Video games that use standard GUI widgets
There is something charming about games using their desktop platform’s standard windows and controls for the user interface. It is even more so if they use the limited standard palette. This page tries to convey their charm.
The release dates are for the initial release of the game unless indicated otherwise.
Contents
A-Train (Macintosh, 1992)
Screenshot credit: Macintosh Garden.
Ballistic (Windows 3.x, 1994)
Screenshot credit: valso518 at win3x.org.
Bang! Bang! (Windows 3.x, 1990)
Screenshot credit: myself.
Blob Factory v1.1 (Windows 3.x, 1996)
Screenshot credit: myself.
Bow and Arrow (Windows 3.x, 1992)
Screenshot credit: JudgeDeadd at MobyGames.
Breadbox Ensemble games (Breadbox Ensemble, 2002)
Screenshot credit: ToastyTech, WinWorld.
Castle of the Winds II: Lifthransir’s Bane (Windows 3.x, 1994)
Screenshot credit: moditorsen at MobyGames.
Chip’s Challenge (Windows 3.x, 1992)
Screenshot credit: myself.
Colony, The (Macintosh, 1988)
Screenshot credit: Macintosh Garden.
Combat Tanks (Windows 3.x, 1994)
Screenshot credit: Brolin Empey at MobyGames.
Creatures 2 (Windows 9x/NT, 1998)
Screenshot credit: GameFabrique.
DopeWars OS X (macOS, 2003)
Screenshot credit: official website.
Drain Storm (Windows 3.x, 1997)
Screenshot credit: unknown.
Exile III: Ruined World (Macintosh, 1997)
Screenshot credit: Macintosh Garden.
Fractal Fighters (Windows 9x/NT, 1997)
Screenshot credit: unknown.
GopherGolf (Windows 9x/NT, 1996)
Screenshot credit: myself.
Incredible Machine 2, The (Windows 9x/NT, 1995)
Screenshot credit: ixfd64 at MobyGames.
Konquest (initially GNU-Lactic Conquest, KDE, 1998?)
Screenshot credit: Adam1213 at English Wikipedia.
Progress Quest (Windows 9x/NT, 2002)
Screenshot credit: “Interpassivity and the Joy of Delegated Play in Idle Games”, Sonia Fizek (2018).
Sid Meier’s Civilization
Macintosh (1993)
Windows 3.x (1993)
Screenshot credit: DJ OldGames.
SimCity
NeWS GUI on SunOS (1992)
Tk X11 GUI on SunOS (1993)
Windows 3.x (1992)
Screenshot credit: Don Hopkins, Yannick Bertrand at MobyGames.
SimTower: The Vertical Empire (Windows 3.x, 1994)
Screenshot credit: Hammerlore at MobyGames.
Space Trader (PalmOS, 2000)
Screenshot credit: official website.
Star Wars: Yoda Stories (Windows 9x/NT, 1997)
Screenshot credit: Adventure Gamers.
Toppler (Windows 3.x, 1995)
Screenshot credit: POMAH at MobyGames.
Warpath (Windows 3.x, 1994)
Screenshot credit: My Abandonware.
XEvil (GNU/Linux, 1994?)
Screenshot credit: official website.