| 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.[1] |
| 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.[2] 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"[3][4] 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[5]source code was published in SoftSide magazine in 1980[6] and the database format was subsequently used in other interpreters such as Brian Howarth's Mysterious Adventures series.[7] |
| Agony | 1992 | 2020 | Shoot 'em up | non-commercial use | Proprietary | Art & Magic | 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.[8] |
| Airline Tycoon | 1998 | 2015 | Simulation game | Proprietary[9] | Commercial | Spellbound Entertainment | On 24 March 2015 Airline Tycoon Deluxe was re-released on the digital distribution platform gog.com, including the source code.[10] |
| 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.[11] |
| Alien Bash I+II[importance?] | 1993 | 2014 | Run and gun | public domain software | public domain[12] | 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.[13][third-party source needed] |
| 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.[14][15][16] |
| 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.[17][18] Source code was provided by Atari historian Curt Vendel.[19] |
| Aliens versus Predator | 2000 | 2001[20] | FPS | Own non-commercial license[21] | 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.[20] |
| Alpha Waves | 1990 | 2009 | early 3D exploration game with platform aspects | ? | ? | Christophe de Dinechin | Released in 1990 as one of the earliest 3D games[22] with full 6-axis degree of freedom. In 2009, author Christophe de Dinechin released the complete assembly and GFA BASICsource code of the Atari ST version.[23][24] There is also a started PC port in C++ on SourceForge by the original author.[25][26] |
| Allegiance (now FreeAllegiance) | 2000 | 2004 | real-time strategy and Space combat simulator | MIT (earlier Shared Source[27]) | Proprietary | Microsoft Research | Released by Microsoft Research under a shared source license ("MSR-SSLA") 2004.[28] On July 27, 2017 Microsoft Research changed the license from MSR shared source license to MIT license.[29] |
| 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.[11] |
| Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs | 2013 | 2020 | Survival horror | GPLv3 | Proprietary | The Chinese Room | On September 23, 2020, Frictional Games released the source code for this game.[30] Source code was released on GitHub under the GPLv3.[31] |
| Amnesia: The Dark Descent | 2010 | 2020 | Survival horror | GPLv3 | Proprietary | Frictional Games | On September 23, 2020, Frictional Games released the source code for this game on its 10th release anniversary.[30] Source code was released on GitHub under the GPLv3.[32] |
| Amulets & Armor | 1997 | 2013 | first personrole-playing video game | GPLv3 | Freeware | United Software Artists | In 2013 Amulets & Armor was re-released as freeware on the game's official site and the source code under GPLv3 on GitHub.[33][34] Work continues for ports to newer systems (Windows, MacOS) and general bug fixes.[35][36] |
| 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.[37] |
| 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.[38][39] |
| Ares (now Antares) | 1996 | 2008 | Space Strategy video game | LGPLv3[40] | 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.[41] |
| Army Men III | 2016 | 2018 | ? | ? | ? | Neotl Empire | Army Men III was under development until 2016. Two years later, the unfinished game was release as open source on SourceForge in April 2018.[42] |
| Arx Fatalis (now Arx Libertatis) | 2002 | 2011 | RPG | GPLv3 | Proprietary | Arkane Studios | The design of Arx Fatalis was heavily influenced by Ultima Underworld. Game source released by Arkane Studios on January 14, 2011.[43] Based upon this source code the formed Arx Libertatis-project created Fan-made patches and Source ports.[44][45] |
| AstroMenace (now OpenAstroMenace) | 2006 | 2007 | Arcade | GPLv3+ | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Viewizard | Based on AstroMenace which was released in February 2007 as shareware for Windows and freeware for Linux.[46] Also the source code of another Viewizard game, the puzzle collection Memonix, was released.[47] |
| 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.[11] |
| Attack of the Mutant Camels | 1989 | 2012 | Scrolling shooters | ? | ? | Jeff Minter | In 2012 the assembly languagesource code of the Konix version of the game was released on GitHub.[48][49] |
| Aquaria | 2007 | 2010 | Action-adventure | GPLv2 | Proprietary | Bit Blot | Open sourced with Humble Indie Bundle.[50] |
| Avara | 1996 | 2016 | Shooter game | MIT | Proprietary | 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.[51] |
| Aztaka | 2009 | 2011 | Action role-playing game | Proprietary | Citérémis | In 2011 Independent game developer Citérémis released a "Developer's Edition" of Aztaka for $9.99 which included also the source code of the game.[52][53] |
