Hugo Hacker News

0 A.D. A free, open-source game of ancient warfare

awb 2021-08-17 02:03:52 +0000 UTC [ - ]

For those new to 0 A.D., it's been in development for years and just released a new version (Alpha 25) last week.

Alpha is an understatement IMO as this game has great cross-platform support, a multi-player lobby, pretty balanced gameplay and amazing graphics, plus a ton of other features too numerous to mention.

There's also a huge scripting component in JavaScript, so it's pretty easy for most devs to contribute maps and make gameplay PRs.

There was also a long delay between v23 and v24, but now the team seems back on track and committed to a 6 month release cycle.

To play: https://play0ad.com/

To contribute: https://trac.wildfiregames.com/

SavantIdiot 2021-08-17 02:00:12 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Ok why have there been 5 open source games on HN today?

EDIT: No really, why? Is there some bigger event I missed?

codetrotter 2021-08-17 02:09:03 +0000 UTC [ - ]

My best guess is that one post gained traction and people were talking about other open source games in the comments and then other people learned about those games and decided to post about them. I think it’s nice when stuff like this happens. It’s like an impromptu theme day :)

xkeysc0re 2021-08-17 02:35:46 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I quite enjoy when that happens. Often there'll be a deeply-nested comment with a great link that makes its way to the front page.

ibotty 2021-08-17 05:58:17 +0000 UTC [ - ]

What were the other open source game posts?

rwmj 2021-08-17 08:07:36 +0000 UTC [ - ]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28203940 Endless Sky

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28201265 Beyond All Reason: Open-source RTS reimagining Total Annihilation

I'm not sure about the other two.

zem 2021-08-17 08:25:23 +0000 UTC [ - ]

widelands: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28196178

ajoseps 2021-08-17 02:08:41 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I think the first one got popular (Total Annihilation?) and people started posting similar ones

ekianjo 2021-08-17 02:17:22 +0000 UTC [ - ]

OAD was just on HN first page again last week, seeing it agai now that sounds like too much for no reason.

ajoseps 2021-08-17 02:21:31 +0000 UTC [ - ]

It was up last week since they just released a new version after a while, whereas this post seems to be in relation to the other OSS games that were posted today. I do think it's not a bad thing though. I learned of new interesting OSS games to try out!

riggsdk 2021-08-17 09:07:30 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Back when Autodesk crippled Fusion360 it spawned a similar wave of posts about open source parametric CAD software. I don’t mind these either.

mclightning 2021-08-17 07:26:15 +0000 UTC [ - ]

it is a relief to find someone else is curious about this too

astlouis44 2021-08-17 03:26:36 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Wondering the same.

Abimelex 2021-08-17 10:41:21 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I played it a few years ago and it was really not ready, just full of bugs and lagging all the way. But I'll give it another shot, because I really like supporting open source games!

detaro 2021-08-17 08:27:28 +0000 UTC [ - ]

also had a discussion just last week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28107670