Desura
Thanks to some solid help (from feillyne and protektor), Flare is now available through Desura! (Release announcement) If you’re just discovering Flare through Desura, welcome!
I started F.L.A.R.E (Free/Libre Action Roleplaying Engine) 3 years ago to create a great Action RPG engine that’s completely open source. I’ve long been a fan of games like Diablo and wondered why there wasn’t a free game like that with a great modding community around it. I’m a software developer by trade and I had just learned enough 3D art to get myself in trouble, so I started on this ridiculous quest to make a completely free action RPG.
Instead of trying to make an engine that does it all, I decided early on to just try making games. If I reused as much code as possible for each game I’d end up with a highly moddable engine that does one thing well: Action RPGs. But I set some limits early on so that I could actually manage to finish anything: no multiplayer, no realtime 3D. So far that decision has paid off — three years in and the engine is very close to feature-complete Beta.
Along the way I had a team of amazing volunteers and freelance artist join the team. It’s no longer a solo effort by far; this crew has helped push Flare well beyond what it would be at this stage. The engine has been translated into over a dozen languages. It’s been ported to many operating systems and even some handheld devices. It’s already got a total-conversion game called Polymorphable.
We’re still in Alpha and it shows. But we have a ton of momentum. Flare v0.17 is scheduled to come out this Friday. The engine will be very close to Beta at the end of 2012. During 2013 we’ll move beyond the current alpha tech demo and create a great classic-style RPG. And we have great plans for the future of Flare.
And you can help. If you like Action RPGs, free/libre software, or Creative Commons art, we’d love to have your support. Use this form to contact me directly.
- Developers: check out flare-engine on GitHub. Create a fork! Drop me an email if you have feature ideas or a task you’d like to work on.
- Artists: check out flare-game on GitHub. Just as with the code, we have a high standard of quality for Flare. Send me a link to your portfolio if you’re interested in helping out.
- Translators: we welcome translations of the engine (top priority) or the game data.
- Patrons: you can support Flare through donations which we use to commission new art. All of the art for Flare is also released on OpenGameArt under copyleft-friendly licenses (CC-0, CC-BY, or CC-BY-SA) for use in other projects.
Most of all, thanks for playing. It means a lot.
Clint Bellanger
Flare lead developer and technical artist