
Openage – Free Age of Empires 2 engine clone - thejj
http://openage.sft.mx/
======
mdf
It's amazing to see so many community powered open source projects dedicated
to keeping old games alive (while also preserving the same look & feel these
games had back in '90s).

Along with the OpenMW[1], OpenRA[2], OpenTTD[3] and OpenRCT2[4] listed on
openage's GitHub page, lots of others exist. To name a few:

* OpenXcom[5] for X-COM: Enemy Unknown and the later Terror From the Deep games.

* Nuvie[6], Exult[7] and Pentagram[8] for Ultima VI-VIII respectively.

* GZDoom[9] (and various others) for running Doom, Doom II etc.

* Freeciv[10] for running Civilization.

[1] [https://openmw.org/](https://openmw.org/)

[2] [http://openra.net/](http://openra.net/)

[3] [http://openttd.org/](http://openttd.org/)

[4] [http://openrct.net/](http://openrct.net/)

[5] [http://openxcom.org/](http://openxcom.org/)

[6] [http://nuvie.sourceforge.net/](http://nuvie.sourceforge.net/)

[7] [http://exult.sourceforge.net/](http://exult.sourceforge.net/)

[8] [http://pentagram.sourceforge.net/](http://pentagram.sourceforge.net/)

[9]
[http://forum.drdteam.org/viewforum.php?f=23](http://forum.drdteam.org/viewforum.php?f=23)

[10] [http://www.freeciv.org/](http://www.freeciv.org/)

~~~
qznc
The longest list I know of is
[http://osgameclones.com/](http://osgameclones.com/)

~~~
lagudragu
Great list!

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silveira
0ad started as a AOE mod then they started their own engine and assets. I've
been playing a lot of 0ad lately, I recommend it.

~~~
JoshuaJB
Technically it's 0 A.D., but that's a minor note. For those unfamiliar with
the project, check out [http://play0ad.com](http://play0ad.com). It's a very
mature codebase with over 10 years of development behind it. Everything is
free as in freedom. One area they excel in that many other open-source games
struggle with is in the quality of their models and art. I even know several
other open source games which re-use the models.

~~~
lubomir
I love the music in the game:
[http://play0ad.bandcamp.com/](http://play0ad.bandcamp.com/) How many free
games come with something like that!

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sparky_
So I'm a big fan of OpenTTD which is a similar premise - but I can't help but
feel like the timing is going to hurt them here. OpenTTD, OpenRCT, et al,
solve a problem that the original game is a subpar (or unplayable) experience
on modern hardware; however Microsoft has just rerelease an HD version of AOE2
on Steam not even a year ago. So my fear is that it's directly competing with
a equivalent proprietary executable with a lot of marketing dollars behind it.

~~~
SXX
Actually availability of game on Steam only benefit project like openage
because it's increased audience of AoE2 a lot. It's was a good game, but
community was slowly dying over many years.

In same time "proprietary executable" it's just slightly updated version of 16
years old engine with all it's problems with simulation and networking
performance. There of course some patches released, but HD not going to be
rewritten from scratch and obviously not going to solve main problems.

~~~
sparky_
I agree that it's a good thing, I just mean to play devil's advocate above. I
am afraid they'll have a harder time to attract players to the FOSS version
due to the availability on Steam. And especially for RTS games, multiplayer
community health/size is vital to growth.

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k8tte
Cool project!

But i'm confused. On [http://openage.sft.mx/](http://openage.sft.mx/) they say
this is a reimplementation in C++14, but seems to be actually implemented in
Python [1] ?

1:
[https://github.com/SFTtech/openage/tree/master/openage](https://github.com/SFTtech/openage/tree/master/openage)

~~~
teraflop
You're looking at a wrapper around libopenage, which is written in C++:

[https://github.com/SFTtech/openage/tree/master/libopenage](https://github.com/SFTtech/openage/tree/master/libopenage)

~~~
k8tte
thanks!

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nodesocket
Anybody know of a Command And Conquer: Red Alert clone, that supports online
play? Really missing that game.

~~~
funksta
Check out [http://www.openra.net/](http://www.openra.net/)

* Actively developed (newest release just over a week ago)

* Cross platform (Linux/OS X/Windows)

* Reasonably active online player base

I play it semi-regularly and it's a lot of fun!

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KuhlMensch
Why does the screenshot have one tile have Gabe Newell in it? is it a dig at
an ex-microsoftian or something?

~~~
jsmthrowaway
Gabe Newell is tongue-in-cheek worshipped in the gaming community and has been
for many years. Far from a dig. Any time you see a photograph or reference to
him, it's an in joke, much like the guy who used to work at Twitch and became
Kappa. Why this happened is a mix of things from Half Life to Steam, and it's
honestly been long enough that nobody remembers or cares.

The problem is, just like some recent folks on /pol/, the newer crowd doesn't
realize it's a joke so Gabe has to be cautious how he interacts with the
public now. I'm amazed he still handles his own email. He popped up on Reddit
recently and amazingly corralled the discussion toward his (real world) car
racing team, but it took work on his part. People hug him in public and he's
said before that's taken adjustment.

I've seen a GABEN license plate, to give you an idea of how far that gag goes.
Funny you mentioned MSFT, too, because most people who perpetuate the gag
don't know he worked there at one point; it might even predate their life.

~~~
oxide
now that's knowing your meme. well explained!

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skrowl
OpenAge has only seen one release in 2015, but looks to have quite a few
contributors. Also, there are no Windows builds.

Cool looking project though.

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hayd
I've successfully: cloned the repo, installed the deps, compile, loaded the
assets, and run python run.py... How do I play??

The game generates a map, but there's a very different HUD, with vim-like
modes and lots of keyboard shortcuts on the RHS. Is there a tutorial or short
introduction in how to get started?

Edit: it's somewhat explained here:
[https://github.com/SFTtech/openage/blob/master/doc/usage.md](https://github.com/SFTtech/openage/blob/master/doc/usage.md)

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JupiterMoon
How legal is this? Just wondering.

~~~
LeonM
Like many doom/quake clones (before ID released the source) I expect openage
to be supplied without the artwork, you will need an original CD/image for
that.

~~~
sleepychu
Where does a designer stand if they want to make the missing resources so that
the whole game can be shipped for free?

~~~
JustinAiken
Doom's done it - [https://freedoom.github.io/](https://freedoom.github.io/)

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cypher_glyph
Have to make a mention of the PlayStation1 (!) RTS game that - in addition to
being way ahead of it's time - has since been faithfully recreated for PC.
[https://wz2100.net/](https://wz2100.net/)

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brymaster
Previously:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8511084](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8511084)

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rdpi
URL is blocked from U.A.E. (Dubai). Anyone knows why?

~~~
SXX
Website is hosted on GitHub Pages so any website using same CDN IP could be
reason.

[https://www.robtex.com/?dns=23.235.43.133&rev=1](https://www.robtex.com/?dns=23.235.43.133&rev=1)

