An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II(github.com) |
An open source engine clone of Age of Empires II(github.com) |
Waaaaaah! It
* segfaults
* prints error messages I don't want to read
* ate my dog
All of those are features, not bugs. To turn them off, use ./openage --dont-segfault --no-errors --dont-eat-dog.
[2] http://userpatch.aiscripters.net
edit: I jumped the gun before RTFM, sorry about that, might want to check out http://aoccs.net too for aoehd.
Is this still true, given that Microsoft has officially re-released AoE on Steam? I assume most people would have migrated there now...
You can check the player history for steam here[0], it's almost at an all time low, although this number includes people logged in playing single player too, while voobly's numbers (just over 1500 at the time of writing) include people spectating matches and waiting in lobbies or idling.
Unfortunately there were performance problems on the release of aoehd, pretty much up until 1-2 months ago, leaving the community fragmented. Typically steam is where you'll find casual gamers and voobly is where slightly more experienced players go (although they do have a new player lobby with casual gamers too). During steam sales however the hd edition does get an influx of new players every time (you can usually pick it up for $5).
Since I'm talking about platforms it wouldn't be fair not to mention game ranger[1]. I don't know a lot about it but the rumours are they largely play standard (non-userpatch) aoc or the forgotten empires[2]. I have got no idea about the userbase size though.
[0] http://steamcharts.com/app/221380#1y
I've been playing it since 2002 and keep an XP box specifically to play it on. After all these years I still haven't gotten bored of the game and probably play it 2-3 hours a week or more on average.
I don't know if this means it's a really good game or I'm just a boring person. But it beats AoE all over in my opinion. I've tried a lot of other games, played them for a bit and forgotten about them. But not Cossacks. I just wish they had kept the series going.
Currently on sale for $1.79, and that version will work on modern versions of Windows.
You, me, and 3 of my cousins would all agree. We had a blast playing over LAN and watching our millions of pikemen get mowed down by grapeshot, large fleets of battleships tear through each other, and do silly things like build farms near our seiging armies so the wheat fields would hide mortars.
The sheer scale of that game at the time is what made it stick.
Trying to clone AoE II seems like a pretty cool and challenging project, and actually if I was going to write a game with 2D isometric graphics, I might steal some tricks from AoE.
[1] http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/aokcgi/display.cgi?action...
Terrain blending implementation: https://github.com/SFTtech/openage/blob/b7af79f1d5bfcc986935...
I think we got the perfectly matching algorithm, we even get the same blending bugs with snow :D
Sarcasm is only funny to me when it's not mean spirited.
The joke about segfaults: "--dont-segfault --no-errors --dont-eat-dog." was quite funny, on the other hand. I'd like to see more playful expression in this way rather than playing with negativity; because even though it's obviously a joke, there's enough negativity in the world already that it doesn't make me laugh thinking about it.
I imagine i'm in a tiny minority. :/
Isn't the current AI scripting done in Lisp?
It's extremely limited, at least if you expect it to be a complete programming language. On the other hand, it's very easy to learn and use, which is what it's designed for.
The random map scripting is a programming language I believe. You can create scripts that generate maps.
AOE2 received a 'userpatch' that updated the AI allowing it to do more complicated things
The userpatch wasn't made my Microsoft so AOE2HD was unable too take advantage of it but 2 months ago there was a patch that made the AI very difficult and aggressive.
Still, the AI is unable to do certain things that the userpatch AI could do (using walls, moving deer, playing on forest maps etc).
> But then your inner lazy piece of shit replied: "but what should I do, I'm too lazy to think of something i could do!"
1) free as in "gratis" (freeware software) - you can download it for free, install it and use it. And that's all. Usually it's already compiled so you don't have an access to the source code. Sometimes you are forbidden to copy it and give it to a friend (because you both should e.g. download it from author's web page).
2) free as in "freedom" (free software) - you can do literally anything with this kind of software because it's licensed in a way that doesn't restrict the user in any manner (i.e. license preserves user freedom). Run it, fork it, modify it, sell it, give it away to your friends (or to anyone), you can do anything. There are several free licenses which handle these cases in a different way (e.g. GPL, LGPL, Apache License, MIT License, Boost License, Vim License and so on). They're sometimes called copyleft licenses (as opposite to copyright term). If you're interested, here's the wiki page comparing most of free licenses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_and_open-sou...
Please note that it doesn't mean that the software is being given away "for free (gratis)" (but usually it is) - it only means that once you obtain it, you can do anything you want with it.
Oh, and a mandatory link when we're talking about Free Software: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sJUDx7iEJw
They don't present themselves as AoE2 either - saying that it's like AoE2 is not infringing - so no trademark issue either.
Can't see a problem with this.
Read up on some judges' verdicts on video game clones at: http://adlervermillion.com/copyright-illustrated-video-game-...
http://games.slashdot.org/story/03/06/21/1323249/freecraft-c...
(And yes, it's been 11+ years since I got excited about one.)
I went and had a look for the AI I had seen before, here's it on gist if anyone would like to read it (it's 28,000 lines).
I miss that game.
Though I would be worried if I heard yandere in any context other than manga/anime.
Good job blizzard on preventing any games from ever ending in "craft".
This kinda makes sense from the trademark POV, try starting sports car company called "Ferari".
So to get close to a car analogy [it's still poor] it should rather be "try giving away plans for a car called a 'Triangolorossa'".
The real chance of confusion is pretty close to zero but no doubt a motivated lawyer and a legal system corrupted to favour mega-corps would still be able to decide it was a genuine trademark confusion.
If it's a clone then there are copyright issues. If it's not a clone then having a similar but clearly distinct name is not a genuine point of confusion for the public.
Also from the comments on that page:
>I am not a lawyer, but on the surface this case looks similar to one the Supreme Court just decided recently in which Victoria's Secret sued a sex-toy company called Victor's Secret for trademark infringement because of the soundalike name. Victoria lost---the Court held that you must present strong evidence of serious harm before you can sue for trademark infringement over a similar-sounding name.
I doubt there was any evidence of "serious harm", or that any of the players thought it was actually a Blizzard product. A big disclaimer saying "not associated with starcraft, bizzard, etc" should be more than enough to stop any confusion if it existed. But they didn't ask for that, they asked for them to take down the whole thing.