| Balance of Power | 1985 | 2013 | Government simulation game | ? | ? | Chris Crawford | In August 2013 Chris Crawford released source code of several of his games from his career to the public,[54] fulfilling a GDC 2011 given promise.[55] Beside Balance of Power he released all the source code he could recover, for instance Trust & Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot, Excalibur, Gossip, Eastern Front (1941), Scram and Legionnaire. |
| Batman Returns | 1993 | 2015 | sidescrolling Beat 'em up | for educational purposes | for educational purposes | ACME / Chris Shrigley | In March 2015 programmer Chris Shrigley, who worked on the Sega CD version, found the Batman Returnssource code and released it for educational purposes to the public.[56] He released also the source code of Magician, Cliffhanger, Gargoyles and some other games from his working career.[57] |
| Beauty & The Beast: A Boardgame Adventure | 1999 | 2020 | Board | Proprietary | Proprietary | Left Field Productions | On May 13, 2020, Dave Ashley added the source code of the game to his Game Boy Color development repository.[58] |
| 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.[59][60] 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.[61] |
| 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.[62] A scaled up beta program began Nov 15th 2007[63] 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.[64] Based on this source code, community organized development continues until today as After Protocol.[65] |
| Beyond the Titanic | 1986 | 2009 | Text adventure | GPLv2 | Freeware | Apogee Software | Game source released on March 20, 2009.[66] |
| Blades of Exile | 1997 | 2007 | RPG | GPLv2 | GPLv2 | Spiderweb Software | Source code and artwork was released by Jeff Vogel (Spiderweb Software) under a GPL license in June 2007.[67] |
| Blake Stone: Planet Strike | 1994 | 2013 | FPS | GPLv2+[68] | Proprietary | Apogee Software | Released in 2013 to promote the sale of the Apogee Throwback Pack on Steam.[69][70] |
| Blood II: The Chosen | 1998 | 1999 | FPS | Proprietary | Proprietary | Monolith Productions | SDK released 1999, including the game logic for modders.[71] The Lithtech engine was not included as source code. |
| Blue Max | 1983 | 2016 | Scrolling shooter | ? | Proprietary | Bob Pollin | Assembly source code released in 2016 by the author Bob Pollin in the Atariage forum.[72] On the Atariage forum source code of many more games was released.[73][74][75] |
| Bob's game | 2004 | 2016 | puzzle, action RPG | source available | Freeware | Robert Pelloni | In August 2016 the source code of the game was released on GitHub under a non-commercial source availablesoftware license,[76] 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++.[77] |
| Breakout 2000 | 1996 | 2008 | Action | ? | Proprietary | MP Games | Released by defunct Jaguar Sector II website under a CD compilation for PC titled Jaguar Source Code Collection on August 24, 2008.[17][18] Source code was provided by Atari historian Curt Vendel.[19] |
| Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars and II: The Smoking Mirror | 1996/1997 | 2003 | Point and click adventure | Proprietary | Proprietary | Revolution Software | The source code of the games was made available to ScummVM in 2003.[78] |
| Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space (now Race Into Space) | 1993 | 2007 | Simulation | GPLv2[79] | Freeware[80] | 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.[80] |
| Catacomb | 1989 | 2014[81] | Top-down shooter | GPLv2 | Proprietary | Flat Rock Software | Early game by John D. Carmack. Released by Flat Rock Software,[82] and ported to SDL.[83] |
| Catacomb 3D | 1991 | 2014[81] | FPS | GPLv2 | Proprietary | Flat Rock Software / id Software | Predecessor to Wolfenstein 3D. |
| Call to Power II | 2000 | 2003 | turn-based strategy game | Non-commercial own license[84] | Proprietary | Activision | Civilization clone. Source opened to the apolyton community to allow support with Community patches.[85] |
| Canabalt | 2009 | 2010 | Cinematic platformer | Engine MIT license,[86] game code own proprietary license[87] | Proprietary / Freeware | Adam Saltsman | Released by Adam Saltsman in 2010.[88] |
| Captain Blood | 1988 | 2017 | Adventure, Simulation | ? | ? | Exxos (ERE informatique) | Apple IIgs sources released by Brutal Deluxe Software.[89][90] |
| Carnivores 2 | 1999 | 2013 | Simulation | ? | Freeware | Action Forms | A version from 2013 is available on assembla.[91] Around 2017 the source code was released via Moddb.[92] |
| Cart Life | 2011 | 2014 | Simulation | CART LIFE'S FREE LICENSE (Permissive license) | CART LIFE'S FREE LICENSE (Permissive license) / 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.[93] His webpage went later offline[94] but the source code was mirrored on GitHub.[95][96] |
