Mac Source Ports features native app builds of source ports of your favorite games for both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, signed and notarized whenever possible.
Developer: Chris Sawyer
Release Date: October 15, 2002
Another game from the mind of Chris Sawyer, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 shares the same pixel art style and hardcore interface as his other games.
Developer: Thalion Software
Release Date: April 11, 1993
Source Code Release Date: May 7, 2023
The Commodore Amiga was one of those computers where it jumped ahead of the competition by several miles, but then stayed there for a long time and got surpassed by the competition. I think this is why there's such a distinctive look to the games the platform and why it was so accessible to smaller game designers, the types we'd call "indie" today.
Ambermoon is an RPG for the Amiga that really looks like an Amiga game. It was the second part of an unfinished trilogy. Although the original game's source has been released, the source port we're pointing to is Ambermoon.net which like it sounds is a recreation of the original game in C#/.NET (the original game was Amiga-specific Assembly language and isn't a great candidate for portability).
In addition to being able to download it below from the developer's GitHub page, the game is also available on itch.io as a "Name your own price" download in case you want to support or tip the developer.
Developer: New World Computing
Release Date: October 1, 1996
Heroes of Might and Magic II is a 4X turn-based strategy game. Ranked once by PC Gamer as the sixth-best game of all time it features resource building, new factions, skills, and a single-player campaign.
Developer: id Software
Release Date: December 2, 1999
Source Code Release Date: August 9, 2005
Quake III Arena is a first-person shooter, the first in the Quake series to focus on multiplayer. The ioquake3 source port has been maintained since the original source code release in 2005, featuring a Universal 2 app that supports Intel 64-bit and Apple Silicon as well as a Universal 1 app that can support Intel and PowerPC Macs going back to Mac OS X 10.6
Developer: id Software
Release Date: December 9, 1997
Source Code Release Date: December 22, 2001
Quake II is a first-person shooter, the second in the Quake series. Yamagi Quake2 is the most mature and advanced port actively being maintained.
Developer: Infocom
Release Date: 1977
True story: I'm old enough to have experienced the concept of buying Commodore 64 software in toy stores as a kid. I'll never forget, it had to have been at the tail end of the C64's lifecycle and I'm going through this bargain bin and finding nothing interesting, and then I stumbled across Zork I, in what had to be one of the slim case budget re-releases. I had no idea what it was other than I had read the name in Family Computing magazine.
I go home, fire it up, it takes forver to load... and then only when I'm sitting at a text prompt does it hit me that this is a game without graphics. No wonder there were no screenshots. I'm pretty disappointed. I'm also bored and have nothing better to do so I start playing it.
What follows is legit one of the best gaming experiences of my life. There's a reason this game is famous - provided you're willing to give it a shot the premise, writing, puzzles and exploration concepts will lure you in, and the anachronistic hodgepodge of elements makes for an eclectic universe. You descend downwards into the ruins of the Great Underground Empire, now an abandoned world.
The backstory has been told at length elsewhere but the short version is that some computer scientists at MIT made a text adventure game called Dungeon to run on their mainframe and got the idea to make a company to sell versions of it for home computers. It proved to be too big to fit on the computers of the era so they split it up into a trilogy of games called Zork. The company was named Infocom and they are beyond legendary in retro gaming archaeology circles.
The technology the games ran with has been reverse engineered so well that an entire community has spawned programming languages and toolkits to make new games with it and there's hundreds of text advantures as a result, including an annual contest that's been running for decades now.
So unlike most games on this site there are literally dozens of options to play these games, and the current best in breed for the Mac is called Splatterlight.
Developer: Infocom
Release Date: 1980
So as mentioned, the original gamed Dungeon was split into three games, so the second game picks up pretty much where the first game left off, diving deeper into the intricate underground realm of the Great Underground Empire as you navigate through mystifying chambers and encounter enigmatic characters. Unravel the secrets of the all-powerful Wizard of Frobozz, solving perplexing puzzles and overcoming perilous obstacles along the way.
Developer: Infocom
Release Date: 1981
The last in the original trilogy and the last part of the original Dungeon game, this game features the deepest portion of the Great Underground Empire where you must face the wrath of the vengeful Dungeon Master as you journey through a treacherous underworld filled with ancient secrets and unimaginable dangers. Traverse through stunning landscapes, unravel mind-bending puzzles, and confront cunning adversaries in your quest for redemption. Might as well keep going if you've gone this far :)
Developer: Infocom
Release Date: 1987
Beyond Zork is an interesting entry for a few reasons. It's the first Zork game not derived from the original larger Dungeon game, and it was made after Infocom made an ill fated venture into business software. And it tries several new things as the technology evolved - instead of just being a text adventure it incorporates RPG statistics and combat elements, along with a crude on-screen map. It both is and is not more Zork, but it's worth checking out at least.
Developer: Infocom
Release Date: 1983
As Infocom branched out, they tried new settings, like outer space. Set in a distant future where space exploration and cosmic mysteries abound, you play as s a lone astronaut marooned on a mysterious planet and tasked with unraveling its enigmatic secrets. Traverse breathtaking landscapes, encounter bizarre lifeforms, and uncover the remnants of a lost civilization. Prepare to embark on an epic journey of self-discovery as you navigate treacherous terrain, solve intricate puzzles, and forge unexpected alliances.
Developer: Tom Kidd / Mac Source Ports
Release Date: February 23, 2022
Extractor is an app from Mac Source Ports that extracts files from GOG Windows-based installers. Think of it as a GUI version of innoextract.
Right now, Extractor does exactly two things: lists the files in an installer, and extracts the files from an installer. We hope to expand it in the future but for now it's a simple application.
Developer: Hard Light Productions
Release Date: February 11, 2024
Knossos.NET is a utility that aids in downloading and configuring the FreeSpace 2 Open Source Project, aids in configuring the content from a GOG installer or other location, and can even help with mod management and multiplayer support. Check it out if you want to play FreeSpace 2 with as little hassle as possible.