5 ms·

0AD is the most polished, beautiful open source game I have ever played. This campaign is not about building a new game: the game already exists as shown in the

0AD is the most polished, beautiful open source game I have ever played. This campaign is not about building a new game: the game already exists as shown in the video and is even in an enjoyable-to-play state. Definitely check it out if you haven't already (and it's cross-platform!): http://play0ad.com/ http://play0ad.com/

buro9 13y ago
Totally this. I've put a lot of hours into playing 0AD and it's a joy. Very polished, really good gameplay, addictive, and engaging. The bots can be ruthless at times, others you can figure out and trump. If you need them, then there are cheats to help whilst you learn. I just went and tried to give money, and it's going to take me a while, incredibly all my disposable cash is in PayPal and my debit card is linked to an empty account, so I have to do the PayPal > bank shuffle, but I'll be supporting this as soon as I can.
- buro9 13y ago
  PayPal mess! The campaign comment page points you to the 0AD site, where they tell you that: "Donations via PayPal go to a a private bank account in the US, that is a legacy of the time before we became affiliated with SPI." But don't explain whether that money actually ends up with them. They've made it such a problem, all I want is a PayPal address that will get the money into their hands. "Shut up and take my money.".
  - Jeru 13y ago
    Thanks for your comment, I have fixed the donation page. I hope it is clearer now.
- saraid216 13y ago
  IIRC, IndieGoGo accepts PayPal, no? If all your disposable cash is in PayPal, couldn't you just... use it?
  - buro9 13y ago
    Apparently IndieGoGo do not accept PayPal for non-profit organisations.
cocoflunchy 13y ago
They should really state this more prominently in the campaign! Reading it, I was thinking something like: 'well, this is pretty, but what are the chances that they actually release it in the next 3 years or so?'
- jhull 13y ago
  ya sounds like they should say - "you can play now, download here and play for the next 45 days, but just remember us before those days are up and donate so we can make it better"
- arms 13y ago
  Agreed. I was expecting a 2 year release window and thought I'd forget about this before it was released. Nice to know I can try it out right now :)
jccooper 13y ago
It really is a fantastic effort already. IMHO, their major needs are: (1) scripted events, which would allow a tutorial mode and various scenarios. Apparently this is a tough integration into the existing engine. (2) to make combat formations really work, so there's some sort of tactics to combat. You can do some of that, but it generally turns into a mob fight. Good news is it looks like they're intending both of these already. Personally, I'd like to use their engine and assets to create a turn-based combat game; RTS is a bit hectic for me.
- lettergram 13y ago
  Of course around 0 A.D. it essentially was a mob fight after the first minute or so of combat.
  - kephra 13y ago
    This depends on the civilization and their troops. Your claim is true for most barbarian, irregulars, and fanatics, but false for regular troops, and some irregulars like Greek style hoplite. The main things 0ad is missing to reflect ancient combat are: - Morale, as most fights had been decided by one side fleeing. - Training, as its a real difference if one side has trained regular legion, hoplites or immortals, and the other side just barbaric irregulars, when it comes to the question if they follow commands, stay in formation, or just fight their own. ( e.g. pursue into a trap ) - Formation, as some troops fight in close formations, others in lose formations. - Role, some troops are to hold and block, others have a shock of impact (Roman legion) or a shock of momentum (Greek hoplites). Same with ranged combat, as there is a real difference between skirmishers, who charge, throw their javelins or fire their bows, and run away hoping the opponent will break formation and pursue, and archers who stand (behind shield bearers) and deliver. There are also some weapons missing, e.g.: - There are no horse archers with bows, witch makes Persian light cavalry feel wrong with their javelins. - Its not possible to have melee troops with additional ranged weapons, so a typical Roman shock of impact is not possible, as are Persian immortals who are trained with spear and bow, on horse and on foot. Still, 0ad is one of the best RTS for Linux.
  - amerika_blog 13y ago
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
snogglethorpe 13y ago
I tried it, and it seems really neat (though I generally suck at RTS games)... the graphics are a huge leap beyond other free RTS games I've tried before, and it does seem very polished. One thing though: what's the frame-rate supposed to be? I'm getting 2-3 FPS, which is I suppose playable, but pretty jerky when things get hairy. Is it just my system, or is this just the nature of the game? [I guess if it's recalculating the world with every frame...]

