Dwarf Fortress 3d Visualizer

By: Derek Yu

On: January 27th, 2008

Dwarf Fortress player sinoth has developed a great utility called “”http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=001450&p=“>3dwarf” that lets you rip map data from the popular Roguelike, and then view them in 3d. 3dwarf lets you explore the maps via a floating camera, and has various helpful options for viewing the map, like “height map mode,” which colors each layer based on how high it is.

Now if only there was a “dwarf mode” to let you walk through your fortress FPS-style!

(Image Source: Dorten)

Introspect

By: Derek Yu

On: November 27th, 2007

When a trailer begins with the words “Awake now the sleepy artist / To an insane world of strife” and there is a vicious man cooing about finger painting in the background, you know it’s probably not going to be your average mod for Unreal Tournament 2004.

Introspect puts you in control of an insane artist named Gabriel. In the game, you’ll be exploring Gabriel’s demented psyche, a metaphorical world whose visual style is influenced by American McGee’s Alice. Despite the dark themes, the game is purportedly non-violent, and trades in the flak cannons and link guns of UT2004 for an artist’s palette, which you can use to manipulate your surroundings.

Unfortunately, I can’t play the mod, but for what is ostensibly an “arthouse” game, Introspect seems like it has some actual substance.

(Source: The Random Gnome’s Lair)

Alien Arena

By: ithamore

On: October 13th, 2007

Joe Barr at Linux.com recently reviewed the Quake II-based Alien Arena and declared it better than the Quake III-based Tremulous which use to be “. . . the best free software FPS game [he had] had the pleasure of playing.”

<img src=“http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/1559988059_6af41e74df_m.jpg” width=“240” height=“180” hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right alt=“Alien Arena” />
From the review:

“If you’re a gamer but not familiar with Alien Arena, think of Quake III or Unreal Tournament and you won’t be far off the mark. If you’re not familiar with those icons of the first-person shooter genre, think massive, sustained, unrelenting, ankle-deep-in-blood, kill-or-be-killed carnage which can be enjoyed solo, just you against the bots on your PC, or, if your taste in killing tends toward living targets, in multiplayer mode on a network server.”

<img src=“http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2340/1559988067_9d6a32c9dc_m.jpg” width=“240” height=“180” hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right alt=“tremulous” />Also, here is a bit on Tremulous:

“Tremulous is basically a struggle between two teams: the humans, a species I will assume you are familiar with, and the aliens, which look like bugs and sometimes crawl along walls and ceilings. During the game, each side progresses through three stages, with advanced abilities and equipment coming in during the second and third stages. There is one major difference between the species, beyond being on different teams. Humans can upgrade their equipment. Aliens can upgrade themselves. Both species have structures peculiar to themselves.”

I haven’t tried either game, since I’m not into FPS’s, so you’ll have to tell us what you think about them and which is better in the comments. And, for the record’s sake, this is the first time Slashdot (the source) has been “officially” TIGSourced [Edit: on the new TIGSource that is], the unofficial Mac version of Tremulous is available here, and the images I used were nabbed from the games’ websites.

Minerva

By: Guest Reviewer

On: October 10th, 2007

[Guest review by MedO]

Adam Foster recently released the last part in the first episode of Minerva, his amazing Half-Life 2 mod. I’ve played through it a few days ago and I think it’s vastly better than Valve’s own HL2:Episode1. In fact, it’s one of the best games I’ve played in the last few months.

The story takes place in the Half-Life universe, on a tiny island somewhere in the Baltic Sea that has been burrowed out by the Combine. You are dropped off there by the unknown and unseen character calling herself Minerva, who sends you (sometimes cryptic) text messages to inform you of important events or sometimes just to insult you. She doesn’t seem to care about your life, but wants you to survive as long as possible to gather information, and cross the Combine’s plans. Guided by Minerva, you begin to explore what the Combine are up to, descending ever deeper into the island’s underground.

