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Congratulations for the new version. It seems to be the result of a long and hard work. Thanks to anybody who has contributed. But I must admit that I am a bit disappointed about the new balancing: 1.) The game is much more boring without the strategical choose of tech development. 2.) Everything depends on wood now. For example all roman units do cost wood now even the guard units. So it does not make sense anymore to play on maps without much wood. 3.) Romans where weak in the early game state against civs with good ranged unites but became strong in the second and last phase. Now they are just weak in all phases. All in all I do appreciate the technical improvements very much, but the new balancing is a step backward in my opinion.

Hello everyone! As you may know, we're in the process of releasing the next alpha version of 0 A.D., Alpha XVII Quercus. Throughout several phases, we prepare the release to offer you a top quality, playable version with brand new features. For two weeks now, we've been in what we call the feature freeze. The idea is to stop adding new features, and focus on remaining bugs that could harm the players' experience. To spot bugs and fix them, we organized some Staff Multiplayer sessions the past weeks, but today, we'd like the entire community to lend us a hand and participate to this session! How to participate: This might be a bit tricky, but you'll have to install the development version of the game. You must follow the instructions that are given in this page: BuildInstructions. Windows users: you only have to follow these instructions, no need to compile the game and everything! Beware: This procedure is quite straightforward, but it can take much time, so prepare yourself in advance if you can... If you encounter problems, please post in this thread and we'll answer as soon as possible. We'll gather in the IRC channel #0ad (http://webchat.quakenet.org/?channels=0ad) at 18:00GMT. Go to this page to know which hour it will be in your local timezone. Objective: For this session, we must verify some memory issues have been fixed. So the idea will be to organize large games, 3v3 or even 4v4. Individualist players, you're warned! The principal objective is still to have fun together! We hope to see many of you tonight, to discover this preview and, hopefully, ensure we can release it really soon! Cheers

Would it be difficult to adopt such a pathfinder? Reading that report about Terrain Analysis from the ex-ES employee made me think that AoK pathfinding is quite decent. I'm going to continue the pathfinding discussion in the pathfinding thread though

