Games to play while Alt+Tabbed

Mentis

I've recently noticed a habit I've been picking up. I will almost always leave a game of some kind up in the background, no matter what I'm doing. This game is always pausable, has gameplay that works well in short bursts, and isn't a huge resource hog.

I often Alt+Tab while a website loads, video streams, on the flightpoint to Dustwallow Marsh etc. I even leave games up while I'm doing things like writing papers or reading news...I really enjoy taking a quick 5 minute break sometimes.

These are often browser games, or pop-cap style arcade games. Lately, it's been Plants vs Zombies. It even auto-pauses if you just alt+tab back to what you were doing originally. Thinking back, the first game I would do this with was Nethack. Roguelikes lend themselves well to this, being turn based in nature, and often long.

I'm just curious if anyone else has a similar habit, or has any other good suggestions for games like these.

Synthesis

Stay the hell away from all Source games (Half-Life 2, etc.) is all I can say. For some reason, they still don't like being minimized out of. I think other STEAM games are okay.

I do the same a lot, especially for stuff like WoW that requires consulting information online.

schmads

I found I did much the same thing when it came to WoW. Peggle was the first (it was a running joke for a while that any time I talked on vent during a raid, people would hear Peggle in the background and know I wasn't paying attention... but I was one of the guild masters :-P). Popcap games are clearly designed to be played like that, and I appreciate it a lot.

I seem to remember that Diablo 2 when played in Windowed mode works reasonably well, though I haven't played it in a while.
Torchlight also supports windowed mode, and I haven't had any problems with switching in and out of it. It's not a huge resource hog or anything.

I have even found that I can jump in and out of Borderlands when it's in Windowed mode without any particular problem. It's fun to pick up and shoot some guys and then just pause and come back later (although obviously not for multi, as your friends might get a tad irritated).

In fact, I play most games in Windowed mode if they support it. I like to be able to flip over to IM people, open up web pages and do whatever else.

Vladimir7

i like windowed mode, just because alt tabbing doesnt take 10 seconds like fullscreen. I do a lot of alt tabbing specially for wow

Fleck0

Seconding windowed mode, sounds like I'm not the only person here who's been caught at work with the telltale flickering screen.

Pretty much any turn based game is a recipe for success when you're just popping in for minutes or less at a time periodically.

Sid Meier's <blank>
Master of Orion
Laser Squid Nemesis / X-com

stuff like that

Sir Carcass

Freecell is my go to short burst alt+tab game.

SoaL

I hate to be that guy, but dwarf fortress is nice for this. Hell, you can keep it milling about if you just change focus to another window without minimizing it. It'll auto-pause when just about anything of note happens too, so you won't miss much of anything while you're off doing something else.

Cronus

Kings Bounty. The battles are all turn based, and there's a lot of game there. I'm often playing this with the TV on, so I'll pay attention to the TV while the enemies are taking their turns if they happen to go together. It generally doesn't require a lot of attention, though you do want to think things through when in battle.

TychoCelchuuu

DEFCON was basically designed for this.

uean

i leave Armagetron Advanced running in the background almost all the time. It plays itself until you jump in, and then its freaking addicting. 2 buttons, too many options.... even playable with 22 people on the net or network, and by yourself is just fine. Love the game, such a perfect time killer.

AuburnTiger

This is a great thread.

I think Civ IV lends itself well to this type of gameplay.

Edith Upwards

DEFCON and Dwarf Fortress are THE Office Games.

Jaramr

I think Mount and Blade would lend itself to this gameplay.

You can track down a enemy party, do a battle, and it auto pauses once your done, you can pause at any point on the main map. It also alt-tabs out of full screen very well, there's been a lot of times where ill alt-tab out to look up troop trees or other information about the game, its very useful when your playing a new mod that you don't quite know a lot about.

Ive heard that you can run X3 Terran Conflict in the background, which would be very nice for generating money, just sit in some corner of the universe, turn on your time accelerator, and alt tab out to youtube or something. But ive only alt-tabbed out once, so it might not be consistent with letting you do that.

Handsome Costanza

Majesty 2 is pretty good about that. As long as you build up your town a tiny bit before alt tabbing.


Of course then you have to worry about leaving it alone too long so that all your little characters are level eleventybillion.

uean

We haven't yet mentioned Progress Quest.

Kris_xK

Shit, late game Civ4 games practically require windowed mode and Alt-Tabing while the computer turns run.

Thank god for dualscreens.

Malvient

I've been doing this with Torchlight since it came out.

FingerSlut

I suggest the wow ccg.

Frem

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

DEFCON was basically designed for this.

Word. It's a clock-based RTS and a fast-paced match can be played through in ten minutes, but there's also an "office mode" gametype where the game lasts eight hours.

corky842

Trials 2 works well in windowed mode and in short bursts of gameplay. Look for it in Steam's upcoming holiday sale ($2.50 last year).

Pretty much any Unreal engine game supports windowed mode or doesn't crash when alt+tabbed.

NailbunnyPD

I can't believe no one has mentioned the -noborder launch option that works on Source games set to Windowed Mode. Its a god send. It works like L4D's Borderless Window Mode, except it works on Source games without that option, like TF2 and HL2.