Foss Game News

Hexon (2025-03-15)

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This minor update restores the info panels which had been disabled since before Masons were added to the game. It tells the player what pickups and enemies are worth, and will be used in the future for purchasing modules.
Also, the sun stone pattern that flashes when picking up the Chaoball has been replaced with one of which the source can be traced.

Ferris fair (2025-03-14)
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Some improvements have been made to the Ferris wheel. The shape key controlling its size has been fixed, and it is now possible to - using the Looker tool - ride its gondolas.

VoxeLibre (0.89)

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• Map item expansion

Map items finally can be zoomed-out with the cartographer table, thanks to work of kno10, mirqf, AFCMS. Further fixes improvements to the system have been carried out by teknomunk and rudzik8. Map graphics when it is held in hand are now better thanks to work of rudzik8 and erle.

• Mob spawning

The system of mob spawns got another large batch of improvements by teknomunk and kno10. It should work better, more reliably and more efficiently.

• Structure generation

...is now finally more deterministic, thanks to kno10. This means that a new world generated with the same mapgen and field now should look way more similar, especially in terms of structures. Future mapgen changes will obviously still change the way the world looks, but on the same version, it should be actually predictable.

• Sitting and more

The well-known mcl_cozy mod has been integrated into the base game by its author, rudzik8. Now you will be able to sit on stairs, slabs and blocks from mods supporting this feature (like chairs), and sit and lay anywhere with commands.

• Node reworks

Signs got a grand rework by rudzik8 with assist of kno10, building upon work of cora, ryvnf, j-r, ellesheepy and goblin_mode. Now there's a partial UTF-8 support (Latin diacritics, Greek and Cyrillic), sign cleaning and other features, on top of more reliability!
A new climbable hollow logs' variant with a ladder inside was added by Herowl, along with improvements to the hollow logs' code.
Item frames got a large update by rudzik8, based on work of cora and Freedom, making them placeable on floors and ceilings, as well as adding new invisible frames to the creative menu.
Tree growth code has been improved by kno10 and rudzik8, making tree growth a bit slower and more uniform.

• Textures improvements
  • Stone and wooden hoe textures improvements – by kno10
  • Cherry leaves, wood and some other items made from it got their textures remastered – by rudzik8 and NovaWostra
  • Hammer textures improvements – by rudzik8
  • Redstone dust updated – by SmokeyDope
  • Hollow oak log texture fixed – by kno10
  • Spider, squid and chicken got better textures – by XSSheep and rudzik8
  • Raw ore items tweaks and crystalline drop rework – by rudzik8

..
- Sounds improvements

• Sound volume adjustments – by ryvnf and rudzik8 
• Scaffolding placement sounds – by SmokeyDope 
• Bamboo placement and digging sounds – by SmokeyDope 
• More sheep, skeleton and iron golem sounds, along with sound usage fixes – by SmokeyDope 
• Sheep grazing sound volume increased – by Nicu 

• Performance optimizations

Lightning attractor search has been optimized by teknomunk, which should decrease lag during thunderstorms if you were experiencing it.
Complex player spawn position search code removed by kno10, because it caused unnecessary load and lag on certain seeds. Based on cora's work.
Floating kelp appearing in water during generation has been fixed by teknomunk and kno10. The amount of dropped items would severely hamper performance, now it works properly at last!
Various code related to mapgen and node manipulation improved by kno10. It may not bring significant performance improvements, but it should get easier to further work with.
LuaJIT parameters setting and an optional core function extraction optimization (requires vl_trusted being set as a trusted mod) conducted by kno10.
New hashing functions have been added by kno10, along with improvements to how randomness is being used and how seeds and UUIDs are being generated. It should be more robust, even if performance gains aren't noticed.