buro9 13y ago

Totally this. I've put a lot of hours into playing 0AD and it's a joy. Very polished, really good gameplay, addictive, and engaging. The bots can be ruthless at times, others you can figure out and trump. If you need them, then there are cheats to help whilst you learn. I just went and tried to give money, and it's going to take me a while, incredibly all my disposable cash is in PayPal and my debit card is linked to an empty account, so I have to do the PayPal > bank shuffle, but I'll be supporting this as soon as I can.

buro9 13y ago
PayPal mess! The campaign comment page points you to the 0AD site, where they tell you that: "Donations via PayPal go to a a private bank account in the US, that is a legacy of the time before we became affiliated with SPI." But don't explain whether that money actually ends up with them. They've made it such a problem, all I want is a PayPal address that will get the money into their hands. "Shut up and take my money.".
- Jeru 13y ago
  Thanks for your comment, I have fixed the donation page. I hope it is clearer now.
saraid216 13y ago
IIRC, IndieGoGo accepts PayPal, no? If all your disposable cash is in PayPal, couldn't you just... use it?
- buro9 13y ago
  Apparently IndieGoGo do not accept PayPal for non-profit organisations.

cocoflunchy 13y ago

They should really state this more prominently in the campaign! Reading it, I was thinking something like: 'well, this is pretty, but what are the chances that they actually release it in the next 3 years or so?'

jhull 13y ago
ya sounds like they should say - "you can play now, download here and play for the next 45 days, but just remember us before those days are up and donate so we can make it better"
arms 13y ago
Agreed. I was expecting a 2 year release window and thought I'd forget about this before it was released. Nice to know I can try it out right now :)

jccooper 13y ago

It really is a fantastic effort already. IMHO, their major needs are: (1) scripted events, which would allow a tutorial mode and various scenarios. Apparently this is a tough integration into the existing engine. (2) to make combat formations really work, so there's some sort of tactics to combat. You can do some of that, but it generally turns into a mob fight. Good news is it looks like they're intending both of these already. Personally, I'd like to use their engine and assets to create a turn-based combat game; RTS is a bit hectic for me.

lettergram 13y ago
Of course around 0 A.D. it essentially was a mob fight after the first minute or so of combat.
- kephra 13y ago
  This depends on the civilization and their troops. Your claim is true for most barbarian, irregulars, and fanatics, but false for regular troops, and some irregulars like Greek style hoplite. The main things 0ad is missing to reflect ancient combat are: - Morale, as most fights had been decided by one side fleeing. - Training, as its a real difference if one side has trained regular legion, hoplites or immortals, and the other side just barbaric irregulars, when it comes to the question if they follow commands, stay in formation, or just fight their own. ( e.g. pursue into a trap ) - Formation, as some troops fight in close formations, others in lose formations. - Role, some troops are to hold and block, others have a shock of impact (Roman legion) or a shock of momentum (Greek hoplites). Same with ranged combat, as there is a real difference between skirmishers, who charge, throw their javelins or fire their bows, and run away hoping the opponent will break formation and pursue, and archers who stand (behind shield bearers) and deliver. There are also some weapons missing, e.g.: - There are no horse archers with bows, witch makes Persian light cavalry feel wrong with their javelins. - Its not possible to have melee troops with additional ranged weapons, so a typical Roman shock of impact is not possible, as are Persian immortals who are trained with spear and bow, on horse and on foot. Still, 0ad is one of the best RTS for Linux.
- amerika_blog 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

snogglethorpe 13y ago

I tried it, and it seems really neat (though I generally suck at RTS games)... the graphics are a huge leap beyond other free RTS games I've tried before, and it does seem very polished. One thing though: what's the frame-rate supposed to be? I'm getting 2-3 FPS, which is I suppose playable, but pretty jerky when things get hairy. Is it just my system, or is this just the nature of the game? [I guess if it's recalculating the world with every frame...]