15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

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gypakk
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15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by gypakk »

Hello!

I think it's worth celebrating: in April 1999 (US) and May 1999 (EU) Warzone 2100 has been published in its first version.

An excellent game - in 1999, and especially in 2014 where a lot of improvements have been made to the open source code.
I wish to thank you all!
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by stiv »

It is a cool thing. Mega-thanks to Pumpkin for releasing the game, both originally, and secondly as Open Source.
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by themac »

Back in 1999 there was a preview version for test play on a local PC magazine. I really loved this game and pre-ordered it right before release. The PC dealer looked a bit silly: "WAR-ZO-NE - what the hell is that?! If it got about 80 % in the test magazines wie would know about it." Well, Warzone ended up with 85 % and 86 % in two different paper magazines! :-)
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by RBL-4NiK8r »

Technically the beta for the game was released on MPlayer in Nov. 98 and had a massive following long before the release of the game. I still think the biggest downfall for the game and Pumpkin at the time was marketing and supply. I got my first copy from a newly opened Best Buy and they only had 8 copies, the other PC gaming store Electronic Boutiques didn't even have it on release and only got 4-5 copies a few weeks later. You never had the hundred copies in the store or had it go on sale a few weeks after release nor did you ever see it make it to the bargain bin.

I also feel the game was rushed to go gold and the multiplayer game was not finished nor did they really test much after release it was more what's lying around through it into a patch and hope someone likes it. MPlayer did make an effort to get people into the game and was really good to the multiplayer community, but then GameSpy bought out MPlayer and really killed the online game play, and in many way the death of this game and many others that didn't fit into their master plan. It was all about FPS at the time and they didn't even was to feed the RTS crowd table scraps.

Also saying hi to any of the old timers still around from the NEWST and P2 days.

4nE
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by Nameless »

Just wanted to give my 2c and say thanks to Jay Walker for helping to facilitate the initial open-source release of our favorite game.

Now if only he'll help facilitate the release of the original Tomb Raider source code ;-)

I am still SO glad that such a game as Warzone 2100 was able to find a new life in the open source community.
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by Hesterax »

I only knew this game a few years ago so I wasn't there when it was released (literally), but I have read about it's history so, nice to know that it is its fifteenth anniversary since its release :) , at least in the EU.
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by Rman Virgil »

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Was prepared to take a pass but feel I have to correct some misinformation which I'm sure is just an innocent mistake. While I'm at it I'll drop my 2 cents worth of eye witness accounting. :ninja:

Jay W. had nothing to do with open sourcing WZs code. Some of the folks who did are acknowledged in the README file that has accompanied the distro with the GPL since day one liberation, the winter of 2004. What Jay actually did some 7+ years later was expand the GPL to specifically include significant data - namely the game's original music and the campaign's FMVs as well the exception I helped draft.

Hey, 4nE... +1 on your comments.. :) Plus I would add what I call the "Pumpkin MEME" that infected and inspired us from '99 - 2004 to do what we did to keep the game alive while at the same time endeavoring to liberate the source. This was crux. The Pumpkin MEME = the values and vision they expressed and acted upon in the Retail Community and which were subsequently carried forward by NEWST & Pumpkin 2 & RTS.net.

BTW 4nE, had I known ahead of time what Alex McLean was gonna write in the initial source Distro README /GPL in 2004 I would have asked him to leave me out unless he included you and the rest of the core doers over those 5 years. You, and some others, should be ackowledged in that distro file. It bothers me seriously to this day. Up until a couple years ago I tried to redress the matter in some way but there are vehement forces that would have this core truth and history of the game buried and never again acknowledged here as having happened. The Karmic chickens have come to roost ever since. Just no way to sugarcoat any of that. :3

Closing on an up note, involving one of your proteges,.... Cowboy is working on a cross platform Map Editor in C#. :D
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by RBL-4NiK8r »

First off I have no clue who Jay Walker is, and to my knowledge he was not working with me on getting the Open Source of the game from what I recall. For the record it was me with the support of others that I can't recall right now that wrote up the petition I was the one that posted it, and sent it to Pivotal Games at the time and talked to them over the course of about 3 years. There was a massive push from the multiplayer community to get the word out for signing the petition and I know for a fact that was my doing and it was slow going but it worked in the end. I will also add that by the time of the release of the Source Code I had moved on to other games as did a lot of others.

Sadly many of us lacked the vision for where games would go today with phones and tablets, if you look at games like Castle Clash, Jungle Heat and the countless clones out now as an app's its the wave of the future. I have played a number of them over the past year and much of them have there roots in RTS games like WZ2100. In the past few years this has become a billion dollar plus industry and it is the market of the future to tap into.

4nE
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by RBL-4NiK8r »

Thanks RJ or is it RV these days lol. Not talked to cowboy in about 2 or 3 years now and yes he always had a lot of good ideas and was always coding/programing something for the 14 years or so I have known him.

Also I had a number of emails with Alex and a few others from Pumpkin and then Pivotal Games and what they could and could not do. Also had talks with one the games lead map designers for the Campaign and a few patch maps after release and he was thrilled at the work I had done and others back then.

As for recognition what's to say there, I know what I did and the time involved with the game, but I also know I was never alone in the work being done and the community at the time wanted it and more. Looking back I do wish we could have done more and at a faster pace but in the end it was a great time with some really great people.