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, proudly announces the release of "0 A.D. Alpha 12 Loucetios", the twelfth alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. This alpha features diplomacy, packing siege engines, super fancy water and more! Easy Download and InstallDownload 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. Please Vote for Us in the Indie of the Year 2012 Contest!If you care about 0 A.D., please vote for us in the second round of the Indie of the Year 2012 contest. Under “Upcoming games of 2012″, under “Real Time Strategy”, you need to click the word “VOTE” on the left of “0 A.D.” Voting continues until December 21st. Thanks in advance, from all of us in Wildfire Games. Top New Gameplay Features in This Release: Diplomacy: Determine if you and another human player are allies, enemies or neutral to each other, and change this relationship in mid-game as you see fit. If you downgrade the relationship, the change is automatically mutual (i.e., by turning someone into your enemy, you automatically become their enemy); But if you try to upgrade relations, as in forging an alliance, you need the other side to explicitly agree. (As of Alpha 12, AI players will not react to diplomacy changes at all. We hope to add this in the future.) (See screenshot below.)Packing Siege Engines: Certain siege engines need to be in a "packed" state to be moved from place to place, and in a stationary "unpacked" state to be able to fire. Moving a siege engine between these states is called "packing" and "unpacking", and takes time, during which the siege engine can neither move nor fire. (This is important for both realism and balance, as siege engines can inflict lots of damage.)Formation Order Queueing: Allows giving units several tasks to carry out in order, e.g.: (1) Build a house here, then (2) move near to the other player's territory, (3) build a army camp there and then (4) attack the fortress first and then (5) go straight for the civic center. All these orders can be given in one sequence by pressing "shift" and right-clicking the relevant parts of the map in order.Heroes are back, but now each player can have only up to one living hero at any time.Slaughter Attack: All domestic animals are killed with melee weapons, even by otherwise ranged units. This speeds up meat harvesting.Unit Training Hotkeys: If you select a building that can train units, and then hit "Z", it is as if you clicked the first unit training button on the left on the GUI; "X" for the second button from the left, "C" for the third, etc., up to the letter "M".New Match Setup Options: Choose the population cap and the amount of resources players will start out with.Five New Random Maps: Nomad, Syria, Corinthian Isthmus, Belgian Uplands, and English Channel. Graphics and User Interface Improvements:Improved Water Rendering: The new, "super-fancy" water includes the white foam of waves crashing onto the shore, it can be much wavier, and it casts surface and underwater shadows.Post-Processing Manager: Recent changes enable features such as distance fog, bloom and more. (See screenshots below. Top left is default. Effects on bottom right exaggerated for demonstration purposes.) No less importantly, the post-processing manager is extremely moddable, so from now on, developers can very easily add new visual effects to 0 A.D. using existing code from other projects. For an example, see the Bokeh Depth of Field effect shown below.Rubble appears when you destroy a building (see screenshots below).We have also added icons to the tooltips, instead of names of resources like "Food" and "Wood" and time units like "seconds" (see screenshot below). Music and Sound:New song: "Calm Before the Storm", meant to be played in menu screens. Recent changes to the audio improve the way music sounds, and ensure it is heard in stereo. Getting SupportPlease 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 "Loucetios"?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, ...). Loucetios was a Gallic god related to storms and lightning, that was identified with the Roman god of war, Mars. He is often found accompanied by the goddess Nemetona, as part of a divine couple. For the next alpha, we welcome fan suggestions for words relating to the ancient world beginning with the letter M. Keep it original and related to the time frame portrayed in 0 A.D. (appx. 500 BC - 1 BC)! Happy Holiday Season!Just for fun, we've made up this character, who is like Santa Claus, except he is skinnier, he wears thick glasses and has a penchant for hiding in large crowds. Can you find him in this winter-themed screenshot? Long Time, No SiegeWildfire 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@wildfireODYSSEYgames.com without the name of Homer's ancient Greek epic written in all caps.

