It’s time for the third part in the series where we take a closer look at some of the people working on creating 0 A.D. This time the honor goes to two people who have distinguished themselves by doing great work, in part in November, but as with the first month it’s just as much their overall contribution that we want to highlight. The Member of the Month is Omri Lahav (OmriLahav at the forums), who has been and continues to be, composing the stellar music that will make the game so much more enjoyable. OS Contributor of the Month is Rico Tzschichholz (ricotz in the IRC channels), who is maintaining the 0 A.D. PPAs for Ubuntu, both the release and the development one. It’s thanks to his work that Ubuntu users are able to enjoy not only an easy way to install the release version of the game, but also have an easy way to follow the development via the development versions he makes available regularly.
Omri
Tell us the basics about yourself
Well, I’m 26, I live in Israel and work as a composer.
Mostly for theater, but recently I’ve been getting into film and video game music, which has always been my true passion.
I play in several bands and generally spend most of my day making music, one way or another!
What do you find motivating about contributing to 0 A.D.?
Quite a few things, but above all I have to say, the players’ responses and comments on the score.
It’s extremely satisfying to know that the players (and team members!) are enjoying the music, and as a gamer myself, it’s a unique experience to play a game with my own music.
Other then being plain fun – it allows me to put down the mantle of “composer” and evaluate my own work as a listener.
When did you join the team?
Not so long ago actually – I think it was around March 2011.
What made you interested in joining the team?
Obviously the game itself, it looks and feels much better then many other independent games I’ve seen, and I am an RTS fan, so I was instantly sold when I saw it!
Also, in the brief discussions before I came on board, I came to see that the team is made up of great, like-minded people, so much so that I found myself reading and posting on the forums for hours on end.
What has contributing to 0 A.D. meant for you?
Musically, it has driven me to explore certain types of music I’ve never experienced before.
Indeed, there have been challenges (and I suspect there are more of those yet), but overall it’s been a complete delight.
The team was very good at creating a supportive and open-minded working environment, in which it was possible for me to experiment and receive valuable, constructive criticism.
It’s been a great learning experience for me as a composer, plus the “fun factor” of working on a game… what more could I ask for?
What do you find best about being a part of the team?
Well, just that – being a part of the team.
Being a composer is one of the most isolated jobs on the planet, it’s a very nice change to have teammates who are involved and interested, and offer usable feedback.
On a side note (if I may), I’d like to thank the musicians who participated in the recordings, they truly bring the music to life, and elevate it to heights that would otherwise be unimaginable.
Marta Mc’Cave, Yotam Ronen, Bar Guzi and Dror Parker.
Rico
What do you find motivating about contributing to 0 A.D.?
As I am very familiar with generating packages for Debian/Ubuntu maintaining the PPA for several Ubuntu versions gave me the chance to give people an easy way to test and play with 0 A.D. which is the spirit of open source. So while adding the PPA to their system and install it is quite easy!
What has contributing to 0 A.D. meant for you?
This is quite fun to see such a project evolving over several year. It is nice to see new ideas and additions to the game. I am also quite aware of the technologies behind the scene it is really interesting.
So it is nice helping you guys distributing this great software!