Warzone 2100: A Free and Open Source Real-Time Strategy Game(wz2100.net)
wz2100.net
Warzone 2100: A Free and Open Source Real-Time Strategy Game
https://wz2100.net/
7 comments
Warzone 2100 is an amazing game. When first released it was way ahead of it's time, and the fact that the community managed to track down the rights holders, successfully convince them to open source the code, then successfully get them to open up the license on the cut-scenes and music is absolutely astounding. I really wish this was the norm for end-of-life games instead of a rare story of an extremely dedicated fan-base moving mountains.
I remember two key things:
1. Being blown away by the frame rate. Total Annihilation (September 1997) was the main 4X game I'd been playing and it felt no where near as genuinely 3D as Warzone 2100. I was probably on a Voodoo Rush (originally released August 1997), a very middling video card when Warzone 2100 was released (April 1999) & not aged well, & was used to having cruddy frame rates & lower visuals, and Warzone 2100 ran very nicely. It and Myth (November 1997) were two of the first 3D games that really presented a beautiful 3D RTS world running far smoother than anything I'd seen. Some other later mentions: Battlezone (March 1998), Max Payne (July 2001).
2. Warzone 2100 was one of the first games I played with a kind of assemble-your-own-units system. I didn't get far in, didn't play a ton, but it was super neat being able to configure your units however you wanted, & I was super impressed by it. Took me a couple years to buy & play Alpha Centauri (February 1999) but it had a similar configure-your-units thing, & at the time I thought that's how gaming was going to go, and that this was just the start for a huge trend. Not so right on that. ;)
1. Being blown away by the frame rate. Total Annihilation (September 1997) was the main 4X game I'd been playing and it felt no where near as genuinely 3D as Warzone 2100. I was probably on a Voodoo Rush (originally released August 1997), a very middling video card when Warzone 2100 was released (April 1999) & not aged well, & was used to having cruddy frame rates & lower visuals, and Warzone 2100 ran very nicely. It and Myth (November 1997) were two of the first 3D games that really presented a beautiful 3D RTS world running far smoother than anything I'd seen. Some other later mentions: Battlezone (March 1998), Max Payne (July 2001).
2. Warzone 2100 was one of the first games I played with a kind of assemble-your-own-units system. I didn't get far in, didn't play a ton, but it was super neat being able to configure your units however you wanted, & I was super impressed by it. Took me a couple years to buy & play Alpha Centauri (February 1999) but it had a similar configure-your-units thing, & at the time I thought that's how gaming was going to go, and that this was just the start for a huge trend. Not so right on that. ;)
What a nostalgia trip this is. I played this obsessively on the original Playstation. I'm gonna have to download it and check it out. Impressive to see that the repo is still highly active!
It's really sad that the RTT genre has all but vanished. The game studio Massive used to make excellent RTT games like Ground Control and World in Conflict. Anyone got any tips on similar newish games?
It's really sad that the RTT genre has all but vanished. The game studio Massive used to make excellent RTT games like Ground Control and World in Conflict. Anyone got any tips on similar newish games?
One large related thread:
Warzone 2100: A Free and Open Source Real-Time Strategy Game - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13334100 - Jan 2017 (135 comments)
Warzone 2100: A Free and Open Source Real-Time Strategy Game - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13334100 - Jan 2017 (135 comments)
I want to invite you to Warzone 2100 Tournament.
Contact me in discord - RBMW-Fenrir#5279
This was my favorite game back then! Thank you!