User ranks/titles suggestions

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:09:10 +0000

As you may have noticed there are custom titles displayed above the avatars in the forum. They are based on the post count and can be changed to whatever we want them to be. Currently they include things like "Community Drunk" and "Community Addict", but we would like to change them into something better, preferably to do with the ancient world. This is where you come in, please add your suggestions to this thread

Currently there are 15 ranks, ranging from no posts to impossibly many, and we can add more, so there's room for plenty of suggestions. Anything related to the Ancient world, and is not a bad thing to have displayed in your profile goes

Please vote for 0 A.D. on Sourceforge Project of the Month!

Mon, 21 May 2012 19:19:51 +0000

If you have a Twitter account, please consider voting for 0 A.D. as Sourceforge's project of the month for June 2012.

Just a few hours left.

This way we can attract even more new developers and make faster progress!

http://twtpoll.com/03i0fe

Thanks in advance!

The 0 A.D. team

New Release: 0 A.D. Alpha 10 Jhelum

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:05:14 +0000

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, proudly announces the release of "0 A.D. Alpha 10 Jhelum", the tenth alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. This alpha features Hellenic factions such as Athens, Macedonia and Sparta; technologies, civilization phases, click-and-drag walls, healing 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. You can redistribute it and modify it 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:

New Hellenic Factions: Athenians, Macedonians and Spartans will now replace the generic Hellenic faction. Each features some unique characteristics along with shared Hellenic units and buildings:
- Receiving significant naval bonuses, the Athenians are the rulers of the waves. Special Buildings: Gymnaseion, Prytaneion ("Council Chamber") and Theatron.
- Macedonians have a wide selection of units and siege engines, for a combined arms approach. Special buildings (in planning): Lighthouse and library.
- The Spartans can't build stone walls, but as their soldiers are top-notch, their men serve as their walls instead. Special Building: Syssiton ("Military Mess Hall").
(Also, along the same lines, we have decided to include more factions in 0 A.D., beginning with the Mauryan Indians! Read on to find out how you can help.)
Basic Technologies: Technologies, or techs, are economic or military bonuses that can be "researched" (bought) for resources at designated buildings. In 0 A.D., technologies come in mutually exclusive pairs: Within each pair, you can either research one tech or the other, but not both in the same game. As researching some technologies depends on having researched others, one should plan ahead carefully. (Importantly, for the meantime, all factions share an identical tech tree, but over the next few releases, different factions will get different tech trees, adding complexity and interest to the game.)
Civilization Phases: Start in Village, upgrade to Town, then to City. Unlock new techs and expand your territory with each upgrade.
Click-and-drag wall building functionality. (Support for gates is due in a future release.)
Healing units from their battle wounds is now possible by a priest conducting a ceremony with special chants within range. Priests can be trained at the Temple.
The Iberians get a pre-built walled settlement as a bonus every game.

Graphics improvements:

New Models/Artwork:
- Roman Siege Walls, Prytaneion, Roman Merchant Ship;
- Iberian Special Building, Temple and Fortress; Remodeled Iberian Civ Center
- Remodeled Hellenic barracks and market
- Updated/Remodeled all walls
- New hand-drawn Greek unit portraits
Prettier unit/building selection rings
Refactored rendering engine, supports the new specular effect.
New graphics options: Ability to disable particles and unit silhouettes in game, which gives small boost to game's FPS if needed (Thanks, rouge-spectre and mk12)

From top left: 1. Specularity; 2. Celtic walls and revamped selection rings; 3,4. "Drag" (3) and "drop" (4) to build all types of walls, including Roman siege walls pictured. All works CC BY SA Wildfire Games.

9+ New maps, including: Acropolis 5, Laconia 1, and Punjab 3 (scenario maps) and Deep Forest (a random map).
New music tracks: "In the Shadow of Olympus" (Hellenic) and a generic victory track.

0 A.D. Soundtrack by Omri Lahav[/url]

Please contribute! (REPORTERS/BLOGGERS, PLEASE MENTION THIS! We need your help to finish the game. Thanks.)

