The Battle for Wesnoth

Last updated
The Battle for Wesnoth
Original author(s) David White and others [1]
Initial release1.0 / October 2, 2005;18 years ago (2005-10-02) [2]
Stable release
1.18.2 / June 29, 2024;2 months ago (2024-06-29) [3]
Preview release
1.19.3 / August 19, 2024;12 days ago (2024-08-19) [4]
Repository github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth
Written in C++, Lua, Python [5]
Platform Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, AmigaOS, MorphOS
Available in55 languages [6]
Type Single-player, multiplayer turn-based strategy
License GPL-2.0-or-later [7]
Website www.wesnoth.org

The Battle for Wesnoth is a free and open-source [lower-alpha 1] turn-based strategy video game with a high fantasy setting (similar to J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium), designed by Australian-American [lower-alpha 2] developer David White and first released in June 2003. In Wesnoth, the player controls a particular faction/race and attempts to build a powerful army by controlling villages and defeating enemies for experience. The game is loosely based on the Sega Genesis games Master of Monsters and Warsong . [8]

Contents

Gameplay

The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based wargame played on a hex map. [9] The strategy of battle involves trying to fight on favorable terrain, at a favorable time of day, and, if possible, with units that are strong or well suited against the enemies. Other concerns are capturing villages that produce a particular trickle rate of gold per turn for unit recruitment, and positioning units to restrict enemy movement. Games of Wesnoth come both in the form of single-player campaigns and multiplayer matches. The goal of these games is usually to defeat all enemy leaders, however there may be other goals.

Each unit in Wesnoth has its own strengths and weaknesses. A unit's defense (which this case means dodge chance) is based on the terrain it stands on. Elves, for example, are difficult to hit when fighting in a forest. Different types of attacks (melee and ranged), weapon types (pierce, blade, impact, arcane, cold, and fire), and a day-night cycle (in most maps) that alternately favors lawful and chaotic units, altering the amount of damage a unit deals. Units can advance to higher level counterparts and become more powerful as they participate in combat. [10] [11]

A central design philosophy of the game is the KISS principle; for a new idea to be accepted, it should not complicate gameplay. [12] Another important facet of the game is randomness and its manipulation: it is never certain whether a unit's attack will fail or succeed, only likely or unlikely. Developers have stated that the potential for a skirmish to go better or worse than expected adds excitement, replayability and strategic depth to the game. [13]

Setting

Modding

Add-ons

It is possible to create and distribute additional content (user made content, or UMC), such as campaigns, maps and multiplayer "eras" using an "add-on" system. These add-ons can be downloaded, updated and removed using an in-game add-on server; alternatively, they can be installed and updated by manually downloading the add-on's files and placing them in the appropriate directory, or they can be removed by deleting these files.

Editor

The Battle for Wesnoth's map editor Wesnoth-1.6-2.jpg
The Battle for Wesnoth's map editor

The Battle for Wesnoth has a built-in map editor, which supports features such as multiple open maps and random map generation. The editor supports all in-game terrains, as well as custom terrains created for campaigns. The time of day can be selected from one of the built-in presets or custom lighting can be created. [28]

WML

Using any standard text editor, new content can be created using what is known as Wesnoth Markup Language (WML). As its name suggests, WML is similar to XML and other markup languages in syntax with tags defining events and sides in a scenario. WML has evolved from what was a simple markup/configuration language into a specialized programming language designed for easily modifying the game. Examples for the latest stable version are offered on the site's wiki. [29]

Lua

From the 1.7 development version upwards, code in Lua can be embedded in WML events which gets executed when those events fire. [30] From 1.7.14 on, Lua can also be used to create alternate (or supplemental) AI implementations. [31]

Development

This animated sprite of an attacking fencer unit portrays the general style of Wesnoth sprites. Fencer-anim.png
This animated sprite of an attacking fencer unit portrays the general style of Wesnoth sprites.

David White began development of Wesnoth because he wanted to create a freely available, open source strategy game with very simple rules, but one that had difficult to beat artificial intelligence and that was challenging and fun — a game that was easy to learn but hard to master. [8]

The game is programmed in C++. It is cross-platform, and runs on AmigaOS 4, BeOS, FreeBSD, Linux (including OS flavors running on GP2X and Nokia n800, n810, and n900 handheld devices), OS X/Darwin, Windows, MorphOS, [32] NetBSD, OpenBSD, RISC OS, iOS, Solaris/illumos, Android, Playbook and Google Native Client running under Google Chrome. [33]

Wesnoth development is decentralized due to its free and open-source nature. The officially blessed campaigns and units bundled with the game download are often derived from content created by the community, somewhat differently from the user-generated content in proprietary games where such content, while available, is usually not incorporated into official builds of the game. The Wesnoth forums and wiki are used to develop new campaigns, including new unit types and story artwork. The game is able to download new campaigns from a central add-on server. Content featured on the official campaign server must be licensed under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later, like the game itself.

