The number and variety of computer and video games are vast, and there are no established genres or criteria for defining the genres that have been agreed upon within the game development industries. Additionally, many computer games overlap game genres that are in use.
For this reason, the genres that we have established for the purpose of classification may be somewhat arbitrary.
A video game genre refers to a category of games that are related in some way, generally by similar characteristics of gameplay. Most often, video games are classified by the way in which the player interacts with the game rather than by the game setting. For example, a shooting game is a shooting game regardless of whether the setting is a Western, science fiction, or military.
Although we may not find a need to establish subcategories to represent subgenres here, there is such a thing. An adventure game might be a text adventure, a graphic adventure, a visual novel using anime-style art, an interactive movie, or a real-time 3D adventure.
Games developed to be played through a web browser or on a mobile device often overlap into multiple genres.
The broadest genre of video games are action games, and they may include action-adventure games, which involve the gathering of items, puzzle-solving, and combat.
Most popular board games or card games now have computer versions, which may be included as a genre of video games.
Additionally, computer games might be classified according to their purpose.
For example, Christian games often serve two purposes, to introduce non-believers to the religion through gameplay, and to provide Christians with games that are not offensive to the Christian faith.
Educational games are designed to use the game as the vehicle to a learning experience. Released in 1985, the Oregon Trail is a computer game developed by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, designed to teach student players about pioneer life on the Oregon Trail in the 1800s. It has since been released in several editions and spin-offs. Released in 1989, Math Blaster spawned a series of educational video games used to teach math, language arts, and science.
As a form of educational game, serious games have been developed for the purpose of training or educating the player, typically used for the purpose of education, science, social change, health care, or the military. These games may have no defined ending or goal, but are used to teach life lessons.
Several games have also been introduced for the purpose of advertising and brand recognition. The first of this genre were distributed on floppy disk by Chef Boyardee, Coca Cola, and Samsung. Today, advertising games are mostly found in Flash games online.
Genres of computer games will be represented as subcategories of this category when we have enough listed sites to warrant creating the category.
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Recommended Resources
Specializing in abandonware, and featuring a library of DOS games, its collections remind one of an old gaming arcade with all of the old games in their original format. Freely downloadable games are sorted alphabetically and by genre. Other features include press reports of the site, copies of its occasionally published magazine, Abandoned Times, informational articles, and an online discussion forum. Links to other related sites are posted, and advertising opportunities may be available.
http://www.abandonia.com/
Also known as the Backgammon Network, Backgammon Masters owns and operates its own Backgammon software, which delivers a realistic experience with first-rate graphics, unrivaled usability, and a fully-supported playing environment. A demo version of the software may be downloaded from the site and made for the Windows environment, and payment options are posted there. The software allows players to play online for free or real money. A list of features and tournament play are reviewed.
http://www.backgammonmasters.com/
Presented by Flora Traffic, the site includes links to hundreds of online games, sorted into categories such as 3D, 8 ball, air hockey, airplane, ant, ATV, ball, baseball, basketball, battle, brain training, cannon, castle, checkers, chess, classics, connect, cowboy, crime, dating, dice, dinosaur, escape, firefighter, fishing, flight, flight simulator, flying, high score, hunting, nerd, racing, RPG, simulation, skill, sports, tower defense, trivia, tycoon, word search, and zombie shooter.
https://www.bored.com/
The retro gaming resource features thousands of retro games, and the emulators to run on the computer or mobile device. Emulators, which are programs that simulate the machine you wish to run, are available for most retro gaming consoles and devices. A ROM is an image (simulation) of the actual game, which has been converted from a game cartridge or CD so that it can be run on another device, such as a computer. A tutorial for using these games is provided.
https://coolrom.com.au/
Download Free Games: Hidden Object Games
A hidden object game is a casual gaming sub-genre that involves trying to find objects that are hidden, usually within elaborate scenes. Several hidden object games are available for download here, including Park Ranger 3, Awakening: The Goblin Kingdom, Empress of the Deep 3, Hidden Expedition: Amazon, Jewel Quest Super Pack, Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, Farmscapes, 4 Elements II, and Big City Adventure: London Classic.
http://www.download-free-games.com/download/cat/hidden_objects/
All of its games, including its flagship Swords and Sandals games, may be downloaded through its VIP subscription program, and its mobile games may be purchased through the Apple App Store or Google Play. Free games in the driving, RPG, arcade, puzzle, action, adventure, sport, retro, enhanced, multiplayer, and platform genres are available. Other resources include a history of video games and a video game wiki that includes the most important game titles, peripherals, and developers.
https://play.egames.com/
Offering more than ten thousand retro games that may be downloaded for free, the site includes action-adventure games, adventure games, arcade-type games, virtual board games, educational games, puzzle games, role-playing games, simulations, sports games, strategy games, games that were made for the Amiga console, and utilities, such as game creation and customization software. Games are listed by genre and subject, and alphabetically, with a brief description and screenshots.
https://www.old-games.com/
The Pokemon franchise is owned by Nintendo, and centered on fictional creatures known as Pokémon, which human catch and train to battle one another for sport. Featured video games include Pokemon Masters, Pokemon Crystal, Pokemon Rumble Rush, Pokemon Sword, Pokemon Shield, Pokemon Quest, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Detective Pikachu, and others. Other Pokemon products are also featured.
https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/
Produced by Artsoft Entertainment, Rocks’n Diamonds is an arcade-style game for Linux, Mac, Windows, and Android with configurable custom game elements, a built-in editor to create custom level sets, and the ability to use custom graphics, sounds, and music, as well as classic levels to play Boulder Dash, Emerald Mine, Supaplex, and Sokoban. Screenshots, levels, artwork, tools and utilities, documentation and a download page are included, along with a discussion forum.
https://www.artsoft.org/rocksndiamonds/
Based in San Francisco, Shockwave Is a distributor of online and offline video games. Its game portal includes three main navigation tabs, for online games, downloadable games, and My Shockwave, the latter of which is a registration/login page, which leads to a member profile for registered members. The site hosts hundreds of games, covering a range of game genres, that include both single-player and multiplayer games. Advertising opportunities are available.
http://www.shockwave.com/
Created by Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley in 1991, the objective of the turn-based, strategy video game is to build an empire that will stand the test of time. Beginning in the year 4000 BC, players seek to expand and develop their empires through the ages, from that ancient era to modern and near-future times. Originally developed for MS-DOS, the game has since been revised to support several platforms. Civ can be played as a single-player or multiplayer mode.
https://civilization.com/
Snes9x is a portable, freeware Super Nintendo entertainment system emulator, which allows users to play most games designed for the Super Nintendo and Super Famicon Nintendo game systems on a PC or Workstation. The emulator is coded in C++, with three CPU emulation cores on the i386 Linux and Windows ports. Several ports of Snes96 are available from the download page. A developer's journal, screenshots, and discussion forum are included.
http://www.snes9x.com/
X-Plane is a flight simulator that supports the Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms, available through a digital download, on Steam, or as a DVD set, while earlier releases may be available through a USB key, as well as by other means. The simulation includes detailed scenery for more than 3,000 airports, as well as simulations for several planes, each with a usable 3-D cockpit. A demo is available, and the product is available on desktop, mobile, professional, and hardware versions.
https://www.x-plane.com/