We are especially seeking contributors in sound contribution management and in documentation, and, as always, in programming, art, sound, taking YouTube videos and more. These roles on the 0 A.D. development team are great if you want to brush up on your skills and update your portfolio, if you're seeking a project for school with real-life applications, or if you care about the cause of free culture and software and are willing to work pro bono with a group of dedicated volunteers from all over the world.

Specifically, we invite contributors to guide us in ancient Indian history and architecture as we collaboratively design the Mauryan Indian faction in 0 A.D.

Interested? Please register on our forums and start participating! (If you are applying for a role on the team, we request you start a thread in the applications and contributions forum following these instructions. Thanks!)

Why "Jhelum"?

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, ...).

"Jhelum" is the Indian name for the Hydaspes River in the Punjab region, and the site of a major battle between Alexander the Great against King Porus of the Hindu Paurava kingdom in 326 BC, located in modern-day Pakistan. Alexander victored, but at a heavy cost, and the bravery, war skills and princely attitude of Porus so impressed Alexander, he allowed him to rule Hydaspes in Alexander's name.

In honor of the decision to include Mauryan Indians in 0 A.D., we decided to dub Alpha 10 "Jhelum". (Thanks for the name idea, zaphzaph!) The setting for the battle of Jhelum is represented in the "Punjab 3" map included with Alpha 10. For the meantime, Persians replace the Mauryan Indians on this map, but this will be corrected as we include the Mauryans in 0 A.D. within the next few alphas.

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

Long Time, No Siege

Wildfire Games will keep releasing new versions of 0 A.D. from time to time. Watch our news feed to get updates, 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.

Contact info for press, bloggers, etc.: aviv@wildfireHYDASPESgames.com without the Greek name of this alpha version written in all caps.

Want to help out? Two new positions open!

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:12:13 +0000

While we wrap up things to be able to release Alpha 10 we want to highlight a few new open positions where you can help out. Read on to see if you have the relevant skills, if so follow the instructions below the job descriptions on how to apply.

Sound Lead
You should have

A solid understanding of sound creation/editing so you can guide other contributors, and edit sound clips yourself. Preferably documented.
Previous game development experience is a huge plus
Any teamwork experience, especially in a leading position, is advantageous

Other tasks may include

Keeping documentation up-to-date
Putting the sounds into the game via XML editing
Interacting with the programmers to make sure that sound is implemented in a way that makes the most sense.

You are most encouraged to make original sound contributions of your own to 0 A.D., and that is, of course, a huge plus.

Documentation manager
One or two volunteer contributors to oversee maintainance of user & developer documentation on the Trac system.
We're looking for someone with:

Very good written English skills are needed
Very good expression skills are also needed
Technical knowledge is a plus
Previous experience with documentation of open source or other software is also a big advantage

Familiarity with the game is not a big issue and can be learned as you go along, though is of course an advantage if you have it. Please provide expository writing examples.

To apply go to the application thread in our forums and follow the instructions there. Looking forward to working with you

Forum Upgrade Complete

Sat, 12 May 2012 22:56:44 +0000

We've completed another forum upgrade, and we hope you like it! This release didn't come without issues. There are two known issues at this time:

The Pledgie and Paypal badges are missing. They will be added back in soon.
Avatar images may have been changed. If your avatar's been modified, feel free to change it back by going into your profile settings.

If you have any issues or feedback, drop by our upgrade feedback thread.

Forum Upgrade Today

Sat, 12 May 2012 17:44:32 +0000

Later today, Wildfire Games will be performing an upgrade to it's forum software. The upgrade will start around 7pm GMT. During this time, the forum will be unavailable. The wiki, Trac, and all of our other applications will still be running normally. We expect for the upgrade to take only a few hours. If you spot any issues after the upgrade, feel free to stop on by and file a ticket.

Thanks, everyone, for being patient!

0 A.D. News