Zero-K, an open source RTS game of Total Annihilation family, is going to release on Steam

[qwerty3w]

The Steam store page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/334920

Zero-K was originally started around early 2007 as a Total Annihilation mod on Spring engine, later removed the copyrighted contents and became an independent game. Compared to other TA derived games like Supreme Commander and Planetary Annihilation, it has a stronger emphasis on terrains, physics and richness of UI features.

It will probably be the first major and still active open source game release on a mainstream video game digital distribution platform, earlier than projects like Battle for Wesnoth, OpenTTD or Xonotic. It would be great if an community driven open source game could get a bit of mainstream popularity, which may also means more content creators, more developers etc.

 

[Vivendi]

Nice. I've been playing the Spring engine mods on and off for over ten years. Only played Zero-K a little bit but it's really fun. Can't wait to play it on Steam.

 

[whm1974]

No Linux version?

 

[ibex333]

but... but... it looks like poop...

 

[Stg-Flame]

Looks like someone took Supreme Commander and remade it using the same engine that Runescape uses.

 

[qwerty3w]

No Linux version?

The devs said there is some technical problems that need to solve to make it able to run on Valve's Steam OS, or Valve won't
approve the Linux version. So I guess you have to use the Linux installation guide on the game's website, or wait for a post-release update.

Looks like someone took Supreme Commander and remade it using the same engine that Runescape uses.

Well, open source games generally don't have good graphics. Spring engine started around 2004, and didn't get much graphic update for years.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Well, open source games generally don't have good graphics. Spring engine started around 2004, and didn't get much graphic update for years.

So then what's the point of making a low-res Supreme Commander? I don't foresee this game overtaking Forged Alliance for competitive Sup Com or TA fans.

 

[XavierMace]

So then what's the point of making a low-res Supreme Commander? I don't foresee this game overtaking Forged Alliance for competitive Sup Com or TA fans.

The hope of improvement and continued development? Both SupCom2 and Planetary Annihilation failed to live up to SupCom FA and I haven't seen any rumors of a SupCom 3. I could live with poorer graphics if it meant fixing the terrain and pathing issues on SupCom. Sure, I'd love to have my cake and eat it too, but....

 

[qwerty3w]

Zero-K is quite different to FA though. I think the Total Annihilation mods on Spring are a bit closer to FA at least in scale, they also have better looking trailers:

NOTA trailer：

Balanced Annihilation trailer：

Perhaps someone will make an open source SupCom FA on Spring eventually, if Spring manage to persist far into future, which require this Steam release to be successful.