Gaming on the Cheap

[Ravek]

Dwarf Fortress

I've always found Dwarf Fortress' concept interesting, but I couldn't really get into it. Graphics that are slightly more recognisable than ASCII would help (I have a hard time interpreting text as anything other than text), but is there any way to avoid reading a 300 page dissertation before you can actually play the game? I don't mind if I have to read it only to master the game, but I'm wary of spending hours of preliminary work on a game I'm not even sure I enjoy the gameplay of!

 

[DeadlyDad]

While you can't get any greyer than abandonware and emulators, there are hundreds of legitimate open source and freeware titles that are pretty good. Urban Terror [www.urbanterror.net], the Counterstrike clone, springs immediately to mind. For sheer frugality, you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal than the Valve Complete Pack [http://store.steampowered.com/sub/1134/], considering how many top-rated games it includes, not to mention the hundreds of free mods available for most of them. (I've been a fan of Steam since the beginning; not only does it offer lots of other packs [http://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Price&sort_order=DESC&term=pack], but they have great deals on games every single weekend.)

 

[crotalidian]

I have recently begun the Process of Trawling Steam for games under $10, so far my wanderings have bought me....

Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentleman Please $4.99 for the 2
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time $9.99
and of Course KotOR $9.99

I realise that most people will have the latter 2 but I missed out and now have the opportunity for some bargain classics!

also Echochrome for the PSP is a wonderfully addictive and mind bending game for download and again under $10

 

[Skratt]

Wait till Christmas / New Years. Maybe Steam will have another fire sale like they did last year. Tons of games on the cheap just waiting to be bought by kids Christmas money.

 

[Andy_Panthro]

Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentleman Please $4.99 for the 2

These, definately! Even better since you can get BT,DT for free (donations are gratefully recieved though!).

Also, as good as Simon the Sorceror is, was there any particular reason that was the choice from GOG? (hmm.. it may be the "hidden gem of the week") They do have dozens of games for $5.99, from various different genres.

Also I have to mention The Battle For Wesnoth [http://www.wesnoth.org] which is a free turn-based strategy game. It is also awesome.

Also worth mentioning that there are plenty of games released as freeware, not least TES: Arena, Daggerfall, GTA, GTA2, Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Beneath a Steel Sky and I could have sworn Yahtzee's adventure games were freeware... but I may be wrong (the older ones, at least).

 

[The Random One]

STEAAAAAAAAAAAAM

Dwarf Fortress isn't mentioned here? I am shocked. Shocked and dismayed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=7239234#Mods

http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

Truer words have been spoken, but rarely. DF (and any roguelike, really) is well worth its cost, or lack thereof. And DF won't be asking if you want your possessions identified every few minutes, too.

 

[FireSoCold]

Thank you sooo much for posting this! I had no idea that steam had Loom. I used to play it as a kid that game was great!

Thanks again. I'm gonna go download Loom now.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Audiosurf. I must get audiosurf. The 'Stolen Pixels' column is also great for free little games. Months later, I'm still playing Spewer.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Braid is £3.39 on Steam if you haven't tried it yet !

Just as a weekend deal tho.

 

[Mr Companion]

If osmos was just £2 cheaper (IE £5) then i would probarbly buy.

Regarding spelunky I would really like to know how to fix a problem downloading things such as this. I can download some things but spelunky and others full screen, minimise, full screen, minimise ect at an alarming rate until I have no choice but to crash the computer. Is this something to do with vista? I would really like to play spelunky.

The newer version of Spelunky (v1.0) isn't a full screen game anymore. Also, are you minimizing the games yourself, or are they doing this on their own? If the latter, it might be a few programs running in the background which cause the game to minimize when playing (like an antivirus or an IM). If the former, just dedicate your time to playing full-screen, and nothing else. Nothing kills Oblivion faster on my laptop than minimizing the game...or shutting the laptop itself.

Nope, it happens when I try to download the game. Once the download is finished a internet page of unknown origin maximises and minimises constantly. About two times per second. I cannot turn off normally because when I open the start menu a opening window or closing window stops me. I just have to use ctrl alt del and select log off. It makes me annoyed, because it does this with other downloads. About half my attempts to download. Any ideas? I am gonna ask my genius brother, he might solve it. He usually solves this sort of thing.

That's....very strange. I've never encountered that on Vista. Ever. It might be a virus, or it could also be a problem with the browser. Try running a virus scan, and see if that turns anything up.

Ok it's fixed now my genius brother fixed it, as usual. That guy is cool. We are not quite sure how we fixed it but spelunky downloaded OK and is very fun. TY for the help though.

 

[Kollega]

Will this be a regular feature?

 

[MetaKnight19]

You can get the entire Commander Keen series from Steam for like £2.50

 

[ravensshade]

steam has ghost master for 2,50? awesome! i loved that game but i lost my discs..

 

[Heart of Darkness]

Ok it's fixed now my genius brother fixed it, as usual. That guy is cool. We are not quite sure how we fixed it but spelunky downloaded OK and is very fun. TY for the help though.

That's cool, and np. Also, this reminds me of XKCD.

http://xkcd.com/627/

It seems relevant.

 

[F1ak3r]

All Yahtzee's games are free. Also:

Iji and Garden Gnome Carnage [http://www.remar.se/daniel/games.php].
Astatine [http://www.gamemakergames.com/?a=view&id=6930]
Seiklus [http://www.gamemakergames.com/?a=view&id=52]
Raging Skies [http://www.gamemakergames.com/?a=view&id=809]
ColumnsX [http://www.gamemakergames.com/?a=view&id=5327]
etc...

I spend a lot of time playing free games.

PS: Subscribe to IndieGames.com's blog feed to get new suggestions every day.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Audiosurf. I must get audiosurf. The 'Stolen Pixels' column is also great for free little games. Months later, I'm still playing Spewer.

I think you mean Alt+Esc, not Stolen Pixels.

 

[CD-R]

Dwarf Fortress

I've always found Dwarf Fortress' concept interesting, but I couldn't really get into it. Graphics that are slightly more recognisable than ASCII would help (I have a hard time interpreting text as anything other than text), but is there any way to avoid reading a 300 page dissertation before you can actually play the game? I don't mind if I have to read it only to master the game, but I'm wary of spending hours of preliminary work on a game I'm not even sure I enjoy the gameplay of!

http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php Use this for the graphics.

Just read the brief instructions on the dwarf fortress website and start playing. You're first fortresses are all going to fail miserably due to you not stock piling enough food or not brewing enough alcohol or not digging a well, or whatever but you can always abandon them and go reclaim your fortress later with warriors or just start a new fortress.
Remember losing is fun

(Except in the adventure mode after you've been throwing rocks for half an hour to build your strength only to be killed by wolves 2 minutes later.)

Edit: It looks like they got rid of short instructions and it's now all on the wiki.

 

[Mr Companion]

Ok it's fixed now my genius brother fixed it, as usual. That guy is cool. We are not quite sure how we fixed it but spelunky downloaded OK and is very fun. TY for the help though.

That's cool, and np. Also, this reminds me of XKCD.

http://xkcd.com/627/

It seems relevant.

Ha! That is exactly what he does too. Well at least I now know how to fix things.

 

[Fbuh]

Of course, there's always my version of gaming cheaply: download a bunch of emulators and roms and stick with ancient, 8-bit classics.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

Osmos is such a cliche game, there must be hundreds, if not thousands of those free on the net.