If you've always wanted to live in a world populated by elves, dwarves and wizards, you don't need to pay for a World of Warcraft subscription or buy the Special Extended DVD Trilogy Edition of The Lord of the Rings just yet. You could instead give Battle for Wesnoth a try — an open source turn-based strategy game in a fantasy setting. For the practically minded, "open-source" means that the code which the game is made of is available to anyone who wishes to use, redistribute or change it. It was created by volunteers and can be freely shared. Even the multiplayer online part of the game is free (no ads or spyware either). The game is reminiscent of turn-based strategy classics such as Heroes of Might and Magic or Warlords . Throughout each campaign, the player is informed of the progress of the story. For instance, in the "Heir to the Throne" campaign, the player follows the story of Prince Konrad, who must reclaim the throne of Wesnoth from an evil queen. Also, within the game itself, it's possible to directly download new campaigns from the Internet, many of which have been created by players. Do you think that, in essence, we are seeing the beginnings of applying " wiki " principles to game development? On one hand, I see the ability to directly download new campaigns as a mild convenience -- it wouldn't be much more difficult for the user to, for instance, go to a web page and download campaigns. I think that for an Open Source game, making it as easy as possible for users to contribute content is a key way to help make the game succeed. We have tried hard to do this in Wesnoth. I don't think that with something dynamic like a game, it's quite as easy to make absolutely anyone be able to edit it or contribute as easily as they can in a Wiki, but we have tried to make it as easy as possible. How do you moderate user-submitted content? Are there scenarios or graphics you have rejected because they crossed a line -- sexual content, excessive violence, etc.?Well, there are basically three levels of content acceptance: 'Official': content can be accepted into the game itself -- the content will reside in our SVN repository, and will be in the tarballs released by developers. 'Campaign Server': Content can be allowed on the campaign server (the server which users can connect to in-game to download more content). 'Disallowed': Finally, content can be disallowed on the campaign server, which means that the creator could only distribute it using their own channels (for instance, having a web site people could download it from). Our aim is to keep Wesnoth appropriate for users of any age and background -- of course, it contains some level of violence, but this is not depicted very explicitly, and only parents who do not want to expose their children to animated violence of any level need be concerned. For this reason, we also do not allow expletives on our forums or IRC channels.How do you feel about games like " Second Life ", where players trade user-generated content for money?I've never understood the appeal of games like that. I don't enjoy cheating in games, and to me buying items with real money seems like cheating -- except worse, since it actually costs money.What changes to the game or gameplay do you anticipate in the coming months and years?Well, we've avoided making many gameplay changes at all, since very early on in Wesnoth's development. Wesnoth is meant to be a simple game, with simple gameplay, and 'changing' gameplay will probably lead to it being more complex. We want to keep it simple. Changes will probably focus on improving existing features, and making the engine a little more customizable. Enhancing the multiplayer component is big on the list -- we've progressively added more and more features on the server. We also want to add more graphical enhancement. For instance, a particle system to allow various combat effects.If you had unlimited resources at your disposal to improve the game, what would you change about it?Wesnoth was always designed to be a simple game, with simple goals. It has exceeded all the expectations I originally had for it. There is still some 'polishing' work going on, but really I don't think there is too much I would dramatically change. Probably the largest thing I can name is a much better AI than we currently have. I'm pretty happy with the AI developed for Wesnoth -- I think it's much better than AIs for most commercial games -- but it could be better. That's the only area of Wesnoth that I think could really be very dramatically improved. I am very happy with our graphics overall. I think our artists have done an excellent job of making the game look attractive without detracting from functionality. Adding 3D graphics, or changing the style of the 2D graphics would only be wasted effort in my mind -- I think we've achieved a great balance of making the game easy and clear, while making it look good. There are some enhancements to multiplayer I would like added -- multiplayer campaigns is a long-time feature request. As are more options and features on the multiplayer server. Overall though, if I had 'unlimited resources', I'd much rather develop an entirely new game. We don't have enough good Open Source games -- it's a waste to pour all the resources we have into one. :) Wesnoth has dwarves with guns, World of Warcraft'' has gnomes and goblins with explosives and flying machines -- where do you, personally, define the limits of the fantasy genre? Are there scenarios playing