One very nice thing about the mod is that you’ll rarely see the loading screen, because they are created in a very economic way – there’s almost an hour of gameplay in each map. Since you are descending ever deeper, you have several layers of rooms on the same map, all below each other. The long time you spend in each map sometimes allows you to see into areas you will only reach a while later, and makes it possible to have enemies appear in a realistic fashion: sometimes you can see Combine hurrying along above or below you some time before they actually get to you, which adds a lot to the feeling of realism in the game.

(The Minerva Development Blog is here.)

Castlevania: Chorus of Mysteries

By: Derek Yu

On: June 25th, 2007

Castlevania for the NES was a pretty tough game, but Chorus of Mysteries, a rom hack by optomon and Dr. Mario, makes playing the original seem as easy as cloning a PopCap game (zing!). Never before have medusa heads and jumping situations been combined with such little compassion towards the player. I think save states were created for the sole purpose of getting through this game.

Still, if you’re a Castlevania nut, it’s worth checking out because it’s a pretty full conversion of the first game. Or, you know, buy a whip and check yourself into a Turkish prison. The results will probably be the same.

Link to the Past

By: Shabadage

On: January 15th, 2007

Well, this game came out of nowhere (relative, of course, to my blindness), but it’s a good one. Basically, it’s a rom hack that replaces the normal Link to the Past with an adventure called Parallel Worlds. The hack is high quality, though some of the early dungeons are a bit simplistic, they do get better. If you’ve already beaten the crap out of Twilight Princess, then this game might hold you over until the DS Zelda launches later this year.

Notes: This is designed to work with the [U] GOODSNES designated rom. You might have to go through a few roms before you get one the hack works on.

(NOTE: TIGSource cannot and will not provide links to the ROM, only the hack.)

Halo RTS RTCanned!

By: Derek Yu

On: September 9th, 2006

Did you know that Halo was originally designed to be an RTS? But then they made it into a FPS. WTF?

Then three years ago some people started working on a mod for Command and Conquer Generals to recreate Halo as an RTS. But recently Microsoft sent them a cease and desist letter.

I’ll never understand why people try to make mods like this. Three years spent working on a game (for free, no less!), only to have the project canned with a single email. It’s like taking your neighbors’ kid and then raising it as your own for three years, only to have them be like, “WTF, that’s MY kid!” and then take them back. And there’s nothing you can do because it really isn’t your kid, even though you invested three years’ of time into it.

You should have had your own kid! Or “licensed” one legally through an adoption center. You know what I mean?

(Source: Kotaku)

Excite

By: Albert Lai

On: August 22nd, 2006

“In Strider Mod Team, we made a little experiment with the source engine. Can we code a portal system like Prey, Portal or any game with portals and do it multiplayer?. Yes, we can do and source can do it.”

For those not in the know, Excite is the name of the mod (Portal: Please Don’t Sue Us probably wasn’t catchy enough). No release date yet, but it looks to be shaping up nicely.

Heck, funny things happen when the picture is larger than the post.

Dragoon X Omega 2

By: Derek Yu

On: August 13th, 2006

Despite having the most ridiculous name since Destiny Sword Buster Golden Dragon Myth XXL (no, that’s not a real game), Dragon X Omega 2 is a really, really competent hack of Final Fantasy. We don’t cover hacks too often on TIGSource (actually ever), but DXO2 is a total conversion that’s worth checking out. As far as I can tell, every part of the game is completely new, from the graphics to the music. It’s such that you’ll forget that you’re playing an FF hack every now and then.

The gameplay is the usual NES RPG faire, with plot points pushing you linearly to the game’s conclusion. Unlike FF, you control a single character in this game, which is kind of unfortunate. It does add to the overall feeling of desolation, though.

Find a Final Fantasy ROM, a NES emulator, and an IPS patcher to play!

(Source: Romhacking.net)

Tremulous

By: Derek Yu

On: June 8th, 2006

Tremulous is a free, open-source RTS/FPS hybrid that once again pits teams of humans versus teams of aliens in mortal combat over the last piece of apple pie. The RTS aspect of the game comes from players being able to build helpful structures during the game (like respawn points). It looks pretty cheap, but could be fun for fans of this sort of thing.

Also, the creators are quick to point out that they were working on their game long before Natural Selection, so there!

(Source: Kotaku)