0 A.D. News

Erik Johansson Steps Down from Project Leadership, Michael D. Hafer Assumes Role

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:55:56 +0000

Erik Johansson ("feneur") has announced he will step down from managing the development of the free, open-source game 0 A.D., citing his wish to focus on his writing and other hobbies. Johansson, 27 from Sweden, has been the project lead since 2008, and the team thanks him for his sustained leadership of the project. Back in '08, 0 A.D. was a small, proprietary freeware project, but under Erik's watch, the project has gone open-source and developed tremendously to a global community with thousands of fans and supporters. Erik has emphasized that he wishes to remain on the team, and he will continue to assist with certain administrative tasks, including serving on the Treasury Committee, a committee of contributors who make financial decisions for the project.

Longtime 0 A.D. contributor Michael D. Hafer ("Mythos_Ruler") has agreed to take over leadership of the project pending the success of a crowdfunding campaign, tentatively set for May and June 2013, which he will plan and carry out. If the campaign succeeds, Hafer will work in a full-time capacity for one to two years from his home in Indiana, USA to promote all aspects of development of 0 A.D.

Starting from now, Michael will be replacing Erik on the Design Committee, which decides which features will be included in the 0 A.D. software. He will still answer to the Treasury Committee for all decisions concerning raising and disbursing project funds. If the crowdfunding campaign succeeds, the Treasury Committee will pay Michael's salary according to the terms of a pending contract.

Current committee members are:

Design committee: Enrique, Michael ("Mythos_Ruler") and Jonathan ("quantumstate").
Treasury committee: Erik ("feneur"), Kieran ("k776") and Aviv ("Jeru").

Edit (April 5, 2013): The new project liaison to SPI is Aviv Sharon ("Jeru").

We invite contributors to advise our upcoming crowdsourcing campaign and help with related tasks. If you are interested, please let us know on our forums or on our contact form. Thanks!

New Release: 0 A.D. Alpha 13 Magadha

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 05:12:31 +0000

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, proudly announces the release of "0 A.D. Alpha 13 Magadha", the thirteenth alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. This alpha features the Mauryan Indians, AI improvements, six new songs and more!

Easy Download and Install

Download and installation instructions are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. 0 A.D. is free of charge and always will be. Although you might find some people selling copies of 0 A.D., either over the internet or on physical media, you will always have the option to download 0 A.D. completely gratis, directly from the developers.

Moreover, you can redistribute the game and modify it freely as long as you abide by the GPL. You can even use parts of the art and sound for your own projects as long as you abide by CC BY-SA. No "freemium" model, no in-game advertising, no catch.

Top New Gameplay Features in This Release

All-new and unique Mauryan Indian civilization, including new units, from war elephants to Brahmin priests; and new buildings, reflecting this culture's original architectural style. (See screenshot below.)
The default AI, Aegis bot, has been greatly improved, be it at defending, attacking, or building a strong economy. It now supports researching technologies and should work much more reliably than most other AIs before. (Known problem: Aegis now has some issues with saved games. Sorry, we hope to fix this in A14.)
Aegis can now play at several different difficulty levels, so beginners can easily learn to play, and more experienced players can get more of a challenge.
Attack/move command: If you select units and then Ctrl + right-click on a location, they will go to the location, but also stop to attack enemies they meet along the way.

Graphics and User Interface Improvements

Helpful messages appear when a building can't be placed somewhere. (See screenshots below.)
When you select a place to build a building, the building preview always shows the precise final variation that will be built.
When some buildings are built, they now rise from the ground, and some also have lifelike scaffolds surrounding them.
Tribute stats added to the summary screen.
Players are notified when any tributes are given to them.

Music and Sound

New Celtic songs: "Cisalpine Gaul" and "Celtica" (the latter featuring Jeff Willet's percussion),
New Hellenic song: "The Hellespont" (also featuring Jeff),
Combat music featuring taiko drums "First Sighting" and "Elusive Predator" by Jeff.
First Mauryan song: "Land Between the Two Seas."
New and improved animal sounds for lions, tigers and bears.

Development Updates and Miscellaneous Features

User mod support: See our modding guide to learn how to create your own mods for 0 A.D.
The new Javascript Debugger supports the basic features of debuggers (breakpoints, continue, step calls...), and allows 0 A.D. developers and modders to debug Javascript scripts used by the game, saving a lot of time to understand some unexpected behavior or issue. 0 A.D. uses Javascript in many different areas like gameplay logic, UI, AI and random map scripts. Thanks to mmayfield45 for contributing the web GUI. (See screenshot below, and the documentation wiki for more details.)
Improved OS X build process, without need for MacPorts or Homebrew.

Getting Support

Please see the "Get Support" page on our website to find ways to get help from the active and friendly 0 A.D. community.

We are well aware there is some room for improvement in 0 A.D. Some known issues are: Lag, visual glitches or textures not loaded, missing animations and more. When you provide feedback, we would ask you to focus on some of the other points that could be improved. Thanks.

