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List of commercial video games with later released source code

For open-source video games, see List of open-source video games. For commercial games which were released as freeware without source code, see List of commercial video games released as freeware.

This is a list of commercial video games with later released available source code. The source code of these commercially developed and distributed video games is available to the public or the games' communities.

Background

Commercial video games are typically developed as proprietary closed source software products, with the source code treated as a trade secret (unlike open-source video games).[1] When there is no more expected revenue,[citation needed] these games enter the end-of-life as a product with no support or availability for the game's users and community.[2]

In several of the cases listed here, the game's developers released the source code expressly to prevent their work from becoming lost. Such source code is often released under varying (free and non-free, commercial and non-commercial) software licenses to the games' communities or the public; artwork and data are often released under a different license than the source code, as the copyright situation is different or more complicated. The source code may be pushed by the developers to public repositories (e.g. SourceForge or GitHub), or given to selected game community members, or sold with the game, or become available by other means. Source code availability in whatever form allows the games' communities to study how the game works, make modifications, and provide technical support themselves when the official support has ended,[2] e.g. with unofficial patches to fix bugs or source ports to make the game compatible with new platforms.

Some developers that have released their source code have concluded that, in general terms, such action has not been harmful and even beneficial, among them Alec Holowka (Aquaria), Adam Saltsman (Canabalt),[3] John Carmack (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake),[4] Brian Hook (Quake II),[5] and Terry Cavanagh (VVVVVV).[6] Wolfire Games also noted (along with Saltsman) that releasing the source code didn't reduce sales.[3][7] However, releasing the source code may and has led to clones using the original proprietary assets from the game, with two notable examples of games having clones thanks to the source release being Canabalt and Lugaru HD. Although Saltsman has noted that those clones can be removed from storefronts with a DMCA takedown notice,[3] Jeff Rosen, co-founder of Wolfire Games, has recognized that such practices may discourage game developers from releasing their code.[8]

Lists

Open engine and game data

The games in this table were released under a free and open-source license with free content which allows reuse, modification and commercial redistribution of the whole game. Licenses can be public domain, GPL, BSD, Creative Commons, zlib, MIT, Artistic License or other (see Comparison of free and open-source software licenses).

