0 A.D. Pre Alpha 3 Released news

Wildfire Games proudly announces the release of a third pre-alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. Like previous releases, it's not a playable release yet, but slowly yet surely we're getting there, so as one longtime developer remarked, "it's feeling more like a proper game than I can ever remember," if only because now you can play 0 A.D. over a network with your friends!

This release includes multiplayer support, improved GUI, improved pathfinding and more.

Easy Download and Install
Download and installation instructions are available for Windows, OS X and Linux.

Play With Your Friends
This is the first version of 0 A.D. in a long time that has multiplayer capabilities. We tested them this Saturday (July 10th, 2010) in an international multiplayer game with five participants from the US, the UK, Sweden and Israel, and it worked pretty much without a hitch.

You're invited to recreate the same experience with our special map designed for multiplayer, "techdemo-mp". All you need is an IP address and maybe to know your way around a router or a firewall. If you run into any crashes or major bugs, you're invited to report them in the multiplayer thread at the 0 A.D. development forum so we can fix the game in later versions.

New Features
To recap, some of the changes since the last pre-alpha include:

• Added multiplayer support.
• GUI: Redesigned session GUI; Redesigned game setup GUI; Changed GUI fonts; Improved text rendering performance; Added fullscreen toggle; Added resizable windows; Added session GUI when playtesting inside the scenario editor; Added on-screen warning/error display.
• Pathfinding: Added terrain passability constraints; Added terrain movement costs; Added floating units.
• Bug fixes: Fixed animation speeds; Fixed projectile synchronisation; Fixed rendering bugs; Fixed gameplay bugs; Fixed CPU detection; Fixed GUI text input bugs.
• Added ambient sounds.
• Added hotloading of actor XML files.
• Improved shadow rendering.
• Various other changes and bug fixes and optimizations - see the SVN log.

An overview of the gameplay feature status is on our wiki. There is still a lot of work to be done, though: Check out our planned feature list for the alpha version if you're interested. If you want to be part of this effort too, you're welcome to get involved!

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.