When was the last time you got money back for backing a successful project? That could happen if you were to back 0 AD on Indiegogo. How’s that? The project is an associated project of the Software in the Public Interest (SPI), SPI is a tax exempt 501(c) charity, so that means some of your donations may be tax deductable, just check with your tax expert.
Back to 0 AD, what is it? It’s an open source RTS in the spirit of Age of Empires that’s been in the works by a group of passionate developers for nearly 10 years.
But wait, “there was never a 0 AD” some smarty pants may say. This is true, and that’s the point of the game. It brings together 12 different ancient civilizations and asks the question “What would happen if they all existed at the height of their power?” Like civilization, but without the nuclear war mongering Ghandi. Each civilization not only has its own units, styles, and graphics, the developers have gone so far as to use the original languages for each. The goal with the project doesn’t seem to just make a great game, but get people interested and involved in both history and game development.
While you can already download the game, the team is running their Indiegogo campaign to help raise money for a number of important issues that still need to be addressed. Here’s a brief highlight of what they’re trying to do with the money :
- Improve Performance : Improving pathfinding, the range manager, AI scripting, garbage collection, and memory allocation.
- Gameplay : Adding formations, civilization specific technology trees, hero auras, naval combat
- Content : New animations and improved artwork
- Multiplayer : Needs patching, testing, as well as a lobby system
- Single Player Campaign : They want to add one.
The 0 AD Indiegogo funding campaign runs until October 20th and is a flexible Funding campaign, which means that even if the $160,000 target isn’t met, the money will still go to the team.
