Features :: 0 A.D. :: Wildfire Games

Features

Posted by Wijitmaker on October 12 2004, 10:23 PM

Why?

What is in it for me? Why would someone play our game over another game?

I think the largest factor in answering that question would be that the game is FREE. Perhaps not the best reason why people will play our game, but it should not be discredited.

I would love to have people say that the game has stunning graphics, a gripping storyline, and leaves players with a thirst for the game that cannot be quenched, but that probably won't happen. As a realist I have come to grips with the fact that we are not able to compete with the professional game studios.

We can however do our best to include some features that will set us apart from the crowd and make 0 A.D. unique:

Unique Civilisations - In 0 A.D. each civilisation will be unique. They will have unique appearance, units, structures, and technology trees. You are not simply playing carbon copies with a few alterations when you play. Unique civilisations with unique characteristics.
Powerful Editor - The Atlas Editor is a feature-complete tool used to design the 0 A.D. World. Atlas gives the end-user unprecedented power, the power to design, edit, and articulate every aspect of the game. Atlas allows you harness the full power of the game engine in every way imaginable.
Accurate History - All our content is validated by our History Department to ensure that it is true to source wherever possible (unless it negatively affects gameplay).
Citizen Soldiers - There will be no standard villager unit. Instead, regular infantry and cavalry have not only military capabilities, but also economic, making them substantially more versatile than in typical RTS games.
Unit Auto Upgrading - Citizen Soldiers will gain experience and automatically gain promotions. With each rank, they become stronger, and don a unique appearance.
Units on Structures - Some garrisoned units will be visible on the battlements of structures or the decks of ships, and capable of firing on opponents at range.
Realistic Ships - Ship gameplay will include a variety of new features, from a much larger scale, to ship capture, to sea rams, to a modular design that allows catapults to be stationed on the decks, and units to fire from the bows.
Excellent Moddability - Our aim is to make the game as data-driven as possible, and allow end-users to override that data, using custom independent mod packs, to have as much control over adding assets and editing existing content as our own scriptors. Savvy modders could potentially have all the necessary tools to program an entirely different game using our engine.
More Multiplayer modes - The host will have a wide variety of game types and features to tweak when creating a game session, permitting the kind of gameplay that he and his opponents most enjoy.
Seasons - Over time, the environment will cycle through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Combined with the scenario's climate, rain and snow will fall with varying severity. Trees blaze into Autumn red or the fresh greenness of Spring, flowers bloom, and denuded husks of trees smother in the snow of Winter.
Provinces and Territories - In some game types, the map is subdivided into Provinces that must be captured and annexed into a player's territory in order to reap their valuable resources and construct forward bases in these areas. If the host wishes, a player's starting Province can also be surrounded by attrition borders to reduce early rushes.
Real World Map Realism - Random Maps based upon geographical regions where the civilisations of the ancient world lived and 'died'. These will be generated with biome specific-to-location features that replicate (as best we have researched) the look and feel of the world as it existed 2,000 years ago. This provides for further player immersion into the game.

RTS Genre

You're probably thinking, "Why is someone creating another RTS game?" Since we converted the 0 A.D. project from an Age of Kings modification project to a complete stand-alone game, we have grappled with this same question. If it is just another clone, what is the point? Hasn't the RTS genre reached its pinnacle? Isn't it time to move on?

We are well aware of the issue of setting our project apart from being just 'another RTS clone' and are doing our best to define ourselves.

The genre itself is moving in a different direction since its redefinition a few years ago with the newly discovered capabilities of 3D. Some have headed towards RPG (Role Playing Games), some towards FPS (First Person Shooters), some towards TBS (Turn Based Strategy), and others towards RTT (Real Time Tactical).

Developers do not seem to be content to further the traditional RTS in the same vein as Age of Empires, Command & Conquer, Red alert, and Warcraft II. Though some are fleeing, we are going to stake a claim in the RTS genre. There is still much innovation to be made. This for us means:

Innovation (nowadays) is not “amazing 3D graphics” or “hundreds of units”. Those are now merely the standard by which an RTS is measured; a rite of passage. If that is all we can hope to attain, then it won't do us any good that the game is free; we would probably have to pay people to play it.

So we set out to create our own game … It is a large task, but I am confident that our team is up to it. Are we worried that the game will not be original enough? Yes, we are. But, we are doing our best to ensure that it will be a product worthy of being called a 'game' and not just a clone.

Heart and Soul of 0 A.D.

If you strip down the project to its very basic core we are left with a 'game'. It all boils down to a competitive activity, with a set of rules in which players are engaged in a challenge that provides entertainment and amusement. Players will also be rewarded by successfully surpassing the challenges set before them.

Competition can occur on two basic levels: Player vs. Player and Player vs. Computer.

The Player vs. Player aspect will make it very important for the game to have a set of identities (civilisations) that are both balanced and unique. This will provide a multiplayer experience.

Player vs. Computer will require us to have a deep and strategic understanding of our own game in order to provide a sufficient level of difficulty for the AI to simulate the actions and reactions of a human player. This will provide a single player experience.

The rules of the game are intended to offer players a wide variety of choices to make. The more choices we allow, the greater the depth of strategy we can offer. It is important that the variety of choices is vast enough to allow the player to choose from an array of actions - each having a unique set of repercussions. The rules of the game will also have a historical basis that will establish it as the historical RTS that it is.

Combat will be the focus of the competition. Economic and diplomatic actions will be used to forward militaristic actions. Every entity in the game will have a specific purpose and use. Much like in the game of chess, each piece on the board will have a specific role in the game. Also like chess, a player who 'thinks ahead' and can 'set up' an opponent will benefit from such actions.

This interactive/real-time contest should challenge the mind and avoid boring repetitive actions. Hopefully the player will view the following actions as fun:

A triumphant assault
Successfully repelling an attack
Creation of your base
Setting up your economy
Outwitting an opponent by using the correct tool for the job
Advancing your civilisation
A come-from-behind victory
Proper use of formations in a battle
Effective raiding
Acquiring territory
Recreation of history
Reversing histories outcome
Advancing a unit to a higher level of rank
Creating scenarios for others to play
Allying with another human player against a common enemy

When a player is given an obstacle to overcome and they accomplish their goal, they should be rewarded. It will be the reward that encourages them to continue playing. The more they play, the more parts of the game they will 'unlock'.