FreeCol: Turn-based strategy game based on the old game Colonization(github.com)
github.com
FreeCol: Turn-based strategy game based on the old game Colonization
https://github.com/FreeCol/freecol
58 comments
Colonization is one of the best/most complete games ever made. I look at it as a very complex board game that would be very hard to play without the help of a computer. So the idea of a remake, taking advantage of the open source age, has a lot of potential: improved pixel graphics, improved mechanics and strategy (e.g. Slavery - since the game already mentions the instrumentalization of criminals and natives during colonization there is no reason to not mention slavery. It's part of our History and you cannot erase it. Censuring this is distopic).
By the other hand - to facilitate contributions - using Java is not optimal but it certainly made sense at the time, this is already an old project.
By the other hand - to facilitate contributions - using Java is not optimal but it certainly made sense at the time, this is already an old project.
I patched FreeCol multiplayer in 2014. I was not a Java developer. But it was instrumental to how easy it was to fix this tricky bug in an hour.
On the contrary many open source games use Java (or CSharp) and it helps them be moddable, discoverable and testable in ways that JavaScript would not give you for free. Additionally, the web ecosystem is built around a marketplace of external services and opaque, bundled offerings, which makes people not paying those bills (ie modders, open source contributors) second class citizens in the development process.
On the contrary many open source games use Java (or CSharp) and it helps them be moddable, discoverable and testable in ways that JavaScript would not give you for free. Additionally, the web ecosystem is built around a marketplace of external services and opaque, bundled offerings, which makes people not paying those bills (ie modders, open source contributors) second class citizens in the development process.
How interesting! Always curious to hear about the "modding" (really forking) culture in open source games. It's so attractive to edit games to be like you want. One of the first ones I ever modified was the game XEvil and I suspect the dopamine hit from being able to edit and recompile to see a difference has kept me going a few decades into this field.
I like the idea of morally ugly things in games, but often they minmax away or are forced on you by great difficulty. For instance, in Bioshock it's optimal to be nice to the little girls. The bad option is minmaxed away. And in Frostpunk it's kind of forced on you since the tech tree is all authoritarianism.
I wonder what it would be like if in the same game I could end up either the North or the South and still put up a good fight.
I like the idea of morally ugly things in games, but often they minmax away or are forced on you by great difficulty. For instance, in Bioshock it's optimal to be nice to the little girls. The bad option is minmaxed away. And in Frostpunk it's kind of forced on you since the tech tree is all authoritarianism.
I wonder what it would be like if in the same game I could end up either the North or the South and still put up a good fight.
> I like the idea of morally ugly things in games, but often they minmax away or are forced on you by great difficulty
I like how Witcher series does it. You have established character presented with hard dillemas with no obvious good option, implied bad side effects, and the actual effects are only seen after hours of gameplay, so you can't just reload.
And it's not "pat the puppy or kill it", because the character wouldn't kill the puppy and it makes no sense, it's "feed this puppy or save the food because you have long way to the next city".
The fact that you don't have perfect knowledge+delayed effects make all the difference. But it's best suited for story-heavy games like RPGs, I'm not sure it would work as well in mechanics-based game.
I like how Witcher series does it. You have established character presented with hard dillemas with no obvious good option, implied bad side effects, and the actual effects are only seen after hours of gameplay, so you can't just reload.
And it's not "pat the puppy or kill it", because the character wouldn't kill the puppy and it makes no sense, it's "feed this puppy or save the food because you have long way to the next city".
The fact that you don't have perfect knowledge+delayed effects make all the difference. But it's best suited for story-heavy games like RPGs, I'm not sure it would work as well in mechanics-based game.
I'm extremely proud of my tiny contribution to freeCiv. Not sure it's the greatest C code but it sure is a thrill to know that bombard damage is reported now.
> And in Frostpunk it's kind of forced on you since the tech tree is all authoritarianism.
If you're talking about the Book of Laws, you get different endings depending on what laws you enable like "we didn't cross the line" or "we went too far", or something like that.
I think also that depending on the scenario you can avoid most of the "ugly laws", with the notable exception of child labour, because it gives a boost in manpower at the beginning of the game, and that makes really a difference.
