on the webcomic Penny Arcade....

were developed cross-platform from the start of development, including a Linux version. Sillysoft released Linux versions of their game Lux and its various versions.

Hemisphere Games has released a Linux version of Osmos
Osmos
Osmos is a puzzle video game developed by Canadian developer Hemisphere Games for different systems as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The game was made available on Steam on 17 August 2009. The Android port was also hinted to be in development...

. Koonsolo has released a Linux version of Mystic Mine. Amanita Design
Amanita Design
Amanita Design is an independent Czech video game developing company that was founded in 2003 by Jakub Dvorský. The company has made several Webby Award-winning games, as well as educational and advertising minigames and animations, all using Adobe Flash. Clients include BBC, Nike and The...

has released Linux versions of Machinarium
Machinarium
Machinarium is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design. It was released on October 16, 2009 for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, on September 8, 2011 for iPad 2 on App Store and on November 21, 2011 for BlackBerry PlayBook. Demos were made available on September 30,...

and Samorost 2
Samorost 2
Samorost 2 is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design. Released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux on December 8, 2005, the game is the second video game title in the Samorost series and the sequel to Samorost....

. Irrgheist released a Linux version of their futuristic racing game H-Craft Championship
H-Craft Championship
H-Craft Championship is a science fiction racing game developed by independent game studio Irrgheist. A Russian version of the game was later released by Akella...

. Gamerizon
Gamerizon
Gamerizon is a Canadian video game developer and publisher headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Gamerizon develops games for iPhone and . The company's most profitable products on the Apple's App Store and include "Chop Chop Ninja", "Chop Chop Runner", "Chop Chop Tennis" and "Chop Chop Caveman"...

has released a Linux version of Quantz. InterAction Studios has several titles mostly in the Chicken Invaders
Chicken Invaders
Chicken Invaders is a series of shoot 'em up video games, developed by InterAction Studios and released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems...

series.

Kristanix Games has released Linux versions of Crossword Twist, Fantastic Farm, Guess The Phrase!, Jewel Twist, Kakuro Epic, Mahjong Epic, Maxi Dice, Solitaire Epic, Sudoku Epic, Theseus and the Minotaur
Theseus and the Minotaur
Theseus and the Minotaur is a type of logic maze designed by Robert Abbott. In this maze, the player acts as Theseus, the legendary king of Athens who is attempting to escape the Labyrinth. The main difference between this and the standard type of maze, beyond the fact that it's set on a grid, is...

. Anawiki Games has released a Linux versions of Path of Magic, Runes of Avalon, Runes of Avalon 2, Soccer Cup Solitaire, The Perfect Tree and Dress-Up Pups. Gaslamp Games
Gaslamp Games
Gaslamp Games, Inc. is a small, independent software development company based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada currently designing video games for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux operating systems....

 has promised a Linux version of Dungeons of Dreamor. Broken Rules has released a Linux version of And Yet It Moves
And Yet It Moves
And Yet It Moves is a single-player puzzle platform game developed by independent developer Broken Rules. The game was released on personal computer and WiiWare platforms, and the name itself is an English translation of Galileo Galilei's famous remark E pur si muove!-Gameplay:And Yet It Moves is...

.
Frictional Games
Frictional Games
Frictional Games is an independent video game company located in Helsingborg, Sweden. The developer comprises a small core team and is led by Thomas Grip and Jens Nilsson. Certain key roles such as Music and Narrative Design are performed by external staff like Mikko Tarmia and Tom Jubert,...

 released Linux versions of both Penumbra: Black Plague
Penumbra: Black Plague
Penumbra: Black Plague is the second installment of the Penumbra series of episodic computer games developed by Swedish developer Frictional Games. The story continues from the previous episode, Penumbra: Overture, showing the protagonist Philip moving away from the abandoned mine setting of the...

and Penumbra: Overture
Penumbra: Overture
Penumbra: Overture is the first in a series of episodic first-person adventure games developed by Swedish developer Frictional Games. It was originally intended as the first episode of a trilogy. With the announcement of the second episode, Penumbra: Black Plague, it was stated that the second game...

, as well as the expansion pack Penumbra: Requiem
Penumbra: Requiem
Penumbra: Requiem is an expansion pack to the game Penumbra: Black Plague by Frictional Games.- Gameplay :Like the previous games, Requiem is an exploration-based adventure game that takes place from a first-person perspective and final installment of the main series...

. They also released Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival horror video game by Frictional Games, who previously developed the Penumbra series. Released for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms, the game features an unarmed protagonist exploring a dark and foreboding castle, while avoiding monsters and other...

for Linux simultaneously with the Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

 versions. S2 Games
S2 Games
S2 Games is a video game developer founded by Marc "Maliken" DeForest, based in Rohnert Park, California.They also have a development location in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Their first project , Savage: The Battle for Newerth, was released in the Summer of 2003...

 released Linux clients for their titles Savage: The Battle for Newerth
Savage: The Battle for Newerth
Savage: The Battle for Newerth is a science fantasy computer game that combines aspects of the real-time strategy and first-person shooter genres. It takes place in the distant future when humankind has rebuilt society following an apocalypse, but is threatened by intelligent beasts...

, Savage 2: A Tortured Soul
Savage 2: A Tortured Soul
Savage 2: A Tortured Soul is a fantasy and science-fiction themed video game that combines elements of the first-person shooter, real-time strategy, and action role-playing game genres. It is developed and published by S2 Games. It is the sequel to Savage: The Battle for Newerth and was officially...

and Heroes of Newerth
Heroes of Newerth
Heroes of Newerth is a free-to-play science fantasy, action real-time strategy game developed by S2 Games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The game was heavily inspired by the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne custom map, Defense of the Ancients and is S2 Games' first game title in the...

. Wolfire Games
Wolfire Games
Wolfire Games is an independent video game development company founded by David Rosen. Wolfire Games develops video games for Mac OS, Windows, and Linux.- History :...

 released a Linux version of their game Lugaru
Lugaru
Lugaru: The Rabbit's Foot is the first commercial video game created by Wolfire Games. It is a cross-platform, 3D action game for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux. It features Turner, an anthropomorphic rabbit with curiously well-developed combat skills.Lugaru was made almost solely by...

and they will release its sequel Overgrowth
Overgrowth
Overgrowth is an upcoming action video game under development by Wolfire Games. It was announced on September 17, 2008. for all three major computer platforms: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux....

for Linux. David Rosen's Black Shades
Black Shades
Black Shades is a video game developed by Wolfire Games, originally released on Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. The player controls a psychic bodyguard who is tasked with protecting a VIP from a horde of zombies, snipers and other assorted would-be assassins. The was one of the winners of the...

was also ported to Linux. Arctic Paint has released a Linux version of Number Drill. Charlie’s Games has released a Linux version of Bullet Candy Perfect, Irukandji, Space Phallus and Scoregasm.

Illwinter Game Design released Conquest of Elysium II
Conquest of Elysium II
Conquest of Elysium II is the title of a computer game produced by the Illwinter Game Design. Conquest of Elysium is a fantasy turn-based strategy game. The game can be played with up to eight human players. Single player against computer is possible...

, Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders
Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders
Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders is a turn-based strategy game designed by Illwinter Game Design, in which up to fourteen "pretender gods" at a time each battle for global dominance...

