0 A.D. News

WorksWithU Features 0 A.D. Pre-Alpha 3

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:48:12 -0400

Christopher Tozzi from WorksWithU, a website which describes itself as "the ultimate guide to Ubuntu Linux", has reviewed 0 A.D. Pre-Alpha 3:

All in all, the game is shaping up impressively. The art is great, the gameplay looks promising and the commitment to historical accuracy is always a big plus from my perspective. I�m very excited to continue following development and looking forward to the first fully playable release.

(Reminder: Tozzi also interviewed 0 A.D. project lead, Erik, a while back).

Thanks, Chris!

Programming Applications & Chicken Brains

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:55:14 -0400

First, a small change of policy: Up until now we welcomed application forms for all sorts of volunteer roles in Wildfire Games, spanning everything from 3d animation to AI programming. The application system seems to be working well for graphics, sound etc., but not so much with programming, because we want to see programmers make good contributions to the 0 A.D. codebase before we can conduct any interviews with them. Candidates would apply, and then we would send them to the open tasks, and then the whole application would sort of lose momentum.

So from now on, if you're a programmer and you want to contribute to 0 A.D., just get your feet wet and get started. We don't want to hinder your progress with any applications. If you do a good job over time, you'll get inducted to the team anyway. All the relevant pages have been updated. Let's hope this improves things from now on!

Next, in other news, our gifted programmer Philip has implemented a chicken brain in 0 A.D. and chickens can now run away from their attackers. Some say they are now impossible to catch. Check out the Unit AI thread for more info.

The Joystiq Indie Pitch Features 0 A.D.

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:45:35 -0400

Justin McElroy, the Joystiq reviews editor, was kind enough to give us a feature on his indie game column, The Joytiq Indie Pitch.

Why did you want to make games?
[... P]eople are spending more money, time and attention on playing computer games than ever before, and games are constantly evolving into a more nuanced medium of expression and a greater part of our culture. We think this culture should allow gamers to learn how their games work, change them, share them and redistribute their works. This freedom to tinker is what Free, Open-Source Software (FOSS) is all about and so we hope a lot of people tinker with 0 A.D. [...]

What one thing would you tell someone to convince them to get your game?
0 A.D. is open-source, free software with cross-platform multiplayer capabilities. So you will always be able to download it from the internet for free, share it with your friends, and play with them online, even if they run Linux and you don't.

Read the whole thing.

0 A.D. Pre Alpha 3 Released

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 03:59:14 -0400

Wildfire Games proudly announces the release of a third pre-alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. Like previous releases, it's not a playable release yet, but slowly yet surely we're getting there, so as one longtime developer remarked, "it's feeling more like a proper game than I can ever remember," if only because now you can play 0 A.D. over a network with your friends!

This release includes multiplayer support, improved GUI, improved pathfinding and more.

Easy Download and Install
Download and installation instructions are available for Windows, OS X and Linux.

Play With Your Friends
This is the first version of 0 A.D. in a long time that has multiplayer capabilities. We tested them this Saturday (July 10th, 2010) in an international multiplayer game with five participants from the US, the UK, Sweden and Israel, and it worked pretty much without a hitch.

You're invited to recreate the same experience with our special map designed for multiplayer, "techdemo-mp". All you need is an IP address and maybe to know your way around a router or a firewall. If you run into any crashes or major bugs, you're invited to report them in the multiplayer thread at the 0 A.D. development forum so we can fix the game in later versions.

New Features
To recap, some of the changes since the last pre-alpha include:

Added multiplayer support.
GUI: Redesigned session GUI; Redesigned game setup GUI; Changed GUI fonts; Improved text rendering performance; Added fullscreen toggle; Added resizable windows; Added session GUI when playtesting inside the scenario editor; Added on-screen warning/error display.
Pathfinding: Added terrain passability constraints; Added terrain movement costs; Added floating units.
Bug fixes: Fixed animation speeds; Fixed projectile synchronisation; Fixed rendering bugs; Fixed gameplay bugs; Fixed CPU detection; Fixed GUI text input bugs.
Added ambient sounds.
Added hotloading of actor XML files.
Improved shadow rendering.
Various other changes and bug fixes and optimizations - see the SVN log.

An overview of the gameplay feature status is on our wiki. There is still a lot of work to be done, though: Check out our planned feature list for the alpha version if you're interested. If you want to be part of this effort too, you're welcome to get involved!

Long Time, No Siege
Wildfire Games will continue releasing new versions of 0 A.D. periodically. Watch our news feed to keep updated, or follow us by e-mail, RSS, Facebook or Twitter. And you're always welcome to join the 0 A.D. community on our forums.

New Strategy Game from Ex-Age Of Empires Devs

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:27:46 -0400

Gaming website Kotaku has revealed that an Ensemble Studios incarnate named Robot Entertainment is working on a strategy game codenamed Spartan, that is similar to Age of Empires.

Kotaku says that the game may share a lot with the AoE core gameplay, with maybe some RPG elements and a visual change in direction.

Personally I gather these changes to gameplay and graphics are meant to make RTS more accessible to casual gamers. It would agree with the reason Ensemble Studios was dissolved in the first place and with recent trends in the game industry. Do you agree? What do you predict Spartan will be like?

OS game competition and how a Roman shipwreck helps neutrino research

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:47:19 -0400

Two small news items from today:

First, 0 A.D. has been nominated in an OS indie game contest called "The Digital Man" organized by WorldKi, a software company that provides a cross-platform marketplace for indie games. We're not sure 0 A.D. actually qualifies (criteria include "must be complete and playable", which 0 A.D. is not) but we appreciate the nomination and the attention anyway. Thanks!

Next, lead ingots carried by a Roman ship sunk in 50 BC will be used to study the decay of neutrinos. They are special because they have nearly no radioactive lead anymore, and that is important to build shieldings meant to prevent contamination of neutrino experiments. So the ingots "will now be stripped of their historically interesting manufacturers' names, cleaned of any incrustations and then melted to provide a shield" for a neutrino test, (though I'll bet the ingots were well documented before melting). (via kottke.org)