Wildfire Games proudly announces the release of the first alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. After 9 years since the concept of 0 A.D. was first designed on paper, we have a close approximation of a playable game. This release comes with aggressive units that attack enemies on sight, lifelike animals that escape danger, two new maps, in-game multiplayer chat and much more. Alpha releases of 0 A.D. will each get a number and a name, so this one is "Alpha 1 Argonaut".
Easy Download and Install
Download and installation instructions are available for Windows, OS X and Linux. 0 A.D. is free of charge and always will be. No registration, no advertising, no catch.
New features in this release:
- Maps: Added new maps "Arcadia" and "Hellenized Egypt", improved the "Multiplayer demo" map; Added textual descriptions to maps.
- AI: Added animal AI (walking around, running from danger). Redesigned unit AI: added order queues, auto-attack, auto-gather.
- GUI: Added in-game multiplayer chat; Fixed GUI stretching on widescreen resolutions; Improved selection outline rendering; Many other GUI changes, such as buttons and cursors; Changed camera controls.
- Graphics: Added floating decorative objects, such as lily pads; Added building collapse and corpse decay; Tweaked animation speeds.
- Gameplay: Added 'delete unit' command; Added rally points.
- Installation and compatibility: Added Windows installer using NSIS; Added Linux packages for many distros; Improved compatibility when 3D acceleration is missing; Improved FHS compatibility for Linux installations.
- Miscellaneous: Added terrain smoothing tool to Atlas map editor; Added some sound effects; Improved performance; Fixed bugs.
Room for improvement:
- There are no victory conditions implemented yet.
- There is no computer opponent AI yet. In single-player games the enemy does nothing.
- There is no random map generation yet.
- There is no fog-of-war yet.
- Many unit stats are still unbalanced.
- Many planned gameplay features are not added yet: There is no research, no auras, no rank upgrades, no settlements and territories, no resource dropsites, etc.
- Many bugs and small missing features.
- There is no multiplayer matchmaking service. You have to connect by IP address. (More convenient ways may be implemented in the future).
An overview of the gameplay feature status is on our wiki, and as you can see, there is still a lot of work to be done. If you want to be part of this effort too, you're welcome to get involved!
Why "Argonaut"?
From now on we will 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, ...).
The Argonauts were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means "Argo sailors". (Source: Wikipedia). To celebrate Alpha 1 Argonaut, we included a recreation of the Golden Fleece, which can be found on the "Hellenized Egypt" map.
Referring to the original Jason mentioned in Greek mythology, the word "Argonaut" is a tribute to our former project lead, Jason "Wijitmaker" Bishop, who managed the game's development between 2002 and 2008. 0 A.D. would have never made the transition from an idea on paper to a piece of software that runs on your machine without the countless hours of work by this gifted leader. Thanks, Jason.
Long Time, No Siege
Wildfire Games will continue releasing new versions of 0 A.D. periodically. Watch our news feed to keep updated, 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.
OH YES! FINALLY!
Is there a combat system?
What do you mean by combat system? I mean units can attack other units (and buildings) if that's what you mean, but it sounds like it's something more specific you're talking about.
He means AI
Ok, well, in that case as the news post says, no. And it will probably take a while before we have enemy AI as it's complicated, and for the moment our goal is to have working multiplayer before AI. Currently we don't have anyone on the team with that expertise as well. Anyone who's good at AI programming feel free to join though :)
This has alot of potential, keep up the good work!
Awesome, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time!
UCh improvment since the last beta, very nice, keep this up!!!
can this work on windows vista or windows 7?
yes it can ;)
Nice, was looking forward to it.
GREAT JOB! really impressive
Whoo
Also, I can't help but have this feeling of hearing "Rogan?" every time you clicked on the villagers
Well done guys, many years of hard work. Am looking forward to playing the alpha. Thanks.
I just saw the trailer for AoE:online.
This kicks it's *** ;)
Horses are kinda slow, though :P And you might want to add "random" groans and other sounds for battle, other than the weapons and the deaths. Yeah, I know it is only Alpha yet, so it's really awsome!
Most units will have the ability to run eventually.
Walk for short distances, run for long distances, double right click for manual run?
By the way, do you plan on translating it to multiple languages? Of course, if we have English, that's enough. I play games in English anyway.
We do intend to provide a way to translate the game into multiple languages, probably using one of the existing frameworks for translating computer programs. The English text won't be finalized until late in the development, and we'll most likely prioritize other things, but in the end we do intend to have it available in as many languages as possible.
I'll download this when there's a matchmaking system.
looks like an improved version of AoE
Zerg rush! The foot soldier selection sound is a little repetitive. Rotation looks fun; I wanted to see the opposite side of the bush where the Hyppikon was attacking the deer.
The selection sound (as well as creation sounds) are only placeholders, so they will definitely be improved in future versions :)
Nice ! Keep up good work :D
Is this anything like empire earth?
Ive always wanted an Indie Empire Earth 4 and SO many people have... do you think you could use this engine to make it :)?
It's more like Age of Empires than Empire Earth, though there are/will be a bunch of features which we'll have in common with EE rather than AoE. I'm sure it's *possible* to use the engine for creating an EE like game, though I'm not sure whether it's easier than trying to create it from scratch with an engine that's built to fit. I'm guessing it shouldn't be too hard though as EE isn't all that different, so as long as you're able to create all the content it shouldn't be too hard.
It would be trivial to turn 0 A.D. into an Empire Earth clone, from a programming standpoint. You would just need to put in new "ages" like how we will be using "phases." A "city phase" is basically just a technology that unlocks new buildings, technologies, and units. Once technologies are implemented fully it would be easy to just add more and more phases (ages) in order to make an EE clone. Now, making all the new art, animations, models, etc. would be the hard part.