Please Contribute!

We are seeking volunteer contributors in programming, art, sound, documentation and more. Programmers are especially welcome and can get started immediately.

Interested? Log onto #0ad-dev on QuakeNet on IRC and meet the developers. Also, you are invited to register on our forums and start participating!

Why "Magadha"?

We name our releases according to development status ("Alpha" or "Beta"), successive release number (1, 2, 3, ...) and a word relating to the ancient world, in alphabetical order ("Argonaut" for A, "Bellerophon" for B, ...).

Magadha was an ancient kingdom in northern India from which the Mauryan empire originated. The empire was founded by exiled general Chandragupta Maurya, who overthrew the reigning king of Magadha and went on to conquer most of the Indian subcontinent, as well as parts of Persia and Central Asia. Years later, the third monarch of the dynasty, Ashoka, would become famous for renouncing all violence, converting to Buddhism, and spreading the faith throughout the empire. Ashoka is also remembered as one of the most exemplary rulers in world history for his advanced social and animal welfare programs.

Magadha also happens to be the birthplace of Jainism and Buddhism, two of India's historically significant religions. These religions' shared belief in rebirth and karmic retribution most likely derives from the culture of Magadha in the last five centuries BC. In honor of the release of the Mauryan Indian faction, we have decided to dub Alpha 13 "Magadha".

For the next alpha, we welcome fan suggestions for words relating to the ancient world beginning with the letter N. Keep it original and related to the time frame portrayed in 0 A.D. (appx. 500 BC - 1 BC)!

Subscribe to 0 A.D. Development News

Contact info for press, bloggers, etc.: aviv@wildfireORACLEgames.com without the capitalized name of an ancient priest or priestess whom people would consult for advice or predictions of the future.

Featured Contributor: Pureon

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:57:01 +0000

It’s time again to take a closer look at one of the contributors to 0 A.D. This time we’ve chosen to feature Pureon, one of the most versatile contributors we have, but I’ll let him elaborate on that below. Let’s just say that it was an easy decision to feature him, and that we are very grateful that he’s part of the Wildfire Games team and community.

Tell us a bit about yourself

Prior to joining the 0 A.D. team I participated in online community projects for games such as AOE3 and Supreme Commander, however my experience of RTS games started with the classics AOE1 and Total Annihilation. My enthusiasm for creating user generated content for the early generation of RTS games helped define what degree I studied at university and therefore my current employment in the creative industry.

Some AoE3 units I created in 2006:

A couple of Supreme Commander units from 2009:

What have you found most interesting about contributing to 0 A.D.?

I first heard about 0 A.D. about 6 years ago, and at the time it looked good but no alpha releases were available to play or mod so it slipped my mind until 2010. That’s when I heard it had switched from closed development to opensource and had released a playable alpha. I was hooked. Why work on mods for commercial games when I can use my skills to shape a ‘real game’.
The variety of tasks I’ve been able to contribute to allows me to acquire new skills and keeps me motivated. Some of these tasks include 3D modeling, unit animations, map making, texturing units, designing the new website, managing the sound department, creating the trailer videos, and illustration (icons). Once triggers and a few other key features are implemented I’d really like to work on some scenarios for 0 A.D., just like I did for AoE 1,2 and 3.

Some random 0 A.D. stuff I’ve created:

Anything you want to add?

Some Nostalgia:

0 A.D. Development Report #11

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:53:40 +0000

0 A.D. Development Report #11

Wildfire Games, the international group of volunteers developing 0 A.D., are happy to present this week's 0 A.D. development report.
If you want to find out more about the development of this open-source, cross-platform real-time strategy game or if you are interested in game development in general, it might provide an interesting read.

If you want to be part of this project, we urge you to post your application in our forums. We are currently looking for Gameplay, AI, Sound and Graphics Programmers along with Animators and 3D & texture artists. You prefer to do something else than programming or drawing? Luckily for your portfolio we are also looking for a Sound Lead, Video Editors, a Documentation Manager and Scenario Designers. Still no luck? Head to our forums and join our active community!

!!! We are in need of (skilled) programmers. Are you one of them? Redirect yourself to this thread. Your contributions are crucial !!!

