0 A.D. Development Report: May - August 2019

[Sundiata]

0 A.D. Development Report: May - August 2019

Wildfire Games, the international group of volunteers developing 0 A.D. : Empires Ascendant, is happy to present its latest development report.
If you want to find out more about the development of this open-source, cross-platform real-time strategy game or if you are interested in game development in general, it might provide an interesting read. 

If you want to be part of this project, feel free to visit our forums and join our active community, or just grab a task from our list of open tickets and get right to it. We are currently looking for Programmers, Animators and Artists. 

 

*names written in bold black are Wildfire Games staff and names written in bold grey are community members

Programming 

wraitii has rewritten UnitMotion for better code and easier extensibility, with the goal in sight of introducing optimisations. He's optimised the Hierarchical Pathfinder, and is working on pathfinder threading. he has also worked on two patches, allowing triggers to give units modifiers, and making attack effects easily moddable so that, for example, a unit can both capture and damage in the same attack.

Stan` Created a first version of the polycount guidelines and updated the art design document. He also added a glow material that also supports normal maps (basic_glow_norm). Stan` worked on many other fixes and improvements, such adding more animations to the atlas drop down list. 

vladislavbelov continues to work on the renderer among other things, improving the water's GLSL shader by increasing the reflection and refraction realism. He also added a tool to Atlas, which allows choosing water height by simply clicking on a part of the terrain with the desired height.

Itms worked on our Continuous Integration system, and improved the developing environment for the programmers behind the scenes. He made the move from VS2013 to VS2015 as the default compiler on Windows, with help from Angen. He also upgraded SpiderMonkey to version 45.

s0600204 increased the usage of pkg-config instead of hard-coding or library-specific programs, and added support for special characters (UTF8) in map names and descriptions.

elexis rewrote source/gui/ to have a cleaner code structure and use C++11 features (most code still came from 2004), fixed a number of compiler warnings and some memory leaks.

JoshuaJB fixed some memory leaks introduced by the implementation of STUN + XMPP ICE.

historic_bruno has been working on MacOS build fixes.

trompetin17 fixed an issue with atlasUI and added a "new" checkbox to the map settings tab. 

Imarok, FeXoR and bb_ have also been working on various smaller code fixes, improvements and reviews. 

Mate-86 has worked on a feature allowing entities to be affected by Status Effects, such as flaming projectiles igniting the target or poisoned arrows poisoning the target, which will cause the target to continue suffering damage for a while. 

Freagarach has replaced the gender-tag with phenotype, adding the ability to choose a random phenotype for a given template, allowing for different looks for the same template, as well as having male and female units from the same template with their correct respective voices. Freagarach, with assistance from wraitii, has also wrapped damage types in a Damage element in XML templates to make them generic. This places the damage types in a "Damage" container, just like the "Resources" are. Part of the effort towards having secondary attacks and a more easily moddable game.

Angen made the AI aware of the existence of the new ranges and updated precompiled headers to improve build times. 

Krinkle fixed ESLint semicolon-related warnings and has been updating various wiki-pages on trac.

minohaka helped testing and discovering regressions.

 

Art 

Alexandermb‘s new fauna models and textures were committed by Stan`, including Marwari, Lusitano and Celtic horse breeds, new cattle textures, sanga variants, a new Maurya trader chariot with new animations and he animated the new Kushite hero chariot by Sundiata. He sorted his many new Celtic shields according to their specific civ, diffenrentiating the Gauls and Britons with the help of Genava55. Another big update were the many improvements to a variety of other shields, including the Greek aspis with new higher quality models and textures. And then there was the big Hellenic helmets update: Thracian, Phrygian, Boeotian, Chalcidean, Attic, Bryastovets, Corinthian and the Pilos helmet, with many variations. New meshes and textures for greaves were also committed. 

Many other smaller fixes and improvements were made, further enhancing the quality of his already Herculean art contributions, as wel as working on “the great animations re-export” together with Stan` (cleaning and committing) and assisted by fatherbushido and Enrique, in order to solve a flaw in many older meshes, while also taking the opportunity to improve on some of those animations and adding some new ones. Alexandermb has also been working on a number of formations like the testudo, phalanx and syntagma. 

wackyserious created many new Macedonian, Persian and Roman unit textures, a new Ptolemy IV hero texture and updated the Thracian Peltast, Naked Fanatic, Scythian Archer, Judean Slinger and Seleucid Pikeman and Cataphract. 

Stan` Made a new blacksmith for the Britons, improved the walls for the Gauls and added some detailing to their barracks. He unified foundation sizes and construction dust, added new scaffolds and updated structure templates accordingly.

LordGood is continuing his prolific work in the flora department. Teak, dragon bamboo, strangler figs, bananas, areca palm, doum palm, Atlas cedar, holly oak, juniper tree and some new grasses are his latest additions. He has also been working on the Hellenization of the Ptolemies with a new tower and temple. 

