Developer: Relic Entertainment
Release Date: September 28, 1999
Source Code Release Date: September 2003

I have some games on this site with lots of fans, but I feel like Homeworld has a particularly special cultlike following. Released in 1999 (aka The Best Year For Gaming, Ever) it is a RTS game set in a 3-D space, a novel concept for the time and one that's hard to match even to this day. It spawned a sequel and a pair of spinoff games, and a third game in the main series has been in the works for several years and should be delivered in 2024.

Relic released the source code for the original game in 2003 under the now defunct Relic Developer Network and it's been the basis of several source ports with a history more complicated than Dune lore.

NOTE: In 2013, Gearbox releaed the Homeworld Remastered Collection which featured enhanced versions of the first two mainline games as well as the original, and these are likely the only versions being sold today. If you use the data from these versions you will want to use the files from the "Homeworld1Classic" folder in the instructions below.

  Buy Homeworld on GOG.com

  Buy Homeworld on the Humble Store

Developer: Pangea Software
Release Date: December 30, 2002
Source Code Release Date: December 2020

Bugdom 2 is a 2002 sequel to the original game. You play as a grasshopper named Skip who needs to retrieve his stolen knapsack from a large Bully Bee.

With permission from Pangea, developer Iliyas Jorio has released updated versions of some Pangea games for modern versions of macOS. Like all of his Pangea ports this is the full, free game so you can just download and play it immediately, and full source code is available on GitHub. If you would like to support his efforts you can head to his itch.io page and name your own price for any of the ports.

Developer: Gearbox Software
Release Date: November 19, 1999
Source Code Release Date: Not released to the public

Half-Life: Opposing Force is the first expansion pack for Half-Life. It takes place during the events of the original game, but instead of playing as Gordon Freeman having a bad day at work you play from the perspective of one of the Marines sent into the complex. It was definitely an interesting maneuver, and one that avoided having to explain what happened after the end of the first game, they wouldn't go there until the sequel.

NOTE: the support for Opposing Force as a Xash3D-FWGS mod is still in development. You may notice quirks like glitches with weapon animations. For this reason I have labeled the game as "Early Access". If you're willing to ignore the issues you can go ahead and experience the expansion pack on your Mac again.

Developer: Gearbox Software
Release Date: June 12, 2001
Source Code Release Date: Not released to the public

OK, so here's the deal: around 2001, Gearbox Software was contracted to port Half-Life to the Sega Dreamcast. Seeing as how they handled making the Half-Life: Opposing Force expansion, it made sense to hand the task off to them. And just to make the port even more special, Gearbox made a second expansion pack, Half-Life: Blue Shift, that would be exclusive to the Dreamcast version of the game. Whereas the first expansion followed the original game's story through the viewpoint of one of the Marines sent into the Black Mesa facility, Half-Life: Blue Shift does the same but from the perspective of Black Mesa security guard Barney.

Gamers were annoyed at the prospect of a single player expansion they couldn't run on their PC, so Valve capitulated and decided to release the expansion retail for PC gamers as well.

And then the Dreamcast port of Half-Life was canceled at the last minute. Like, almost literally the last mintue - some number of press review copies had alredy been sent out. There's a very small number of actual copies of the game.

Then when Blue Shift finally came out for the PC, many gamers were disappointed with its short length, unaware of the Dreamcast back story.

In any event, one of the mods that the Xash3D-FWGS project supports is a port of Blue Shift, so I've updated the build to include it. You will need both the original game and the expansion. If you want more Half-Life, duty calls...

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Release Date: September 20, 1996
Source Code Release Date: Not formally released

Although not as popular as later entries, THe Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall still has a devout cult following today, so much so that there is an online effort to recreate it in an updated engine.

The Daggerfall Unity project, which like it says on the tin is a recreation of the game in the Unity engine, has been in the works for a few years now and for a while it's been mature enough to play through the whole game.

I had been keeping an eye on this project and the main reason I held off on adding it before was that it was an unsigned Intel-only app, and I would have built a Universal 2 version except I have no experience with Unity so I put it on the backburner. However, in light of recent developments with Unity I now don't see myself ever messing with it, and since there are technical reasons why it is Intel-only for now, I've decided to add it as it is.

For the game data, Daggerfall is free on places like GOG and Steam and the Daggerfall Unity project itself is available on GOG, but only for Windows, so I figured adding it here was still worthwhile.

  Buy The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall on GOG.com

Developer: Lucasfilm Games
Release Date: December 3, 1996
Source Code Release Date: Not released

Released as part of a multimedia project encompassing books, comic books and toys, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire launched in 1996 for the Nintendo 64. It featured multiple different modes of gameplay including an impressive opening mission flying on Hoth, third person combat and vehicular levels.

  Buy Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on GOG.com

  Buy Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on the Humble Store

Developer: Lucasfilm Games
Release Date: November 15, 1999
Source Code Release Date: Not released

When Tomb Raider came out, more than a few people compared the vibe to that of Indiana Jones, with the exploration and puzzle solving and action elements, a comparison exacerbated by the very uneven history of Indiana Jones games which ranged from excellent adventure games to mediocre side scrollers. So naturally the next step was to make a Tomb Raider game in the Indiana Jones universe. As a bonus it shipped as a Nintendo 64 exclusive, serving that market since the Tomb Raider franchise was a PlayStation exclusive.

  Buy Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine on GOG.com

  Buy Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine on the Humble Store

Developer: Lucasfilm Games
Release Date: April 7, 1997
Source Code Release Date: Not released

The second half of the 90's saw the first person shooter genre open up enough to start exploring different types of settings, something other than gothic dungeons and space bases. Outlaws is an early example of a FPS set in the American Wild West. Using the same engine as the original Star Wars: Dark Forces, it features old firearms and a user interface germane to the primitive arcade machines of the day. The game had a free expansion, A Handful of Missions which is included with the digital distribution versions of the game.

  Buy Outlaws on GOG.com

Developer: LucasArts
Release Date: February 7, 1998
Source Code Release Date: Not released

Most of the time an expansion pack is just more content, usually some new enemies, etc. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith is an expansion to Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II but it featured more improvements like colored lighting and improved textures. It also featured Mara Jade, the most popular Expanded Universe character in history.

  Buy Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith on GOG.com

  Buy Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith on the Humble Store

Developer: SuperTuxKart Team
Release Date: August 6, 2007
Source Code Release Date: August 6, 2007

Something I kinda wish I had been around for was the launch and initial rise of Linux. I mean, I was around for it in that I'm old enough to remember it but I barely had a PC at that point, I was quite a ways off from trying to be part of a revolution or anything. But it had to be fascinating to be involved with trying to use an operating system made from scratch, if for no other reason than the thing didn't have any software other than what people wrote for it. Most software was closed source Windows-centric to the point of being un-portable so everything from windowing systems to application software to web browsers had to be created from scratch by the community.

Also, games. It would be years before developers would feel enough benevolence to port games to Linux but in the meantime people wanted to play something, so that gave rise to a handful of games including the likes of New Breed Software. Another very early example of Linux gaming was Tux Racer, a game featuring Tux (the name of the cartoon penguin mascot of Linux) racing down a snowy mountain. Later on, another game in a similar vein, TuxKart, started development. A take on Nintendo's Mario Kart, it was never finished amidst squabbles within its developers but thanks to the nature of open source software a later fork, SuperTuxKart, arose and continued the work.

Today, SuperTuxKart is a mature software project with a full freeware release across multiple platforms including Apple Silicon Macs, so check it out if you're interested in playing a kart racing game alongside several FOSS-based mascots as playable characters.