, Dominions II: The Ascension Wars, and Dominions 3: The Awakening
Dominions 3: The Awakening
Dominions 3: The Awakening is a fantasy turn-based strategy game created by Illwinter and published in 2006 by Shrapnel Games. It is the third game in the Dominions series, preceded by Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders and Dominions II: The Ascension Wars.The game combines a simple...

for Linux. Introversion Software
Introversion Software
-History:The company was founded in 2001 by three friends, Chris Delay; Mark Morris; and Thomas Arundel, who met when they were undergraduates at Imperial College London...

 released Darwinia
Darwinia (computer game)
Darwinia is the second game by Introversion Software.-Plot:Darwinia was created as a digital theme world for artificially intelligent polygons by Dr. Sepulveda. Housed in a massive network of surplus Protologic 68000 machines from the 1980s, Darwinia is a world where the single-poly Darwinians,...

, Uplink
Uplink (computer game)
Uplink is a video game released in 2001 by the British software company Introversion Software. On 23 August 2006, it was made available for purchase on Valve's Steam service and on 24 March 2011 it was made available for purchase from the Ubuntu Software Center...

, and DEFCON
Defcon (computer game)
DEFCON is a real-time strategy game created by independent British game developer Introversion Software, developers of Darwinia, Multiwinia, and Uplink. The gameplay is reminiscent of the "big boards" that visually represented thermonuclear war in films such as Dr...

. Kshatra is a Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, based software house specializing in free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

, commercial, games for Linux. They have one title currently under active development, Avaneya. Kot-In-Action Creative Artel
Kot-in-Action Creative Artel
Kot-in-Action Creative Artel is an independent video game company headquarterd in Del Rio, Texas and founded in 2008 by Alexander Zubov. Consisting of a core team of three people, they developed the Steel Storm series for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms.On November 25, 2010 ,...

 released their Steel Storm
Steel Storm
Steel Storm is an independent video game series developed by Kot-in-Action Creative Artel using the free software DarkPlaces engine that were released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms...

games for Linux. Hazardous Software have released their game Achron
Achron
Achron is considered to be the first "meta-time strategy game" , notable for being the first game with free-form multiplayer time travel and its subtle handling of temporal paradoxes such as the grandfather paradox...

for Linux.

Unigine Corp
Unigine Corp
Unigine Corp is an international software development company with offices in Tomsk, Russia and Prague, Czech Republic. It is well known for developing the Unigine Engine proprietary cross-platform middleware. The company also has a game development team...

 is developing OilRush
OilRush
Oil Rush is an upcoming tower defense real-time strategy game being developed by Unigine Corp using their Unigine engine technology. Set in a post-apocalyptic flooded world, the game consists of players fighting over control of the world's remaining oil reserves.This theme has been viewed as...

using its Unigine
Unigine
Unigine Engine is a proprietary cross-platform computer graphics middleware, developed by Unigine Corp. It is used as either a game engine or as an engine for virtual reality systems, serious games and visualization. The most popular Unigine-powered product is .The strongest feature of Unigine is...

 engine technology that works on Linux. Unigine Corp was also developing a "shooter-type game" that would have been released for Linux, currently the development on this game is frozen until OilRush is released. The MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

 game Syndicates of Arkon is also supposed to be coming to Linux. The game Dilogus: The Winds of War
Dilogus: The Winds of War
Dilogus: The Winds of War is an upcoming third person role-playing game by Serbian developer Digital Arrow that utilizes the Unigine engine. Originally started as a mod project for Crysis in 2008, the game is now planned for release on Windows and Linux as a full-fledged independent game...

is also being developed with Unigine and is planned to have a Linux client.

A number of visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...

 developers support Linux. Winter Wolves has released titles such as Spirited Heart, Heileen 2: The Hands of Fate
Heileen 2: The Hands of Fate
Heileen 2: The Hands of Fate is a visual novel video game for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. The game was developed and published by Tycoon Games and is the sequel to the original Heileen.-Plot:...

, The Flower Shop, Bionic Heart
Bionic Heart
Bionic Heart is a visual novel video game for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. The game was developed and published by Tycoon Games and was released on July 17, 2009. On November 4, 2011 an updated version of the game was released and also a version without voice...

, Card Sweethearts, Vera Blanc: Full Moon and Planet Stronghold
Planet Stronghold
Planet Stronghold is a visual novel, sci-fi role-playing game with a turn-based combat system for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. The game was developed and published by Winter Wolves and was released on February 28, 2011.-Gameplay:...

for Linux. Hanako Games
Hanako Games
Hanako Games, is an independent video game development company founded by Georgina Bensley that develops PC games mostly involving female heroines centered around fantasy- and anime-inspired style. Games on the site include Fatal Hearts, Cute Knight, Summer Session, and Science Girls. The website...

 has released Science Girls, Summer Session
Summer Session
Summer Session is a dating simulation video game for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. The game was developed and published by Hanako Games and Tycoon Games. It uses anime-style graphics and is written in English...

, Date Warp
Date Warp
Date Warp is a visual novel video game about a young Indian-American woman, a college student who goes on a date and disappears. It was released on May 22, 2010 for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It is a science fiction game with elements of romance. The game uses anime-style graphics and is written in...

, Cute Knight Kingdom, and are considering porting Fatal Hearts
Fatal Hearts
Fatal Hearts is an adventure/visual novel video game in which players control a teenage female protagonist who is having strange dreams while people are being murdered. Because some of the endings include romances with male characters, it counts as a ren'ai otome game. The game uses anime-style...

to Linux. SakeVisual
SakeVisual
SakeVisual is a developer and publisher of interactive story games such as Visual Novels and Otome games, well-known for their otome game RE: Alistair++. Their games are for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. SakeVisual is a partner of Hanako Games, Winter Wolves and Tycoon Games.-History:SakeVisual was...

 has brought Jisei
Jisei (video game)
Jisei is a Visual Novel video game for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. The game was developed and published by SakeVisual and is the first installment of the Green Tea Line.-Plot:...

, Kansei
Kansei (video game)
Kansei is a Visual Novel video game for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. The game was developed and published by SakeVisual and is the second installment in the Green Tea Line and the sequel to Jisei.-Plot:...

, RE: Alistair
RE: Alistair
RE: Alistair is a free, English otome game developed and published by SakeVisual for the Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It was released on February 28, 2010.-Gameplay:The player takes control of Merui Lucas...

and Ripples to Linux. Four Leaf Studios has also released Katawa Shoujo
Katawa Shoujo
is a bishōjo-style visual novel by Four Leaf Studios that tells a story of a young man and five other girls suffering with varying disabilities. The game uses a traditional text and sprite-based visual novel model with an ADV-style text box. As of now, only the demo has been released...

for Linux and Christine Love released Digital: A Love Story
Digital: A Love Story
Digital: A Love Story is a 2010 indie video game developed by Christine Love and released for free in February 2010. The game is a visual novel, with the player's actions unable to significantly change the course of the plot...

, both of which, along with Summer Session mentioned previously, are powered by the free software Ren'Py
Ren'Py
The Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine is a free software engine which facilitates the creation of visual novels, a form of computer-mediated storytelling...

tool.

The Java-based sandbox game Minecraft
Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...

 by Indie developer Mojang AB
Mojang AB
Mojang AB is a Swedish independent video game developer founded in May 2009 under the name Mojang Specifications by Markus Persson...

 is available on Linux.

Game porters

Independent companies have also taken on the task of porting
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...

 prominent Windows games to Linux. Loki Software
Loki Software
Loki Software, Inc. was a software firm based in Tustin, California, United States, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux...

 was the first such company, and between 1998 and 2002 ported Civilization: Call to Power
Civilization: Call to Power
Civilization: Call to Power is a PC turn-based strategy game developed by Activision as a successor to the extremely successful Civilization computer game by Sid Meier. It was ported to Linux by Loki Software....