And much more

Harmonist (0.6.0)
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Fix v0.4 regression when falling in abyss after levitation.
* Make G enter examine mode and select nearest stairs. Previous behavior with G
was buggy and not suited for Harmonist's stealth gameplay.
* Disallow swapping from a cramped place (like a table)

Tanks of Freedom II (1.0.7)
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Version 1.0.7 of the game is now available! More multiplayer goodies to help with an upcoming onFOSS tournament.
New additions
• Multiplayer host can now kick players from lobby
• Added configurable turn time limit to multiplayer games
• Added configurable turns limit to multiplayer games
• Added points summary in multiplayer games in case of a turn limit draw
• Added Online join code copy button
• Added tilt-shift blur toggle to Settings
Improvements
• Moved UI elements in map picker and load/save interface

Space Nerds In Space (1.0.2)
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Now there's a new options screen on the launcher screen in snis_client with various network options

FlightGear (2025-02-27)
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The 2024.1 release series will only receive relatively minor updates, as development efforts are being focused on the next major release that includes a new rendering pipeline!
As always there’s also internal improvements to the flight models and other simulation systems, bug-fixes, and performance improvements.
To get started straight away, visit the download page.
Feature highlights

There’s been a ton of changes since the last release, but here’s a few particularly interesting ones:
• Real-time dynamic shadows and lights
• Added preliminary support for VR headsets using OpenXR
• Added a preview of World Scenery 3.0, a new scenery system that uses multiple levels of detail to provide higher frame-rates and lower memory occupancy at higher visibility ranges
• Fixed a large number of crashes, bugs, and memory leaks, as well as a high-severity security vulnerability (CVE-2025-0781).

Shattered Pixel Dungeon (v3.0.0)
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What’s new in v3.0.0Permalink
v3.0 includes Shattered’s second new playable character! The Cleric is a divine spellcaster who learns and upgrades spells via the talent system! They’re releasing with 2 subclasses, 3 armor abilities, and over 30 different spells! There are also visual improvements, a new title graphic, and loads of smaller changes!

Full Changelog

Mr Wendigo's Journey (v0.3d)
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Version update

AAAAXY (1.6.0)
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Changes since v1.5.256:
• Assets: map and demo updates to use the new slopes feature.
• Engine: early preparations for having multiple level files.
• Engine: support slopes.
• Engine: update Go modules.
• Engine: update to Go 1.23. This ends support for Big Sur.
• Physics: allow stepping up when barely clipping a corner.

Indie and Hobby games news

Preview: Tides of Tethys

Tides of Tethys by Black Rust LLC Tides of Tethys is an underwater strategy game with roguelite elements and procedurally.

Indie Game Reviewer's Top 10 Indie Games of 2024

Our Top 10 Indie Games of 2024 are set apart by novel mechanisms, joy-inducing visuals, emotional outcomes, and exemplary design.
github.com/AntonioND/ucity/blo…
Humble games showcase 2025 round-up

ShuffleComp 2024: Shuffle Harder
huffleComp is a musical interactive fiction competition where you make games based on songs, which are submitted by other entrants. The last ShuffleComp occurred in 2023.

Homebrew games showcase

Dango Dash
Website

Help Dango make the people in his village happy in this light-hearted retro platformer for the Game Boy Color.

dangan GB
Website

Dangan GB is a short simplistic boss-rush/bullet-hell shmup released for the Game Boy to celebrate the console's 30th anniversary.
Some features:
• 6 unique bosses with multiple phases
• no bullet flicker
• no slowdown
• no tearing
• plenty of bullets

uCity
Website

The open-source city-building game for Game Boy Color.

Apotris
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Apotris is a free multiplatform open-source block stacking game! What sets Apotris apart from other block stacking games is its extensive customization options, complemented by ultra-responsive controls that let you execute your moves with precision. With 14 unique game modes and a plethora of settings, you can tailor the game to your preferences, ensuring a fresh and challenging experience every time you play. Whether you're a casual player or a hardcore enthusiast, Apotris has something for everyone. You can even battle your friends using the Gameboy Advance Link Cable or Wireless Adapters in 2-Player Battle! While Apotris was originally designed for Gameboy Advance, it now supports all kinds of platforms, so between the ports and emulation you can play Apotris on almost anything.
The game is still actively maintained and new features are added constantly.

Featured article

Solarus is an ARPG engine and game authoring tool. Solarus games are called "quests", and can be made with the Solarus Quest Editor. The project also has in-depth tutorials for using the tool.

Using Solarus, aspiring game developers can make sophisticated Zelda-like games, and other types of games. Virtually every aspect of the game engine is customisable via the Lua API, and the authoring tool has graphical editing of several aspects, such as map making.

The latest version of Solarus is 1.4.5, and was released November 22nd. The Solarus team are currently hard at work with version 1.5, which comes with lots of improvements and bug fixes. For now, you can download version 1.4.5 from the Solarus website. See Solarus for more information about this great engine and authoring tool.