If you prefer, choosing a single ugly law lets me avoid all the others.
If you're talking about the Book of Laws, you get different endings depending on what laws you enable like "we didn't cross the line" or "we went too far", or something like that.
I think also that depending on the scenario you can avoid most of the "ugly laws", with the notable exception of child labour, because it gives a boost in manpower at the beginning of the game, and that makes really a difference.
If you prefer, choosing a single ugly law lets me avoid all the others.
I think the different endings come only if you choose the last authorian option, which are also marked in a special way.
But allmost everything is authorian in the book of laws. Even if you play soft - you play a soft dictator. But this is the game mechanic, and to play as a anarchistic syndicate would be hard to implement, or rather impossible, as you are indeed the only human.
But allmost everything is authorian in the book of laws. Even if you play soft - you play a soft dictator. But this is the game mechanic, and to play as a anarchistic syndicate would be hard to implement, or rather impossible, as you are indeed the only human.
Give A Dark Room a try. Or the Fable series.
from an european perspective: removing slavery as a central component of the colonization of america seems like revisionism.
why from an European perspective? And not anyone else's?
The game did feature a form of slavery with indentured servants from Europe, many of those ended up being literal slaves with no end to their contract once in the new World.
Regarding the issue of slavery, Colonization would have been criticized both ways: had they included it, they would have seen as condoning it. Removing it makes it seem like they did not care or are trying to hide it from History.
There's no good solution that will satisfy everyone.
The game did feature a form of slavery with indentured servants from Europe, many of those ended up being literal slaves with no end to their contract once in the new World.
Regarding the issue of slavery, Colonization would have been criticized both ways: had they included it, they would have seen as condoning it. Removing it makes it seem like they did not care or are trying to hide it from History.
There's no good solution that will satisfy everyone.
"There's no good solution that will satisfy everyone. "
That is allmost never the case. It is important to keep this in mind. I for once want a historical game to be trul historical. As close to the facts as possible.
That is allmost never the case. It is important to keep this in mind. I for once want a historical game to be trul historical. As close to the facts as possible.
Do you want a story telling device game where no matter what you do, you repeat history exactly as it’s recorded by historians? Or do you want for example slavery to be an option so you can immediately avoid it? In the latter example, of course the game wouldn’t be historic and the authors of the game would need to build in these non-canonical alternatives and fictions.
I don’t disagree with you wholly because I think a video game that didn’t have slavery as a subject but did educate about it in this kind of way would be very effective at for example teaching kids and adults about things like Juneteenth or the only coup to ever happen on US soil. But unless the game is on rails, the historical facts will always be just one of the possible choices.
I don’t disagree with you wholly because I think a video game that didn’t have slavery as a subject but did educate about it in this kind of way would be very effective at for example teaching kids and adults about things like Juneteenth or the only coup to ever happen on US soil. But unless the game is on rails, the historical facts will always be just one of the possible choices.
"But unless the game is on rails, the historical facts will always be just one of the possible choices"
Sure. Thats why I am talking about the general setting. I start at a time, which I like to be somewhat historical correct. And from there it is free playing. Otherwise those strategygames would not be possible.
So in the example of collonization, there definitely should be the option of slaves, as it was done. But there should also be the option of avoiding it. Basically, playing nice, without the game mechanics pushing you to be a slaver. (I do not remember how it was actually implemented)
But I would not mind the game to be harder playing it nice. Which is probably more to historical truth.
Sure. Thats why I am talking about the general setting. I start at a time, which I like to be somewhat historical correct. And from there it is free playing. Otherwise those strategygames would not be possible.
So in the example of collonization, there definitely should be the option of slaves, as it was done. But there should also be the option of avoiding it. Basically, playing nice, without the game mechanics pushing you to be a slaver. (I do not remember how it was actually implemented)
But I would not mind the game to be harder playing it nice. Which is probably more to historical truth.
(guessing) Because pelliphant is European, that is their perspective.
I played it as a ten year old and loved it. It has great game mechanics and loved the interplay between empires.
But having read several books on what colonisation actually means I would be reluctant to play it again.
For some reason for me Civilisation the game keeps it at a fictional enough level that you are not re-enacting whereas colonisation does not keep that level of separation.
