Download FreeCol 0.8.0

The early gamers who spent a lot of time on Colonization released on DOS by Microprose in 1994 should be careful not to get addicted again. A group of developers is working on an open source version of this turn-based strategy game under the name FreeCol. Up through version 1.0, the team will focus on developing an exact copy but with modern features such as an isometric map and multiplayer support. After that, a development plan will be drawn up for version 2.0 to which everyone can contribute ideas. It’s not that far yet though, the developers recently released version 0.8.0 with the following succinct announcement:

Version 0.8.0

Version 0.8.0 of FreeCol has now been released. The largest change introduced by this release is the ability to define gameplay mechanics using XML-files. You can easily change the rules you don’t like or create a different game similar to FreeCol. Take a look at the chapter Changing the Rules in our user manual if you would like to know more.

Other changes include:

• Units now slide between tiles while moving.
• New terrain graphics.
• Menu music added.
• Sound effects for dragoons, artillery capturing a colony, building complete, church and blacksmith.
• New sound effects for artillery and buying/selling goods.
• Short music clips for Aztecs and fountain of Youth.
• Named regions and nicer placement of native settlements.
• New nations added: Portuguese, Swedish, Danish and Russian
• Games with up to eight European players are now supported.
• A lot more new features and bug fixes.