, Descent³
Descent³
Descent 3 is the third game in the line of Descent computer games, well known for the use of six degrees of freedom and true 3D rendering technology....

, Eric's Ultimate Solitaire
Eric's Ultimate Solitaire
Eric's Ultimate Solitaire is a commercial solitaire game developed by Delta Tao Software for the Macintosh. The game was later ported to Linux by Loki Software....

, Heavy Gear II
Heavy Gear
Heavy Gear is a game universe published since 1994 by Canadian publisher Dream Pod 9. It includes a tabletop tactical wargame, a role-playing game and a lesser known combat card game...

,
Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.²
Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.²
Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.² is a third-person shooter video game made by Ritual Entertainment in 2000. A sequel to the Heavy Metal 2000 animated movie, the game stars Julie in her quest to save her home planet of Eden from GITH, an ancient entity seeking to conquer the universe...

, Heretic II
Heretic II
Heretic II is a fantasy action-adventure game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 1998 continuing the story of Corvus, the main character from its predecessor, Heretic....

, Heroes of Might and Magic III, Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns
Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns
Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns is the first game of the real-time strategy series Kohan, developed by TimeGate Studios. It was published for Windows by Strategy First, and ported to Linux by Loki Software, both in 2001. With a high fantasy setting, the game follows immortal beings named Kohan...

, Myth II: Soulblighter
Myth II: Soulblighter
Myth II: Soulblighter is a 1998 real-time tactics computer game for the PC and Macintosh developed by Bungie. It is a sequel to Myth: The Fallen Lords and the second game in the Myth series.-Gameplay:...

, Postal
Postal (computer game)
Postal is a computer game, made by Running With Scissors and published by Ripcord Games in 1997. In 2003 there was a sequel, Postal². Director Uwe Boll has bought the movie rights for the series, and has produced a film of the same name....

, Railroad Tycoon II
Railroad Tycoon II
Railroad Tycoon II is a game for the PC, Macintosh, PlayStation and Dreamcast in the Railroad Tycoon series. The Dreamcast version is a Gold Edition with improved graphics and gameplay...

, Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...

, Rune, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is the critically acclaimed science fiction 4X turn-based strategy video game sequel to the Civilization series. Sid Meier, designer of Civilization, and Brian Reynolds, designer of Civilization II, developed Alpha Centauri after they left MicroProse to join the newly...

, Sim City 3000, Soldier of Fortune, Tribes 2
Tribes 2
-Legacy:On November 20, 2002, Sierra released an update for Tribes 2. This update contained two new game types, new maps and updates to address several issues. Sierra, which is now part of Vivendi SU, licensed the franchise to Irrational Games for a third installment; Tribes: Vengeance was...

, and MindRover
MindRover
Mind Rover is a video game, developed by CogniToy. The game, which can be thought of as an successor to the Learning Company's Robot Odyssey, revolves around two activities:* Assemble a virtual robots from a library of stock parts....

to Linux.

Tribsoft
Tribsoft
Tribsoft was a Canadian software company that specialized in porting computer games to the Linux platform.It was responsible for porting Jagged Alliance 2, as well as gaining the porting rights to Europa Universalis, Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, and Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business...

 created a Linux version of Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance 2 is a tactical role-playing game for PC, released in 1999 for Windows, and later ported to Linux by Tribsoft. It is the third game in the Jagged Alliance series, and was followed by two expansions: Unfinished Business and Wildfire...

by Sir-Tech
Sir-Tech
Sir-Tech Software, Inc. was a United States-based video game developer and publisher founded by Robert Woodhead and Norman Sirotek. While the original company closed its doors in 2001, its Canadian counterpart Sir-Tech Canada continued to operate up until late 2003.Sir-Tech is best known for the...

 Canada before shutting down in 2002. Linux Game Publishing
Linux Game Publishing
Linux Game Publishing is a software company based in Nottingham in England. It ports, publishes and sells video games running on Linux operating systems. As well as porting games, LGP also sponsors the development of Grapple, a free software network library for games...

 was founded in 2001 in response to the impending demise of Loki, and has brought Creatures: Internet Edition, Candy Cruncher, Majesty: Gold Edition
Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim
-External links:**...

, NingPo MahJong, Hyperspace Delivery Boy!
Hyperspace Delivery Boy!
Hyperspace Delivery Boy! is the first title released by video game production company Monkeystone Games. A puzzle/action game developed for the Pocket PC and released on December 23, 2001...

, Software Tycoon, Postal²: Share The Pain
Postal²
Postal 2 is a first-person shooter video game by Running with Scissors, and it is the sequel to the 1997 game Postal. Both are intentionally highly controversial due to high levels of violence and stereotyping. Unlike its predecessor, Postal 2 is played completely in first-person based on the...

, Soul Ride, X2: The Threat, Gorky 17
Gorky 17
Gorky 17 is a turn-based tactics computer game developed by Polish developer Metropolis Software and published by Monolith Productions for Windows in 1999. The game was later ported to Linux by Hyperion Entertainment and published by Linux Game Publishing in 2006...

, Cold War
Cold War (computer game)
Cold War is a video game developed by Czech developer Mindware Studios and published by DreamCatcher Games . The game is similar to the Splinter Cell series of games in that it uses a stealth-action system of gameplay...

, Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom
Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom
Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom is a medieval-time based Real-time strategy game.It was developed by Joymania Entertainment and published by TopWare Interactive in 1998. The player takes the role of the captain of the palace guards and leads the soldiers and citizens to victory...

, Ballistics, X3: Reunion, Jets'n'Guns
Jets'n'Guns
Jets'n'Guns is a 2D, side-scrolling shoot 'em up computer game released in late 2004 for Microsoft Windows by RakeInGrass software. In April 2006, a version for Mac OS X was released. In December 2006 an expansion, Jets'n'Guns Gold, was released...

, Sacred: Gold, Shadowgrounds
Shadowgrounds
Shadowgrounds is a shoot 'em up for Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux and Mac OS X, developed by Frozenbyte. The game takes place on a space colony on Ganymede which is being attacked by aliens...

, and Shadowgrounds Survivor
Shadowgrounds Survivor
Shadowgrounds Survivor is a shooter game developed by Frozenbyte and the sequel to Shadowgrounds. It has three playable characters, a RPG-like upgrade system for weapons and characters, a survival mode, graphics enhanced from its predecessor, an integrated physics engine, and a soundtrack by Ari...

to Linux. Some of these games were ported for them by Ryan C. Gordon
Ryan C. Gordon
Ryan C. Gordon is a former Loki Software employee who is now responsible for icculus.org, which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as several new projects created by himself and others...

.

LGP-associated but freelance consultant Frank C. Earl is porting the game Caster to Linux and has released the first episode and also developed the Linux version of Cortex Command
Cortex Command
Cortex Command is a 2-dimensional side-scrolling action game developed by Data Realms. In the game, the player takes the role of a disembodied brain, who controls various clones and robots to achieve his aims. There is no campaign as of yet, so there is no main objective the player works towards...

being included in the second Humble Indie Bundle
Humble Indie Bundle
The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles, that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and...