Title First release Source code release Genre Engine license Content license Original developer Additional information
Abuse 1995 2003 Run and gun Public domain software Public domain and Proprietary* Crack dot Com Game source code was released as public domain along with the shareware-released media files.[9] Only shareware data, excluding the sound effects, is in the public domain; the rest is proprietary. In 2016 a community developer released a "20th anniversary source port"[10][11] which enabled custom resolutions, OpenGL rendering, Xbox 360 controller support and fixed the music.
Adventureland 1978 1980 Text Adventure game Public domain software Public domain Scott Adams Scott Adams Adventureland's[12] source code was published in SoftSide magazine in 1980[13] and the database format was subsequently used in other interpreters such as Brian Howarth's Mysterious Adventures series.[14]
Alien Bash I+II[importance?] 1993 2014 Run and gun public domain software public domain[15] Glen Cumming Glen Cumming provided media and material of his Amiga games AlienBash and AlienBash II to the fan community, who was able to restore source code in 2014.[16][independent source needed]
Ant-Eater 1983 2021 Maze MIT MIT Eddy Fries On March 30, 2021, Kay Savetz uploaded the source code for Ant-Eater (a Dig Dug clone), Princess and Frog (a Frogger clone), Sea Chase, and two unreleased video games by Ed Fries (of Halo 2600 fame) to GitHub under the MIT license with permission of Fries.[17]
AstroMenace (now OpenAstroMenace) 2006 2007 Arcade GPL-3.0-or-later CC BY-SA 3.0 Viewizard Based on AstroMenace which was released in February 2007 as shareware for Windows and freeware for Linux.[18] Also the source code of another Viewizard game, the puzzle collection Memonix, was released.[19]
Beyond the Titanic 1986 2009 Text adventure GPL-2.0-or-later GPL-2.0-or-later Apogee Software Game source released on March 20, 2009.[20]
Bird Strike 1984 2021 Shoot 'em up GPL-3.0 GPL-3.0 Andy Frigaard On June 20, 2021, the source code for Bird Strike for the BBC Micro (one of the first releases by Firebird Software) was uploaded to GitHub under the GPLv3 by Andy Frigaard, the original developer.[21]
Blades of Exile 1997 2007 RPG GPL-2.0-only GPL-2.0-only Spiderweb Software Source code and artwork was released by Jeff Vogel (Spiderweb Software) under a GPL license in June 2007.[22]
Clonk series (now OpenClonk) 1994 2010/2014 Action, RTS, Platform ISC CC BY-SA 3.0 RedWolf Design / Matthes Bender For the series (Clonk 1, Clonk 2 Debakel, Clonk 3 Radikal, Clonk 4 World, Clonk Planet, Clonk Endeavor and Clonk Rage) the C++ source code was released under the "Clonk Source Code License (ISC license)".[23] The content of the original game series was released under the CC BY-NC.[24] Based on Clonk Rage code base the community continues the development as OpenClonk under ISC license and content as CC BY-SA.
Colobot 2001 2012 Educational game, RTS GPLv3 GPLv3 Epsitec SA Game source released on March 26, 2012.[25]
Colossal Cave Adventure 1976 2000/2005 (?) Text Adventure Public domain software[26][27][28] / BSD (2017) no artwork (Public domain software) Will Crowther Source code variants are at least available as far back as 2000.[29] An authentic version was retrieved in 2005 "from a backup of Don Woods's student account at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL)".[26] In February 2017 Eric S. Raymond was involved in the release of version 2.5 under the BSD license, the last release by the original author alone.[30][31][32]
Cylindrix 1996 2001 Arcade, Shooter LGPL-2.0-only LGPL-2.0-only Goldtree Enterprises / Softdisk Around December 2001 the games was ported from DOS to Windows and released under the LGPL to the public.[33][34]
Cytadela (or The Citadel) 1995 2006 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later GPL-3.0-or-later Virtual Design Upon its retail release, Cytadela received generally favorable reviews.[35] In early 2006 the original Cytadela developer offered the Amiga source code of the FPS game to the community, which started a conversion project hosted on SourceForge.[36][37][38] Ported to several platforms, latest version released in 2013.
Dandy 1983 2018 Dungeon crawl Apache-2.0 Apache-2.0 John Howard Palevich In March 2018 the source code for the Atari 8-bit version was released by Kevin Savetz with permission of Palevich.[39] It was also uploaded to Palevich's own GitHub repository for Dandy which uses the Apache License 2.0, where he also maintains reverse engineered ports to a variety of programming languages.[40]
Dragonfire 1982 2003 action public domain software public domain Imagic / Bob Smith Source code of this Imagic Atari 2600 game was released by developer Bob Smith on May 24, 2003, into the public domain.[41][42][43] Many more Atari games got disassembled and commented by the Atari community.[44]
Duelyst 2016 2023 CCG MIT/CC0 (game engine/game code) CC0 Counterplay Games Almost three years later after the servers were shut down,[45] Counterplay Games released the entire game (source code and assets), built on top of Backbone.js, to the public domain under the CC0 license on GitHub.[46]
Eat The Whistle - France 98 1998 2004 Sports game GPL-2.0-only[47] GPL-2.0-only Hurricane Studios The France 98 football Simulation video game was released for the Amiga in 1998. Around 2004 Eat the Whistle was released under the GPL-2.0-only on SourceForge.[48] Later ported to many other platforms.[49]
Escape Towards The Unknown 1998 2004 Point and click adventure GPL-2.0-only[50] GPL-2.0-only Hurricane Studios Around 2004 Escape Towards The Unknown was released under the GPL-2.0-only on SourceForge, together with the Eat The Whistle.[51][52] Later ported to many other platforms.
Fish Fillets (now Fish Fillets NG) 1998 2002 Puzzle GPL-2.0-or-later GPL-2.0-or-later ALTAR Games Released commercially as Fish Fillets in 1998. Source released in 2002 under the GPL.[53]
Gladiator 1995 2002 top down perspective action game GPLv2 GPLv2 Forgotten Sages Games Released in 1995 as DOS shareware game,[54] in 2002 the game's source code was released under GPL by the developers. Development and porting by the game's community continued on SourceForge under the name OpenGlad.[55]
Glitch 2009 2013 MMO CC0 (client and other parts) CC0 Tinyspeck In 2013, one year after the MMO was shut down, most of the artwork and parts of the code were released under the CC0 license.[56][57]
God of Thunder 1993 2020 Puzzle video game Public domain software Public domain (music and sound effects)
Freeware (game graphics) 		Adept Software On March 27, 2020, Ron Davis released the source code and sound assets as public domain on SourceForge.[58]
Gravity Force 2 1994 2008 Multidirectional shooter CC BY-SA 4.0 CC BY-SA 4.0 Jens Andersson & Jan Kronqvist On September 21, 2008, the developers of the Amiga shareware title Gravity Force 2 released the source code for "nostalgic interest" without specified license.[59] In April 2017 the authors clarified the game and source code license as CC BY-SA 4.0.[60]
Habitat 1985 2016 early MMORPG MIT MIT Randy Farmer and Chip Morningstar/Lucasfilm Games The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment received the game's source code from its original developers,[61] and restored the code in a Hackathon.[62] In July 2016, the source code was uploaded to GitHub under MIT license.[63][64]
Halloween: The New Nightmare 2004[65] 2021 FPS GPLv3 GPLv3 Jadeware[66] Commercial indie game first released online and by mail order. Released on to GitHub in 2021.[67]
Inside a Star-Filled Sky 2011 2011 Top-down shooter Public domain software Public domain Jason Rohrer Inside a Star-filled Sky, for purchase for $12,[68] was put by developer Jason Rohrer into public domain,[69] like many other of his games.[70]
Kaiser II 1988 2003 economical simulation GPL GPL Carsten Strotmann In 2003 Kaiser II author Carsten Strotmann released the source code under the GPL as Free Software.[71][72]
Kroz 1987 2009 Maze GPL-2.0-or-later GPL-2.0-or-later Apogee Software Game source released on March 20, 2009.[20]
Lemonade Stand 1973 1979 Business simulation game Public domain software no artwork (Public domain software) Bob Jamison, Charlie Kellner / MECC The Applesoft BASIC source code was available since 1979.[73][74] The game was later ported to modern REALbasic and released as free and open-source software for many platforms like Windows and MacOS.[75]
Lugaru 2005 2010 / 2016 (assets) Action-adventure game GPL-2.0-or-later CC BY-SA 3.0 Wolfire Games Open sourced with the first Humble Indie Bundle by Wolfire Games.[76] In November 2016 David Rosen relicensed all assets under the open content CC BY-SA 3.0 Creative Commons license which makes Lugaru a fully free video game.[77] In begin 2017 an open source HD version followed.[78][79]
Maelstrom 1992 1995/2010 Shoot 'em up GPL-2.0-only CC BY 3.0 Ambrosia Software Asteroids clone. 1995 source released under GPL. In 2010 Andrew Welch and Ian Gilman released the game's contents under a Creative Commons license.[80]