Bigtiger has worked on some beautiful new flora as well, adding holm oaks, Euro birch, fir tree and a new fern to the collection. He also made new cliffs, new particle actors for snow and clouds and new temperate terrain textures. These new assets can be admired in three new excellent looking maps by Bigtiger himself: Farmland, Oceanside and Roadway.

wowgetoffyourcellphone made new icons for the deer, boar, camel, horse, walrus and wildebeest. The Uffington White Horse he made back in 2016 will replace Stonehenge as the new wonder for the Britons. 

 

Other

Gallaecio has been improving and correcting the English descriptions in-game.

Stan` gave a presentation on 0 A.D. and it’s develoment process in Rennes for GrafikLabor 2019.

user1 continues his work moderating smurf accounts in the multiplayer lobby. 

After discussions on the transliteration of Ancient Greek into English, the decission has been made to use the standards of the American Library Association and Library of Congress proposed by Anaxandridas ho Skandiates, who is, in discussion with Nescio, working to update all the Greek specific names, making them more accurate and consitent.   

Nescio has also been updating the English style guide, cleaned up the technology data files and applied some corrections to the new horse and cattle fauna templates (among others), added skirmishing templates to some structures and cleaned some obstruction and footprint sizes for others, improved a number of tool tips and improved and corrected some of the Roman and Persian specific names.

Tom 0ad Has created five new informative videos, including “0AD Faction Overview 04 – Persians”, “0AD Faction Overview 05 – Kushites”, “The Ultimate Guide to Siege Weaopons”, “Top Three Tips to Improve. FAST” and “Essential Team Game Guide”. 

Likewise, ValihrAnt has made a number of enlightening videos, including “Unit Ranks & Promotions Explained”, “Top 5 Most Underrated Techs” and “Strategy Guide, Cavalry Rush Build Order”.

HMS-Surprise, Unknown_Player, Feldfeld and psypherium organized the commentated Sunday Pro Games between April and June. This was a competetive community event, with Boudica ranking number 1!   

 

elexis, Stan` and wraitii have been updating an extensive list presenting all noticable changes to the end user in Alpha 24, since development started on December 26th, 2018. Changes include new 3D and 2D art, sound, maps, gameplay, user interface, renderer, pathfinder and more. Check it out at: https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Alpha24

 

Art Features

A small selection of Alexandermb's new helmets with many variants: 

 

One of many new sets of shields. The Greek aspis for the Athenian faction. From top to bottom: basic, advanced, elite and champion. By Alexandermb:

 

Macedonian, Carthaginian and Spartan units showing off their new equipment, by Alexandermb:

 

New Macedonian unit textures by wackyserious:

 

New unit textures for the Romans, Judean Slingers and Seleucid Cataphracts, by wackyserious:

 

Some of the new temperate flora assets by Bigtiger:

 

A lush display of some of LordGood's new tropical flora assets and cliffs:

 

The new Oceanside map by Bigtiger. It's by the ocean... 

 

Mediterranean Islets, by LordGood:

 

Hellenized Ptolemaic walls and temples on the banks of the Nile. Take note of the new palms and baobab trees. By LordGood:

Edited September 12, 2019 by Sundiata

[Nescio]

That's quite a long list! A few minor points:

• Personally I dislike the grey. How about blue and black instead?
• Please check and double-check all user names; e.g. wackyserious and wowgetoffyourcellphone shouldn't be capitalized, Stan` should have a backtick, not an apostrophe, Genava55 is missing the 55, etc.
• If something isn't committed (e.g. D2228), then don't mention it; work-in-progress is misleading, since sometimes the review process can take years.
• Wouldn't it be better to highlight only the important things? If one wants to know everything that's changed, they could check the logs, right?

[Sundiata]

Just now, Nescio said:

Please check and double-check all user names; e.g. wackyserious and wowgetoffyourcellphone shouldn't be capitalized, Stan` should have a backtick, not an apostrophe, Genava55 is missing the 55, etc.

These concerns have been addressed, thank you for your feedback. 

 

Just now, Nescio said:

• If something isn't committed (e.g. D2228), then don't mention it; work-in-progress is misleading, since sometimes the review process can take years.

Just notifying the community about the decision taken, and linking to the work done towards implementing it. I didn't think that would be a problem and don't mean to mislead anyone (it's listed as a being worked on, as opposed to being committed). 

[Nescio]

3 hours ago, Sundiata said:

4 hours ago, Nescio said:

Please check and double-check all user names

These concerns have been addressed, thank you for your feedback.

Two more: FeXoR has three capitals and Freagarach has three a's.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the report! Do you intend to write another one next month?

[Sundiata]

Just now, Nescio said:

Two more: FeXoR has three capitals and Freagarach has three a's.

Good lord, I don't know why I keep getting names wrong... Thanks!

 

Just now, Nescio said:

Anyway, thanks a lot for the report! Do you intend to write another one next month?