. He is also working towards other porting projects such as the entire Myth series. He is largely taking recommendations and he comments as part of the Phoronix
Phoronix
Phoronix is a technology website that offers product reviews, Linux distribution screenshots, interviews, and news while maintaining a pure Linux orientation. Phoronix was started in June 2004 by Michael Larabel, who currently serves as the owner and editor-in-chief. The name Phoronix is a...

community. icculus.org has ported beta releases for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 2015, Inc. and created by Steven Spielberg. It is the 3rd installment of the Medal of Honor series...

and Devastation, versions of America's Army
America's Army
America's Army is a series of video games and other media developed by the United States Army and released as a global public relations initiative to help with recruitment. America's Army was conceived by Colonel Casey Wardynski and is managed by the U.S...

, and the titles Prey
Prey (video game)
Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios , and published by 2K Games. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Venom Games. The game was initially released in North America and Europe on 11 July 2006...

, Aquaria
Aquaria (video game)
Aquaria is a 2D sidescrolling action-adventure computer game designed by Alec Holowka and Derek Yu, who together form the independent game company Bit Blot, which developed and originally published the game. After more than two years of development, the game was released in 2007 for Windows...

, Braid
Braid (video game)
Braid is a platform and puzzle video game developed by independent software developer Jonathan Blow. The game was released on August 6, 2008 for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. A Microsoft Windows version was released on April 10, 2009. Hothead Games ported and released the game to Mac OS...

, Hammerfight and Cogs
Cogs (video game)
-Gameplay:Cogs is built on a number of puzzles that mimic sliding block puzzles. Each level, representing some three-dimensional object, has various objectives, but generally involve moving tiles to connect sets of gears, piping, and other physical elements to make that object behave in a specific...

.

The German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 publisher RuneSoft
RuneSoft
Runesoft GmbH is a German publisher founded in 2000 that ports games to alternative platforms such as Linux, Mac OS X, AmigaOS, MorphOS, and magnussoft ZETA...

 was founded in 2000. They ported the games Northland,
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood is a 2002 stealth-based real-time strategy video game developed by Spellbound Studios. It is similar to games such as Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive and the Commandos series. In the game, the player controls up to five characters in a setting based on the...

, Airline Tycoon Deluxe, Ankh, Ankh: Heart of Osiris
Ankh: Heart of Osiris
Ankh: Heart of Osiris is the third game in the Ankh series of computer games. It was released in Germany on October 30, 2006, and was released in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2007. The game contains three playable characters: Assil, Thara and the Pharaoh.-External links:**...

, Barkanoid 2, and Jack Keane
Jack Keane (video game)
Jack Keane is a 2007 adventure game developed by Deck13 Interactive, published by 10tacle Studios, and digitally distributed by Legacy Interactive. Jack Keane is an adventure game in the spirit of Monkey Island, with references to well-known computer games and classic movies...

to Linux. Hyperion Entertainment
Hyperion Entertainment
Hyperion Entertainment CVBA is a Belgian software company which in its early years focused in porting Windows games to Amiga, Linux and Macintosh. Later on, they were contracted by Amiga Incorporated to develop AmigaOS 4 and retired from the gaming business...

 ports games to several systems, they have ported
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is a first person shooter video game released by Monolith Productions in 1998. It was the first game to use Monolith's flagship Lithtech engine. It has heavy influences from Japanese anime, particularly Patlabor, Appleseed, and the various Gundam series...

and SiN
SiN
SiN is a computer game first-person shooter based on a modified version of the Quake II engine developed by Ritual Entertainment and published by Activision in late 1998...

to Linux, as well as porting Gorky 17 for Linux Game Publishing
Linux Game Publishing
Linux Game Publishing is a software company based in Nottingham in England. It ports, publishes and sells video games running on Linux operating systems. As well as porting games, LGP also sponsors the development of Grapple, a free software network library for games...

. Wyrmkeep Entertainment has brought the games The Labyrinth of Time
The Labyrinth of Time
The Labyrinth of Time is a graphic adventure computer game created by Terra Nova Development, a two-man team composed of Bradley W. Schenck and Michal Todorovic. Intended to be the first in a series of games, The Labyrinth of Time was less successful than similar graphic adventures released around...

and Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb
Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb
Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb is a computer game, developed by The Dreamers Guild and published by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing....

to Linux. Alternative Games
Alternative Games
Alternative Games is a Finnish video game company specializing in porting games primarily to the Linux platform as well as to Mac OS X ....

 brought Trine
Trine (video game)
Trine is a side-scrolling action platform and puzzle video game, available for the Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and PlayStation Network. It was developed by the Finnish company Frozenbyte, who previously developed the Shadowgrounds series...

and is bringing Trine 2
Trine 2
Trine 2 is an upcoming side-scrolling action platform and puzzle video game under development by Frozenbyte. It is the sequel to Trine and will be released on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and Windows on December 6, 2011.Trine 2 will allow three players to play the...

to Linux.

Other developers

id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...

, together with Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...

  and Splash Damage
Splash Damage
Splash Damage is an independently-owned British game development company that specializes in multiplayer first-person shooter games. The studio is best known as the creator of the Enemy Territory franchise for id Software.-History:...

, ported the Doom
Doom (series)
Doom is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by id Software. The series focuses on the exploits of an unnamed space marine operating under the UAC , who fights hordes of undead and demons in order to survive...

series, the Quake
Quake (series)
The Quake series is a line of first-person shooter video games produced by id Software.-Overview:The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently; the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its predecessors...

series, Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a first person shooter video game published by Activision and originally released on November 19, 2001 for Microsoft Windows. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007. The single player game was developed by Gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software...

, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a free and open source multiplayer first-person shooter video game set during World War II...

and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a first-person shooter video game, and is the follow-up to the 2005 title Quake 4. It is also the first game in the series to be rated T by the ESRB...

. id Software's Timothee Besset
Timothee Besset
Timothee Besset is a software programmer currently employed by id Software who is most well known for creating and supporting Linux, as well as some Macintosh, ports of id Software's products. He has been involved with the game ports of various id properties over the past ten years, starting with...

 has stated he hopes to port Rage
Rage (video game)
Rage is a first-person shooter video game by id Software which was released on October 4, 2011 in North America. It uses the company's new OpenGL based id Tech 5 engine. The game was first shown as a tech demo on June 11, 2007, at Apple's WWDC, and was officially announced on August 2, 2007, at...

to Linux. Some games published by GarageGames
GarageGames
GarageGames is located in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, where it was moved after being acquired by IAC in 2007. As the makers of Torque game development technology, they have provided cross-platform technology and tools since 2000...

 which have Linux versions include Bridge Builder
Bridge Builder
Bridge Builder is a series of computer games developed and published by Chronic Logic. Bridge Builder is the first in the series, followed by Pontifex, Pontifex 2 , and Bridge It. The object of each game is to construct a bridge which a train may cross over, given a limited budget and available...

, Marble Blast Gold
Marble Blast Gold
Marble Blast Gold is a 3D platformer game. It was pre-installed on some Apple Inc. computers like the iMac and iBook. It is also available for Windows operating systems as well as various Linux distributions...

, Gish
Gish (video game)
Gish is a 2D PC platform game developed by Alex Austin, Edmund McMillen and Josiah Pisciotta and distributed by Chronic Logic, Stardock and other distributors. A sequel was announced, but subsequently canceled in late 2009 when Edmund left Cryptic Sea....

, ThinkTanks
ThinkTanks
ThinkTanks, also called TT, is an online multiplayer third-person shooter available for Microsoft Windows, Mac, and Linux. It was developed by BraveTree Productions and marketed by GarageGames and Shockwave.com.-Gameplay:...

, Tribal Trouble
Tribal Trouble
Tribal Trouble is a real-time strategy video game for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The game pits natives of tropical islands against invading Vikings...

