Steam, as usual, is one step ahead again.

If you've been on the internet for longer than a month, chances are that you've at least heard people talking about openTTD. A complete upgrade of Transport Tycoon Deluxe using free assets.

It got popular enough to warrant a release on Steam desprite being essentially a "free copy" of Transport Tycoon Deluxe.

Now, GOG has Locomotions, a game that is considered inferior compared to even the "regular" Transport Tycoon. With OpenTTD enjoying a sort of renaissance it would make total sense to also consider the game to appear on this store.

GOG is not only a better place for games like these, it would also help their image. GOG (and in a way CDPR) loves good games after all.

GOGPls

Release of free games (no cost) does not make part of Gog's strategy, it seems. There's plenty of high quality free games (and many open source as well).

Freeware that have a paid version, such as Spelunky and Tales of Maj'Eyal are on Gog though.

I agree games like OpenTTD and Battle for Wesnoth would be perfect fit on Gog. Do we have any quality freeware thread or list?

Like Dark Art said, GOG is not really interested in free games, it's has a cost of working for the team and they don't recive any money for it, so they frequently skip them, it's a shame, I wpuld lile to see more free games here on GOG :/

Super-low priority, would be my guess.

If I remember correctly, the last freeware on GOG was Jill of the Jungle, which was released about 2.5 years ago.

I agree it would be nice to have here, but at the same time I don't really care too much. There is a free, stable version available on the official site, and even with steam and potential GOG releases I'd send people to go get it there. It's a donation based development, so redirecting people away from the site doesn't make them any favors.

Double negatives... am I right?

I still can't get into OpenTTD. The original sprites and music is so iconic to me that hearing the "free" fan-made music feels like a slap in the face of the original.

Fun fact of the day:
Did you know that John Broomhall, the original composer of the Transport Tycoon music, returned for the mobile release of the game, and re-recorded the soundtrack using real instruments?

I'd love to see more highly-voted freeware (or free on other stores added here) releases (Starcraft, C&C, OMF2097, SimCity 1, Death Rally, etc.) but like Grargar said, super-low priority, probably.

Steam is gonna get "everything" because that's where "everyone" is anyway.

Yeah like the others said, what's in it for GOG? Ok so Steam still carries it, no idea what Valve thinks they can achieve it but I guess they have automated it for the most part how new (even free) games get accepted to the system.

I personally don't consider it important that free (open source) games that I can easily obtain online, should be also on GOG.com (or Steam). I can just download if from the original web page, right?

There certainly are many good free games like e.g. Rolling Madness 3D (a great remake of the Marble Madness arcade game) or the Wizball remake or those great fan-made Star Wars games ("Battle of Yavin" and "Battle of Endor"), but I personally don't see why GOG should host them.

The internet is full of quite good freeware games that GOG "could" host, but why?

Perhaps this serves as an explaination.

Because the afformented/described games are based on established and desired classics (openTTD is based on TTD, which is based on TT). So putting them on the store is essentially subsidizing the original game, making sure more desire is building up for the original in the process. Its kinda like those Xcom remakes, some people who play those want to play/buy the originals as well, or maybe its the other way around. It really depends on costumer-desireability, which is often difficult to evaluage.

Same cannot be said on BoY and BoE, which are basically fangames. You could say that there are mods for certain games out there that achieve the same (such as the Star Wars Freespace 2 mod, which is superior to the examples you've given). On the other hand GOG doesn't care that much about modding just like they don't care a lot about freeware games. So in a way, there are more ways (either get the BoE or mod FS2 that includes BoE with modded ships) that achieve the similar, or even better, outcome. You could argue that those fangames enables desire of entirely different games though. When I think of BoE I think of Homeworld mods, for instance.

The reason why I wanted to make this thread is because It has a lot to do with GOGs image. Think of it this way, most of the games released on GOG were abandongames before and are/were accessable over on certain sites. These abandonware games are however not "the version you can buy on store". An abandonware game will never feel like the version you've bought. In a way, its a similar subsidization that crystalized from demand alone. Why do you believe the wishlist exist in the first place? For most people, people could still go and get the games a different way, they purchase games on GOG because of the image attached to the store. Otherwise you can just ignore GOG and move on.

I believe that GOGs biggest problem is actually a very subtle one. To give an example, GOG paywalls freeware games like Spelunky. You can only play the freeware Spelunky on GOG if you purchase the game, even though the freeware is accessable elsewere. Iignoring the reality of freeware/modding, two vastly important subjects, that halts the growth of this site. But perhaps there are more strings attached to this that I don't know about.

