Kimball

Well I'm asking so I can do cool stuff like see-thru cloth materials and partial player color. I've never tried before so I wanted to make sure it was possible before I broke something.

Would I be able to use interpolated alphas (DXT5 - basically means alpha has grey areas which are partially colored) on objects or is that impossible?

Hello Matt, welcome to WFG! Good to hear from others in the industry. What sort of languages do you have experience with?

If you don't know C++ or javascript and you've never used Maya, Blender, Photoshop, GIMP, Abelton or Logic, there are two ways you can help us out: 1. Get the word out! Tell your friends, post about us on other forums and help 0 A.D. become a known entity. 2. Once Atlas is reasonably functional (with triggers and the like), practice using it until you've mastered the basic functions of map-making and trigger use, then apply as a member of the campaign team. We'll consider your application then. Edit: There's always the third option of learning one of the other trades in the mean time. Depending on your interests, it can be very rewarding.

Whoa, that tower looks pretty sharp! Looking for a job?

I agree with Philip - GTA would be dull without all of the brand mockery. Racing games like Need For Speed and Midnight Club (also a Rockstar game) have used such ingame advertisement to increase their profits. I was genuinely surprised when I first drove through Midnight Club's Los Angeles to find Best Buys, fast food joints, popular local eateries, and even real LA radio stations on the billboards. It's only a matter of time before this becomes more widespread. Just so long as we preserve the industry's dignity and keep it out of the history games.

Boulder is actually my number one choice right now. I was accepted to USC for the Spring, but I figure it's not worth it to either take the first semester off and maybe add another year to my college experience, or to go to another school and transfer halfway through. They also offered me the option to transfer after just two semesters instead of four like everyone else, so hopefully I'll be able to spend sophomore year at USC. Both great academic/football/party schools, and if things go as planned, I'll get both sides of the public/private school spectrum. @Cobra For ROTC, consider an engineering degree , or if science isn't your thing, go for communications or international relations. That's a recommendation straight from COL Anderson, the commandant of the San Diego ROTC program (covers every school from SDSU to UCSD to USD).

Hehe, of course. I intend on majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. I've also considered minoring in something creative, like music or something to do with game development. I won't really know until August though.

USMC ROTC: United States Marine Corps Reserve Officer's Training Corps. Basically a shot at an officer's commission in the service via the ROTC program while in college. I graduate high school in 18 days, and I have my option of University of Arizona, University of the Pacific, Arizona State University or University of Colorado at Boulder. Which would you choose?

Well, welcome to the forums (again)! If I may ask, what are you majoring in that got you into the "Intro to Game Design" course? Any chance you could grant us some insight into that short web series you spoke of?

Sounds like an interesting idea, and it does have its merits. Features like that will be best suited for consideration and inclusion once we get a foothold on testing the gameplay and balancing the factions. How would overpopulation be accounted for then? Would the number simply run over and prevent the player from training new units until additional housing units are constructed or the units die off? Would there be some sort of penalty for having more bodies than places to sleep? You also mentioned that military structures would remain under enemy control. What exactly would constitute as control over a territory. Being that there are enemy structures here, I assume that this territory was under enemy control, so would the destruction of non-economic buildings (houses, mills etc.) be necessary to exercise proper control over that territory? How would temples and other non-threatening, but also non-economic buildings (Government/Special buildings) be handled?

I gotta say, I think the two projects in the Mod section are slightly over-ambitious. Though I do love that people are passionate about creating mods for 0 A.D., and I do wholeheartedly support their efforts, an aspect of realistic expectations needs to be accounted for when designing a mod. Faction creation isn't nearly as tedious as it was in Age of Mythology (AoM), but it does require more effort than it did in games like AoE and RTW. In those games, most units used existing models (in some cases out of necessity) and many shared the same low-resolution textures. Modding in 0 A.D. is streamlined in that you will be able to make efficient use of existing resources (such as base models for human units), and we made sure not to limit the designer in his capabilities. Recognize, though, that it does share some aspects of the complexity of a mod developed for AoM, in that each unit has its own texture and that your mod may require some additional 3D work depending on just how accurate you want your faction to be. Adding factions is one thing, but changing the era for the environment and developing a whole new set of factions (ie. Colonial A.D.) will require nearly as much work as it took to make the game itself, especially if the developer chooses to pursue accurate representations of some of the weapons found in that time period as opposed to simple developer's trickery (for example, including unique projectiles in the animation to circumvent the implementation of new flight path parameters). Each has its disadvantages, and I need not advocate one way or another, but it is something that you'll need to consider when outlining your mod idea.

Heh, don't worry about it. Your English is good enough to the point that I hadn't noticed that you weren't a native speaker until you mentioned it! Just as a suggestion, I'd open a new thread once you get a list of units for your factions together. No use in letting it get lost in here!

Well, a list of civilizations you intend to include is clearly less helpful than even the most rudimentary of outlines. I definitely recognize that you need an in depth design document to get started, as I suggested.

Well you've certainly shown in the last few weeks your dedication to research. What's the harm in forming a DD of your own and building a team around your idea? Though the game is far from complete, it is already receptive of mod folders and it's built to accept additional assets. Since the development of artistic assets doesn't require the game to be finished, if you're truly passionate about your idea, I would highly recommend getting a group together.