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, proudly announces the release of "0 A.D. Alpha 15 Osiris", the fifteenth alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. This alpha features a multiplayer lobby, skirmish maps, auras and more! Easy Download and InstallDownload 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 Multiplayer Lobby: The new in-game multiplayer lobby is a place to meet other players and play games together. Meet the entire 0 A.D. community online and face the challenge of a multiplayer game!Auras: Units get a bonus when they are in range of a special building, like a wonder, or another unit, such as a hero. This feature adds a new layer of strategy to the game. So far, in Alpha 15, temples regenerate health for nearby units, and most heroes have auras. This feature is set for expansion and further refinement over the next few alphas.Debut of the Ptolemaic Egyptians: Alpha 15 debuts the Ptolemaic Egyptians as a new playable civilization. Some new buildings, units and unique gameplay features can already be tested, but it's not finished yet and still contains a lot of placeholders. The Ptolemies will be completed in the next alpha releases. A Ptolemaic Egyptian settlement along the Nile. Skirmish Maps: Skirmish maps are a new game mode in 0 A.D. They're similar to scenarios, but can be easily changed according to your preferences. Like scenarios, these are hand-crafted maps in which the terrain, starting positions and positions of resources on the map remain constant every game. However, unlike scenarios, other aspects can be changed every time you set up a game, like starting resources, factions and teams.Also, in skirmish maps the map creator also placed some generic entities on the map, which will change according to the factions players choose as soon as the game starts, such as generic Civil Centers that will immediately transform into Civil Centers specific to the faction chosen. Skirmish maps are another option available to the player, on top of scenarios and random maps. (Try the first skirmish map, "Alpine Valleys", bundled with Alpha 15!) The Alpine Valleys skirmish map. User InterfaceEscort / Guard Order: You can now order your troops to protect other units or buildings. When the guarded unit is attacked, whoever is guarding it will come to help, either by attacking the offender, or by healing or repairing the guarded unit.Attack Notification: Whenever you're attacked, you'll hear a sound and receive a chat message, and the minimap will shows some blinking pixels on the map so you can quickly see where the attack is happening.Auto-Garrison Units: When possible, you can ask your newly-produced units to garrison in the production building by setting the rally point in the building itself, using the Ctrl key.Automatic Naval Pickup: When units are asked to garrison into a ship, the ship will sail to the shoreline to pick them up."Back to Work" Button: The last civilian task a unit was doing (i.e., gathering, building, trading, ...) is remembered when ordering a unit to do some military task (i.e. attack, garrison, ...). After you're done defending yourself from an enemy attack, you can quickly send units back to their previous tasks using the back-to-work button. New tech icons. Music and SoundTwo special tracks have been composed for the Ptolemaic Egyptians: "Valley of the Nile" (feat. Shlomi Nogay on flutes and Jeff Willet on percussion) and "Ammon-Ra" (feat. Jeff Willet) (see YouTube videos below).A new generic peace track, "Tavern in the Mist", contributed by Mike Skalandunas."Celtica" and "Highland Mist" now feature an actual Celtic harp, played by Avital Rom."Eastern Dreams" and "Sands of Time" have been completely remade, and now feature Jeff Willet on percussion."Honor Bound" remixed and remastered.New selection sounds. GraphicsBetter Unit Movement in Formations: The units in formations run around less, and now know how to get to the closest available place in the formation. This way, the formation is formed faster, and the pathfinder doesn't have to compute long paths for big formations.New Asian elephant and tiger animations.Some new buildings were added to Brits and Gauls, complete with AO, normals and specularity.New terrain textures. Development Updates, Bug Fixes and Miscellaneous Features The new GUI design, modelled by the new Multiplayer Lobby. New GUI Design: Work on a new and improved user interface design has started a while ago. With Alpha 15 you can see it in action the first time! At the moment the new design is only used for the multiplayer lobby, but other menus will hopefully also benefit from the improvements in the future.Internationalization Work Started: For the next Alpha we intend to include a translation system, and work on such a system has already begun. Volunteers have begun translating 0 A.D. into dozens of languages. If you have the necessary skills to help localize 0 A.D., feel free to head over to the web-based translation platform Transifex!Multiplayer OOS Problems Fixed: Several causes of out-of-sync errors in multiplayer games have been fixed. These issues made multiplayer games with AI players nearly unplayable in Alpha 14 but should now be fixed.Increased Support for Multiplayer Hosting: If you were unable to host multiplayer games before because you couldn't manually setup port forwarding, now the game will try to automatically negotiate port forwarding with routers supporting UPnP. This should allow more people to host multiplayer games without connection issues.Some recent graphical changes make it possible to make particle jet trails and more realistic smoke in the future.Random map generation is now faster. Getting SupportPlease 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 "Osiris"?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, ...). Osiris was an ancient Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. In honor of the release of the Ptolemies, we have decided to dub Alpha 15 "Osiris". For the next alpha, we welcome fan suggestions for words relating to the ancient world beginning with the letter P. 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@wildfireNILEgames.com without the capitalized name of Egypt's most important river.

The Lobby database has been reset (there was a technical glitch that crashed the database software, and taking the database with it), so everyone will have to register again. We hope this doesn't cause too much trouble for our players, and will try to avoid it in the future (we do however wish to remind you that 0 A.D. is in development, and that we may reset it for developmental reasons in the future).

