0 A.D. – A Free, Open-Source Video Game In The Style Of Age Of Empires
0 A.D. – Empires Ascendant is a free, open-source, cross-platform RTS developed by Wildfire Games and released in July, 2017 as a stable version (although still in continuous development). Initially conceived solely as a mod for Age Of Empires II: The Age of Kings in 2001, the team of independent developers from Wildfire Games decided to subsequently expand their creation into a stand-alone, full fledge historical real-time strategy video game focusing on the Ancient Age.
0 A.D. Wallpaper featuring the Greek civilization. Image source: www.play0ad.com
Walking into the footsteps of the critically acclaimed and highly popular Age Of Empires franchise, this free and open source video game revolves around Antiquity, with the player being able to choose between a number of Ancient civilizations such as the Romans (Republic Romans, as credited in the game), Ancient Greeks (with the afferent factions of Athenians and Spartans), or Celts (with the afferent factions of Britons and Gauls). The game’s timeline is as such set between 500 B.C. and 1 B.C.
The development of 0 A.D. as a video game of its made possible the creation of an independent engine for it called ‘Pyrogenesis’ (an ancient Greek reference that could be literally translated as the genesis/beginning of fire) which is coded in the C++ programming language.
In-game screenshot of 0 A.D. – Empires Ascendant featuring the Roman Republic. Image source: www.youtube.com
0 A.D. consists of both single-player and multiplayer gaming modes. The only mention here is that the single-player mode does not include historical campaigns because they are still being developed. Consequently, there are also other minor bugs that need to be fixed within the game, but, overall, it is a very neatly, well structured, and aesthetically-pleasing RTS. Best of all, it’s also free of charge and anyone can contribute to its content and code given the fact that it is open-sourced.
Currently, the official release is labeled as Alpha 22 “Venustas” and includes a series of features that are similar to those of the Age Of Empires franchise (including the Age Of Mythology spin-off). There are even plans in the future for subsequent expansion packs that could include other civilizations from the Ancient Age as well as other brand new gameplay features.
In terms of critics, 0 A.D. was well received both by the community of RTS gamers as well as by the gaming journalists, managing to win several mentions and awards, most notably on Mod DB, SourceForge and LinuxQuestions.org.
Below you can watch the trailer of the Alpha stable version which highlights the latest additions to the game:
- 0 A.D. (video game) on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- 0 A.D. | A free, open-source game of ancient warfare on www.play0ad.com (the game’s official website)
- 0 A.D. on www.sourceforge.net
- 0 A.D. Empires Ascendant by Wildfire Games on www.moddb.com