, and Dark Horizons: Lore Invasion.

MP Entertainment released Hopkins FBI
Hopkins FBI
Hopkins FBI is a 1998 point-and-click adventure game from MP Entertainment, most famous for very large amounts of gore.Players assume the role of FBI agent Hopkins, who is on the trail of a criminal mastermind named Bernie Berckson...

and Crack dot com
Crack dot Com
Crack dot Com was a computer game development company. The company was co-founded by ex-id Software programmer Dave Taylor, and Jonathan Clark....

released Abuse for Linux, becoming some of the first developers to do so. Inner Worlds
Inner Worlds (video game)
Inner Worlds is a 1996 fantasy platform game by Sleepless Software Inc. incorporating some RPG elements. The game is concentrated on a werewolf character called Nikita who travels through a magical world fighting monsters and learning spells.-Gameplay:...

, another early commercial Linux title, was released for and partly developed on Linux. Philos Laboratories
Philos Laboratories
Philos Laboratories was a Hungarian computer software development company known for working with producer Ubisoft and CDV Software Entertainment....

 released a Linux version of Theocracy
Theocracy (computer game)
Theocracy is a real-time strategy game for the PC developed by Philos Laboratories and published by Ubisoft in 2000. The game takes place in Mexico and Central America in the 15th century...

on the retail disk. Absolutist has supported Linux for a number of years. GLAMUS GmbH released a Linux version of their game Mobility
Mobility (computer game)
Mobility is a computer game developed by Glamus as an initiative of DaimlerChrysler, with scientific data done by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar...

.

Lava Lord Games released their game Astro Battle for Linux. Xatrix Entertainment released a Linux version of Kingpin: Life of Crime
Kingpin: Life of Crime
Kingpin: Life of Crime is a first-person shooter developed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay Entertainment in June 1999. The game begins with the player character wounded and beaten up by the Kingpin's henchmen, and the story follows his thirst for revenge...

. Bioware
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...

 released Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights , produced by BioWare and published by Infogrames , is a third-person perspective computer role-playing game that is based on third edition Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms rules. It was originally to be published by Interplay Entertainment, but the publisher's financial...

for Linux. Croteam
Croteam
Croteam is a video game developer established in Zagreb, Croatia in 1993, initially as a "garage games" company. They only had six employees and four contractors for the development of Serious Sam in 2001.-Company history:...

 released the Serious Sam
Serious Sam
Serious Sam is the first game in the Serious Sam series. It is a first-person shooter created by the Croatian development house Croteam...

series, with the first game ported by Ryan C. Gordon
Ryan C. Gordon
Ryan C. Gordon is a former Loki Software employee who is now responsible for icculus.org, which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as several new projects created by himself and others...

 and with the second self-ported. Ryan C. Gordon
Ryan C. Gordon
Ryan C. Gordon is a former Loki Software employee who is now responsible for icculus.org, which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as several new projects created by himself and others...

 also ported Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...

' shooter games Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal Tournament 2003 or UT2003 is a first-person shooter video game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming. The game is part of the Unreal franchise's series of games, and is a sequel to Unreal Tournament ....

and Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004, also known as UT2K4 and UT2004, is a futuristic first-person shooter computer game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes...

. Running With Scissors
Running With Scissors, Inc.
Running with Scissors, Inc. is an American computer game developer based in Arizona. Their best-known title, Postal, was publicly decried by Senator Joe Lieberman and other critics due to its extreme violence....

 has promised to release a client for their upcoming Postal III game.

Source ports

Several developers have released the source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 to many of their legacy titles, allowing them to be run as native applications on many alternative platforms, including Linux. Examples of games which were ported to Linux this way include Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. The full version was released for the PC . It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II published by Apogee...

, Shadow Warrior
Shadow Warrior
Shadow Warrior, often known by its initials SW, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and released on May 13, 1997 by GT Interactive. Shadow Warrior was developed using Ken Silverman's Build engine and improved on 3D Realms' previous Build engine game, Duke Nukem 3D...

, Rise of the Triad
Rise of the Triad
Rise of the Triad: Dark War is a first-person shooter video game that was first released on February 17, 1995 and developed by Apogee Software . The members of the development team involved referred to themselves as "The Developers of Incredible Power"...

, Ken's Labyrinth
Ken's Labyrinth
Ken's Labyrinth is a first-person shooter DOS game, released in 1993 by Epic Megagames . It was mostly coded by Ken Silverman, who went on to design the Build engine that was used for rendering a first-person viewpoint in Apogee Software's Duke Nukem 3D...

, Seven Kingdoms, Warzone 2100
Warzone 2100
Warzone 2100 is an open source real-time strategy and real-time tactics hybrid computer game, originally developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive...

, Homeworld
Homeworld
Homeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was the first fully three-dimensional RTS. In 2003, Relic released the source code for Homeworld...

, Call to Power II
Call to Power II
Call to Power II is a PC turn-based strategy game released by Activision as a sequel to Civilization: Call to Power, which was, in turn, a game similar to the Civilization computer game by Sid Meier. The game could not have "Civilization" in its title because the word is trademarked by the makers...

, Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein 3D is a video game that is generally regarded by critics and gaming journalists as having both popularized the first-person shooter genre on the PC and created the basic archetype upon which all subsequent games of the same genre would be built. It was created by id Software and...

, Heretic, Hexen
Hexen
Hexen is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on September 30, 1995. It is the sequel to 1994's Heretic, and the second game in the Serpent Riders series...

, Hexen II
Hexen II
Hexen II is a first-person shooter developed by Raven Software from 1996 to 1997, published by id Software and distributed by Activision. It was the third game in the Hexen/Heretic series, and the last in the Serpent Riders trilogy. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007...

, Aliens versus Predator, Descent
Descent (video game)
Descent is a 3D first-person shooter video game developed by Parallax Software and released by Interplay Entertainment Corp. in 1995. The game features six degrees of freedom gameplay and garnered several expansion packs...

, Descent II
Descent II
Descent II is a 3D first-person shooter video game noted for popularizing the use of true 3D rendering technology and providing the player with six full degrees of freedom to move and to look around....

and Freespace 2
FreeSpace 2
FreeSpace 2 is a 1999 space combat simulation computer game developed by Volition, Inc. as the sequel to Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War. It was completed ahead of schedule in less than a year, and released to great critical acclaim...

. Several game titles that were previously released for Linux were also able to be expanded or updated because of the availability of game code, including Doom, Abuse, Quake, Quake II
Quake II
Quake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to Id's difficulties in coming up with alternative names.The soundtrack for Quake II...

, Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...

and Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance 2 is a tactical role-playing game for PC, released in 1999 for Windows, and later ported to Linux by Tribsoft. It is the third game in the Jagged Alliance series, and was followed by two expansions: Unfinished Business and Wildfire...

. Some derivatives based on released source code have also been released for Linux, such as Aleph One and Micropolis for Marathon 2: Durandal
Marathon 2: Durandal
Marathon 2: Durandal is the first sequel in the Marathon series of science fiction first-person shooter computer games from Bungie Software. It was released on November 24, 1995. The game is mostly set on the fictional planet of Lh'owon, homeworld of the S'pht, and once again the player takes the...

and SimCity
SimCity
SimCity is a critically acclaimed city-building simulation video game, first released in 1989, and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis' first product, which has since been ported into various personal computers and game consoles, and spawned several sequels including SimCity 2000 in 1994,...

respectively.