The big question in the room is should you be re-enacting historical slavery for fun?
I could probably play a game where it wasn't historical and feel ok with it like a science fiction game but when it's something as insanely terrible as the trans-atlantic slave trade and you want to 'play' that game it feels morally wrong to me.
But having read several books on what colonisation actually means I would be reluctant to play it again.
For some reason for me Civilisation the game keeps it at a fictional enough level that you are not re-enacting whereas colonisation does not keep that level of separation.
The big question in the room is should you be re-enacting historical slavery for fun?
I could probably play a game where it wasn't historical and feel ok with it like a science fiction game but when it's something as insanely terrible as the trans-atlantic slave trade and you want to 'play' that game it feels morally wrong to me.
> The big question in the room is should you be re-enacting historical slavery for fun?
The same is true (if not worse) for murder. Should war be allowed?
The same is true (if not worse) for murder. Should war be allowed?
This is an interesting question, what makes this more gross than killing in video games.
For some reason I would want to show some reverence for historical events. It probably comes down to whether I have emotional connection to the event.
I wouldn't feel comfortable carrying out atrocities in a war video game for entertainment but the unrealistic killing that is depicted in video games and Hollywood is not the same calibre. But you are right to ask the question it's an interesting topic.
Is that glorification of murder and violence a positive thing? What do you think about it all?
For some reason I would want to show some reverence for historical events. It probably comes down to whether I have emotional connection to the event.
I wouldn't feel comfortable carrying out atrocities in a war video game for entertainment but the unrealistic killing that is depicted in video games and Hollywood is not the same calibre. But you are right to ask the question it's an interesting topic.
Is that glorification of murder and violence a positive thing? What do you think about it all?
European perspective because I'm european.
What I'm trying to say is that I can see why americans see it as a sensitive issue, but as a non-american it would makes as much sense to remove indians or the parent country from the game.
What I'm trying to say is that I can see why americans see it as a sensitive issue, but as a non-american it would makes as much sense to remove indians or the parent country from the game.
Slavery in the Americas and Caribean Islands is a European responsibility. The revisionism comes when we forget slavery was happening around the world. The Barbery white slaves taken from Europe rarely gets mentioned. Or the fact that slavery exists in the bible but rarely highlighted are examples of revisionism.
True, it's not only an american problem, but the point here is that, that I consider to be a central part of the setting is missing.
But sure, if we were talking about historical games set in europe, there would probably be things missing that paint europe in a bad light... But that's not what we (or atleast I) are talking about here.
But sure, if we were talking about historical games set in europe, there would probably be things missing that paint europe in a bad light... But that's not what we (or atleast I) are talking about here.
Some sort of slavery tech is in many 4x games, I believe.
Why is adding slavery so controversial, yet almost no one thinks twice about adding murder to their game?
You can genocide whole cultures in games but you can't enslave them because that would be insensitive :)
Or worse - have sex scenes.
Anybody remembers the GTA hot coffee mod? It was a mini sex game, added by a mod, or rather, unlocked by the mod. And it caused an outrage. Because, the whole game was about killing and stealing and exploiting. No problem. Just violence.
But having sexual content? No way. That goes too far.
Anybody remembers the GTA hot coffee mod? It was a mini sex game, added by a mod, or rather, unlocked by the mod. And it caused an outrage. Because, the whole game was about killing and stealing and exploiting. No problem. Just violence.
But having sexual content? No way. That goes too far.
that's really not unusual, see the very very common trope in movies where murdering a ton of people is perfectly fine, torturing them is ok, but the moment the evil person tries to _rape_ someone then it becomes unbearable[0].
Things are not compared rationally and emotionally on the same level.
[0] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RapeIsASpecialKi...
Things are not compared rationally and emotionally on the same level.
[0] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RapeIsASpecialKi...
Extinct peoples dont tend to raise objections. https://youtu.be/N8mjm5ADN-c
I played the original colonization, a few years after it came out (I used to play a lot of strategy videogames). It was a really nice game to play.
I tried FreeCol a few years ago, when I had a free afternoon. It was kind of ok, but not particularly attractive. Most likely, I got older :)
I still praise the efforts of developers that, mostly for free, try to replicate great games from the past.
