Why isn't 0ad on Steam?

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

3 hours ago, Vantha said:

- If the host closes the game prematurely, it should simply count as resigning and therefore as a loss in the rating system.

Couldn't the game state get loaded to the client in this case? 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

On 18/02/2026 at 3:31 PM, Dunedan said:

However, as @Stan` already mentioned, with a sudden significant increase of players we'd definitely get trouble moderating the lobby with the capabilities we have at hand for that right now.

This is my biggest hang up, and the resigning/ranking points issue. 

[Vantha]

44 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Couldn't the game state get loaded to the client in this case? 

During a MP match, the game state is always present on all clients. Essentially, all players run an ordinary SP game simultaneously, but receive the inputs from each other over the network. And each player simply "feeds" that input (received from the other players) into their own game instance and since the behavior of it is deterministic, all of the instances stay in sync. To be fully precise, it's not the mouse movement or button clicks that are shared over the network, but the game "commands" like moving or training units.

What the host does in addition to that is manage the network connections to the individual players and e.g. letting them know when someone disconnects. Therefore as soon as the host leaves, the clients are cut off from each other, can't communicate, and the match is closed for everybody.

 

1 hour ago, guerringuerrin said:

Maybe it would be good to have a short grace period before a disconnection counts as a loss. For example, during the first two minutes of the game, if someone disconnects, it wouldn’t count as a loss, since it’s unlikely that the player left because they were losing.

With the proposed behavior, the disconnected player wouldn't lose anyway, as long as the other player(s) wait for him to come back.

1 hour ago, guerringuerrin said:

Each player could have, for example, up to five minutes to reconnect to the game. This would give them a fair chance to resume, while also avoiding situations where the remaining player is forced to finish the match alone just to secure the win.

The offline timer could continue running even while the game is paused.

Could work I think, but might not be necessary. The problematic case is when clients leave when they're about to lose... then it shouldn't take the host too long to finish it anyway since they were about to win already, no? Depends on the victory condition, though.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

I'm just thinking the victory behavior should not change for the host/client. 

[Vantha]

1 hour ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

I'm just thinking the victory behavior should not change for the host/client. 

Ideally, yes, but I don't really see a way around it, since the client should be given the chance to reconnect, which isn't an option for the host.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

3 minutes ago, Vantha said:

Ideally, yes, but I don't really see a way around it, since the client should be given the chance to reconnect, which isn't an option for the host.

Host migration. 

 

or

 

Dedicated Server. (lol, yes pl0x)

[Vantha]

1 hour ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Host migration. 

 

or

 

Dedicated Server. (lol, yes pl0x)

Both of these would solve that, yes.

But I personally wouldn't mind too much if the host was treated more harshly than the client, as @guerringuerrinsaid they have more responsibility already and the main thing is that either side can't ruin the game.

[guerringuerrin]

3 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Host migration. 

 

or

 

Dedicated Server. (lol, yes pl0x)

IMHO, that would be a more consistent long-term solution. However, considering the technical challenges involved in implementing it, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to add this functionality in the meantime.

(Correct me if I'm wrong but) It should be simpler to implement, would address a current need, and would also reduce the workload for the people who have to review replays in the Rating Disputes thread.

[osas]

Being open source doesn't prevent you from publishing the game on Steam. Why not release it for free? Releasing it as early access on Steam would provide bug feedback and allow many volunteer developers to contribute to its development.  

[Atrik]

I have a feeling steam wants 0AD on their platform, I doubt these recurrent posts are spontaneous gamers registering to make so nicely written comments, explaining the benefits it would have for an open source project. 

[osas]

Honestly, I didn't know that was the case; manually updating the game is tedious. Besides, I thought the Steam Workshop would add quite a few mods to the game.

[Arup]

why doesn't 0ad want steam release?

9 hours ago, Atrik said:

have a feeling steam wants 0AD on their platform

 

[Guest]

There were similar threads in the past. 

I think the summary is that the game is still not ready to attract a much wider player base, from a MP standpoint. 

There is also a matter of integration with the Steam libraries, which the developers might not want to do. 

[Stan`]

Yeah I probably should save some keystrokes but I'll repeat it again here:

1. We are not ready for the influx of new players, on a forum/lobby moderation standpoint.
2. We are not ready for the influx of new players with the current mod situation
3. Regarding licensing we can't link with the steam api directly we would need to make a launcher.
4. We haven't looked yet into the specific of submitting a cross platform game.
5. We need to take what happened other games that did https://ftp.fau.de/fosdem/2020/K.3.201/gamedev_spring_steam.mp4 into account

Regarding auto updates, the game is now on the Windows Store https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n5vvjr2dz9w?hl=fr-FR&gl=US which i believe supports it.

I've merged this conversation with the other one.

[real_tabasco_sauce]

Currently the keywords are somewhat inaccurate. I suppose if you play enough 0ad it could become a lifestyle.

[Obelix]

While reading through the pinned thread I came to the position that it should be moved to 0 A.D. -> General Discussion. Guess most people will search it there ...

[AlexHerbert]

On 22/3/2026 at 10:35 AM, Stan` said:

Yeah I probably should save some keystrokes but I'll repeat it again here:

1. We are not ready for the influx of new players, on a forum/lobby moderation standpoint.
2. We are not ready for the influx of new players with the current mod situation
3. Regarding licensing we can't link with the steam api directly we would need to make a launcher.
4. We haven't looked yet into the specific of submitting a cross platform game.
5. We need to take what happened other games that did https://ftp.fau.de/fosdem/2020/K.3.201/gamedev_spring_steam.mp4 into account

Regarding auto updates, the game is now on the Windows Store https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n5vvjr2dz9w?hl=fr-FR&gl=US which i believe supports it.

I've merged this conversation with the other one.

I arrived to this game thanks to Linux ElementaryOS App Store

[ShadowOfHassen]

Seeing that the devs seem to be ok with a steam release, what if we opened an issue to keep things up to date with what we need to do, that way when someone else asks questions we can just refer them to the issue where they can see what things are blocking a steam release.

 

And the things blocking for steam release could be very obscure "figure out mod issues" or add tutorial campaign and stuff like that.

[Stan`]

iirc that was the tickets with the beta keywords.

[Grautvornix]

This could just go into the game as a kind of "game background" FAQ (with links to the forums specific topic). Not to be mixed with the "gameplay FAQ".

[Nicolaus_von_Kues]

The  Steam "issue" is always a recurring theme in gameplay videos and social media.