Certain game titles were even able to be ported due to availability of shared engine code even though the game's code itself remains proprietary or otherwise unavailable, such as the video game Strife or the multiplayer component of Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force. Some games have even been ported entirely or partially by reverse engineering
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...

 and game engine recreation such as WarCraft II through Wargus or Commander Keen
Commander Keen
Commander Keen is a series of video games developed by id Software in the early 1990s. The series focuses on the adventures of Billy Blaze, an 8-year old boy who travels through space and assumes the identity "Commander Keen". The series was successful at replicating the side-scrolling action of...

. Another trick is to attempt hacking the game to work as a mod
Mod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...

 on another native title, such as with the original Unreal. Additionally, some games can be run through the use of Linux specific runtime environments, such as the case of certain games made with Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio is a free software development tool that is primarily used to create graphical adventure games. It is aimed at intermediate-level game designers, and combines an Integrated development environment for setting up most aspects of the game with a scripting language to process...

 such as the Chzo Mythos
Chzo Mythos
The Chzo Mythos is the collective title given to a series of four amateur adventure games created by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw using the Adventure Game Studio development tool. The games are, in order of release and intended play-order, 5 Days a Stranger, 7 Days a Skeptic, Trilby's Notes and 6 Days a...

or certain titles made with the RPG Maker tool. Games derived from released code, with both free and proprietary media, that are released for Linux include Urban Terror
Urban Terror
Urban Terror, commonly abbreviated as UrT, is a free multi-player first person shooter game developed by FrozenSand. Originally a total conversion of id Software's Quake III Arena, FrozenSand released Urban Terror as a free standalone game in 2007 utilizing ioquake3 as an engine...

, OpenArena
OpenArena
OpenArena is a free and open source first-person shooter computer game based heavily on the Quake III Arena style deathmatch. The OpenArena project was established on August 19, 2005, the day after the id Tech 3 GPL source code release...

, FreeDoom
Freedoom
Freedoom is a free Doom engine based first-person shooter game currently under development. The game is currently in an alpha stage and many features are missing, for example some monsters and other sprites are replaced by placeholder images, some levels are missing, and some levels have no music....

, World of Padman
World of Padman
World of Padman is an open source first-person shooter computer game available in both English and German. Originally it was a modification for the game Quake III Arena titled PadMod created in the year 2004. After the source code for Quake III Arena was released, the game became standalone...

, Nexuiz
Nexuiz
Nexuiz is a free first-person shooter video game developed and published by Alientrap Software. It is free and open-source software and is distributed under the GNU General Public License . Version 1.0 of the game was released on May 31, 2005. The current version, 2.5.2, was released on October 1,...

/Xonotic
Xonotic
Xonotic is a first-person shooter video game. It is cross-platform, free and open source software. It is a fork of Nexuiz, and is based on the DarkPlaces engine, a heavily modified version of the Quake engine. Gameplay is inspired by Unreal Tournament and Quake, but with various unique elements...

, War§ow and Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge
Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge
Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge is a computer game involving the Sword of Power, Excalibur, the wizard Merlin, the sorceress Morgana, and the United Earth Federation . This is an expansion story based upon the legend of Arthur and Excalibur. The story takes places across three time periods...

.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games


This is a selected list of MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

s that are native on Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

.
  • A Tale in the Desert III
    A Tale in the Desert
    A Tale in the Desert is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game set in Ancient Egypt, run by the independent company eGenesis. The initial software download and all new content are free, with a monthly subscription required to play beyond the first 24 hours.-Gameplay:A Tale in the Desert...

    (2003, eGenesis) – A trading and crafting game, set in ancient Egypt, pay-to-play.
  • Auteria (2007) – A fantasy 3D free-to-play MMORPG.
  • Crossfire
    Crossfire (computer game)
    Crossfire is a free and open source cross-platform multiplayer online computer role-playing gameCrossfire features a tile based graphic system with a pseudo-isometric perspective. All content is licensed under the GNU GPL...

    (1992) – A medieval fantasy 2D game.
  • Diaspora
    Diaspora (computer game)
    Diaspora was a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game created by Altitude Productions. Released from beta in June 2000. By the Christmas of 2000, the game boasted over 35,000 registered user accounts. By April the following year, it peaked at around 70,000 registrations...

    (1999, Altitude Productions) – 2D Space trading MMORPG. (Project Diaspora version has a Linux client.)
  • Dofus
    Dofus
    Dofus is a Flash based massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed and published by Ankama Games, a French computer game manufacturer. Originally released solely in French, it has since been translated into many other languages. It is primarily a Pay to Play game, though it still...

    (2005, Ankama Games) – A 2D fantasy MMORPG.
  • Eternal Lands
    Eternal Lands
    Eternal Lands is a free, multiplayer, online role-playing game created by Radu Privantu in 2002. A pre-alpha version was made public on February 13, 2003. The game client is written in C using OpenGL and SDL.- Gameplay :...

    (2003, Radu Privantu) – A 3D fantasy free-to-play MMORPG.
  • PlaneShift
    PlaneShift (video game)
    PlaneShift is a cross-platform 3D Online Multiplayer Role Playing Game in a fantasy setting. The framework is open source with the server and client released under the GNU General Public License, while the artistic content is covered under a proprietary license. All content, however, is free to...

    – A 3D fantasy free-to-play game.
  • Regnum Online
    Regnum Online
    Regnum Online is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by NGD Studios, a game development studio located in Argentina. This game is also known as "Realms Online" in America...

    – A 3D fantasy game, free-to-play with premium content.
  • RuneScape
    RuneScape
    RuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering...

    Java
    Java Virtual Machine
    A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...

     fantasy 3rd person game.
  • Spiral Knights
    Spiral Knights
    Spiral Knights is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Three Rings Design and published by Sega. The free-to-play, Java-based game was released to advance testers on November 12, 2009 and to the general public on April 4, 2011...

    Java
    Java Virtual Machine
    A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...

     fantasy 3rd person game.
  • The Mana World – 2D medieval fantasy MMORPG, free to play and open source (GPL'd) – Home page, first released at 2005.
  • The Saga of Ryzom
    The Saga of Ryzom
    Ryzom, also known as The Saga of Ryzom, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game . Ryzom is labeled as Science-Fantasy by the creators due to storyline elements that are typically found in both science fiction and fantasy genres...

    – has a Linux client and source code available.
  • Tibia
    Tibia (computer game)
    Tibia is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game created by CipSoft GmbH. It is one of the oldest MMORPGs and was considered most noteworthy in its early years; however, with the development of MMORPGs its popularity has grown much slower than other gaming communities...

    – A 2D Medieval fantasy game. Free-to-play with premium content.
  • Ultima Online
    Ultima Online
    Ultima Online is a graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game , released on September 24, 1997, by Origin Systems. It was instrumental to the development of the genre, and is still running today...

    has an unofficial Linux client.
  • Vendetta Online
    Vendetta Online
    Vendetta Online is a twitch-based, science fiction massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Guild Software for the operating systems Android, Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows...

    – A 3D spacecraft MMOFPS with growing RPG elements, pay to play. Maintains both Linux/32 and Linux/64 clients.
  • WorldForge
    WorldForge
    The WorldForge project is producing an open source framework for massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The intent lies in creating a widely used development framework and set of libraries by motivating interested developers to improve on the original code.-History:The WorldForge Project...

    – A game engine
    Game engine
    A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...

    . There are Linux clients available.
  • Wurm Online
    Wurm Online
    Wurm Online is a 3D MMO produced by Code Club AB in Sweden that allows players to choose between a PvP game and a non-PvP game based on different servers. Development started in 2003 by friends Markus Persson , and Rolf Jannson.-Gameplay:...

