MrFlibble wrote on 2021-09-08, 15:44:

I just noticed that dosgames.com also lists games with available source code:
https://dosgames.com/tag/sourcecode

A lot of obscure stuff there I didn't know about.

surprising how many of these are in more recent years, this has the flavor of the late 90's programming scene when it was all quickbasic, turbo pascal and clever assembly routines for vga cards

one thing i like about it was the relative simplicity of the source, sometimes just one source file and only a few bmp and sound files for media

now the open source games are often more impressive but can lead one into dependency hell

gerry wrote on 2021-09-09, 08:13:

surprising how many of these are in more recent years, this has the flavor of the late 90's programming scene when it was all quickbasic, turbo pascal and clever assembly routines for vga cards

one thing i like about it was the relative simplicity of the source, sometimes just one source file and only a few bmp and sound files for media

now the open source games are often more impressive but can lead one into dependency hell

Yeah, most of the open source stuff that I've seen recently are bloated with lack of clever programming and has redundancies. Also I hate dealing with lot of library dependencies when attempting to compile just one program from a source code with DJGPP or GCC.

Bunch of small games with source code available:
http://adersoftware.com/downloads.html

Tank Arena:
http://jrouwe.nl/tank/

TASO:
http://athene.tml.hut.fi/~vlehdonv/misc/taso/

Added to the list:

• Beats of Rage [bor-src-10029.zip]
• Emeritus Pong
• Pong Ultra

Pinball Fantasies source is on GitHub
https://github.com/historicalsource/pinballfantasies

too bad it's 16-bit assembly, which makes porting it extremely difficult.
(one way would be tweak it first into 32 bits for DJGPP and then for Win32 or 32-bit Linux)

I would not trust anything on that particular github account as a legally cleared release.

ZZT 3.2: https://github.com/asiekierka/reconstruction-of-zzt
Super ZZT 2.0: https://github.com/asiekierka/reconstruction-of-super-zzt

These are decompilations and not official source code releases, but (a) the original source code has been lost all the way back in 1993, (b) both can compile to byte-identical executables, (c) unusually for this type of project, they have been legally cleared by Epic to be released under the terms of the MIT license.

Note that this applies only to the files in the repositories (engine executables + help files). Crucially, Epic's bundled game worlds are not considered MIT-licensed at this time (with the exception of DEMO.ZZT, which has been classified as a help file); albeit they are generally understood to be freely redistributable for non-commercial purposes since 1997, and widely available online as a result. There are also thousands of community-made worlds, a couple of which have adopted explicit public domain and/or Creative Commons-style licensing terms.

PS. If any among you are nostalgic for ZZT/MegaZeux, we're always on the lookout for unpreserved ZZT/MegaZeux worlds and/or collections to check for such worlds, especially pre-2001 - if you have any, please let me know!!

asie wrote on 2022-07-10, 13:48:

ZZT 3.2: https://github.com/asiekierka/reconstruction-of-zzt
Super ZZT 2.0: https://github.com/asiekierka/reconstruction-of-super-zzt

These are decompilations and not official source code releases, but (a) the original source code has been lost all the way back in 1993, (b) both can compile to byte-identical executables, (c) unusually for this type of project, they have been legally cleared by Epic to be released under the terms of the MIT license.

that's interesting, thanks and good to see epic clearing this too

OMF 2097 or on must fall 2097 a robot fighting simulation was a good dos paid version now deemed freeware (not abandonware)
there was a sequel in windows later on too.
Totally worth a go in terms of free games.
Supports LAN matches i beleive.
https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/one-must-fall-2097/

Archive dot Org has the sequel cdrom but theres nothing like the first!

heres a dosbox in web browser version ready to play: https://archive.org/details/msdos_One_Must_Fall_2097_1994

zapbuzz wrote on 2022-07-11, 10:08:

OMF 2097 or on must fall 2097 a robot fighting simulation was a good dos paid version now deemed freeware (not abandonware) ther […]
Show full quote

OMF 2097 or on must fall 2097 a robot fighting simulation was a good dos paid version now deemed freeware (not abandonware)
there was a sequel in windows later on too.
Totally worth a go in terms of free games.
Supports LAN matches i beleive.
https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/one-must-fall-2097/

Archive dot Org has the sequel cdrom but theres nothing like the first!

OMF2097 is fantastic , just a shame that the source for the game is still not released by the maker. Cause the open source implementation engine called Open OMF blows big time.

WolverineDK wrote on 2022-07-11, 10:36:

zapbuzz wrote on 2022-07-11, 10:08:

OMF 2097 or on must fall 2097 a robot fighting simulation was a good dos paid version now deemed freeware (not abandonware) ther […]
Show full quote

OMF 2097 or on must fall 2097 a robot fighting simulation was a good dos paid version now deemed freeware (not abandonware)
there was a sequel in windows later on too.
Totally worth a go in terms of free games.
Supports LAN matches i beleive.
https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/one-must-fall-2097/

Archive dot Org has the sequel cdrom but theres nothing like the first!

OMF2097 is fantastic , just a shame that the source for the game is still not released by the maker. Cause the open source implementation engine called Open OMF blows big time.

Yes I wouldn't mind permission and access to the code but who to contact

zapbuzz wrote on 2022-07-11, 10:53:

WolverineDK wrote on 2022-07-11, 10:36:

zapbuzz wrote on 2022-07-11, 10:08:

OMF 2097 or on must fall 2097 a robot fighting simulation was a good dos paid version now deemed freeware (not abandonware) ther […]
Show full quote

OMF 2097 or on must fall 2097 a robot fighting simulation was a good dos paid version now deemed freeware (not abandonware)
there was a sequel in windows later on too.
Totally worth a go in terms of free games.
Supports LAN matches i beleive.
https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/one-must-fall-2097/

Archive dot Org has the sequel cdrom but theres nothing like the first!

OMF2097 is fantastic , just a shame that the source for the game is still not released by the maker. Cause the open source implementation engine called Open OMF blows big time.

Yes I wouldn't mind permission and access to the code but who to contact

I believe it is Rob Elam you should contact, also if the original source was not okay. I would not mind, that a group of people converted the original source into C, like they did with Open Tyrian.

https://onemustfall.fandom.com/wiki/One_Must_Fall:_2097

A small but possibly useful selection of open source DOS games may be found here:
https://github.com/balintkissdev/awesome-dos

For example, I was unaware of George M. Tzoumas's games, they're small but seem very nice. I have this feeling that there are probably many more such individual authors whose work could be lost to time, even if archived by the Wayback Machine in some form.

On another note, added Bolitaire, a FreeCell clone, to the list.

Added Vlak to the list.

Added Velena to the list.

Added The Rustic Classics to the list (source code available here).

Added Glizda and Pac-Horror to the list.

Apparently TMB Productions released the source code to their QuickBasic games, but the files have not been preserved by the Wayback Machine, so the code is possibly lost.

MrFlibble wrote on 2022-12-15, 15:21:

Apparently TMB Productions released the source code to their QuickBasic games, but the files have not been preserved by the Wayback Machine, so the code is possibly lost.

Here is one of them I think. https://github.com/asgerfv/the_little_pixy2