I even gave a look at FreeOrion, because Master of Orion 2 was my favorite game ever. Not as great. I think there's an easy option to play MoO2 if you buy if for a few bucks online, e.g. on Steam [0]
There's also the great Master of Magic. A developer from Japan created a complete overhaul of the game, and published it for free as a patch. I remember reading that someone bought the rights of the game from... Atari? ... And they're now developing a new version of it, and the Japanese guy is involved. Nice way to end the story :)
Strategy games are a ton of fun. A pity that I mostly played them alone, when I was a kid. Today I guess it's all about social, like Fortnite?
[0]: https://store.steampowered.com/app/410980/Master_of_Orion_2/
I tried FreeCol a few years ago, when I had a free afternoon. It was kind of ok, but not particularly attractive. Most likely, I got older :)
I still praise the efforts of developers that, mostly for free, try to replicate great games from the past.
I even gave a look at FreeOrion, because Master of Orion 2 was my favorite game ever. Not as great. I think there's an easy option to play MoO2 if you buy if for a few bucks online, e.g. on Steam [0]
There's also the great Master of Magic. A developer from Japan created a complete overhaul of the game, and published it for free as a patch. I remember reading that someone bought the rights of the game from... Atari? ... And they're now developing a new version of it, and the Japanese guy is involved. Nice way to end the story :)
Strategy games are a ton of fun. A pity that I mostly played them alone, when I was a kid. Today I guess it's all about social, like Fortnite?
[0]: https://store.steampowered.com/app/410980/Master_of_Orion_2/
Regarding Master of Magic, there's a Java reimplementation that looks pretty good and I think worth checking out called MoM-IME [1]
For all other things about Master of Magic, Blake's website [2] has a good curated list. Warning: Blake took 90's website design & styling very seriously :)
[1]: https://sourceforge.net/projects/momime/
[2]: http://blakessanctum.x10.mx/Games/MoM/
For all other things about Master of Magic, Blake's website [2] has a good curated list. Warning: Blake took 90's website design & styling very seriously :)
[1]: https://sourceforge.net/projects/momime/
[2]: http://blakessanctum.x10.mx/Games/MoM/
Thanks! This is the website created by the Japanese developer I was mentioning. His mod is called Caster of Magic. [0]
[0]: http://seravy.x10.mx/Wordpress/
Edit: from Blake's sanctum, I had no idea this existed!!
> I recently and excitedly discovered that Simtex and Micropose did indeed do a followup MoM game called Civizard - Majutsu no Keifu, a PlayStation remake of Master of Magic with totally new graphics and a remastered soundtrack. Sadly the game was only released in Japan hence why most of the western world have no idea this even exists.
[0]: http://seravy.x10.mx/Wordpress/
Edit: from Blake's sanctum, I had no idea this existed!!
> I recently and excitedly discovered that Simtex and Micropose did indeed do a followup MoM game called Civizard - Majutsu no Keifu, a PlayStation remake of Master of Magic with totally new graphics and a remastered soundtrack. Sadly the game was only released in Japan hence why most of the western world have no idea this even exists.
omg! MOM...
Flying invisible ships with catapults == win!
so long since i played that!
so long since i played that!
Original colonization is on steam, have you played it recently?
I would like to, but I guess it's hard to find the time :(
I only just finished playing the original Colonization last month (I play it about once a year). I love the civilisation series but for some reason I probably enjoy Colonization better, I guess it is the town management and production/trade aspect.
Anyway, I hadn't heard about FreeCol before and it looks to be a very good effort. I'll definitely take a look at it, but, I find nostalgia usually gets the best of me and none of these remakes ever seem to scratch the itch like the originals.
Anyway, I hadn't heard about FreeCol before and it looks to be a very good effort. I'll definitely take a look at it, but, I find nostalgia usually gets the best of me and none of these remakes ever seem to scratch the itch like the originals.
I'm with you on the series. I've got Colonization up there with the original Alpha Centauri.
Colonization and SMAC are in my best-of as well. Incidentally, I've found that Stellaris really scratches the SMAC itch.
Nice effort.