| Checkered Flag | 1994 | 2008 | Racing | ? | 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.[17][18] Source code was provided by Atari historian Curt Vendel.[19] |
| Civilization IV | 2005 | 2006 (partly) | turn-based strategy | Proprietary | Proprietary | Firaxis Games / 2k Games | In April 2006 the developers released the source code of the core game mechanic to the public with a Software Development Kit.[97][98] Additionally to the released source code, as game data and rules are stored in XML files and most of the game is written in Python, much (but not all) of the game is "open" and easily customizable.[99] The game's community produced later many mods, total conversions and optimization patches for the game.[100] |
| Civilization V | 2010 | 2012 (partly) | turn-based strategy | Proprietary | Proprietary | Firaxis Games / 2k Games | In Fall 2012 the developers released the source code of the core game DLL.[101] The game's community produced later a community patch project.[102][103] |
| Clonk series (now OpenClonk) | 1994 | 2010/2014 | Action, RTS, Platform | ISC | CC BY-NC | 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)".[104] The content of the original game series was released under the CC BY-NC.[105] Based on Clonk Rage code base the community continues the development as OpenClonk under ISC license and content as CC BY-SA. |
| Club Drive | 1994 | 2008 | Racing | ? | Proprietary | Atari Corporation | Released by defunct Jaguar Sector II website under a CD compilation for PC titled Jaguar Source Code Collection on August 24, 2008.[17][18] Source code was provided by Atari historian Curt Vendel.[19] |
| Colobot | 2001 | 2012 | Educational game, RTS | GPLv3 | GPLv3 | Epsitec SA | Game source released on March 26, 2012.[106] |
| Colossal Cave Adventure | 1976 | 2000/2005 (?) | Text Adventure | Public domain software[107][108][109] / BSD license (2017) | no artwork (Public domain software) | Will Crowther | Source code variants are at least available as far back as 2000.[110] An authentic version was retrieved in 2005 "from a backup of Don Woods's student account at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL)".[107] In February 2017 Eric S. Raymond was involved in the release of version 2.5, under BSD license, the last release by the original author alone.[111][112][113] |
| Commander Keen in Keen Dreams | 1991 | 2014 | Platformer | GPLv2+ | Proprietary | id Software | In September 2014, after an Indiegogocrowdfunding campaign,[114] the game's source code was released on GitHub.[115][116] |
| Contract J.A.C.K. | 2003 | 2003 | FPS | Proprietary | Proprietary | Monolith Productions | Game code distributed with the official editor (www.mpgh.net).[citation needed] |
| Conquest: Frontier Wars | 2001 | 2013 | Space Real-time strategy | ? | Proprietary | Fever Pitch Studios | On December 9, 2013, the source code was bundled with every copy of the game purchased on GOG.com.[117][118] |
| Cook, Serve, Delicious! | 2012 | 2016 | Business simulation game | Proprietary | Proprietary | Vertigo Gaming | Source code released in the Humble GameMaker Bundle on September 6, 2016.[119][120][121] |
| CoreBreach | 2011 | 2012 | Racing game | MIT/GPLv2(engine/game)[122] | Freeware (demo) / proprietary | CoreCode | Futuristic "anti-gravity" racing game with combat. Source was released after a sales quota was met.[122] |
| Corncob 3D | 1993 | 2016 | Flight simulator | Public domain software[123] | Freeware | Pie in the Sky / Kevin Stokes | The game became around 2016 freeware and open source.[123] |
| Crazee Rider | 1987 | 2019 | Racing | Proprietary | Proprietary | Superior Software | In November 2018 the source code of Crazee Rider in BBC Micro6502 assembly language was released by Kevin Edwards, designer of the game.[124] In April of the following year the source code for the Acorn Electron version was also released.[125] |
| CryEngine 5 | 2002[126] | 2016 | FPS | ? | NA | Crytek | In 2016 Crytek released their engine as pay-what-you-want including the source code to the public.[127][128] |
| Crysis | 2007 | ? | FPS | Proprietary | Proprietary | Crytek | Game code was officially released with the SDK.[citation needed] |
| Crysis 2 | 2011 | ? | FPS | Proprietary | Proprietary | Crytek | Game code was officially released with the SDK. |
| 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.[129][130] Artwork still proprietary but can be shared for non-commercial, personal use.[131] |
| Cortex Command | 2012 | 2019 | Action game | GPLv3 | Proprietary | Data Realms LLC | The indie game was in development since 2001, which won an IGF award in 2009,[132] was finally released in 2012.[133] In July 2019 the source code was released under GPLv3 on github.[134][135] As of end of 2019 the work on a community continuation, dubbed "Cortex-Command-Community-Project", is ongoing.[136] |