Depending on the amount of development, we could write one every month, or every 2 months. I'll send you a copy for proofreading if you're interested.  

[plumo]

Reminds me so much of the original Age Of Empires campaign with the siege of Syracuse. Mirror tower, anyone?

[LordGood]

1 hour ago, plumo said:

 

Reminds me so much of the original Age Of Empires campaign with the siege of Syracuse. Mirror tower, anyone?

good thats what i staged my screenshot on haha

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

On 9/12/2019 at 8:52 AM, Sundiata said:

trompetin17 fixed an issue with atlasUI and added a "new" checkbox to the map settings tab. 

 

This has yet to show up in the autobuild of the game. @trompetin17, @elexis

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

On 9/12/2019 at 10:32 AM, Nescio said:

• Wouldn't it be better to highlight only the important things? If one wants to know everything that's changed, they could check the logs, right?

Normally I agree, but reports such as these can have multiple uses, such as for PR purposes (dispelling the myth that "nothing" is getting done) as well as for morale purposes (bestowing recognition on those who have made contributions).  

[asterix]

59 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

This has yet to show up in the autobuild of the game. @trompetin17, @elexis

Buildbot for Atlas I believe is broken because there is also problem with animations not playing and it has something to do with build process.

[plumo]

On 9/13/2019 at 12:49 PM, LordGood said:

good thats what i staged my screenshot on haha

I was there in 1997... sigh. 

[ffffffff]

On 9/12/2019 at 2:52 PM, Sundiata said:

We are currently looking for Programmers, Animators and Artists. 

can we bring that in lobby announce? maybe ref to 0ad ticket, modding, forum and trac sides. i would appreciate to see that. talked already to @elexis, @ffm, @user1 (ack: @Hannibal_Barca).

Maybe in conjunction with saying as to be supporter to the project/ or donator.

I guess we need there a bigger announce and catch the people.

Good day, f.

Edited September 14, 2019 by ffffffff

[Lion.Kanzen]

No gameplay work/development?

[Sundiata]

Just now, Lion.Kanzen said:

No gameplay work/development?

@borg-

Spoiler

 

[av93]

2 hours ago, Sundiata said:

@borg-

  Hide contents

 

The inclusion of Borg mod it's official? I hope so, but it's not still included in the dev branch.

[Sundiata]

16 hours ago, av93 said:

The inclusion of Borg mod it's official?

No... It needs to be cut down into smaller patches and be reviewed and committed one by one or something like that. Changes need to be documented in detail as well I believe. Needs to be alpha 24 compatible. And needs to be play tested extensively. It just seems to be the most promising balance mod for application to vanilla and seems to address a good number of alpha 23 concerns. It just requires a lot of volunteer work and coordination to get done. 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Sundiata

[smiley]

You missed Enthusiasm.

[Anaxandridas ho Skandiates]

.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Anaxandridas ho Skandiates

[Stan`]

9 hours ago, Anaxandridas ho Skandiates said:

PS: And @Stan` I saw some recent discussion on in-game voices - if anything changes that could affect my Ancient Greek recordings, please notify me (so I don't come back from Athens with an outdated set of recordings)

Aside of the differentiation of the I will build and I will repair nothing to be reported.

[av93]

On 9/16/2019 at 10:50 PM, Sundiata said:

No... It needs to be cut down into smaller patches and be reviewed and committed one by one or something like that. Changes need to be documented in detail as well I believe.

The small patches means that is a matter organization, not of testing, that can be done with all the general patch.

The mod hasn't been tested already?

But IRC my question was regarding the official team desire to include the balance

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

On 9/16/2019 at 4:50 PM, Sundiata said:

No... It needs to be cut down into smaller patches and be reviewed and committed one by one or something like that. Changes need to be documented in detail as well I believe. Needs to be alpha 24 compatible. And needs to be play tested extensively. It just seems to be the most promising balance mod for application to vanilla and seems to address a good number of alpha 23 concerns. It just requires a lot of volunteer work and coordination to get done. 

If nearly everyone agrees that the mod is a large improvement (I niggle with some of it, but still think it's an improvement. Not as big of an improvement as Delenda Est of course  ), then I don't understand the need with such an extensive process which will only serve to push back A24 even further. It's not like it couldn't be further improved in A25 or revamped in B1 (lol, which is where all this balancing stuff should be done, but apparently I'm the only one who cares about this). Point is, even this large improvement is not set in stone even after merging. It can still be further iterated moving forward. 

[cap'tain roc]

Will there be a mobile version of the game ?

[Stan`]

3 minutes ago, cap'tain roc said:

Will there be a mobile version of the game ?

Currently there is only an outdated android attempt, and while the game can be also ported to IOS, our license prevents us from using the AppStore.

[cap'tain roc]

Are Wildfire planning to make a new Android version?

[Stan`]

1 minute ago, cap'tain roc said:

Are Wildfire planning to make a new Android version?

Not in the near future, unless you know someone that would be interested on working on it.