MegaBall 1991 2012 Breakout clone Apache-2.0 Apache-2.0 Mackey Software/Ed Mackey The Amiga game MegaBall was programmed by Mackey Software in 1991–1993. Inspired by Taito's Arkanoid it has several features more. The original author released in 2012 the source code of MegaBall under the Apache License v2.[81][82]
NoGravity 1996 2005 3D space space shooter / Wing Commander GPLv2 GPLv2 realtech VR Source code released by realtech VR on February 16, 2005.[83]
Nothing to Hide 2013 2013 Stealth game CC0 CC0 Nicky Case The crowdfunded surveillance/privacy-themed video game prototype by indie game developer Nicky Case was crowdfunded and opened under CC0 on GitHub between 2013 and 2015.[84][85][86][87][88]
PaybackTime 2 1997 2014 turn-based tactics game public domain software public domain Niko Nevatie and Kari Luojus The turn-based tactics game, inspired by Laser Squad and UFO: Enemy Unknown, was developed by two Finnish students in Turbo Pascal and x86 assembly. They marketed their game as shareware for DOS in 1997.[89] The authors released the game in August 2014 as public domain software, including the assets.[90]
Pinball Construction Set 1983 2013 pinball video game MIT MIT Bill Budge, Electronic Arts In 2013, Budge released the source code to the Atari 8-bit and Apple II versions of Pinball Construction Set to the public on GitHub under the MIT license.[91][92][93]
Planet Blupi 1997 2017 Platformer GPL-3.0-or-later GPL-3.0-or-later Epsitec SA / Daniel Roux, Denis Dumoulin, Mathieu Schroeter Planet Blupie was freed (source code and all media files) and ported to all major platforms (Linux, macOS and Windows) for its 20th anniversary, released open source under GPLv3 on GitHub in 2017.[94][95] Speedy Blupi, part of Blupi series, has been released as freeware by EPSITEC too and is available at blupi.org.[96]
Principia 2013 2022 Sandbox game BSD 3-Clause BSD 3-Clause Bithack AB Principia was announced to be made open source in 2016,[97] but the source code was not released until 2022.[98] Development of the game has since then been continued by the community after its source code release.
Spacewar! 1962 2003 Space combat Public-domain software Public domain Steve Russell Source code became available around the 2003.[99]
RuneSword II 2001 2004[100] Turn-based strategy Public domain software[101] Public domain CrossCut Games In 2004 CrossCut Games released the game into the public domain on SourceForge.[102] Since then there is continuous development by the community on the game.[103]
Ryzom 2004 2010 MMORPG AGPL-3.0-or-later CC BY-SA 3.0 Nevrax In response to the folding of Nevrax, the Free Ryzom Campaign was launched in order to gather enough funds from donations ("Crowdfunding") from the community to purchase Ryzom and release the game as free software. The campaign was almost successful with €172,988 of the required €200,000 gathered.[104][105] On May 6, 2010, Winch Gate announced the full release of source code and artwork, and a partnership with the Free Software Foundation.[106][107]
Seven Kingdoms 1996 2008 RTS GPLv2 GPLv2 and Proprietary* Enlight Source code released by Enlight in November, 2008. *Music is proprietary[108][109]
SimCity (Micropolis) 1989 (as SimCity) 2008 (as Micropolis) City-building game GPL-3.0-or-later[110] GPL-3.0-or-later Maxis (Will Wright/Don Hopkins) Source code released by Don Hopkins under GPL in 2008. For trademark reasons released under the original working title Micropolis, also known as OLPC SimCity.[111]
Sissyfight 2000 Returns 2014 2018 Multiplayer MIT CC BY Zimmerman, Clark, and Bhatnagar On April 30, 2013, Zimmerman, Clark, and Bhatnagar announced a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to revive Sissyfight.[112] The campaign was funded on May 30, 2013 with a final total of $22,735.[113] First Beta versions were released 2014. On February 9, 2018, the source code was released under the open-source MIT license and the assets under the CC BY Creative Commons license on GitHub.[114]
Soldat 2002 2020 Run and gun MIT CC BY 4.0 Team Soldat Source code was released under MIT license on GitHub,[115][116] assets followed shortly after under CC BY 4.0.[117]
Sopwith 1984 2000 Shoot 'em up GPLv2 GPLv2 David L. Clark The C and x86 assembly source code to Sopwith was released in 2000,[118] at first under a non-commercial use license, but later under the GNU GPL at the request of fans.[119]
Stunt Copter mid 1986 ? Arcade Public domain software Public domain Duane Blehm / HomeTown Software After Duane Blehm death in 1988, his parents released Stunt Copter's and his other games' (like ZeroGravity, Cairo Shootout and PUZZ'L) binaries and source code into the public domain.[120]
Super Lemonade Factory 2012 2012/2021 Puzzle-platform MIT/MIT—GPL-3.0-only (game engine/game code) GPL-3.0-only Initialsgames Based on the Flixel engine developed for the iOS version of Canabalt (that would later become part of HaxeFlixel), and inspired by it to release the source code, with the purpose of enabling source ports.[121] The game was released as freeware on itch.io on February 2, 2021.[122] The entire source code repository (source code and art assets) for the Ouya version was released under the GPL-3.0-only license on GitHub on February 4, 2021 to support the efforts for the preservation of Ouya games.[123]
Supernova 1987 2009 Text adventure GPL-2.0-or-later GPL-2.0-or-later Apogee Software Game source released on March 20, 2009.[20]
Triplane Turmoil 1996 2009 side-scrolling dogfighting flying game GPLv3 GPLv3 Dodekaedron Software In 1996 Triplane Turmoil was originally released as shareware DOS game. In 2009 Dodekaedron Software Creations Oy placed Triplane Turmoil's source code, documentation, images and sounds under the GPLv3, hosted on SourceForge.[124][125] The community continued the support and ported the game to other platforms (Linux, Windows) via SDL.
Tyrian (now OpenTyrian) 1995 2007 Scrolling shooter GPLv2 Freeware/CC BY 3.0 US[126][127] World Tree Games Productions / Epic MegaGames (Jason Emery, Daniel Cook) The OpenTyrian team ported the closed-source Pascal code of Tyrian to C with permission of Jason Emery in February 2007. The graphic artist Daniel Cook released the artwork shortly after.
VGA Civil War Strategy Game 1995 2017 turn based strategy MIT MIT W. R. Hutsell In 2017 Mr. Hutsell gave the source code of VGA Civil War Strategy Game to Dave Mackey, who ported the game for modern platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) with the help of SDL and other open-source libraries from QuickBASIC to QB64.[128] The source code is released on GitHub under a MIT license.[129]
Voxelquest 2014 2016 open world simulation MIT MIT Gavan Woolery After a successful crowdfunding project on Kickstarter to develop an open-world simulation game in 2014,[130] Gavan Woolery developed several iterations of the game's engine. After running out of funding for further development, he open-sourced with support of the backers the game's engine on github.com under MIT license in August 2016.[131][132]
Wander 1974 2015 Text adventure public domain (?) public domain (?) Peter Langston As of April 2015, the source code (long thought to be lost) of Wander, one of the earliest mainframe text adventures, could be acquired from the original author.[133][134]
WaterRace 2000 2014 Racing game GPLv2 GPLv2 (assets), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (music) French Touch, SARL In January 2014, Pierre-Olivier Latour, co-founder and CEO of French Touch, SARL, have uploaded the game's source code and assets on GitHub under the GPLv2 open-source license[135]
Warfare Incorporated (now Hostile Takeover) 2003 2014 RTS FreeBSD BSD license Spiffcode In July 2014 the game's source code and content got open sourced with a BSD license under the name "Hostile Takeover" on GitHub.[136][137] As result the game was ported by the game's community to alternative platforms like the Pandora handheld.[138]
Warzone 2100 1999 2004/2008 RTS GPL-2.0-or-later GPL-2.0-or-later, CC Pumpkin Studios/Eidos Interactive 3D real-time strategy game with a unit design system. First source part was released by Pumpkin Studios/Eidos Interactive in 2004 and the rest was released in 2008.[139]
Word Whiz 1988 2009 Educational game GPL-2.0-or-later GPL-2.0-or-later Apogee Software Game source released on March 20, 2009.[20]
Worms? 1983 2021 software toy MIT MIT David S. Maynard The source code for Worms?, one of the initial Electronic Arts releases, was uploaded to GitHub by Kay Savetz on March 17, 2021 under the MIT license with permission of Maynard.[140]
Zork (also known as Dungeon or Dungeon Adventure) 1977 1978 Text adventure Public domain software Public domain Robert M. Supnik / Infocom Public domain software ports with source code based on the first "Dungeon" version of Zork, are available in various repositories.[141][142] Also, Infocom allowed the distribution of the early Fortran version. Original version from MIT.[143][144]
ZZT 1991 2023 Action-adventure puzzle MIT no artwork Potomac Computer Systems Originally thought to be lost,[145] a source code backup for ZZT 3.0 surfaced and a modified version of it with third-party content removed was uploaded to GitHub by Adrian Siekierka, developer of Reconstruction of ZZT, under the MIT license with permission of Tim Sweeney, creator of the game.[146]