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, is raising $160,000 to support development of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. The announcement of the fundraiser coincides with the release of "0 A.D. Alpha 14 Naukratis", the fourteenth alpha version of 0 A.D. Easy Download and InstallDownload 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. Please Contribute to the 0 A.D. Fundraiser!We've been working on 0 A.D. as a free, open-source project for over 4 years now. We have made tremendous progress over the years. All of this was accomplished almost for free, depending almost entirely on volunteer work. 0 A.D. will always be 100% free, open-source, and without any in-game ads. We have established ourselves as a one-of-a-kind project, combining strategy gaming, the love of ancient history and a commitment to openness and freedom. But in order to complete the game soon, some of us will have to work on it as full-time contractors for the project. To support speedier development of 0 A.D., please help us raise $160,000 over the next 45 days.In exchange, you'll get some of our amazing perks, such as soundtrack CDs, posters, and even your face on a unit in the game! This is a limited-time offer, so act soon. For this fundraiser, your donations will be processed by one of the top crowdfunding websites, Indiegogo, and by the non-profit payments platform FirstGiving. Funds will be held for us by a US-based non-profit, Software in the Public Interest (SPI). SPI accepts donations and holds funds for many open source projects, including Debian, Drupal and LibreOffice, and also for 0 A.D. Importantly, SPI is a tax-exempt public charity described under section 501c3 of the US Internal Revenue Code. This means that for many US taxpayers, some or all of your donation towards this fundraiser may be tax-deductible. For details, please consult your tax advisor. If you enjoy playing 0 A.D. and believe that it matters, please help →Why "Naukratis"? Announcing the Ptolemies, the Seleucids and "0 A.D. – Empires Ascendant"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, ...). Naukratis (alternate spelling: "Naucratis") was a city in the Nile Delta of Lower Egypt, mainly inhabited by Greeks from the 6th century BC onwards. It also contained pottery that demonstrated the earliest known examples of the early Greek alphabet. Until the rise of Alexandria, Naukratis was the most important port city in Egypt. (Thanks, ImperiusDamian!) We chose "Naukratis" in honor of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, which we are proud to announce will be the eleventh faction in 0 A.D. Another Hellenistic state set to be included in 0 A.D. is the Seleucid Empire, which ruled the Near East after Alexander's empire fell apart. The Ptolemies and Seleucids are each set to be released in one of the next alphas, and they join the ten factions already portrayed in 0 A.D.: 3 Hellenic factions (Athens, Sparta, Macedonia), 2 Celtic factions (Britons and Gauls), Carthaginians, Iberians, Persians, Romans and Mauryan Indians. For the next alpha, we welcome fan suggestions for words relating to the ancient world beginning with the letter O. Keep it original and related to the time frame portrayed in 0 A.D. (appx. 500 BC - 1 BC)! The Ptolemies and the Seleucids probably conclude the set of factions we intend to make for the first edition of 0 A.D., covering the period between 500 B.C. and 1 B.C. We have decided to call this first edition "0 A.D. – Empires Ascendant". In future editions of the game, we hope to represent notable civilizations from 1 A.D. to 500 A.D. The list will not be finalized until the first edition has gone gold, but some possible civilizations include Late Rome, Imperial Rome or Eastern Rome, the Germanics, Vandals, Sarmatians, Saxons, Parthians, Huns, Dacians, and the Goths. Top New Gameplay Features in This ReleaseNow that we've got all the big announcements out of the way, let's review what's new in Alpha 14. Blacksmiths: A brand new building type for the game, complete with models for all factions. Researches attack and armor upgrades. Infinite farms: A farm will now keep yielding food until the end of the match, without need to rebuild it, but with diminishing returns. Only up to 5 gatherers can work on each farm. (Veteran players will notice that more space is now required to produce the same amount of food.) Exponential armor and realistic health: Technologies now have the same effect on all units. Also, changes to the way units' health is calculated in the game allowed us to correct some unrealistic phenomena, like archer damage to buildings. Allies can now garrison in each other's buildings. Shared trade gain with allies: When you trade with an ally, there is a +25% bonus over trading with yourself, that is now split between you and your ally. Ranged units can hit farther from high places. Ranged units had to be within a minimum range from their targets to fire at them. This requirement has been removed.Graphics, Sound and User Interface Improvements Hero button: A persistent button in the top left appears when you train your one allowed hero(ine). Clicking it selects the hero(ine) wherever he or she is on the map. Game speed controls: In single-player games, change the game's speed whenever you want to. Location hotkeys: You can now mark camera positions and jump back to them later with hotkeys. GUI dropdowns support typing for quick selection. Sound manager improvements: The game now plays a list of multiple songs per match, instead of playing just one song in a loop. Also, the user interface now responds to the user with sounds. Terrain anchoring: Units now move more realistically on hills. Saved games can now be given descriptions and deleted or overwritten in-game. Several random maps were changed to be more beautiful and playable. Fancy water rendering is now faster and improved. Ships look better when sinking. The Atlas Scenario Editor, Bug Fixes and Miscellaneous Features Pike elevation tool in Atlas: Allows for making mountains and cliffs more easily. Mod improvements: Saving maps in Atlas will no longer make it crash. Fixed some common out-of-sync and out-of-memory errors. Alert sounds no longer heard by all players, off-screen sounds only heard when appropriate. Fixed crash with Nvidia Optimus graphics and some netbooks. Walls can be placed along shores. Improved hotkey support for non-QWERTY keyboards. Several performance improvements. Getting SupportPlease 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! 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.

