I wrote this article a long time ago for a blog that never got off the ground. I feel it’s worth posting here because Wildfire Games are really are deserving of some exposure. They are surprisingly hard to find considering the scope and progress of their project.
Wildfire Games is an independent game development team dedicated to creating completely free strategy games. They have two current projects, a historical RTS game called 0AD and a fantasy RTS called the Last Alliance and set in Middle Earth. The Wildfire Games team is comprised of about 40 people around the globe who work together over the Internet for the last seven years. The and anyone with the necessary skills is welcome to join the development team.
Wildfire Games began back in 2001 when some of the original members created a mod for Age of Empires II: Age of Kings which they called ‘Rome at War‘. It was an instant success even featuring on several prominent PC gaming magazines including PC PowerPlay.
After this buzz Wildfire Games began envisaging a Total Conversion mod for Age of Empires II. However after several months of planning the idea fell through due to a lack of interest and also possibly due to the aging of AOE2 itself.
What did come out of this however was a desire to develop a completely new game from scratch. With the original concepts developed for the conversion mod Wildfire Games decided to create their own game engine to support this. A year of design, planning, recruitment and discussions followed before programming for 0AD finally began.
It is the most ambitious project of its kind to date, not only for directly rivaling the scope and size of commercial RTS titles, but for being completely created by a small independent team who have invested nothing but their own time and resources.
0AD is really two games and will be released accordingly. The first covering the 500 years prior to 0AD, the second the 500 years after. After the first release we can expect part two to be a much faster development as obviously it will not need the creation of a game engine and the programming that part one has.
Wildfire’s reasons for creating a completely free game are outlined in their FAQ:
Greater exposure
Freedom to upgrade, patch or mod at any time without first clearing it with our publisher.
No publisher’s deadlines and limitations
No legal problems. We can for example utilise certain third-party libraries without having to pay licensing fees.
Our staff contribute for the sheer pleasure and experience of it, not for the sake of a salary. This will ultimately lead to a better quality product.
Wildfire Games is not making the groundbreaking here. They are very open with the fact that their aim was to create a game is at once very familiar, yet also satisfying and an engaging real-time strategy game.
Historical accuracy
An incredible amount of effort has gone into making this game accurate in every way possible. To get an idea as to this depth read some of the Wildfire Games historical research articles. Personally historical accuracy doesn’t particularly bother me. As long as the game makes vague sense and you there are no tanks waging war on cavemen then its all good. But it seems a lot of people like their games to be accurate, so if that’s you then you may like this.
0AD is quite unique. Independent RTS titles are few and far between, and are considerably lacking when compared to commercial titles. Wildfire Games hopes to change that, and from the screenshots and videos that have been released so far it looks to be a very real possibility.
There are of course other free RTS games, but maybe the only one worth comparison is Glest, a Warcraft-like game with quite a dedicated community.
Looking at this project in comparison to these other independent development communities it would seem organisation to be one of the key elements of Wildfire’s success. Having the right talent on board is essential of course, but it is Wildfire’s attention to objectives, schedules and management that have got them where they are today.
The game looks both professional and polished and on the Wildfire Games website you’ll find out a lot more including features, historical research, screenshots, music, regular updates and showcases.
Jason Bishop is the Project Leader behind 0AD and has been with on the team from the outset. He took the time to answer these questions about Wildfire’s game:
I think the most obvious thing everyone wants to know, is exactly what is the current state of 0AD. Is it in a playable state?
It is playable, though we are still working to include a few remaining features. We are working towards Alpha, at which point we have decided that the game is at a state that it could be tested in a closed invitation format.
What period of time are we looking at before we see a beta, or even an alpha release of the game?
We have two new programs that we are initiating this summer that will effect this answer. Depending on the level of success, we should be able to answer this question better for you by fall. At this point WFG is not prepared to commit to a release date for Beta.
Wildfire Games started in 2001 sometime, has it been hard maintaining focus, progress and a schedule over the years?
Very difficult. During such a great period of time with a voluntary staff you see new faces come and old faces go. The baton must be passed and it needs to be done as seamlessly as possible. The old hands on the project are no longer high school and college students and their time and schedule has been changed since they first started due to jobs, and higher education.
Will the completed game be supported through regular bug fixes, updates, patches and expansions?
We will definitely be supporting bug fixes and patches. Hopefully the turn around will be shorter than it would be working through a publisher as traditional games must do. Expansions will come in time. We have one in mind already, the shape and add features will probably be decided by the feedback from players of the initial release.
Will we see any ‘quirks’ or a sense of humour evident in the game?
We have a few easter eggs in mind. Ninjas, Pirates and Aliens are always cool in any setting.
0AD came out of an idea for a Total Conversion Mod for AOE2 and seems to share many gameplay features with the AOE series. What do you think makes 0AD a unique RTS experience and not a AOE clone?
(Some similarities you have described include the economic model (one off payments over upkeep costs for buildings and units) and resource system (stone, gold, wood and food) and gameplay (emphasis on combat over city building). )
There is still much innovation to be made. This for us means:
A. Less tedious/mindless micro-management
B. More strategic thinking
C. Greater stress on planning, formations, and tactics
D. Choices, Choices, and more Choices
E. Enhancing the multiplayer experience-An excerpt from our features page: http://www.wildfiregames.com/0ad/page.php?p=1729
Has it been difficult getting ‘real’ talent (programmers, artists etc) involved with this project as opposed to a lot of great ideas and rudimentary skills.
At first we had difficulty filtering out the waves of would be volunteers. However, over time we have managed to put together a awesome team of talent that has gotten the game to the point it is today.
What effect do you think creating this game will have on other independent game development teams online and even commercial developers?
I believe the impact will be negligible with our initial release. I do hope that it’s release will inspire independent development. It’s ultimate effect will be in the hands of the community. WFG alone cannot elevate the game to the level of a commercial title.