Open-source games with free of charge data

Only the game engines in this table are developed under an open-source license, which means that the reuse and modification of only the code is permitted. The assets are provided free of charge to the final user, but with some restrictions. Note that both the engine and the game code must be available under a license approved by the OSI and/or the FSF, if it was made with a licensed engine.

Title First release Source code release Genre Engine license Content license Original developer Additional information
Allegiance (now FreeAllegiance) 2000 2004 real-time strategy and Space combat simulator MIT (earlier Shared Source[147]) Freeware Microsoft Research Released by Microsoft Research under a shared source license ("MSR-SSLA") 2004.[148] On July 27, 2017, Microsoft Research changed the license from MSR shared source license to MIT license.[149]
Amulets & Armor 1997 2013 first person role-playing video game GPL-3.0-only Freeware United Software Artists In 2013 Amulets & Armor was re-released as freeware on the game's official site and the source code under GPL-3.0-only on GitHub.[150][151] Work continues for ports to newer systems (Windows, MacOS) and general bug fixes.[152][153]
Ares (now Antares) 1996 2008 Space Strategy video game LGPLv3[154] CC BY-NC-SA/CC BY-NC-ND/Freeware Nathan Lamont/Bigger Planet Software Released in 2008. Under continued development for modern systems as "Antares" via GitHub.[155]
Avara 1996 2016 Shooter game MIT Freeware Ambrosia Software / Juri Munkki The MacOS classic game became open source in 2016 when Munkki released the source code upon the game's 20th anniversary.[156]
Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space (now Race Into Space) 1993 2007 Simulation GPLv2[157] Freeware[158] Strategic Visions/Fritz Bronner A port of Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space to modern operating systems. The license fell back to Bronner as he had a contract clause with Interplay stating that in case Interplay went bankrupt or no distribution happened for some time.[158]
Cart Life 2011 2014 Simulation Artistic-2.0/MIT-like (engine/game code) Freeware Richard Hofmeier In March 2014 the game was removed from all digital distributions and the source code and game was made available for free online, with Hofmeier saying he was finished supporting the game.[159] His webpage went later offline[160] but the source code was mirrored on GitHub.[161][162]
Corncob 3D 1993 2016 Flight simulator Public domain software Freeware Pie in the Sky / Kevin Stokes The game became around 2016 freeware and open source.[163]
Dink Smallwood 1997 2003 Action RPG Zlib inspired own license[164] Freeware[165] Robinson Technologies Source code published on July 17, 2003, from Seth Robinson.[166] 2008 Artwork published (without some sounds) under a Zlib license.[167] In October 2017 the HD version became fully open source and freeware, too.[168] The source code became available on GitHub shortly after.[169]
Glider 4.0 1991 2016 Flight simulator MIT Freeware John Calhoun On January 26, 2016, the source code for Glider 4.0 was uploaded to GitHub.[170]
Glider PRO 1994 2016 Flight simulator GPL-2.0-only Freeware John Calhoun On January 27, 2016, the source code, graphics, and sound data for Glider PRO were released on GitHub with the source code being licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.[171][172]
Gloom 1995 2017 FPS unlicense "for historical purposes" Black Magic In January 2017 the assembly and BlitzBasic 2 source code of the Amiga Doom clone Gloom was released as public domain software under unlicense on GitHub.[173] The assets were released "for historical and archiving purposes.".[174]
Gunocide II 2000 2001 Galaga-like 2D shooter GPLv2 Freeware Alexander Bierbrauer and Oliver Weiler Developed around 2000.[175] After being succesless commercially published via a publisher,[176] the game was released as freeware and under GPL. 2002 ported to Linux and hosted on SourceForge as "G2ex".[177][178]
H-Craft Championship 2007 2015 science fiction racing game zlib license Freeware Irrgheist H-Craft Championship was developed by the independent game studio Irrgheist[179] and released by Manifesto Games[180]/Akella in 2007.[181] In 2014, the developers released the game as freeware[182] and the source code under the zlib license in February 2015.[183][184]
Haunts: The Manse Macabre 2012 2012 turn based strategy BSD-3-Clause[185] CC BY-NC-SA Rick Dakan The 2012 with $29,000 crowdfunded[186] and in Go programmed game was put on GitHub after the money for further development run out.[187][188] While a volunteer keeps updating the almost finished prototype,[189] the against the Go 1.0 API build game fails to compile with newer compilers and Go versions.
Hypercycles 1995 2017 Shooter GPL-3.0-only Freeware Bob Hays Released in January 2017 on GitHub.[190][191] As August 16, 2020, the repository was removed from GitHub. The code has been re-uploaded on GitHub[192]
Infinity 2002 2016 RPG GPL-3.0-or-later CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Affinix Software Developed in 2002 as commercial Game Boy Color title (~90% finished) the game was never published. Infinity was released as non-commercial freeware with source code in August 2016,[193][194][195] and after a successful Kickstarter campaign in August 2021, development was restarted by Incube8 Games.[196][197]
Iron Seed 1994 2013 Space trading and combat simulator GPLv3 Freeware Channel 7 Released as freeware by the authors to promote the development of Iron Seed 2 in the 2000s. Source opened under the GPL by the developers in 2013.[198]
Magic Land Island (now Pocket Island) 2011 2012 Casual game MIT CC BY-NC-SA Wooga Magic Land Island was launched during the GDC Europe in August 2011. In June 2012 the HTML5 game was open sourced under the name Pocket Island on GitHub under MIT license and with the assets under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-SA.[199][200]
Marathon 2: Durandal (now Aleph One) 1995 2000 FPS GPLv2 Freeware Bungie Released by Bungie on January 17, 2000.[201]
Marathon Infinity (now Aleph One) 1996 2011 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Bungie Released by Bungie in 2011.[202]
Meridian 59 1995 2012 MMORPG GPL-2.0-only (excluding compression and audio libraries) Freeware Archetype Interactive As of February 2010 Meridian 59 has been turned over to the original technical developers, Andrew and Chris Kirmse. On September 15, 2012, they released the game to the public as Freeware and most of the source code under the GPLv2 license.[203]
The Pit Puzzle 1997 2011 Puzzle game Apache-2.0 Freeware[204] Abe Pralle / Plasmaworks The DOS game source code was released around 2011 by the author Abe Pralle under Apache 2.0 License on GitHub.[205]
Postal 1997 2016 Top-down shooter GPL-2.0-only Freeware Running with Scissors In 2015 the Running with Scissors developers announced that they will release the source code of the game "if someone promises to port it to the Dreamcast."[206] In June 2016 the developers gave the source code to a community developer who ported the game to Linux for the OpenPandora handheld.[207][208] On December 28, 2016, the source code was released on Bitbucket under the GPLv2.[209][210]
Project Starfighter 2001 2008 Shoot 'em up GPLv2[211] Freeware[212] Parallel Realities
Star Control II (now The Ur-Quan Masters) 1992 2002 Action RPG GPLv2 CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 Toys for Bob (Fred Ford / Paul Reiche III) Source code of the 3DO version GPL-released in 2002.[213]
Star Ruler 2 2015[214] 2018 Real-time strategy, 4X MIT CC BY-NC 2.0 Blind Mind Studios Released on GitHub as an open-source project, including assets under the CC BY-NC (but not music) on July 22, 2018.[215][216]
Starshatter: The Gathering Storm 2004 2011 Space combat simulator New BSD License Freeware Destroyer Studios / Matrix Games Source code released by Destroyer Studios/Matrix Games on December 14, 2011.[217][218]
Strange Adventures in Infinite Space 2002 2005/2009 Space Roguelike GPL-3.0-or-later CC BY-NC 4.0 Digital Eel Source was released under GPL by Digital Eel in 2005.[219][220] Content became freeware 2009.[221] License changed to GPLv3 and assets to CC BY-NC-4.0 on May 18, 2020.[222]
Team 47: GoMan 1997[223][224] 1998 Mech game Public-domain software Proprietary 47-TEK Released artwork and source code to public in May 1998.[225][226] As of March 2022, source code has been uploaded to GitHub.
Tread Marks 2000 2017 Tank Combat/Racing GPL-3.0-or-later Freeware Longbow Digital Arts / Seumas McNally Won in 2000 the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. On January 20, 2017 the source code was released as open source on github.com and the game itself as freeware.[227][228] A port to Linux and MacOS is in progress.[229] In September 2017 a version for the Linux-based OpenPandora was released.[230]
Tribal Trouble 2005 2014 RTS GPLv2 Freeware Oddlabs In September 2014 the game's source code was released to the public on GitHub and is now open source under the GPLv2.[231] Development continues in a community fork.[232]
Tribes 2 2001 2012 FPS MIT/Proprietary (engine/game code) Freeware Dynamix Many commercial titles were developed using the Torque engine.[233] GarageGames released Torque 3D under the MIT License on September 20, 2012.[234] The Tribes 2 source code beside the Torque engine is not available.[235]

Open-source games without assets

Only the game engines in this table are developed under an open-source license, which means that the reuse and modification of only the code is permitted. The assets are not provided for free and must be bought by the final user. Note that both the engine and the game code must be available under a license approved by the OSI and/or the FSF, if it was made with a licensed engine.