Even when not counting this community content, the list of contributors to the official version of the game as displayed in-game contains over 550 unique entries (May 2010). Developers of the game also include well-known authors from the free software and open source scene, like the co-founder of the Open Source Initiative and core Linux kernel developer Eric S. Raymond, [34] or Linux kernel programmer Rusty Russell. [35] [36] [37]

As of July 2024, The Battle for Wesnoth is available in 55 languages, 7 of which have more than 90% of messages translated. [38]

Active developers

As of July 2015, The Battle for Wesnoth development team consisted of no more than five developers. On the homepage for the game, the reason for a lack of bug fixes was explained: "Sadly, a hard truth must be faced: Wesnoth, as a project, is understaffed. At this time, there are fewer than half a dozen developers working on each new version of the game, and even fewer of them are able to work on the engine itself". [39]

In September 2021, project manager Pentarctagon released a statement on the Wesnoth Forums claiming that Wesnoth had a better internal structure than before, yet still called the project "chronically understaffed". [40]

Art

The art development team was founded by Francisco Muñoz, and directed by Richard Kettering with Hogne Håskjold as the director of terrain art. The current set of portraits were designed primarily by Kathrin Polikeit and Emilien Rotival, replacing the older set of comic-style portraits done by Jason Lutes. [41] Most artwork is stored in the portable network graphics format and all are licensed under the GNU General Public License. [42]

Music

Releases

The first development release of Wesnoth 0.1 was released on June 18, 2003. [12] In October 2005, the game reached its 1.0 milestone release. [2] On January 29, 2012, version 1.10 was released. This version introduced the campaign "Dead Water". [48]

In January 2014, a new faction under the name of the Khalifate was added in a development release. It was intended offer new multiplayer options. Khalifate units use no magic, but instead are intended to rely on careful use of terrain and coordinated strikes around dusk or dawn. [22] This faction was released as part of version 1.12 in November 2014. [49] The Khalifate were renamed to Dunefolk in version 1.13.11. [23]

On May 2, 2018, version 1.14.0 was released. This update introduced the campaign "Secrets of the Ancients". it also made major changes to the desert elves seen in the campaign "Under the Burning Suns". Many units have had changes, such as new portraits and animations. [50] In October 2021 version 1.16 was released. It included many changes to old campaigns such as "The Hammer of Thursagan" as well changes to the Dunefolk faction. [51] During March of 2024 version 1.18 was released, adding a new campaign named "Winds of Fate". [26]

Aside of the stand-alone source and binary releases, Wesnoth was previously made available through the Desura digital distribution service. Wesnoth was submitted to Steam Greenlight on July 23, 2016, and was subsequently approved for release by the Steam community. [52] With the release of v1.14.0, the game became then available on Steam in May 2018. [53] At the same time, registration was made mandatory for playing on the official server. [54]

Development Version

Besides the official wesnoth game version, there is always an alternative development version, that introduces more new features and improvements for players and content creators. This development version is rolling subject to further tweaking and polishing, depending on the wesnoth community feedback. The current development version is 1.19. Several campaigns are expected to be reworked in this version, such as The South Guard and The Rise of Wesnoth. [55]

Reception

Reviews for The Battle for Wesnoth have generally been positive. In a 2006 review of version 1.1 of the game, Gametunnel rated it a 7/10, adding that "it may seem like a game that belongs in the nineties, but it is engaging and very well put together". [56]

In a 2007 review of version 1.2.6, Phoronix rated it 9/10, calling it "a must-download game for any gamer". [57] In 2008 APCMag.com named The Battle for Wesnoth among the Top 5 best (free) open source games. [58]

In 2010, Full Circle Magazine reviewed the game in Podcast #4. The reviewers called Wesnoth a "very good game", calling the graphics "simple" and "easy to understand" but "dated". The reviewers called the gameplay "pure and simple", but complained about the role of chance in the game, making it an "exercise in frustration", and requiring a policy of reloading and replaying the game that turns Wesnoth into a "challenge of patience rather than brainpower". [59]

In 2010, RPGFan gave it an 88/100, mentioning that "despite its generous price tag, BfW offers more quality and quantity than almost any commercial title available". [60]

The game was described in-detail in the 2012 book "The Architecture of Open Source Applications". [61]

Various versions of Wesnoth have been downloaded from the central download site SourceForge over eight million times between 2003 and May 2024. [62] Multiple other freeware download outlets delivered the game additionally hundred thousand times; for instance MacUpdate counted over 80,000 downloads of the macOS version alone, [63] while Softonic counted another 40,000 downloads. [64]

See also

Notes

  1. Licensed under GNU General Public License version 2 or later [7]
  2. According to his forum data (registration required), he currently lives in Seattle.

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