    – A Java-based MMORPG.
  • Wyvern
    Wyvern (Online Game)
    Wyvern is a 2-dimensional Graphical MUD/MMORPG game which was released for public play on February 4, 2001 by creator Steve Yegge through his company Cabochon Inc. Wyvern is a free game that was influenced by games such as Crossfire and NetHack...

    – A 2D fantasy MMORPG that runs on Java
    Java Virtual Machine
    A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...

    .
  • Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates
    Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates
    Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Three Rings Design. The player takes the role of a pirate, adventuring on the high seas and pillaging money from roaming enemy ships . The mechanics of Puzzle Pirates are driven by puzzles...

    – A puzzle game which runs on Java
    Java Virtual Machine
    A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...

    .
  • Many Virtual World
    Virtual world
    A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...

    s – (such as Second Life
    Second Life
    Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

    ) also have Linux clients.

Upcoming Linux games

Several video games that are currently planned or are likely to have Linux ports are currently under development. These include several first-person shooters, such as Dark Salvation
Dark Salvation
Dark Salvation is a gothic horror first-person shooter computer game created by Mangled Eye Studios released on July 28, 2009 for Microsoft Windows. The game follows the story of Talia, a young woman whose family is killed in the service of the demon Lucafix...

and Rage; some role-playing games such as The Broken Hourglass
The Broken Hourglass
The Broken Hourglass is a real-time CRPG under development for multiple platforms by new developers, Planewalker Games.-Basics:The Broken Hourglass is a role-playing game, inspired by Baldur's Gate 2. The game will be based in the fictional "Tolmiran Empire", a new Byzantine-inspired fantasy world...

, Wakfu
Wakfu
WAKFU is a global cross-media brand by Ankama Games revolving around an online tactical turn-based MMORPG. In addition to the online game, elements consist of an Xbox Live Arcade Game , an animated television series , comics/manga, a Trading Card Game, action figures, and more.Taking place within...

, and Dilogus: The Winds of War
Dilogus: The Winds of War
Dilogus: The Winds of War is an upcoming third person role-playing game by Serbian developer Digital Arrow that utilizes the Unigine engine. Originally started as a mod project for Crysis in 2008, the game is now planned for release on Windows and Linux as a full-fledged independent game...

; several strategy games, such as OilRush
OilRush
Oil Rush is an upcoming tower defense real-time strategy game being developed by Unigine Corp using their Unigine engine technology. Set in a post-apocalyptic flooded world, the game consists of players fighting over control of the world's remaining oil reserves.This theme has been viewed as...

, 0 A.D
0 A.D. (game)
0 A.D. is a free, open-source, cross-platform real-time strategy game under development by Wildfire Games. It is a historical war and economy game focusing on the years between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500...

, Avaneya, Disciples II: Dark Prophecy
Disciples II: Dark Prophecy
Disciples II: Dark Prophecy is a PC game by Strategy First that was released on January 24, 2002. The game is the sequel to the 1999 game Disciples: Sacred Lands, and has become significantly more successful in terms of both sales and popularity than its predecessor...

, and Europa Universalis II
Europa Universalis II
Europa Universalis II is an empire-building, computer strategy game based on European and world history spanning a timeline between 1419 through 1820.-Gameplay:...

; as well as adventure games such as Asylum
Asylum (2011 video game)
Asylum is an upcoming survival horror adventure game, that will be released in 2012, being developed by Senscape, an independent video game developer located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The game is being authored by Agustín Cordes, who previously designed the game Scratches for the now defunct...

and Iron Sky: Operation Highjump. Some other games that are planned to have Linux ports include Garshasp: The Monster Slayer
Garshasp: The Monster Slayer
Garshasp: The Monster Slayer is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Dead Mage Inc. for Microsoft Windows and Linux. The story and the game are based on the adventures of the mythological Persian monster-slayer Garshasp...

, Bandits: Phoenix Rising
Bandits: Phoenix Rising
Bandits: Phoenix Rising is a futuristic, racing action game, set in a post apocalyptic wasteland.The player follows the pair Rewdalf and Fennec as they try to survive and make big bucks at the same time....

, Natural Selection 2
Natural Selection 2
Natural Selection 2 is a multiplayer computer game mixing first-person shooter and real-time strategy gameplay. It is set in a science fiction universe, and is currently under development....

, Shifter: Robotic Uprising, Overgrowth
Overgrowth
Overgrowth is an upcoming action video game under development by Wolfire Games. It was announced on September 17, 2008. for all three major computer platforms: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux....

, Postal III, Scoregasm, and Trine 2
Trine 2
Trine 2 is an upcoming side-scrolling action platform and puzzle video game under development by Frozenbyte. It is the sequel to Trine and will be released on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and Windows on December 6, 2011.Trine 2 will allow three players to play the...

. These games may be commercial games or free software projects currently under development, some of which may already be available for other platforms.

Some developers have hinted at, but not officially announced, the possibility of Linux ports of their games, such as Iron Tower Studio's The Age of Decadence and Square Enix's
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...

 Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV
, also known as Final Fantasy XIV Online, is the fourteenth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in September 2010 for Microsoft Windows, with a PlayStation 3 port in development. The game is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game and is developed and published by...

.

Emulation and compatibility layers

There are also APIs, virtual machines, and machine emulators that provide binary compatibility:
  • Basilisk II
    Basilisk II
    Basilisk II is an open source software emulator which emulates the 680x0-based Apple Macintosh computer on a variety of operating systems, including BeOS, Linux, AmigaOS, Windows NT, Mac OS X and even on the Sony PSP....

     for the 68040
    Motorola 68040
    The Motorola 68040 is a microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060. There was no 68050. In keeping with general Motorola naming, the 68040 is often referred to as simply the '040 ....

     Macintosh
    Macintosh
    The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...

    ;
  • DOSBox
    DOSBox
    DOSBox is emulator software that emulates an IBM PC compatible computer running MS-DOS. It is intended especially for use with old PC games. DOSBox is free software....

     and DOSEMU
    DOSEMU
    DOSEMU, alternatively rendered dosemu, is a compatibility layer software package that enables MS-DOS systems, DOS clones such as FreeDOS, and DOS software to run under Linux on x86-based PCs ....

     for MS DOS;
  • DeSmuME
    DeSmuME
    DeSmuME is an open source Nintendo DS emulator for Linux, Mac OS and Windows. Its name is derived from emu which is short for emulator, DS and ME.-The original DeSmuME:...

     for the Nintendo DS
    Nintendo DS
    The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

    ;
  • Dolphin
    Dolphin (emulator)
    Dolphin is an open-source Nintendo GameCube, Wii, and Triforce emulator for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X . It is the first emulator to successfully run commercial Nintendo GameCube and Wii games and is the only emulator capable of running commercial Wii games...

     for the Nintendo GameCube
    Nintendo GameCube
    The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...

