Add an optional "Retro & Indie Gaming Pack" toggle to the post-installation wizard

[CHJ85]

Hi everyone,

I would like to propose adding an optional, curated "Modern Indie & Retro" game pack toggle to the Linux Mint post-installation setup (right alongside the option for proprietary multimedia codecs).

The Core Idea:
Retro and indie gaming is massive right now, and there is a huge cultural appetite for high-quality, mechanically tight throwback games. The open-source world has some of the absolute finest examples of these genres, but because they are community-driven projects with no marketing budget, they fly completely under the radar for new users.

Aside from showcasing the pinnacle of FOSS development, this would solve a common new-user friction point: many people immediately download Steam just to get a heavy game running so they can test if their hardware drivers and game controllers are working properly out of the box.

To keep the installation elegant and avoid bloat, this wouldn't make the initial ISO heavier. It would simply be a post-install meta-package pull if the user chooses to check the box.

Suggested "Magnificent Eight" Lineup (No bloat, completely distinct genres):
SuperTux (2D Side-Scrolling Platforming / Local Co-op)
SuperTuxKart (Arcade Racing / Combat Party Arenas)
Hedgewars (Turn-Based Tactical Artillery Comedy)
Xonotic (Hyper-Fast Arena FPS / Boomer-Shooter)
Beyond All Reason (Massive Sci-Fi Macro-RTS)
0 A.D. (Historical Age-of-Empires Style Micro-RTS)
Shattered Pixel Dungeon (Turn-Based Traditional Roguelike RPG)
Veloren (Open-World Voxel RPG Sandbox)

This is a beautiful, highly polished lineup that covers almost every fundamental PC gaming genre. Implementing a simple, optional workflow like this would bridge the gap between "sterile office OS" and "modern indie playground," giving these community-driven masterpieces the exact audience they deserve.

Thanks for considering!

[Jopp-gh]

The idea to add curated, optional software to download after the main installation is OK and could be some help for newcomers to customize their experience from the get go.

But curated lists should be extended to any kind of application, (office, design, development, utility etc) not just to games.

I think the only "problem" is to find people willing to put together useful lists with rating and keywords to filter adequate tools to use. Often app lists are very personal and difficult to suggest.

[CHJ85]

@Jopp-gh Thanks for the feedback! While I see where you’re coming from regarding other software categories, I think expanding the scope to office, design, or development utilities actually defeats the purpose and introduces unnecessary complexity for a few reasons:

1. Objective vs. Subjective Use: Production tools (like IDEs or design software) are highly personal and workflow-specific. However, a curated game pack serves a universal, objective technical function for a newcomer: instant hardware, graphics driver, and game controller verification. When a user plugs in a controller, they don't test it with an office suite; they test it with an arcade game. Having these native titles ready to go provides an immediate out-of-the-box benchmark.

2. Avoiding Scope Creep: If we expand this to every software category, we are just rebuilding the Mint Software Manager into the installer wizard, which creates choice paralysis. The strength of this specific idea is that it is highly focused, lightweight, and hits the massive modern cultural trend of indie/retro gaming.

3. The Curation is Already Done: The 'problem' of finding adequate tools is already solved here. The 8 games listed aren't random personal preferences; they are the literal, multi-decade flagship masterpieces of native Linux/open-source development (titles like SuperTuxKart, 0 A.D., and Xonotic) that have massive, established track records.

Keeping it strictly limited to a "Retro & Indie Gaming" toggle keeps it simple, highly appealing to mainstream users fleeing Windows, and gives Mint an immediate, fun 'wow factor' on day one.

[Jopp-gh]

I think expanding the scope to office, design, or development utilities actually defeats the purpose

Maybe. The point is to limit choices to a hand of software, like under 10 titles, like you did for games.

(1) instant hardware, graphics driver, and game controller verification.

Fully agree, still I always download extra tools like Lutris and AntiMicroX to play.

(2) If we expand this to every software category, we are just rebuilding the Mint Software Manager

Yeah, but it depends upon the way how we build lists. I'm not a fan on how Mint Software Manager presents software

(3) The Curation is Already Done

Well, I'd select less known titles than this nice, but very usual Linux titles. Nowadays Players have other expectations and don't feel amazed that soon.

I'd suggest Prey (beautiful first Person shooter, abandon ware), Battle for Wesnoth (cute, beautiful 2d turn based RPG), Path of Exile (ISO RPG like diablo), 2d beat em up like streets of rage (around 10 bucks but I guess you want only free games) and there is even more, but a modern list would need more research.

[CHJ85]

@Jopp-gh I appreciate the suggestions, but there’s a critical legal and technical distinction that we have to make here: Licensing and Legal Distribution.

A Linux distribution like Mint cannot legally bundle or distribute commercial proprietary games like Prey (owned by Zenimax), Path of Exile (Grinding Gear Games), or Streets of Rage (Sega). Even if a game is labeled as 'abandonware' or is 'free-to-play,' its proprietary game assets and binaries are strictly copyrighted. Mint cannot distribute them via its repositories or installer without corporate licensing agreements.

That is exactly why the 8 games I proposed are so uniquely qualified. They are 100% Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Their licenses explicitly grant Linux distributions the legal right to package, distribute, and maintain them directly to users out of the box.

As for tools like Lutris or AntiMicroX—those are fantastic utilities, but they are wrappers used to make Windows games run on Linux. The entire goal of this proposal is to showcase native Linux engineering masterpiece sandboxes that run flawlessly on day one with zero configuration or third-party compatibility layers required.

Keeping the list strictly tied to legendary, fully open-source native giants ensures the project remains legally airtight, lightweight, and perfectly aligned with Mint’s philosophy!

The beauty of this specific proposal is its simplicity. We don't need a committee to spend months researching, debating personal tastes, or dealing with third-party wrappers. The 8 games listed are native, 100% legally distributable open-source masterpieces that are already sitting in the Mint repositories right now.

The work is already done; it's just a matter of exposing these great native titles to newcomers via a simple, optional post-install toggle. Let's keep the scope focused and see what the rest of the community thinks!

[Jopp-gh]

Licensing and Legal Distribution.

Totally agree, licensing is to read carefully, to avoid privacy intrusion through telemetry and to avoid games with "political correct" content.
I wouldn't "bundle" but add links to free games instead.
My point is, nowaday Players aren't satisfied anymore (not saying Linux games in general are less fun) but expect a library to choose from.

One of the problems I see with newcomers wanting to play on Mint is to install Wine software like some common Linux software.
Of course, feels this approach "natural" for them, but this is the wrong way and causes a lot of tinkering and technical issues before gaming works perfectly. They should start better and install Linux software to manage Wine software instead. Therefore, my suggestion to install Lutris.

Lutris: is able to play flatpak and Linux games too, I see it more as organization tool (library) and comfortable starter for everything related to games, for native, retro and modern titles.

proprietary games like Prey (owned by Zenimax),

No, I'm talking about the prequel from Human Head studios, that is abandon ware. Prey from Zenimax is not abandon ware and a completely different game with a flat narrative compared to its prequel.

AntiMicroX: has nothing to do with windows games, it's just a better configuration tool for kb/gamepad and modern games, this utility is available for Linux as appimage.

As said before, I see your lists as incomplete, the choices look too common bc Linux games have a lot more interesting titles to offer.
Other titles popping up: Glest, DotA, Palapeli.

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