1. As you said, it will not be from any other civilizations. As the Greeks, you will not be able to recruit Persians to support you. The recruiting will be from related Hellenic tribes that are logically and historically affiliated with the Greeks. 2. Certain units and buildings can only be constructed when certain stages of your city's development have been attained. As you may have read in the DD, the game consists of three stages of settlement development: Village, Town and City. Specific units will only be available to those settlements that have developed enough to logically sustain their training.

@ UberSauce We've taken careful preventative measures to ensure that we have not prejudiced or insulted any beliefs system by implementing any representation of religious figures. Though your idea may sound like an excellent sequel to the original game, it may be better suited for a modding team to undertake to avoid any allegations against our efforts. Consider that even recently (2 weeks ago), Muslims have attacked the creators of South Park for portraying "Muhammad", who was shown wearing a full-body bear suit and proper precautions were taken to ensure that it never actually disrespected the figure while poking fun at the media's inability to portray him without retributions. Unreasonable? Most definitely. But we as a team would prefer to remain without any political or religious affiliation as to not alienate any fans or potential contributors.

I wholeheartedly agree with the author. Well said, too. In regards to PC gaming affected by piracy, consider that the 1% loss in sales is vastly outweighed by the insurmountable marketing benefits provided by simply getting the product in the hands of a potential future customer. If your product was worth pirating, careful measures to prevent piracy in subsequent titles may produce a noticeable increase in sales, now having created fans that would have otherwise never experienced your original title had they not resorted to piracy. I won't pretend to pull numbers out of my @#$%, but I can say that reluctant permission on behalf of the developers for pirates to illegally distribute their game can be beneficial if there are plans for sequels. Conversely, consider that it would take a criminally insane person to tell their boss that they should subtly promote the efforts of the gamers who are convicted of stripping them of their profits for the eventual possibility of increased sales for succeeding releases. Though I am quite skeptical of the suggestion that this tool will ever be used by any development organization, I think the potential should at least be recognized and accounted for when considering the prospect of implementing tools and limitations that only serve to decrease the number of customers, pirates or legitimate paying customers. Realize that these pirates are enthusiasts of your work regardless of their contribution to your wallet, or lack thereof. DRM just serves to demonstrate the industry's ignorance of the true benefits of piracy. Controlling your customer base with restrictive and frequent authentication only limits the potential for publicity and enjoyment. Are games not developed for the enjoyment of the player? If they truly serve as a mere source of income for the developers, game development may not have been the best career choice. If games are advancing to an age where profit is further intrinsic than the opinion of the gamer, commercial game development may have finally sold out, as the rock industry has in the last two decades. Indie games, specifically those released in open source environments, may be the last sincere branch of the industry. There are few benefits of development of a game which yields no monetary gain aside from the opinions and contributions of the fans. Games like 0 A.D. are genuinely developed for the players, intricately constructed in the free time of those who continually express their passion for games.

Interesting idea. For the three, I wouldn't see anyone choosing the expeditionary force over direct reinforcements. You'd be best off having two packages of different units to cater to your needs (ie. one group of infantry/cavalry or a group of siege+hero). I don't like the thought of integrating AoE3's trading post system. I much preferred AoM's method of trade: sending caravans from one market to another, given that the market on the receiving end is owned by you or an ally. Instead of sending actual units though, perhaps just creating a trade line between two markets would automatically send your merchants on their way unless you specifically pull them away from it. This system would also better support your "looting" idea.

Being that there would be no means of international communication, as Blade pointed out, this post-apocalyptic union would be vastly limited to the immediate region. In most cases, there would be no desire to venture off into a land where you could potentially need to kill another "tribe" because it wouldn't take long to recognize that the entire world had been @#$%ed on this one. Keep in mind, the average modern day citizen knows very little about the wilderness and survival apart from the hours spent in front of the Discovery Channel. Perhaps a few centuries down the line, if we somehow manage to overcome the radiation, we may eventually be civilized to contact other people, find a reason to kill them and follow through with war.

Although your concept sounds cool, there seems to be one minor issue with your idea. I honestly don't see us waging international war in a post-apocalyptic situation. Those that survived would be far too devastated by the experience going from the information age to the bronze age to have any desire to kill people. I'd envision the world somehow banding together over a matter of years and attempting to restart civilization. But seriously, I would play this mod.

Hey, our tweets are going to be archived in the Library of Congress you know.

Hehe, whatever works man. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you can find!

Hey Mark! Welcome to the community! Unfortunately, there is no official team spot for testing the game out. We may employ a small group of private beta testers in the future to help us polish the game before we make an official beta release, but that may not be for as much as a year from now. One of our goals of releasing the game as open source was to make the game and code available to the public. This enables the community to help us test for bugs and errors. As such, we wholeheartedly welcome you to the community and encourage you to submit any errors you find in the game. You have the option of Trac or right here in the forum. I must warn you that the game will likely be a hassle on Windows 7 in the current revision. We haven't had an opportunity to debug the game on 7 yet, but we will. All in due time. So for now, feel free to browse the forum, hang out with the community and find the little things that we may have missed!

If you find you're unable to directly contribute to the game, you're always more than welcome to help us promote the game. More interest in the game means more contributors and the possibility of an earlier release date! I'd encourage you to visit our Get Involved page and scroll down to the giant bold header that reads, "I'd like to help, but I don't know how to develop games!" There, we provide you with the information you'll need to help us market the game. You could also print out flyers to hand out, or simply tell your friends about the game. Any way that you can get the word out about our game is helpful.