    , Wii
    Wii
    The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

    , and the Triforce;
  • FCE Ultra
    FCE Ultra
    FCEUX is an open source Nintendo Entertainment System and Family Computer Disk System emulator. It is a merger of various forks of FCE Ultra.-Multiplayer support:...

     and TuxNES for the Nintendo Entertainment System
    Nintendo Entertainment System
    The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

    ;
  • Frotz for Z-Machine text adventures;
  • gnuboy for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color;
  • MAME
    MAME
    MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...

     for arcade games;
  • Mednafen and Xe emulating multiple hardware platforms including some of the above;
  • Mupen64Plus
    Mupen64Plus
    Mupen64Plus is a cross-platform Nintendo 64 emulator, written in C and released as free software...

     and the no longer actively developed original Mupen64 for the Nintendo 64;
  • PCSX-Reloaded, pSX and the Linux port of ePSXe
    EPSXe
    ePSXe is a PlayStation emulator for x86-based PC hardware with Microsoft Windows or Linux. It was written by three authors, using the aliases "Calb", "_Demo_", and "Galtor"...

     for the PlayStation One;
  • PCSX2
    PCSX2
    PCSX2 is an open-source PlayStation 2 emulator for the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. In its latest stable release, many PS2 games are playable, and several games have full functionality. The main bottleneck in PS2 emulation is emulating the multi-processor PS2 on a PC x86...

     for the PlayStation 2;
  • ScummVM
    ScummVM
    ScummVM is a collection of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system , it now also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies like Revolution Software and Adventure Soft. It was originally written by Ludvig Strigeus...

     for LucasArts and various other adventure games;
  • SheepShaver
    SheepShaver
    SheepShaver is an open source PowerPC Apple Macintosh emulator originally designed for BeOS and Linux. The name is a play on ShapeShifter, a Macintosh II emulator for AmigaOS , which is in turn not to be confused with a third-party preference pane for Mac OS X with the same name...

     for the PowerPC
    PowerPC
    PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...

     Macintosh
    Macintosh
    The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...

    ;
  • Snes9x
    Snes9x
    Snes9x is an SNES emulator written in C++ with official ports for Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, the PSP and Android.-Background:Development of Snes9x began in July 1997 when Snes96's Gary Henderson and Snes97's Jerremy Koot merged their respective emulators to create Snes9x. Since then,...

     and ZSNES
    ZSNES
    ZSNES is a free software SNES emulator written mostly in x86 assembly with official ports for Linux, MS-DOS, Mac OS X, Windows and an unofficial port for Xbox.-Background:...

     for the Super Nintendo;
  • UAE for the Amiga;
  • VICE
    VICE
    The software program VICE, standing for VersatIle Commodore Emulator, is an emulator for Commodore's 8-bit computers, running on Amiga, Unix, MS-DOS, Win32, Mac OS X, OS/2, Acorn RISC OS, and BeOS host machines...

     for the Commodore 64;
  • VisualBoy Advance for the Game Boy Advance;
  • vMac
    VMac
    vMac was an open source emulator for Mac OS, Windows, MS-DOS, OS/2, NeXTSTEP, Linux / Unix, and other platforms. Although vMac has been abandoned, Mini vMac, an improved spinoff of vMac, is currently developed. vMac and Mini vMac emulate a Macintosh Plus and can run Apple Macintosh System versions...

     for the 680x0 Macintosh
    Macintosh
    The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...

    ;
  • Wine
    Wine (software)
    Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...

     for Microsoft Windows
    Microsoft Windows
    Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

    , as well as the forks CrossOver
    Crossover
    -Fiction and media:* Fictional crossover, a storyline combining characters or settings from separate fictional properties** Fictional crossovers in video games* Crossover , a 2002 documentary by Justin Lin...

     and Cedega; PlayOnLinux
    PlayOnLinux
    PlayOnLinux is a graphical front-end for the Wine software compatibility layer which aims to simplify the installation of Windows-based applications and especially games on Linux....

     simplifies installing games;

Wine gaming

Currently, many Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 games can run with minimal problems in a compatibility layer called Wine
Wine (software)
Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...

. The Wine project hosts a user-submitted application database (known as Wine AppDB) that lists programs and games along with ratings and reviews which detail how well they run with Wine. Some games which are rated as running flawlessly include Guild Wars
Guild Wars
Guild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...

, Supreme Commander, Half Life 2, Counter-Strike Source, Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead is a cooperative first-person shooter video game. It was developed by Turtle Rock Studios, which was purchased by Valve Corporation during development. The game uses Valve's proprietary Source engine, and is available for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and Mac OS X...

, Silkroad Online
Silkroad Online
Silkroad Online is a fantasy MMORPG set in the 7th century AD, along the Silk Road between China and Europe. The game requires no periodic subscription fee, but players can purchase premium items to customize or accelerate gameplay.- Gameplay :...

, Spore 1.x
Spore (2008 video game)
Spore is a multi-genre single-player god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008 as Spore...

, StarCraft II
StarCraft II
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft and its expansions, the game was released worldwide on July 27, 2010...

, WarCraft III, The Sims 3
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 is a 2009 strategic life simulation computer game developed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims 2. It was first released on June 2, 2009 simultaneously for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows...

, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is a platform game developed by Sunstorm Interactive, produced by 3D Realms, and published by Arush Entertainment. It was released on Microsoft Windows on May 14, 2002 in North America and on June 14, 2002 in Europe...

, and World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...

. There are also many other games that can be run with varying degrees of success. The use of Wine for gaming has proved controversial in the Linux community as some feel it is preventing, or at least hindering, the further growth of native gaming on the platform.

Directories and lists

  • Free Software Directory
    Free Software Directory
    The Free Software Directory is a project of the Free Software Foundation . It catalogs free software that runs under free operating systems - particularly GNU and Linux. The project was formerly co-run by UNESCO....

  • List of open source games
  • Lists of video games
  • List of emulators
  • List of video game console emulators
  • Games for Windows
    Games for Windows
    Games for Windows is a brand owned by Microsoft and introduced in 2006 to coincide with the release of Windows Vista. The brand represents a standardized technical certification program and online service for Windows games, bringing a measure of regulation to the PC game market in much the same way...


Directories and lists

  • happypenguin.org - The Linux Game Tome
    The Linux Game Tome
    The Linux Game Tome is a website which provides a comprehensive list of games for Linux.- History :The site was started by Tessa Lau in 1995...

     is one of the oldest still active Linux game databases.
  • Linux Game Database is a database for native Linux games that recently started development and have now gone beyond the planning stage. It contains 950 games and tools as of August 28, 2011.
  • Penguspy claims to "contain only the best games", and as such does not contain all native titles. It currently only contains 186 games.
  • Gaming on Linux is an active Linux gaming community.
  • LinApp is a database of commercial Linux software, including games.
  • The Linux Gamers' Game List is a detailed list of games for Linux.
  • Libregamewiki offers detailed coverage of free software games.
  • Le Bottin des Jeux Linux is an active Tellico
    Tellico
    Tellico is a KDE application for organizing various collections. It provides default templates for books, bibliographies, videos, music, video games, coins, stamps, trading cards, comic books, and wines. Released under the GNU General Public License, Tellico is free software.-See also:* Alexandria...

     database of more than 2300 Linux Games.
  • AllForLinux is another list of Linux games.
  • 100 Linux Games List of 100 best free Linux games
  • Games On Linux - database of commercial Linux games.

News and commentary

  • Linux Gaming News - Unique Linux gaming news and interviews.
  • http://www.linuxgames.com - LinuxGames
    LinuxGames
    LinuxGames is a website that provides news about Linux gaming. It mostly announces information on new game products and release dates, although it also covers some important events such as QuakeCon and occasionally interviews important figures in Linux gaming such as Ryan C...

     is one of the oldest Linux gaming news sources, since 1998
    1998 in video gaming
    -Events:*Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo to the AIAS Hall of Fame*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 1st annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards...

  • Linux Game Cast - Videos relating to Linux gaming.
  • Linux gaming articles at Play This Thing
  • Games on PCLinuxOS
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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