4nE
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by Rman Virgil »

RBL-4NiK8r wrote:First off I have no clue who Jay Walker is, and to my knowledge he was not working with me on getting the Open Source of the game from what I recall. For the record it was me with the support of others that I can't recall right now that wrote up the petition I was the one that posted it, and sent it to Pivotal Games at the time and talked to them over the course of about 3 years. There was a massive push from the multiplayer community to get the word out for signing the petition and I know for a fact that was my doing and it was slow going but it worked in the end. I will also add that by the time of the release of the Source Code I had moved on to other games as did a lot of others.
I remember the whole process of the petition and all those involved. It was a wonderous collaborative effort that you capped and took to the finish line. :3

While Jay W. of Eidos had nothing to do with the source liberation of late 2004 he really helped the cause 7 years after by making absolutely clear that the GPL included the distribution of the games music and campaign FMVs Mission Briefs. We also worked with him in drafting and including an exception clause which still may prove useful in a fork. A very cool guy and pleasure to work with.
Sadly many of us lacked the vision for where games would go today with phones and tablets, if you look at games like Castle Clash, Jungle Heat and the countless clones out now as an app's its the wave of the future. I have played a number of them over the past year and much of them have there roots in RTS games like WZ2100. In the past few years this has become a billion dollar plus industry and it is the market of the future to tap into.

4nE
Agreed, across the board. :3

We've gotten into this in extensive detail, beginning almost 3-4 years ago and one of the current devs has even done coding to this end.

But, like the "Occupy Movement", there are some essential components to taking it home and endureing that are not in place because their importance is not recognized... so....

RBL-4NiK8r wrote:Thanks RJ or is it RV these days lol. Not talked to cowboy in about 2 or 3 years now and yes he always had a lot of good ideas and was always coding/programing something for the 14 years or so I have known him.
Wish it could be a whole lot more than just these belated words. Truely. The old timers all know, we know, but still. :hmm:

Yea, I made that handle change to always remind myself of the vast gulf between the culture of the past and the culture of the present and the need to bridge that chasm for the sake of the game enduring.

Cowboy is another one of those singular individals in our long WZ journey and I remember how it all started. That he's still around and doing what he's doing is absolutely remarkable.
Also I had a number of emails with Alex and a few others from Pumpkin and then Pivotal Games and what they could and could not do. Also had talks with one the games lead map designers for the Campaign and a few patch maps after release and he was thrilled at the work I had done and others back then.

As for recognition what's to say there, I know what I did and the time involved with the game, but I also know I was never alone in the work being done and the community at the time wanted it and more. Looking back I do wish we could have done more and at a faster pace but in the end it was a great time with some really great people.

4nE
I will always celebrate the game but it is impossible for me to do so as a disembodied artifact. There will always be a host of known individuals and thier deeds, begining with but not ending with, the WZ Creators I came to know to one degree or another, followed by all the individuals who gave great chunks of thier precious time, energy and talent to bring us to this moment, 15 years down the line, with the old girl still kicking and full of potential to continue to be relevant and fun. I celebrate them all, along with the game, thier names always etched in my memory and thier works a flowing wellspring of inspiration for my on-going creative engagements with the game. :)

Good conversatin with ya again, 4nE. ;) Such communications are far and few between mostly attentuated, disembodied, utterances.

- Rman 8)
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by AMDroid »

Found this website (again) and pleasantly surprised to see folks still interested in Warzone.

Also hadn't considered it the 15th Anniversary had passed - time's moved fast since then for sure.

I've just downloaded the latest build and look forward to trying it out - it's been a few years...:-)

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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by vexed »

AMDroid wrote:Found this website (again) and pleasantly surprised to see folks still interested in Warzone.

Also hadn't considered it the 15th Anniversary had passed - time's moved fast since then for sure.

I've just downloaded the latest build and look forward to trying it out - it's been a few years...:-)

Alex M
Hey Alex, nice to see you again!

The biggest improvement to WZ so far would have to be in multi-player games. They are now in sync on all systems (windows / mac / linux).
Under the hood, work has been ongoing to convert WZ script to something a bit more modern, javascript.
(For a sample of what is being done, check out TowerDefense mod by NoQ, here: viewtopic.php?f=49&t=11434 )
We also have some new scav stuff here: viewtopic.php?f=49&t=9182
Work is also progressing to update all the units & textures, for sample work, see here: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=5136
Of course, lots of other things have been done as well, I didn't mean for this to be a full list, more like bullet points. :)

On the campaign front, there is some work being worked on here: viewtopic.php?f=49&t=10665

Would like to thank you again for making the release of Warzone 2100's source possible, without which, none of this could have been done.

Thanks again!
/facepalm ...Grinch stole Warzone🙈🙉🙊 contra principia negantem non est disputandum
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Goth Zagog-Thou
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

My goodness .. THE Alex?

We're honored to have you visit us, Sir. Please sit wherever you like.

And yes, Campaign 4's script is an awful mess. I am yours to command, Megatron ... :lol2:

Anyway, welcome.
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Re: 15 Years Warzone 2100 - Anniversary

Post by Rman Virgil »

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Greetings, Alex. 8) Good to see you. It's been almost a half a dozen years since A. Lee stopped by and imparted some welcome insights. :3

Who woulda thought gnarly WZ would make it to 2014 still vital and provocative on so many just do it levels. XD

Almost as epic as Card finally getting Ender to the big screen. Who knows, we may yet see a BBC biopic of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" as only the Brits could take this one on and get it right, me thinks. (Though I believe Yank Ken Burns helming a PBS doc on Douglas R. Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" would do the man, and subject matter, justice.) Sure you'll surmize the why of this paragraph. :hmm:

Like your new nick, btw. Clever fun and apt for the times. ;)

- Cheers, Rman. :)
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