Screenshots are here, http://www.freecol.org/more-screenshots.html
Screenshots are here, http://www.freecol.org/more-screenshots.html
I love such projects. I admire the care put into them. Is there a list of all similar clones somewhere?
For a reimplementation of Civ 5, I would recommend you to take a glance at Unciv (https://github.com/yairm210/Unciv). The development is quite active. It's made for Android, but runnable using Java in the terminal.
I can recommend https://www.widelands.org/
Don't ask me how many hours I wasted with that, just to experience the wuselfactor. The mission is also quite fun.
Another good timewaster is https://7kfans.com/ But you'll probably only enjoy it if you played the original in your youth.
Another good timewaster is https://7kfans.com/ But you'll probably only enjoy it if you played the original in your youth.
I've been playing a remake of the classic RTS Total Annihilation. LAN games with the entire family. https://www.beyondallreason.info/
Based on a open source engine, the devs have been busy remaking things to use all original assets and improving the interface. The game it self is based on another open source project called Balanced Annihilation that aimed to make TA a much more competitive game while preserving the original feel.
Based on a open source engine, the devs have been busy remaking things to use all original assets and improving the interface. The game it self is based on another open source project called Balanced Annihilation that aimed to make TA a much more competitive game while preserving the original feel.
OpenRCT2 is a good example
I played original Colonizayiom a lot, and do play it once in a while. The game has some very old school charm (and very annoying units limit, once you get close to 256 colonists, it becomes almost unplayable, and wagon train routes are a
mess - for some reason they just refuse to unload cargo sometimes).
I have tried freecol a few times and never could muster myself to do more than a few moves. It's something about the graphical style, I guess.
I have tried freecol a few times and never could muster myself to do more than a few moves. It's something about the graphical style, I guess.
How playable is it? Can you actually play from beginning to end? The version number is bit off-putting.
It was playable to the end the last time I played 6 or 7 years ago.
It has been in development since 2002.
It has been in development since 2002.
Nice remake, I'm playing it right now.
Some tips for those unfamiliar with it or the original:
* Stable release is rather dated, content-wise. Nightly includes good maps and mods. OTOH, nightly build has bugs and annoyances (like randomly changing some preferences and UI layout)
* The community is almost dead, you're on your own mostly.
* It's a really, really long game, prepare for months (which spans 200 years in game time). The first 10% is exploration, the last 10% is action, the rest are resource management, planning and logistics.
* If you're trying to play optimally on hard difficulty (which is kind of the point of the game), each turn in mid-game and later could easily take 20-30 min. Also you might want to have Excel around. :)
Some tips for those unfamiliar with it or the original:
* Stable release is rather dated, content-wise. Nightly includes good maps and mods. OTOH, nightly build has bugs and annoyances (like randomly changing some preferences and UI layout)
* The community is almost dead, you're on your own mostly.
* It's a really, really long game, prepare for months (which spans 200 years in game time). The first 10% is exploration, the last 10% is action, the rest are resource management, planning and logistics.
* If you're trying to play optimally on hard difficulty (which is kind of the point of the game), each turn in mid-game and later could easily take 20-30 min. Also you might want to have Excel around. :)
Is it just me or is there something really buggy about the keyboard directions, on MacOS at least. Super confusing the isometric perspective.
The four main arrow directions work consistently (although it's weird that they're each diagonal on the map). But Fn+arrow seems to behave inconsistently - I have a lot of trouble moving my units where I expect them to go.
Just me?
The four main arrow directions work consistently (although it's weird that they're each diagonal on the map). But Fn+arrow seems to behave inconsistently - I have a lot of trouble moving my units where I expect them to go.
Just me?
Alternatively, you can use press G and click on destination tile.
Ahhhhh a game where you can play colonizer....
Off topic, are there any open source 3D strategy game with good terrain system?
In the RTS genre, there were the ones on the Spring RTS Engine. I have to warn you that the last time I played (many years ago), the publicly available AIs would cheese you with micro that's not reasonable.
Zero-K
Guess the important question is if ALT + W,I,N works!
Serendipitously, this is the only game I've been playing for the last month. suddenly paranoid
I always wonder if such content (and no functional improvements) would even be welcome in a pull request, not to mention how controversial adding slavery to a game might be.