in a steampunk world, or ones with modern technology? Would you allow those?Actually we have Dwarves with 'Thundersticks' :) -- mysterious weapons that make a loud sound and do lots of damage, but are clumsy and unreliable. The developers do not comment on whether or not these 'thundersticks' are or are not like 'guns' on earth. We like to keep Wesnoth slightly mysterious, and leave some things up to the player's interpretation, rather than spell it out. We do have a vision for what the world of Wesnoth is like though -- and Wesnoth is a world of ancient-era weaponry, with a little magic. Of Elves and Dwarves and Orcs. Very much inspired by Tolkien. I actually originally chose this setting because my focus was on technical excellence -- writing a good, solid engine -- not on creating a new fantasy world. I decided to stick with a very well-known, proven theme, figuring I couldn't go wrong with it. I would prefer a civilization or perhaps colonization type game. FreeCiv is nice, though it's close to being a clone of Civilization II. I'd like an original game that had the same sort of theme as civilization, but with new and innovative rules.Every online game and community is also a social space. Have you met interesting people through Wesnoth whom you would not have met otherwise? Are there other stories you can tell from the community -- have there been real world meetups, chat rooms, etc.?I've come into contact with lots of very interesting people through Wesnoth, and have learned a great deal from them. The Wesnoth developers -- many of whom are from Europe -- used the LSM conference in France in 2004 as an opportunity to meet each other. Nekeme, an organization dedicated to developing and promotion Free games was kind enough to sponsor two developers to go. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but the developers who did had a very nice time. We have several IRC channels on irc.freenode.net, and the most popular ones -- #wesnoth and #wesnoth-dev are usually fairly busy with both discussion about Wesnoth, and friendly discussion of other topics. I'm afraid I haven't played many. I like RPGs, and I know lots of people love NetHack and similar games, but I much prefer party-based and generally more storyline-oriented RPGs. Probably the most promising Open Source game I've seen is GalaxyMage , but it still has a long way to go. Honestly, I don't play that many games. I like playing commercial RPGs, usually console-based, with my wife, and I occasionally like playing the commercial Civilization series. To play an Open Source game, it'd have to be very good, and appeal to my tastes, and I haven't found any Open Source games like that, sadly.
If you've always wanted to live in a world populated by elves, dwarves and wizards, you don't need to pay for a subscription or buy the Special Extended DVD Trilogy Edition of just yet. You could instead give a try — an turn-based strategy game in a fantasy setting. For the practically minded, "open-source" means that the code which the game is made of is available to anyone who wishes to use, redistribute or change it. It was created by volunteers and can be freely shared. Even the multiplayer online part of the game is free (no ads or spyware either). The game is reminiscent of turn-based strategy classics such as or . Throughout each campaign, the player is informed of the progress of the story. For instance, in the "Heir to the Throne" campaign, the player follows the story of Prince Konrad, who must reclaim the throne of Wesnoth from an evil queen. Also, within the game itself, it's possible to directly download new campaigns from the Internet, many of which have been created by players. Do you think that, in essence, we are seeing the beginnings of applying " " principles to game development? On one hand, I see the ability to directly download new campaigns as a mild convenience — it wouldn't be much more difficult for the user to, for instance, go to a web page and download campaigns. I think that for an Open Source game, making it as easy as possible for users to contribute content is a key way to help make the game succeed. We have tried hard to do this in Wesnoth. I don't think that with something dynamic like a game, it's quite as easy to make absolutely anyone be able to edit it or contribute as easily as they can in a Wiki, but we have tried to make it as easy as possible. How do you moderate user-submitted content? Are there scenarios or graphics you have rejected because they crossed a line — sexual content, excessive violence, etc.?Well, there are basically three levels of content acceptance: 'Official': content can be accepted into the game itself — the content will reside in our SVN repository, and will be in the tarballs released by developers. 'Campaign Server': Content can be allowed on the campaign server (the server which users can connect to in-game to download more content). 