| Cybermorph | 1993 | 2008 | Shooter | ? | Proprietary | Attention to Detail | Released by defunct Jaguar Sector II website under a CD compilation for PC titled Jaguar Source Code Collection on August 24, 2008.[17][18] Source code was provided by Atari historian Curt Vendel.[19] |
| Cylindrix | 1996 | 2001 | Arcade, Shooter | LGPL | LGPL | Goldtree Enterprises / Softdisk | Around December 2001 the games was ported from DOS to Windows and released under the LGPL to the public.[137][138] |
| Cytadela (or The Citadel) | 1995 | 2006 | FPS | GPLv3+ | GPLv3+ | Virtual Design | Upon its retail release, Cytadela received generally favorable reviews.[139] 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.[140][141][142] Ported to several platforms, latest version released in 2013. |
| Daikatana | 2000 | 2015 | FPS | ? | Proprietary | Ion Storm / John Romero | Lacking any further official support after the closure of Ion Storm's Dallas office in 2001, John Romero gave the game's source code to community members, allowing them to develop additional platform ports and bug fixes.[143][144] |
| Dandy | 1983 | 2018 | Dungeon crawl | Proprietary | Proprietary | John Howard Palevich | In March 2018 the source code for the Atari 8-bit version was released by Kevin Savetz with permission of Palevich.[145] |
| DarkSpace | 2001 | 2009 | MMO, Real-time strategy | multiple, self-written licenses.[146] | Proprietary | Palestar | DarkSpace's game engine called Medusa released by Palestar under multiple licenses.[147] |
| Death & Taxes | 2020 | 2020 | Simulation game | Proprietary/MIT(engine[148]/game code) | Proprietary | Placeholder Gameworks | After selling well the indie game's Unity source code was released on GitHub[149] to help other developers.[150][151] |
| Death Ray Manta | 2012 | 2015 | Arena shooter | ? | educational purposes | Bagfull of Wrong / Rob Fearon | The GameMaker Studio based game's source code was released in 2015 with a Humble Indie Bundle.[152] The assets followed in 2016.[153] |
| Delver | 2012 | 2018 | First-personactionroguelikedungeon crawl | Custom[154] | Proprietary | Priority Interrupt |
| Descent, Descent II | 1995/1996 | 1997/1999 | space 3DFPS | own license[155] | Proprietary | Parallax Software | Game source released by Parallax Software in 1997 (Descent 1)[156] and 1999 (Descent 2).[157]Descent 3 source code seems to be in hands of Rebecca Heineman and were considered 2014 for a release.[158] |
| Deus Ex (video game) | 2000 | ? | FPS | Proprietary | Proprietary | Ion Storm | Headers and some code distributed with the official SDK.[citation needed] |
| 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).[159][160] There is also an earlier free software reverse engineered variant available by Andrew Jenner, called Digger Remastered, ported for many platforms.[161] |
| Dink Smallwood | 1997 | 2003 | Action RPG | Zlib inspired own license[162] | Zlib/Proprietary (Sound)[163] | Robinson Technologies | Source code published on July 17, 2003 from Seth Robinson.[164] 2008 Artwork published (without some sounds) under a Zlib license.[165] In October 2017 the HD version became fully open source and freeware, too.[166] The source code became available on GitHub shortly after.[167] |
| Discworld and Discworld II | 1995 | 2008 | point-and-click adventure game | ? | ? | Teeny Weeny Games | First announced for release around 2005 by Terry Pratchett,[168] source code became in 2008 available to the ScummVM developers.[169] The code was fast integrated into ScummVM.[170] |
| Disney's Aladdin | 1993 | 2017 | Platformer | Proprietary | Proprietary | Disney | Around 2017 the source code of the game became available to "The Video game history foundation", which wrote a review of the technique of the game based on the code.[171] |
| Dog Daze | 1981 | 2014 | Arcade game | ? | ? | Gray Chang | In 2014 Gray Chang released the source code of his Atari 400/800 games Dog Daze, Dog Daze Deluxe, Bumpomov's Dogs, and Claim Jumper.[172] Available at the Internet Archive. |
| Doom (3DO) | 1995 | 2014 | FPS | MIT | Proprietary | 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.[173][174][175][176] |
| Doom (Jaguar) | 1994 | 2003 | FPS | Proprietary | Proprietary | Id Software | On April 27, 2003, the source code of the Atari Jaguar port of the game was released by Albert Yarusso of AtariAge with permission of John Carmack.[177] |
| Doom (Linux) | 1993 | 1997/1999 | FPS | GPLv2 | Proprietary | Id Software | Game source released on December 23, 1997, placed under GPL on October 3, 1999. |
| Doom (SNES) | 1995 | 2020 | FPS | GPLv3 | Proprietary | Sculptured Software | On July 14, 2020, Randy Linden uploaded the source code for his Super Nintendo Entertainment System conversion of Doom to GitHub.[178] |
| Doom II: Hell on Earth | 1994 | 1997/1999 | FPS | GPLv2 | Proprietary | Id Software | Game source released on December 23, 1997, placed under GPL on October 3, 1999. |
| Doom 3 | 2004 | 2011 | FPS |
