Jeru

Hi Sigericius, Thanks for your post. We welcome any and all contributions to 0 A.D., solicited or not, from people with all skillsets. Extra proofreading and historical expertise can never hurt an ambitious project like 0 A.D. I am building a new website for 0 A.D. and would like you to have a look at it over the next weeks or months. Please contact me via e-mail if you're interested. And sorry about the gulf. It truly is a disaster.

We welcome all kinds of feedback, and thanks for participating in our forums, but I think hearing a more constructive, positive attitude from you could be great, Ephestion.

Ephestion, I was just trying to explain how Semitic languages designate vowels (answering your question, not arguing either side, though I am with Alandil and SMST). Also: False. Records were found even in modern-day Italy, not to mention modern-day Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Malta. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrgi_Tablets http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/89169108/De-Agostini http://tinyurl.com/o9q5o4

Arabic and Hebrew use consonants placeholding for vowels. So Vav/Waw (Hebrew/Arabic respectively) originally signified the V/W sound only (consonant), but with time, it took on an extra role. Depending on where it is in the word it could signify O or U (sort of hinting at a vowel). When the consonants serve in this second role, they're called matres lectonis, which is Latin for "Reading Mothers", though I have no idea what this has to do with dear mother. The "true" vowels, and some other pronunciation stuff, are designated with a system of markings above, below and even inside the letters. In Hebrew, this is called Niqqud and it's usually made of combinations of dots, mostly below the letters; In Arabic, these are dashes and similar shapes. I know that in Hebrew this was invented in medieval times so as to guide the reader in reading the scriptures without having to change the actual arrangement of the letters, which is considered divine and untouchable. In both languages these markings are mostly reserved for liturgical purposes, poetry and anything written for early readers and learners of Hebrew/Arabic as a foreign language. For everyday use we get along fine with matres lectonis; Niqqud is added very occasionally as a pronunciation guide, especially for new loanwords, or to help the reader distinguish between homographs. Otherwise the grammar of the Semitic language lends itself easily to wrtng almst wthout any vwls.

The tutorial campaign is just that - a tutorial. The main issue will be learning the mechanics of the game. The first scenario will start from pushing buttons on the UI and moving around units, and move on to collecting resources and building a small town. "Interesting" military strategies, in-depth historical details etc. are less important. It should be accessible to someone who has never played any RTS game in their life. So for tutorial campaigns, consider "rise of civilization" themes, not the sack of Rome or whatever. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Agree w/Philip. Also good to integrate a character arc. Very difficult to do without one protagonist.

Check out this awesome shout-out about 0 A.D. around 5:30-6:30 on The Linux Action Show. Thanks, Bryan and Chris! (via an anonymous user on our IRC channel).

Well if you like to keep these things private that's okay. I won't pry. In any case, you're very welcome to participate in any discussion you like and start your own! I am sure your unique experience means you have a lot of interesting things to contribute.

I agree, it is high time for a video, we are more than willing to accept help with that.

<a href="/0ad/images/news_images/pathfind-terrain3.jpg"><img src="/0ad/images/news_images/pathfind-terrain3-thumb.jpg" width="400" height="300"></a> Check out this new screenshot visualizing the improved pathfinding system, now featuring naval movement on water and land units wading through shallows. The spearman on the right has been told to walk over to the left. Red tiles (deep water, steep slopes and buildings) have to be avoided. The green/blue/grey tiles are the extent of the pathfinder's search, before it discovers that the path through the shallows (indicated by the white line/squares) is the quickest way to the target and it stops searching the overland route. Infantry move faster over road surfaces so he follows it down before cutting across the grass. The short red line is part of his route around the cavalry unit which is blocking the path's tiles. Meanwhile, the ship in the centre is following its own path (the other white line) through the water and across the shallows. Hats off to our programmer extraordinaire, Philip!

I'm great, thanks. Welcome to the Wildfire Games forums! Glad to have indie devs from all over the world. Can you tell more about your company? It must be hard developing indie RTS games.

Hi Dewaldt!

Sounds great. I would love there to be 0 A.D. fansite(s) and matchmaking services and I believe once the game reaches a certain level of playability and popularity they will come.

Good luck, Øyvind. (I really liked my statistics class.)

I'm not sure we're working on the Carthaginians, but if we are, "working on that faction" in this stage of development means 3d modeling and such, not determining unit stats and balancing.

Please give a heads up if you commit any interesting sounds or music. Should make for a great news post.

Hi Castelmagno, Thanks for your interest in 0 A.D.! This e-mail subscription may be what you're looking for. It's not exactly a monthly newsletter but from time to time you will get news updates about 0 A.D., exactly the same things we publish on the main page. I hope this is okay.

I did a year of calculus and a semester of statistics, but for now biology is one of the sciences that is least heavy on math. (That may change in coming years and decades, though, as computational approaches in biology turn out to be even more useful and popular). Otherwise, yep, lots of science. The first half of the degree is particularly heavy on chemistry and physics, and the rest is pretty much a wide variety of courses in biology, from biochemistry and genetics to development, evolution, ecology and much more. Overall a challenging but fascinating degree. Highly recommended for anyone who's as curious about living things as I am.

I am a sophomore in Biology at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. I will declare another major in Science Education this summer. Not working at the moment, no children planned. Just moving out of my parents' apartment.

Welcome to the forums!

Hats off to Alandil. You seem to know an awful lot about this topic. I learned a lot from your post.

At opensource.com, Travis Kepley outlines a brief history of commercial gaming on Linux (and how it's all about to change). He is very optimistic about games for Android (a Linux distro), about Steam for Linux and about projects like the Humble Indie Bundle. Do you agree? (Hat tip: Mahmoud Abdul Jawad)

Wildfire Games proudly announces the release of a second pre-alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. Although it's not a playable release yet, it includes a new pathfinding system, training queues, a dynamic minimap and more. This progress in gameplay, graphics, audio, and GUI brings us closer to the alpha version set in July. Easy to Download and Install Download and installation instructions are available for Windows, OS X and Linux. New Features To recap, some of the changes since the last pre-alpha include: Added new unit movement system, for precise pathfinding and obstacle avoidance. Added training queues in buildings. Added units to the minimap. Added initial audio integration with gameplay code. Gameplay fixes in projectile models and population bonuses. Graphics fixes in unit outline shapes and animation synchronisation. For modders and developers: Added automatic RNG validation of entity template XML files; Added documentation of entity template XML file format. Fixed compatibility bugs with Windows x64 and with OS X. Various other changes and bug fixes and optimisations - 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. If you want to be part of this effort too, you're welcome to get involved! Don't Be a Stranger 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.

It's a big day for OS games: Four indie games that composed most of the Humble Indie Bundle, Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, and Penumbra Overture, have gone open source, just like 0 A.D. did last summer. Lugaru has been released under the GPL v2 just like 0 A.D. No word yet about the exact licensing of the rest. Unlike 0 A.D., though, none of these games will be available gratis. Also, at least for Lugaru, only the code is free, but the sound and artwork remains proprietary. A big round of applause from us at Wildfire Games, anyway, for a noble move and a skillful PR campaign to boot. I admit I had not seen this coming and I hope it makes a big splash. What is it with indie games and free/OS software? Your comments are appreciated. (Hat tip: Philip)

Thanks, Scando, and welcome to the forums! Thanks to you I just e-mailed redferret a nice thank you and an offer to cooperate on more coverage of 0 A.D.