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GNU head This software is licensed under the GNU General Public License which has been approved by the OSI as a valid Open Source License according to the Open Source Definition.

OpenRA is a libre/open source project recreating several real-time strategy games by Westwood Studios.[1]

The project is openly developed at GitHub.[2] Although developed by hobbyists the project is well established consisting of a mature codebase that is maintained by relative large development team.[3] Recent contributors have steered it towards adopting unit testing and static code analysis as well as setting up continuous integration services like Travis CI and AppVeyor to ensure quality.[4]

The game engine is written in C# using SDL for cross-platform support. It is access modern hardware using OpenGL for rendering and OpenAL for sound.[5] It uses the .NET Framework and runtime on Microsoft Windows and the Mono equivalent on Linux and Mac OS X.[6] Font rendering is implemented by accessing the FreeType library. Mono.NAT enables UPnP support for NAT devices like routers to ease multiplayer hosting.[7]

From a gameplay standpoint the engine doesn't aim for a perfect clone of the originals, but instead add contemporary features of the genre such as fog of war and unit veterancy.[8] The game features modern e-Sport grade features such as replay recording and playback.[9] Another major design goal was allowing players to create their own content such as maps and mods.[10] Mods re-imaging the original Command & Conquer, Red Alert and Dune 2000[11] were released by the developer team, while Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 are work in progress.[12]

To teach a practical lecture in software architecture professors at TU Delft let their students work on the OpenRA engine learn during the code review upon submission of the course work.[13] The developer team is also working together with media design students to let their research and development make it's way into the game engine, but to take extra pre-cautions to retain the pixel art style.[14]

References[]

  1. Perić, Vladimir. "Open-source games and cloning". LWN.net.
  2. "Showcase: Game Engines". GitHub Inc.
  3. OpenRA at Open Hub
  4. Abbink, Jasper; Evers, Peter; Verdoorn, Joost. "OpenRA". Delft Students On Software Architecture. Delft University of Technology.
  5. Duncan, Greg. "OpenRA = C# Red Alert/Command and Conquer Clone". MSDN Channel 9.
  6. Larabel, Michael. "OpenRA: Command & Conquer On Linux, Powered By Mono". Phoronix.
  7. "Showcase of popular applications". Mono project.
  8. Stahie, Silviu. "Play Classic Remakes on Linux of C&C: Tiberian Dawn, C&C: Red Alert, and Dune 2000". Softpedia.
  9. "Battle Control Initialized!". GameReplays.org. Game Revolution.
  10. "OpenRA". ModDB. DBolical Pty Ltd.
  11. Meer, Alec. "The 10 Best Games Based On Books". Rock Paper Shotgun.
  12. Walker, Alex. "Tiberian Sun Is Getting Added To The Command & Conquer Fan Remake". Kotaku Australia.
  13. van Deursen, Arie. "Delft Students on Software Architecture: DESOSA 2015".
  14. Vogt, Raphael (2015). Protoyping of a rain and snow system in the C&C: Red Alert remake OpenRA. Documentation of a generic process to expand a 2D video game in retro style with modern standard features. (B.Sc. thesis). doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.1023.0245.

External Links[]

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