'Disallowed': Finally, content can be disallowed on the campaign server, which means that the creator could only distribute it using their own channels (for instance, having a web site people could download it from). Our aim is to keep Wesnoth appropriate for users of any age and background — of course, it contains some level of violence, but this is not depicted very explicitly, and only parents who do not want to expose their children to animated violence of any level need be concerned. For this reason, we also do not allow expletives on our forums or IRC channels.How do you feel about games like " ", where players trade user-generated content for money?I've never understood the appeal of games like that. I don't enjoy cheating in games, and to me buying items with real money seems like cheating — except worse, since it actually costs money.What changes to the game or gameplay do you anticipate in the coming months and years?Well, we've avoided making many gameplay changes at all, since very early on in Wesnoth's development. Wesnoth is meant to be a simple game, with simple gameplay, and 'changing' gameplay will probably lead to it being more complex. We want to keep it simple. Changes will probably focus on improving existing features, and making the engine a little more customizable. Enhancing the multiplayer component is big on the list — we've progressively added more and more features on the server. We also want to add more graphical enhancement. For instance, a particle system to allow various combat effects.If you had unlimited resources at your disposal to improve the game, what would you change about it?Wesnoth was always designed to be a simple game, with simple goals. It has exceeded all the expectations I originally had for it. There is still some 'polishing' work going on, but really I don't think there is too much I would dramatically change. Probably the largest thing I can name is a much better AI than we currently have. I'm pretty happy with the AI developed for Wesnoth — I think it's much better than AIs for most commercial games — but it could be better. That's the only area of Wesnoth that I think could really be very dramatically improved. I am very happy with our graphics overall. I think our artists have done an excellent job of making the game look attractive without detracting from functionality. Adding 3D graphics, or changing the style of the 2D graphics would only be wasted effort in my mind — I think we've achieved a great balance of making the game easy and clear, while making it look good. There are some enhancements to multiplayer I would like added — multiplayer campaigns is a long-time feature request. As are more options and features on the multiplayer server. Overall though, if I had 'unlimited resources', I'd much rather develop an entirely new game. We don't have enough good Open Source games — it's a waste to pour all the resources we have into one. :) Wesnoth has dwarves with guns, World of Warcraft'' has gnomes and goblins with explosives and flying machines — where do you, personally, define the limits of the fantasy genre? Are there scenarios playing in a steampunk world, or ones with modern technology? Would you allow those?Actually we have Dwarves with 'Thundersticks' :) — mysterious weapons that make a loud sound and do lots of damage, but are clumsy and unreliable. The developers do not comment on whether or not these 'thundersticks' are or are not like 'guns' on earth. We like to keep Wesnoth slightly mysterious, and leave some things up to the player's interpretation, rather than spell it out. We do have a vision for what the world of Wesnoth is like though — and Wesnoth is a world of ancient-era weaponry, with a little magic. Of Elves and Dwarves and Orcs. Very much inspired by Tolkien. I actually originally chose this setting because my focus was on technical excellence — writing a good, solid engine — not on creating a new fantasy world. I decided to stick with a very well-known, proven theme, figuring I couldn't go wrong with it. I would prefer a civilization or perhaps colonization type game. FreeCiv is nice, though it's close to being a clone of Civilization II. I'd like an original game that had the same sort of theme as civilization, but with new and innovative rules.Every online game and community is also a social space. Have you met interesting people through Wesnoth whom you would not have met otherwise? Are there other stories you can tell from the community — have there been real world meetups, chat rooms, etc.?I've come into contact with lots of very interesting people through Wesnoth, and have learned a great deal from them. The Wesnoth developers — many of whom are from Europe — used the LSM conference in France in 2004 as an opportunity to meet each other. Nekeme, an organization dedicated to developing and promotion Free games was kind enough to sponsor two developers to go. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but the developers who did had a very nice time. We have several IRC channels on irc.freenode.net, and the most popular ones — #wesnoth and #wesnoth-dev are usually fairly busy with both discussion about Wesnoth, and friendly discussion of other topics. I'm afraid I haven't played many. I like RPGs, and I know lots of people love and similar games, but I much prefer party-based and generally more storyline-oriented RPGs. Probably the most promising Open Source game I've seen is , but it still has a long way to go. Honestly, I don't play that many games. I like playing commercial RPGs, usually console-based, with my wife, and I occasionally like playing the commercial series. To play an Open Source game, it'd have to be very good, and appeal to my tastes, and I haven't found any Open Source games like that, sadly.
D
World of Warcraft
D
The Lord of the Rings
D
Battle for Wesnoth
D
open source
R
Heroes of Might and Magic or Warlords
or
D
wiki
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
D
Second Life
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
R
--
—
D
NetHack
D
GalaxyMage
D
Civilization