Hi all, Tried to donate via indiegogo but it wouldn't accept my card details (US only?). Would prefer to use Paypal in any case. Looked at the other options on your donations page; Flattr requires registration and charges 10% so went with Network for Good. Was rather disappointed to discover their 5% charge towards the end of the process which isn't mentioned on your donations page but went through with it anyway. Really, it should be easier than this to give away money! I nearly gave up and I wonder how many other people have? If it is possible to add Paypal to the indiegogo drive then suggest you do so asap. Anyway, excuse the b:tching - I'm under the weather and impatient at best atm . Best of luck with the ongoing development.

We on the 0 A.D. development team have just learned that copies of 0 A.D. on physical media, such as CDs and DVDs, are being sold on eBay, by independent stores, unrelated to us. This is probably perfectly legal under the GNU General Public License (GPL), which 0 A.D. is released under. The license clearly states that people are free to make copies of 0 A.D. and distribute them for any price or no price, as long as they meet certain conditions, such as including the source code or indicating where it is available. (We have not inspected these CDs/DVDs closely to verify they do meet all the conditions. So the distributors might be operating under the GPL, or not. We don't know for sure.) However, in either case, we wish to emphasize that 0 A.D. is available for free download and always will be. You do not have to buy it from anywhere. The latest version to date is Alpha 10, available here. Alpha 11 is due within a few days. Thanks for listening!

They will get fixed, but as we are an open-source project, we can't give estimates as to when. We'll keep you informed, I'll try to publish these development reports on a more regular basis (read: monthly).

Wohoo, nice report. Also, congratulations to alpha123. He's a great programmer.

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 InstallDownload 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 SoundNew 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 FeaturesUser 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 SupportPlease 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.

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!

I guess what matters is whether you can sell that argument to a sufficient number of developers. Right now the pace of development doesn't seem huge. Will the employment of a manager affect it positively or negatively? I guess time will tell.

