h1. Our announcement (Here is where the announcement copy will start) We'd like to formally announce the beginnings of our new community project, Xonotic. The founders of Xonotic were first Nexuiz[link] developers, contributors and believers. On March 3rd 2010 IllFonic announced[AT link] their aquisition of nexuiz.com[link], rights to the name and a commercial license from Id Software[link] for the original Quake 1 game engine, so build a closed source console version of Nexuiz. A large portion of the community was very upset by this surprise because Lee Vermeulen failed to complete his due diligence to contributors and more importantly the development team known as 'Alientrap', which in this deal only consisted of Lee Vermeulen and Forest Hale (Darkplaces Engine creator). An open-letter[link] fell on deaf ears, Vermeulen didn't apologize and trust has been lost. Developers and contributors joined together to create Xonotic. Beyond being a first person shooter based on Nexuiz (GPL) 2.5.2svn[link], Xonotic aims to be a rethink and reorganization of how we share a GPL video game and organize the services around it. [still reworking] h1. v2 expanded by Spaceman We formally announce the beginning of our new community project, Xonotic[link]. The founders of the Xonotic[link] project and community were once Nexuiz[link] developers, contributors and believers. On March 3rd 2010 IllFonic announced[AT link] their aquisition of nexuiz.com[link], the rights to the games name and a commercial licence for the original Quake 1 game engine for a closed source console version of Nexuiz. Following their announcement a large portion of the community joined together to create Team Xonotic[link] and an enduring legacy. Beyond being a first person shooter based on Nexuiz (GPL), Team Xonotic aims to be a rethink and reorganization of how a community creates an open source video game and organizes the services around it. A distinct lack of leadership (the announced 253 hot fix is 5 months late), the underhand manner that AlienTrap used to sell the game code and the loss of the Nexuiz identity caused a huge uproar in the game community. This brought together the game coders and players in a community revolt. Team Xonotic[link] will be run by a small team of volunteers with no one in total control. All significant decisions will be made by an elected body of six people. Xonotic 1.0 is planned to be released in about 6 months. Today a compatibilty pack has been released that will rebrand Nexuiz 252. Team Xonotic h1. v3, edited by a grue -- re-edited by -z- On March 3rd, 2010, game developer IllFonic[link] announced that they had acquired a commercial, closed-source license for Nexuiz[link], its engine (darkplaces[link]) and the rights to the game's name from Alientrap. Much to the surprise of everyone who considered themselves part of Alientrap, only Lee Vermeulen (Nexuiz's original creator) was 'Alientrap' in this deal. After exhausting all options for compromise with Lee and IllFonic, including an open letter from the community[link], it became clear that the deal had been finalized and the trust was gone. A large portion of the community, including several major Nexuiz developers and contributors, joined together to continue development under a new name, to preserve freedoms and better distribute power for such decisions. While functionality-wise being a direct successor to Nexuiz, the Xonotic[link] project is a rethink and reorganization of how a community creates an open source video game and organizes the services around it. The idea is to bring game development and design under the community control and streamline the contribution process. A major organizational structure change is that decisions affecting the game at large will be made by an elected group of three to six people, XSG (Xonotic Steering Group), with no single person maintaining total control. Without getting into much detail, a few other mentionable changes in planning are: Project Changes: # use of git versioning system instead of svn # better attention to marketing and public relations # a more defined artistic direction Game Changes: # new set of player models # new set of sounds # default maps will get a makeover # new names for some weapons and gamemodes, especially ones using the "nex" prefix An explanation is due regarding the name choice. It was decided by a voting from a list of names, which was compiled based on several factors, primarily availability of the domain name and pronouncability. The choice had to be kept secret to avoid cybersquatting attempts. While we don't have a specific timeline for the first release under the new title, you can track the progress and updates here, the new website[link] and on IRC: #xonotic on irc.quakenet.org - general discussion #xonotic on irc.freenode.org - development discussion We look forward to creating a game that everyone can feel a part of. Your support is much appreciated. The Xonotic team. h1. v4, edited by merlijn *Xonotic is a free software (GPL) game project, which runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. It is not a new project, but it attempts to pick up where the Nexuiz project came to a halt. Due to recent events we felt the need to start with a clean slate, which will benefit everyone involved. Xonotic will stay true to the values we have grown to love about Nexuiz, namely high quality graphics and very fast gameplay.* On March 3rd, 2010, game development company IllFonic[link] announced that they had acquired a commercial, closed-source license for Nexuiz[link], its engine (darkplaces[link]) and the rights to the games name and domain from Alientrap. Much to the surprise of everyone who considered themselves part of Alientrap, only Lee Vermeulen (Nexuiz's original creator) was 'Alientrap' in this deal. After exhausting all options for compromise with Lee and IllFonic, including an open letter from the community[link], it became clear that the deal had been finalized and the trust in leadership was gone. A large portion of the community, including several major Nexuiz developers and contributors, joined together to continue development under a new name, to preserve freedoms and better distribute power for such decisions. While functionality-wise being a direct successor to Nexuiz, the Xonotic[link] project is a rethink and reorganization of how a community creates an open source video game and organizes the services around it. The idea is to bring game development and design under the community control and streamline the contribution process. A major organizational structure change is that decisions affecting the game at large will be made by an elected group of three to six people, XSG (Xonotic Steering Group), with no single person maintaining total control. Without getting into much detail, a few other mentionable changes in planning are: Project Changes: # use of git versioning system instead of svn # better attention to marketing and public relations # a more defined artistic direction Game Changes: # new set of player models # new set of sounds # default maps will get a makeover # new names for some weapons and gamemodes, especially ones using the "nex" prefix While we don't have a specific timeline for the first release under the new title, you can track the progress and updates here, the new website[link] and on IRC: #xonotic on irc.quakenet.org - general discussion #xonotic on irc.freenode.org - development discussion We look forward to creating a game that everyone can feel a part of. You are very much welcome to help in any way you can, please contact us to discuss your ideas. The Xonotic team.