Title First release Source code release Genre Engine license Original developer Additional information
Age of Pirates: Captain Blood 2010 2022 Action-adventure game / Hack and slash GPL-3.0-or-later 1C: Seawolf Studio Source code of game engine was released on GitHub under GPLv3 on November 28, 2022.[236]
Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships 2009 2021 Role-playing game GPL-3.0-or-later Akella Source code of Storm Engine released on GitHub under GPLv3 in a 2021 and support Sea Dogs: To Each His Own and Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships.[237][238]
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs 2013 2020 Survival horror GPL-3.0-or-later The Chinese Room On September 23, 2020, Frictional Games released the source code for this game.[239] Source code was released on GitHub under the GPLv3.[240]
Amnesia: The Dark Descent 2010 2020 Survival horror GPL-3.0-or-later Frictional Games On September 23, 2020, Frictional Games released the source code for this game on its 10th release anniversary.[239] Source code was released on GitHub under the GPLv3.[241]
Analogue: A Hate Story 2012 2013 Visual novel MIT/Public-domain software—Proprietary (engine/game code) Love Conquers All Games Developed using the Ren'Py engine, the game code for Analogue: A Hate Story was released on May 4, 2013 under a public-domain-equivalent license. The source code release includes the entire script of the game for context, but the script remains proprietary.[242]
Arx Fatalis (now Arx Libertatis) 2002 2011 RPG GPL-3.0-or-later Arkane Studios The design of Arx Fatalis was heavily influenced by Ultima Underworld. Game source released by Arkane Studios on January 14, 2011.[243] Based upon this source code the formed Arx Libertatis-project created Fan-made patches and Source ports.[244][245]
Aquaria 2007 2010 Action-adventure GPL-2.0-or-later Bit Blot Open sourced with Humble Indie Bundle.[246]
Blake Stone: Planet Strike 1994 2013 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later[247] Apogee Software Released in 2013 to promote the sale of the Apogee Throwback Pack on Steam.[248][249]
Brány Skeldalu 1998 2008–2025 Dungeon crawler role-playing video game GPL-3.0-or-later (2008) / MIT (2025) Napoleon Games On 19 November 2007 the game was made freeware by Napoleon Games.[250][251] On January 14, 2008, the source code was uploaded to SourceForge under the GPL-3.0-or-later license.[252][253] On April 30, 2025, the game was commercially re-released on Steam; on May 20, 2025, the source code for this re-released version was released under the MIT license on GitHub.[254]
Canabalt 2009 2010 Cinematic platformer MIT/Proprietary (engine[255]/original game code[256]) Adam Saltsman Released by Adam Saltsman in 2010.[257] On February 7, 2024, the full source code for an improved version of the original Canabalt ported to HaxeFlixel with support for Windows, macOS, Linux and HTML5 by Cameron Taylor (of Friday Night Funkin' fame) was released on GitHub under the same license, with authorization of Finji (the company founded by Adam Saltsman).[258][259][260]
Catacomb 1989 2014 Top-down shooter GPL-2.0-or-later Flat Rock Software Released by Flat Rock Software on June 5, 2014 on GitHub.[261]
Catacomb 3D 1991 2014 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later Flat Rock Software / id Software Released by Flat Rock Software on June 5, 2014 on GitHub.[261]
The Colony 1988 2023 FPS Apache-2.0 Dave Smith Source code for the PC, Mac and Amiga versions released by Smith on GitHub on June 6, 2023, with the source code under the Apache License 2.0.[262]
Command & Conquer and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 1995/1996 2020 RTS GPL-3.0-or-later Westwood Studios The games' code was released along with the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection in order to aid in the development of mods. It can be used to build mods for the remaster, but due to some missing bits that are substituted by the remaster's own (closed source) engine, it can not be used to directly re-build the original (unremastered) games from them.[263] The original, full source code to both games was later released on February 27, 2025.[264]
Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour 2005 2025 RTS GPL-3.0-or-later EA Los Angeles Released by Electronic Arts on February 27, 2025.[264]
Command & Conquer: Renegade 2002 2025 First and third-person shooter GPL-3.0-or-later Westwood Studios Released by Electronic Arts on February 27, 2025.[264]
Commander Keen in Keen Dreams 1991 2014 Platformer GPL-2.0-or-later id Software In September 2014, after an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign,[265] the game's source code was released on GitHub.[266][267]
CoreBreach 2011 2012 Racing game MIT/GPL-2.0-only (engine/game code)[268] CoreCode Futuristic "anti-gravity" racing game with combat. Source was released after a sales quota was met.[268]
Cortex Command 2012 2019 Action game AGPL-3.0-only Data Realms LLC The indie game was in development since 2001, which won an IGF award in 2009,[269] was finally released in 2012.[270] In July 2019 the source code was released under AGPL-3.0-only on GitHub.[271][272] As of end of 2019 the work on a community continuation, dubbed "Cortex-Command-Community-Project", is ongoing.[273]
Delver 2012 2018 First-person action roguelike dungeon crawl Apache-2.0/zlib (engine/game code) Priority Interrupt Developed using the libGDX framework; on November 15, 2018, Chad Cuddigan released the source code under the GPLv2.[274] Changed to a modified version of the zlib license on November 23, 2018,[275] and changed to the regular zlib license on September 21, 2020.[276]
Descent 3 1999 2024 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later Outrage Entertainment On April 16, 2024, Kevin Bentley (one of the programmers of the game) released the source code for Descent 3 on GitHub,[277] under authorization of Matt Toschlog,[278] co-owner of the copyright holder of the game.[279]
Doom (3DO) 1995 2014 FPS MIT Logicware On November 30, 2014, the source code of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer port of the game was released by Rebecca Heineman (sole developer of the port) under an MIT license, a different license than the Doom version for Linux, and the Atari Jaguar port.[280][281][282][283]
Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth (Linux) 1993/1994 1997/1999 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later Id Software Game source released on December 23, 1997, placed under GPL-2.0-or-later on October 3, 1999.
Doom (SNES) 1995 2020 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later Sculptured Software On July 14, 2020, Randy Linden uploaded the source code for his Super Nintendo Entertainment System conversion of Doom to GitHub.[284]
Doom 3 2004 2011 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later Id Software Game source released on November 22, 2011.[285]
Doom 3: BFG Edition 2012 2012 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later Id Software Source code released on November 26, 2012 on GitHub.[286]
DROD series 1997 2000 Puzzle game MPLv1.1[287] Webfoot / Erik Hermansen After the author reacquired the rights to the game from the original publisher Webfoot,[288] he released the source code of the game engines.[287][289] The source code releases include DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon, DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold, DROD: The City Beneath, DROD: Gunthro and the Epic Blunder, DROD: The Second Sky, and DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale without its media assets.[290]
Eldritch 2013 2014 FPS, roguelike zlib License Minor Key Games In April 2014, the game's source code was released to the public under a permissive zlib license. Content still proprietary and game being sold.[291][292]