I would love a subsection of GOG (similar to the wishlist subsection) where GOG-staff or certain users could write up blogposts regarding freeware games and modding, complete with tutorials and stuff like that. So real in-detail write ups about freeware games, complete with lists and all that stuff. Kinda like a curated blog of sorts which is infinitely better than forum posts and writeups, for obvious reasons (one stop shop and all that).

My main thing about OpenTTD is that if they were to come to GOG, I'd have to make one suggestion: That the Bananas online content download system contents be datestamped. Nothing quite like wondering if a mod you're using is from 2010 or not.

I agree, its kinda nasty. Its so easy to solve aswell, just count by upload age or file creation date.

I know a lot of nGRFs and when they're made, but remembering what, some 2000 of them at all times seems a little bit too much of a hassle. Such a feature would help a whole lot.

One more point from me, why GOG probably doesn't want to go through it:

GOG can't just e.g. take those aforementioned games and start hosting them, but they'd probably have to agree about it with the original authors. Not sure how that works with open source games, could GOG start hosting them and maybe even start charging money for them, or at least add advertisements to them to make some extra revenue?

If GOG contacted the authors of e.g. the freeware games I mentioned, at that point those authors might also think "Ok then, but what's in it for me then? Would GOG pay me for hosting my games? Since they feel it makes sense to host them, apparently they feel it is bringing them some kind of revenue or value".

BTW I disagree with your analogy that "GOG is already hosting abandonware games that anyone can download elsewhere" because abandonware games are basically pirated games. That is completely different from hosting legit freeware games (be it open source or not).

Agree with you on most accounts, except this one. There is a whole lot of things attached on why I wrote the stuff the way I wrote them.

I wrote that the "feeling" (the emotional attachment to you and the product/object of desire) of buying a game on GOG is different than getting abandonware games elsewhere. What you're describing is exactly one of these potential feelings. If you buy a game on GOG, the feeling that you've bought a game is entirely different then downloading pirated games on another place. So in a way, its not about classifications whether or not a game is a freegame or abandongame alone, but also about the name of the store itself. GOG has at least some responsibility to bring top-notch games (regardless whether or not they're old or free) to this place. Seeing GOG as nothing but a utilitarian function (They're a store, what matters most is profit) is what I consider a bit too cynical and a easy way to be lazy. Once they announced that they're actually curating the store (which they do since forever) I feel that the person in charge should care about literally every game on PC. I don't think its a difficult job to keep lists that include literally every game released on PC, but I don't know how GOG functions internally so I can't really judge. I would bet real money that I could compile a list of around 100.000 PC games, including genres, release date and whether or not the game is freeware within 3 months. Theres tons of outside sources that already keep track to things like these at any case.

Even if it just means writing blogs and making lists instead of putting games on the GOG store it would be fine by me. Theres also another question that comes in mind. How many people work in GOG again? They must have at least one person who does nothing but write stuff up (I would do that stuff for free and for fun). If GOG doesn't want more freeware games inside the store, then they should at least curate a sort of list and blog, including tutorials on how to mod famous games and stuff like that. Providing games isn't the only real responsibility of GOG, they need to manage a community and provide guidance on what games, regardless of classification, are "the hot shit". And openTTD is such a game.

Regarding my idea of a GOG-blog, this could also be used as a means to cultivate a sort of community-within-a-community and help growing the store itself (through social media). If you have some usermembers willing to participate and that particular subsection of the site grows, the blogs can grow exponentially in information. I'm sure that a lot of people would like to see writeups about games. It would also be a good idea to at least try to contact itch.io. I always thought that GOGs and itch.io philosophies are kinds similar. At any case, the best writeups can be picked by the GOG staff on a weekly or monthly basis and some of the most popular lists can be made easily accessable through the GOG homepage itself so information won't get lost in time.

Hello everyone!

I agree that OpenTTD would fit nicely in GOG's portfolio, and it is weird to see it released on Steam instead.
However, I have to side with MadalinStroe. OpenTTD is an amazing fan project (and I am glad it does still exist, although a little bit desorganised regarding its distribution) but I am more attached to the original game's graphics and sound/music!
Someone can call it nostalgia, or what ever.
Hence, I would appreciate legal digital access to the original "Transport Tycoon" or the "Transport Tycoon Deluxe" version so much more.

Kind regards,
foxgog

In the particular case of OpenTTD, and any GPL licensed software, there is absolutely no need to come to any agreement with the authors to distribute it, and the license allows to charge a fee for the physical act of transferring the copy.

Of course, if the software is available from other places, cost free, why would anyone pay GOG for the download? And additionally, anyone that did pay GOG is entitled to distribute a copy to anyone they want.

So, yeah... there is little point for any open source game to end up on GOG, least it be used as a marketing tool like the freeware games that are already available. Which in my opinion they do not use enough or properly even in that regard.