We've had tons of internal discussion no this. In a nutshell, WFG does not have to be the same experience for every contributor. There are different levels of commitment that can be given by contributors based on their availability and desired involvement, from paid temporary or permanent full-time and part-timers (contractors), to those who we give commit and forum privileges to (staff members), to (last but certainly not least) open sourcers whose involvement is akin to a hobby. We feel that WFG has room for all of these people. It just so happens that my personal and professional life right now allows me to make the leap and take the commitment of being a full-time contractor for WFG. What that will entail is a laundry list of things, but suffice it to say what I will be doing and how I'll be doing it will be as transparent as possible, including livestreaming, daily blogs, weekly videos, and constant availability via IRC, forums, Skype, e-mail and cell phone. We feel such commitment from a project leader who will be able to make decisions and develop the game on a full-time basis will be a huge asset to development as we push to go Beta and then on to Gold release. And ideally, I'd love to grow WFG to the point of having at least 2 other paid developers around the globe or more, for a truly 24/7 coverage of team members able to make crucial decisions on a moment's notice and assist contributors on an around-the-clock basis, but that's just a long-term goal in my head. For now, starting with one person is just the first step. And just because I'd be a project leader does not mean other voices are ignored. In fact, we are consolidating procedures on how to make voices more effective, via our treasury and design committees, and making the design forum available to everyone. I'd be able to facilitate that kind of openness on a full-time basis. And in regards to money, I think we should go ahead and release monthly expense reports available to all fans and contributors. Please join the e-mail list on the play0ad website.And all of this we'll go into exhaustive detail in the next month or so as we put together the crowd-funding pitch. As an aside, zoot, I would love to see you and alpha123 and a couple of other contributors join the team.

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:

Wildfire Games proudly presents the new 0 A.D. website, a new showcase for the game and FOSS project we have all grown to love. You'll notice that the content has been redone, the design better reflects the interface within the game 0 A.D., and it is easier to get to download the version of 0 A.D. that is right for you. New Address The new website is available on http://play0ad.com. Please point your RSS readers to the new website if needed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/0AdNews (The old website will remain at http://www.wildfiregames.com/0ad for posterity and so as not to break any links to old pages. We'll put up a notice soon.) New Features A new game manual, with video tutorials, is available on the new website, to help newbies negotiate the complexities of an RTS game. (Thanks, BrynnOfCastlegate!) Also, the global navigation on the top right corner will help surfers navigate between the main website, intended for a broad audience, and the forums and development wiki, which are usually for hardcore fans and developers. For the more technically inclined readers, the current website runs on Wordpress and conforms to modern web standards, which is important and a big step forward from our older website. Credits A huge round of applause goes to the team members who made this thing happen: Geek377 Brian Stempin (bstempi) GerbilOFDoom Ludovic Celle (Ludo38) Michael Hafer (Mythos_Ruler), and Pureon Please enjoy and give feedback on the new website here!

I should've posted this earlier, but... I translated the report to (Brasilian) Portuguese and our friend Aurium edited it. Here's the final version: http://softwarelivre.org/0ad/noticias/0-a.d.-relatorio-de-desenvolvimento-11

I can't replicate that in the latest development version. What version are you using?

Next report due this week/next week. They used to be weekly, yes. If I would have continued publishing them weekly they would be only half as interesting, as progress is sometimes slow, sometimes more speedy... At the current rate, it will be a monthly blog. But when things speed up, I"ll write it every two weeks.

I missed reading the weekly development reports. Seems like forever since I have read these.

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.

And credit to plumo for pulling together this report. If you want to see more reports please show your support by commenting below

Lol, now look what you've started It takes a lot of time to prepare our alphas, so it isn't feasible for us to release a new one every week. However our weekly development updates are a good way of keeping people updated on progress, we should make sure we continue to do those.

It's that time of year again. For those unfamiliar with the event, each year ModDB and IndieDB hold a contest for the best mods and indie games of the year. In previous years we have been nominated for the Editor’s Choice: Best Upcoming Indie (2008), won third place for Indie Game of the Year (2009) and received an Honorable Mention for Players’ Choice: Best Upcoming Indie (2010). We've come a long way this year too. Just think about it: A year ago we had no Romans in the game, and Hellenes and Celts were grouped into one faction each. There were no technologies or civilization phases, no trading system, and none of the amazing newly implemented graphical effects like specularity, ambient occlusion, etc. As always, we want to win! More publicity means more players and probably more developers joining development, which is always great. The nominations for the Top 100 have just begun, and will be ongoing until December 11th. Please vote for us! Thanks in advance, from all of us on the 0 A.D. development team, also known as Wildfire Games.