Flotilla 2010 2020 3d tactic game Ms-PL/zlib (engine/game code) Blendo Games Indie game developer Blendo games released the source code to Flotilla on its 10th release anniversary.[293][294] The source code is Zlib licensed on GitHub, but assets are not included.[295]
Gish 2004 2010 Action GPL-2.0-or-later Cryptic Sea Source opened with Humble Indie Bundle by Wolfire Games.[296][297]
Glypha III 1990s 2016 Arcade MIT John Calhoun On January 27, 2016, the source code, graphics, and sound data for Glypha III were released on GitHub with the source code being licensed under the MIT License.[170][298] Updated ports for MacOs and iPhone were created afterward.[299][300][301] A cross-platform OpenGL based port was released around May 2018 on GitHub.[302]
Good Robot 2016 2020 Multidirectional shooter MIT Pyrodactyl Games On August 3, 2020, Arvind Raja Yadav from Pyrodactyl Games released the source code for three of their games (Unrest, Will Fight for Food and Good Robot) under the MIT License on GitHub.[303]
Hammerfight 2009 2011 2D physic based combat game zlib license[304] Konstantin Koshutin For the third Humble Indie Bundle[305][306] Ryan C. Gordon ported the underlying game engine, "Haaf's Game Engine", to Linux and Mac OS X, and released source code under the zlib license.[307][308] Relish Games released the original version of HGE 1.8.1 for Windows/DirectX to GitHub under zlib license, too.[309]
Heretic 1994 1999 FPS GPL-2.0-only Raven Software Game source released on January 11, 1999 under a very restrictive license,[310][311] relicensed to GPL on September 4, 2008.[312][313][314] The ACC script compiler was not included in the GPL re-release.
Hexen: Beyond Heretic 1995 1999 FPS GPL-2.0-only Raven Software Game source released on January 11, 1999 under a very restrictive license,[310][311] relicensed to GPL on September 4, 2008.[312][313][314] The ACC script compiler was not included in the GPL re-release.
Hexen II 1997 2000 FPS GPL-2.0-only Raven Software Game source released on November 10, 2000.[315]
Hovertank 3D 1991 2014 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later Flat Rock Software/id Software Released by Flat Rock Software on June 5, 2014 on GitHub.[261]
Lemma 2014 2014 Voxel FPS open world parcour[316] MIT Evan Todd Despite an unsuccessful crowdfunding campaign in 2014,[317] Lemma was released commercially by the developer DRM-free and also on Steam. The source code is openly developed and available on GitHub under a MIT license.[318][319]
Little Big Adventure and Little Big Adventure 2 1994/1997 2021 Action-adventure GPL-2.0-only Adeline Software International Source code released on GitHub under the GPL-2.0-only license by 2.21, the current copyright holders.[320]
Machines: Wired for War 1999 2020 Real-time strategy GPL-3.0-or-later Charybdis/Nightdive Studios The game was released by the new rights holder Nightdive Studios in 2020.[321] The source code is under GPLv3 on GitHub.[322] The assets are available too from the original developer's webpage.[323]
Monster RPG 2 2010 2012 JRPG zlib License Nooskewl After a successful Indiegogo campaign, released by Nooskewl under a Public domain like license ("Give it Your Own License") on November 11, 2012.[324][325] Later changed to zlib license, and the content sold again to be able to pay the server bills.[326]
Myst Online: Uru Live 2007 2010 MMORPG GPLv3 Cyan Worlds "Myst Online: Uru Live" struggled to attract subscribers and was canceled after its first year. Cyan release the game as an open source game in 2010.[327]
Natural Selection 2002 2014 FPS GPLv2 (most code) / custom (external libraries)[328] Unknown Worlds Entertainment In January 2014 Unknown Worlds released the source code for download on GitHub.[329]
The Operative: No One Lives Forever 2000 2010 FPS GPL Monolith Productions In 2001, Monolith Productions released a set of editing tools for No One Lives Forever that included the level editor and model editor used for development.[330] The team also released the source code for NOLF (version 1.003 on Windows) that year to "support the fan base by offering the tools to create their own levels".[331][332] It is available both as a download, as well as on the Game of the Year Edition CD-ROM.[330] Years later around 2013 Lithtech source code became available on GitHub under GPL,[333] and work for merging game code and engine started.[334]
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way 2002 2011 FPS GPLv2[335] Monolith Productions Source code released by Monolith Productions/Sierra Entertainment as part of a modding toolkit.[336]
Overgrowth 2017 2022 Action Apache-2.0 Wolfire Games On April 21, 2022, Wolfire Games released the source code to Overgrowth on GitHub under the Apache License 2.0.[337]
Pararena 2 1992 2016 Action sport game MIT John Calhoun On January 27, 2016, the source code was released on GitHub licensed under the MIT license.[338][339]
Penumbra: Overture 2007 2009 Survival horror with FPS aspects GPL-3.0-or-later Frictional Games Developed by Swedish[340] developer Frictional Games, the game blends the genres of survival horror, first-person shooter, and adventure. Open sourced with Humble Indie Bundle.[341]
Quake 1996 1999 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later Id Software Game source released on December 21, 1999.
Quake II 1997 2001 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later Id Software Game source released on December 22, 2001.
Quake III Arena 1999 2005 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later Id Software Game source released on August 19, 2005.
Quake 4 2005 2021 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later Raven Software Adapted to the GPL id Tech 4 source code from Doom 3 with some issues remaining.[342]
Raptor: Call of the Shadows 1994 2023 Scrolling shooter GPL-2.0-or-later Cygnus Studios DOS version source code released on October 1, 2023 on GitHub.[343]
Red Dog: Superior Firepower 2000 2022 Shooter MIT Argonaut Games Source code uploaded on GitHub on September 26, 2022 under the MIT license by Matt Godbolt (one of the three programmers of the game) under authorization of Jez San, founder of Argonaut Games.[344]
Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2001 2010 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later Gray Matter Studios/Nerve Software The source code for Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Enemy Territory was released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) on August 12, 2010.[345][346]
Revenge of the Titans 2010 2011 Tower Defense, RTS BSD-3-Clause Puppy Games Java based game. Source code was released by Puppy Games with the success of the second Humble Indie Bundle.[347]
Rise of the Triad 1994 2002 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later Apogee Software/3D Realms Game source released on December 20, 2002.[348]
Serious Sam (Serious Engine) 2001 2016 FPS GPL-2.0-only Croteam In March 2016, Croteam released Serious Engine v1.10 as free and open-source software on GitHub under the GNU General Public License.[349][350]
Seven Kingdoms II 1999 2009 RTS GPLv2 Enlight Source code released in August, 2009.
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division 1998 1998 FPS GPL Monolith Productions In 1998, SDK released the game logic for modders.[351] The Lithtech engine was not included as source code. Around 2013, Lithtech's source code became available on GitHub under the GPL,[333] and the work of merging the game logic and the engine started.[334] As of the end of 2019, this reworked NOLF2/LithTech engine reached a buildable state under Windows, and the work continues.[352]
Siege of Avalon 2000 2003 RPG LGPL Digital Tome Source code released June 23, 2003.[353] Later one of the original developers announced the preparation of a re-release of SOA, but nothing came out of it.[354]

