I’ve often been asked, what is the TremZ project? What are its goals, and where is it heading? Hopefully, this post should be informative.

The most basic explanation would be that TremZ is a fork of the open-source game Tremulous, with a brand new engine, a brand new set of assets, and a new development team. While the full title of the game is TremZ: A New Dawn, TremZ is the often-used abbreviation. We hope that the project will be a new dawn for the Tremulous community at large, which has waited patiently for an update for nearly six years.

Our new engine, OpenWolf, provides us with a multitude of features, such as an in-game IRC client, database integration, and a new renderer that is capable of supporting .md5 model files. Assets from the original Tremulous, such as models and maps, can all be used flawlessly under our new engine. Mods will also work, although some adjustments may need to be made. For the most part, content produced by the Tremulous community  can continue to be used in TremZ, providing continuity to a playerbase that stretches back nearly a decade.

All of our assets have been produced from scratch, with a talented team of artists and coders that have been recruited from all corners of the Internet, as well as from the Tremulous community itself. We are committed both to the ideals of open source and meritocracy, meaning that the game will remain free for its entire existence, and anyone is open to join our development team as long as they have the skill, commitment, and personality.

As for the gameplay itself, the original release will be derived from stock Tremulous GPP, along with a few balance modifications. Just as in the original Tremulous, the three-stage gameplay involving aliens and humans will be preserved. However, we are more than open to adding new weapons, new equipment, and new forms for the aliens, along with new buildings for both teams. Over successive releases, we plan on diverging from Tremulous, so that TremZ each year will resemble its predecessor less than the year before.

In addition to the engine coding and asset creation, several other sub-projects are present in development, all of which will add to the overall TremZ experience. We have advanced bots that are capable of construction and other useful behaviors, such as prioritizing targets and rushing the enemy base. This can either be used for training on a local server, or a possible single player campaign in the future. Features of the site will be integrated with the game itself, such as stat tracking and clan rosters, allowing for better coordination of the community on the official servers. Lastly, an official storyline will be developed for the game’s universe, with contributions from the community being more than welcome in establishing a thoroughly detailed canon.