The 0 A.D. developers sent word out today that the packaging for alpha 20 has begun, and release candidate testing will happen soon. I've done some highlights of what's to come!
The packaging for A20 is under way! Prepare yourselves to test some Release Candidates! :D pic.twitter.com/dsWnpR6ino
— 0 A.D. (@play0ad) March 28, 2016
What's to come?
This is just after scanning their roadmap of tickets, there's probably plenty they have done that didn't have a ticket.
- Enable GLSL by default on OpenGL 3+ (the visuals should see an improvement)
- Forest Battle (4) map now included (from Mapping Contest 16)
- A bit of work done on detecting features your GPU can use, sounds like in future it will auto-detect graphics settings for you when starting
- An observer joining will no longer take the slot of a disconnected player, preventing them rejoining
- The AI should no longer build a dock and a ton of ships in a river that's too small just blocking it up
- Fixed a bug where spec maps, normal maps, and AO maps for buildings and/or units would not get turned on in the graphics menu
- Dead soldiers will no longer get promoted creating a new soldier
- Fixes to make longer games work better
- Tons more see here
I very much look forward to giving it a go, as I think it's going to be incredible when it's finished. Their attention to detail is awesome, and it shows with every alpha.
Quoting: STiATThey had several funding campaigns running for having a core developer working full-time for some time on the game. That's probably why it's moving faster right now, but could end some day again.
We'll see about it, it has great potential and I think it certainly could become a cool game for LAN Partys.
Those crowdfunding campaigns were no success though. We did raise more than enough to cover our expenses (server rent, a bit of promotional expenses for presenting at conferences, ...), but the last time we were able to pay a programmer was Philip, in 2009. With the current money, we can't find a programmer to work on something decent (something too big, too boring or too difficult to do in your free time).
So most progress is done thanks to the steady inflow of new contributors, for which we really have to thank news sites like these for.
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