In September 2017 a community developer managed to fix the dependencies of the Open source release, recompile the executable, fixing several bugs and introducing higher resolution support for the game.[355]

Soul Ride 2000[356] 2003 Snow board simulation/sport game GPLv2[357] Slingshot Game Technology On 20 Jan 2003 Soul Ride's game engine source code was released to allow ports to alternative OSes.[358]
Spacebase DF-9 2013 2015 Space simulator CPAL Double Fine After Double Fine ended the support of the controversy ridden and incomplete game on end of 2014,[359] fans have been working to continue the game's development with the availability of the source code in May 2015 under the CPAL open-source license.[360] First patch became available in October 2015.[361]
Spear of Destiny 1992 1995 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later[362] id Software The source code of Wolfenstein 3D, which also covered Spear of Destiny, was released on July 21, 1995.
Spectromancer 2008 2020 Turn-based strategy BSD-3-Clause/Proprietary (engine/game code) Three Donkeys LLC/Apus Software On March 4, 2020, Ivan Polyacov from Apus Software released the source code to the Apus Game Engine, the in-house game engine by Apus Software used for Spectromancer and Astral Heroes after reaching the $50 tier on his Patreon.[363] The game code to Astral Towers was also released to patrons.[364][365]
Speed Haste 1995 2012 racing video game public domain like license Javier Arevalo Baeza In 2012 the game's developer Javier Arevalo Baeza released the Borland C source code (minus some commercial library part) for "you can do whatever you want with this code" on GitHub.[366]
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast 2002 2013 First/Third-person shooter GPL-2.0-only Raven Software Release of the source code by Raven Software and Activision coincided with the closing of LucasArts by Disney.[367]
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy 2003 2013 First/Third-person shooter GPL-2.0-only Raven Software Release of the source code by Raven Software and Activision coincided with the closing of LucasArts by Disney.[367]
System Shock 1994 2018 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later Night Dive Studios In April 2018 the Mac version's source code was released by Night Dive on GitHub,[368] fulfilling a 2016 promise.[369][370][371] After one month of development, a cross-platform source port, called "Shockolate", for modern compilers and platforms was released by community developer Chad Cuddigan.[372]
To Heart 2 2004 2006 Visual novel GPLv2 Aquaplus Its source code was released by Aquaplus under the GNU General Public License on December 22, 2005, along with the source code for Arurū to Asobo!!, Tears to Tiara, and Kusari.[373][374] This decision was made due to the inclusion of Xvid derived code; Xvid being distributed under the same license.[373][374] The source code for all four games is distributed upon request in CD-R format.[373] A copy of the original source code is hosted on GitHub,[375] as also an continued engine project.[376]
To the Moon 2011 2014 role-playing game GPL-2.0-or-later Freebird Games To the Moon was developed using RPG Maker XP engine in 2011. In January 2014 To the Moon was also released for OS X and Linux with the Humble Bundle X.[377] Edward Rudd ported the game with the GPLv2 RPG Maker XP game engine recreation MKXP,[377][378] other ports followed later.[379] Also a successor game by Freebird games, "A Bird Story", was ported to Linux under usage of MKXP.[380]
Toki Tori 2+ 2013 2021 puzzle platform game GPL-2.0-only Two Tribes On December 17, 2021, Two Tribes released the source code to their in-house engine used for games like Toki Tori 2+ and Rive under the GPL-2.0-only license on GitHub.[381]
Unrest 2014 2020 Role-playing video game MIT Pyrodactyl Games On August 3, 2020, Arvind Raja Yadav from Pyrodactyl Games released the source code for three of their games (Unrest, Will Fight for Food and Good Robot) under the MIT License on GitHub.[303]
Urban Chaos 1999 2017 Action-adventure game MIT Mucky Foot In May 2017 Mucky Foot's Mike Diskett released the source code of Urban Chaos under the MIT license on GitHub.[382]
Vangers 1998 2016 racing and role-playing genre GPLv3 K-D Lab In March 2016, Vangers source code was released[383] under GPLv3 license. Data was not freed though, so one still needs data files from Steam or GOG.com released in order to run the game.
Perimeter 2005 (remaster in 2024) 2021 Real time strategy game GPLv3 K-D Lab
Wolfenstein 3D 1992 1995 FPS GPL-2.0-or-later[362] id Software The source code of Wolfenstein 3D, which also covered Spear of Destiny, was released on July 21, 1995.
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory 2003 2010 FPS GPL-3.0-or-later Splash Damage/id Software Game source released on August 12, 2010.[384][346][345]
World in Conflict (server code) 2007 2017 Real time strategy game GPL-2.0-or-later[385] Ubisoft Game source released in 2017 by ubisoft after support ended in 2014.[386]

Source-available games with free of charge data

Video games in this table are source-available, but are neither open-source software according to the OSI definition nor free software according to the Free Software Foundation. If the source code is given out without specified license or public domain waiver it has legally to be considered as still proprietary due to the Berne Convention. The assets are provided free of charge to the final user, but with some restrictions.

Title First release Source code release Genre Engine license Content license Original developer Additional information
Agony 1992 2020 Shoot 'em up non-commercial use Freeware Art & Magic Around 2010, graphic artist Franck Sauer started to offer the game's binary files (ADF format) for free download on his personal webpage, making the game Freeware.[387] On July 4, 2020, Yves Grolet (programmer of the game) uploaded all his Amiga development files (which included full source code for Agony) to WeTransfer.[388]
Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021 1987 2004 4x game no license given Freeware George Moromisato Developed by George Moromisato in 1987. Around 2004 the source code of the DOS version 2.00 was released.[389]
Beneath a Steel Sky 1994 2003 Point and click adventure Beneath a Steel Sky Freeware License Beneath a Steel Sky Freeware License Revolution Software The assembly language source code of the game was made available to the public and ScummVM in August 2003.[390][391] The source code availability made it possible for the ScummVM project to support the game, which allows the game to be played on Windows, OS X, Linux, Windows CE and other compatible operating systems and platforms.
Beyond Castle Wolfenstein 1985 2005 Stealth game no license given Freeware Silas Warner The reconstructed source code and the ported game was released by Silas Warner's widow in 2005.[392]
Beyond Protocol (now After Protocol) 2008 2011 persistent, space MMORTS non-commercial public license Freeware Dark Sky Entertainment Initial design of Beyond Protocol began in 1991.[393] A scaled up beta program began Nov 15th 2007[394] with an open-beta in 2008. When due to financial issues the game has been shut down, the source code was released on 4 May 2011 on SourceForge to the public.[395] Based on this source code, community organized development continues until today as After Protocol.[396]
Bob's Game 2004 2016 puzzle, action RPG Proprietary Freeware Robert Pelloni In August 2016 the source code of the game was released on GitHub under a non-commercial source available software license,[397] to allow the community to contribute. The author claims that he wrote the game originally in C, switched then to Java, and later converted it with an automatic code converter to C++.[398]
Carnivores 2 1999 2013 Simulation Proprietary Freeware Action Forms A version from 2013 is available on assembla.[399] Around 2017 the source code was released via Moddb.[400]
Crystal Mines 1989 2011 Arcade Custom permissive license Freeware Ken Beckett / Color Dreams In August 2011 Ken Beckett, the programmer of the NES game Crystal Mines, released the source code under a custom permissive license to the public.[401][402] Artwork still proprietary but can be shared for non-commercial, personal use.[403]
Digger 1983 2004 Arcade Proprietary Freeware Windmill Software The original source code became available in September 2004 "for historical interest" (together with source code of other Windmill Software games as Styx).[404][405] There is also an earlier free software reverse engineered variant available by Andrew Jenner, called Digger Remastered, ported for many platforms.[406]
Dungeons of Daggorath 1982 2001 3D Dungeon crawler Freeware Freeware DynaMicro / Douglas J. Morgan After years of no further distribution from the publisher Radio Shack of the game, the distribution rights fell back to the developers. Morgan released game around 2001 under a freeware like license to the public, also offering the source code.[407][408] Following, the game's community has created ports for PC,[409] Linux,[410] RISC OS[411] and PSP.[412]
Enemy Nations 1997 2005[413]
/2006[414][415] 		RTS own non-commercial license[416] non-commercial Freeware[416] Windward Studios Game source and artwork was released by Windward Studios under a non-commercial license around 2005/2006.
Fort Apocalypse 1982 2015 action CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 Steve Hales / Synapse Software In 2007 the Atari 8-bit game was relicensed to a CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 by Steve Hales and released on IgorLabs.[417] On April 23, 2015, Steve Hales released the assembler source code to Fort Apocalypse on GitHub, also under CC BY-NC-ND 2.5, for historical reasons.[418]
Free Fall 1983 1999 Beat 'em up ? Freeware Ian Bell / Acornsoft In 1999, developer Ian Bell released the video game's BBC Micro assembly source code on his website.[419] Semi-serious he considers it the first ever Beat 'em up video game.
Flow 2006 2009 Life simulation ? (For educational purposes) Freeware Thatgamecompany / Jenova Chen Around 2009 the flash source code was made available for educational purposes by the developers.[420][421]
HoverRace 1996 2008 Racing originally time limited license / later non-commercial GrokkSoft HoverRace SourceCode License.[422][423] Freeware GrokkSoft Was first published under a time-limited license. In 2008 re-newed with an infinite duration license.[424]
In Pursuit of Greed 1996 2014 FPS non-commercial use, "for educational and personal use only" Freeware (non-commercial) Mind Shear Software Based on Softdisk Publishing's "Raven engine" which powered also ShadowCaster. The game was released (including the engine) later by the developer as non-commercial freeware in 2014.[425][426][427]
Kiloblaster 1992 2008 Arcade Own license[428] Freeware (with additional restriction) Epic MegaGames Allen Pilgrim declared the registered version freeware and released also the source code on August 4, 2008.[429][430]
Kumquat & Cantaloupe 1996 2012 Maze undefined Freeware Dave Schofield The Amiga games Kumquat & Cantaloupe, originally released as shareware titles, were re-released as freeware with source code included by the author in November 2012.[431][432]
Magus 1995 2014 Rogue-like Proprietary Freeware Ronny Wester Around 2014 archived on GitHub from other now offline sources.[433] A SDL port is in progress.[434] In 2000 Wester released also the Borland Pascal 7 source code of Cyberdogs (excluding some libraries he had licensed) on his website.[435]
Roboforge 2001 2008 Multiplayer Strategy game "RoboForge, Personal, Non-Commercial Use End User License" Freeware Liquid Edge Announced the game in July, 2000[436] by Liquid Edge the game was released on May 23, 2001.[437] From July 2008 RoboForge became an open-source project with the source code for the Java-based client and server under a non-commercial license and as freeware.[438] The game's community continues development.
Rocky Racers 2002[439] 2004[440] Racing game Non-Commercial license Freeware Positech Games Released around 2002 by Positech Games, the game's C++ source code was released in July 2004 to the public for free.[440]
Savage: The Battle for Newerth 2003 2007 online Real-time strategy, FPS no license/proprietary Freeware[441] S2 Games The game was turned freeware by S2 Games on September 1, 2006. In 2007 the source code became available to the game community,[442] who now continues development.[443] The game can be played on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Sea Dragon 1982 2015 Scrolling shooter ? Public-domain software Adventure International In 1995, Wayne Westmoreland (co-designer of the game) placed the original TRS-80 binaries for Sea Dragon in the public domain.[444] On December 19, 2015, Kevin Savetz uploaded the source code for the Atari 8-bit version of Sea Dragon under no license to the Internet Archive with permission of Russ Wetmore, developer of the port.[445]
Stellar Conquest III: Hostile Takeover 1994[446] 2006 Stellar Conquest inspired Space simulation open source freeware (non-commercial) Freeware (non-commercial redistribution allowed) NecroBones / Ed T. Toton III The Turbo Pascal 6 source code for the VGA DOS game was released in February 2006 together with the game itself as freeware by the developer.[447]
Stellar Frontier 1997 2008 Space simulation STARDOCK SHARED SOURCE STELLAR FRONTIER LICENSE (non-commercial license)[448] STARDOCK SHARED SOURCE STELLAR FRONTIER LICENSE (non-commercial license) Stardock Stellar Frontier was developed by Doug Hendrix in 1995 and was later licensed and published by Stardock. On August 4, 2006, Stardock Systems closed the official master server. On November 18, 2008, the game source code was released under an own non-commercial license.[449] As result, the game's community took over the support of the game and improved the game, fixed the bugs and security holes with self-made patches.[450]
Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom 2007 2010 Z-machine Text adventure game Freeware Freeware Cumberland Games & Diversions S. John Ross released the commercial Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom, which won the XYZZY Award 2007 for the best NPC, in 2010 with Z-machine source code as freeware.[451] More source code of text adventure from the 1970s and 1980s are available at the archive.[452]
Team Fortress 2 2007 2025 First-person shooter Custom license[453] Freeware Valve Source code released as part of the Source SDK on February 18, 2025.[454] Previously, a 2008 version of the game's source code was leaked alongside several other Orange Box games in 2012,[455] and later a 2017 build of the game was leaked in 2020.[456]
World Train Royale 2009 2011 Tycoon game ? Freeware Versus Software Sold around 2009 for 10 dollars,[457] the game source code was released on 26 June 2011 on SourceForge.[458][459]
Xargon 1993 2008 Platformer own license[428] Freeware (with additional restrictions) Epic MegaGames Game source released in 2008 by the programmer Allen Pilgrim.[460] A SDL port followed later by Malvineous.[461]
Prime World 2014 2024 MOBA non-commercial use non-commercial use Nival The original game was very donation-base. The official game server was closed in 2021. Sergey Orlovsky released repo with source code and data - excluding parts about commercial functions[462]