Feature of the Month: Building Construction

Programming & Art & Sound

Our one-man-orchestra, Omri Lahav has been busy lately, very busy. Not only has he finished a new track for the Celts, the Hellenes and Mauryans will also receive some new tracks very soon. As always, when a track is released you can check it out on Bandcamp.
historic_bruno added building previews that rise during construction (screenshot above) and a build script for OS X dependencies & bundles , making it easier for developers to work on 0 AD using OS X.
Aside from tens of bug fixes, historic_bruno also took care of textures not loading. Remember when you start a game and everything looks grey for some time? This should be a thing of the past now.
Pureon has committed the Mauryan headgear/faces and a siege onager. Long time, no siege! Currently he's tackling the Mauryan farmstead.
Enrique has been working on the Mauryan elephant units and the Mauryan Market.
Leper committed a lot of patches: player notification when receiving a tribute (by alpha123), template fixes (by qwertz/kosmo), tribute stats are added to the summary screen (by alpha123). He's also added user mod support and fixed a number of bigger and smaller bugs.
stwf has posted a patch with a rework of the sound manager. This is currently being tested and will hopefully be implemented soon.
Gen.Kenobi added normal, parallax and specular maps for all Mauryan buildings and ships.
Spahbod added a new random map, Kerala.
éminence grise Philip tinkered a bit with stats collecting (Windows 8 supported), he also fixed some static analysis warnings.
Battle detection was implemented by zoot! For example: when a battle is raging, the game will change the music from peaceful to battle music. This is only one example of the benefits of battle detection. More on this later.
ndragu committed a Mauryan warship.
Yves' Javascript debugger attracted the attention of mmayfield45, who created a web-GUI.
Mythos_Ruler committed a lot of balance changes.

See you in a couple of weeks with the latest development news!

0 A.D. Joins Software in the Public Interest, Can Receive Tax-Deductible Donations

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:49:55 +0000

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, has successfully applied to make 0 A.D. an associated project at an organization called Software in the Public Interest, Inc. (SPI).

SPI is a non-profit corporation based in the USA, that acts as a fiscal sponsor to many open source projects, including Debian, Drupal and LibreOffice. This means SPI can accept donations and hold funds for the development of these projects, sign contracts on behalf of the developers, provide legal advice when they might need it and more.

Importantly, if you live in the United States, you can donate to 0 A.D. through SPI and deduct it from your taxes. (Europeans can donate to SPI through a non-profit association based in Germany, named ffis e.V., which has partnered with SPI.)

Wildfire Games has been developing 0 A.D. as a standalone game since 2003. We are always looking for ways to improve the speed and quality of development. That’s why we have recently re-considered many aspects of how our project is run, including setting up new and better ways to get funds. This is the first step in this direction.

To be sure, this partnership does not change things from the perspectives of developers, artists, or users. 0 A.D. will remain a free, open-source project run by the community, and SPI will not intervene in our decisions. The only role that will change is that of the project lead, currently Erik Johansson (also known as feneur), who now has the extra responsibility as the project liaison to SPI. This means Erik is the only person authorized to tell SPI how we want to use funds that were earmarked for 0 A.D.

0 A.D. was accepted as an SPI Associated Project by the Board on December 13th, 2012. Through this cooperation, we hope to both strengthen 0 A.D. as a project, and propagate free, open-source software everywhere.

We welcome your donations through SPI ~~and will be phasing out the previous donation systems over the next few days.~~ Edit: After further deliberation, the existing donation systems will remain in place in parallel to the new system. However, donors are advised that their donations are only tax-deductible if transferred via SPI.

Donating to 0 A.D. via SPI (U.S. Dollars Only)

Please find full instructions for donation on the SPI donations page.

If you have a credit card, you can donate via Click & Pledge directly to 0 A.D.

Donating in Europe

If you wish to donate to 0 A.D. through a European bank account, to save international money transfer costs, this can be done through the German non-profit organization, ffis e.V., following these instructions.

Team Blog - Icon showcase

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 21:59:59 +0000

As some of you may have noticed, we've created some new structure and technology icons over the past few Alpha releases. Below we'll give you some insight on how these icons come to life.

The icons themselves are created at 128x128 pixels or larger, but must remain recognizable when scaled down to 40x40 pixels when used on the game's user interfaces. This need for scalability means the full size icons must have high contrast colours and sometimes include exaggerated shapes, otherwise they will fade and blur too much when scaled down.

A few of you have asked how I create icons, so above is an image showing how they can develop from a concept sketch to the finished icon. The handcart technology icon started as a very simple 3D model created in Blender, with texturing applied to a render of the model using Photoshop (GIMP can easily achieve the same result). The Military Engineers icon (above right) started out as a quick rough sketch on a piece of paper which was then scanned and then textured over using Photoshop.

Above are some of the new structure icons we've created over the past few months. Many of these are simply higher-definition versions of icons that have been in 0 A.D. for many years, while others are for new buildings or have been redesigned completely.

Technology icons such as those above could eventually appear in Tech/Structure trees. Here's a Structure Tree design concept:

Ideally this will evolve from a static design concept into an online interactive Structure Tree that updates itself whenever changes are made to 0 A.D.

Last but not least, here are some animal and special object icons:

I'm not very good at human faces, so some of you may recognize the couple in the above image from the 0 A.D. main menu illustration Another reason for showing these animal icons is because we still need around 40 or more icons for animals, and we need someone with good illustration skills to take on this task.

If you'd like to comment on any of these, or have any questions for me, please do so below.