Source-available games

Video games in this table are source-available, but are neither open-source software according to the OSI definition nor free software according to the Free Software Foundation. If the source code is given out without specified license or public domain waiver it has legally to be considered as still proprietary due to the Berne Convention. The assets are not provided for free.

Title First release Source code release Genre Engine license Content license Original developer Additional information
3-D Ultra Pinball: Thrill Ride 2000 2020 Pinball Proprietary Proprietary Left Field Productions On May 13, 2020, Dave Ashley added the source code of the Game Boy Color port to his Game Boy Color development repository.[463]
Airline Tycoon 1998 2015 Simulation game Proprietary[464] Commercial Spellbound Entertainment On 24 March 2015 Airline Tycoon Deluxe was re-released on the digital distribution platform gog.com, including the source code.[465]
Alien 3 1992 2019 Run and gun Proprietary Proprietary Probe Software On May 19, 2019, Michael J. Archer uploaded the source code for the Commodore 64 version of the game to GitHub.[466]
Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds 1996 1997 FPS ? Proprietary Team17 In March 1997 Team17 made the source code of Alien Breed 3D and Alien Breed 3D II freely available on the cover CD of Amiga Format magazine issue 95.[467][468][469]
Alien vs Predator (Atari Jaguar game) 1994 2008 FPS ? Proprietary Rebellion Developments Released by defunct Jaguar Sector II website under a CD compilation for PC titled Jaguar Source Code Collection on August 24, 2008.[470][471] Source code was provided by Atari historian Curt Vendel.[472]
Aliens versus Predator 2000 2001[473] FPS Own non-commercial license[474] Proprietary Rebellion Developments Source code released by Rebellion Developments 2001. An unofficial patch project for the PC version, based on the source code, was released and is still updated.[473]
Alpha Waves 1990 2009 early 3D exploration game with platform aspects ? ? Christophe de Dinechin Released in 1990 as one of the earliest 3D games[475] with full 6-axis degree of freedom. In 2009, author Christophe de Dinechin released the complete assembly and GFA BASIC source code of the Atari ST version.[476][477] There is also a started PC port in C++ on SourceForge by the original author.[478][479]
Altered Beast 1989 2019 Beat 'em up Proprietary Proprietary Software Studios On May 19, 2019, Michael J. Archer uploaded the source code for the Commodore 64 conversion of the game to GitHub.[466]
Anachronox 2001 2001 (partly) RPG Proprietary Proprietary Ion Storm Some bits of code distributed with the official editor.[citation needed]
Anodyne 2013 2020 Action-adventure Anodyne License Anodyne License Analgesic Productions On April 4, 2020, Melos Han-Tani from Analgesic Productions released the source code of Anodyne under a custom permissive license.[480][481]
Army Men III 2013 2018 Third-person shooter Non-commercial use Freeware Neotl Empire Army Men III was released in early access in 2013 and under development until its cancellation in 2016. Two years later, the unfinished game was released as open source on SourceForge in April 2018.[482]
Atomic Robo-Kid 1990 2019 Scrolling shooter Proprietary Proprietary Activision On May 19, 2019, Michael J. Archer uploaded the source code for the Commodore 64 conversion of the game to GitHub.[466]
Attack of the Mutant Camels 1989 2012 Scrolling shooters ? ? Jeff Minter In 2012 the assembly language source code of the Konix version of the game was released on GitHub.