Written by George H. (DMA02)
Triplea is a networked open source strategy gaming engine. It allows people to implement and play various strategy board games (ie. Axis & Allies ®). The TripleA engine has full networking support for online play, support for sounds, XML support for game files, and has its own imaging subsystem that allows for customized user editable maps to be used. TripleA is versatile, scalable and robust.
Triplea is released under the GNU Public License (GPL).
TripleA was started in Oct 2001 by an unemployed sgb who was looking for a way to build up his resume after the end of the tech bubble. Unfortunately sgb was too successful, and soon after the 0.1 release (which he managed to demo in a job interview) he secured gainful employment.
sgb working full time dramatically slowed the progress of TripleA for a long time. Numerous people made contributions to the project, including both DMA02 and IronCross from a very early stage, but with sgb doing most of the development, and with the limited early graphics, the project did not improve dramatically.TripleA would have continued on this slow trajectory, but two events occurring relatively closely revitalized the project. The first was the contribution by Logan of new graphics. Now the game actually looked alright. The second event was the release of the revised map and rules. With no competing real time game, interest in TripleA increased.
TripleA 0.3.1 was probably the first version that was really playable in networked mode. And since then, increasing community interest, and with great contributions from a number of people, TripleA continues to grow and prosper.
- Sean Bridges
TripleA can come in two different packages, a binary package and a source package. A binary package is one where the entire game is ready to be played right out of the box. A source package is one in which the source code of the game is provided. The individual who uses the source package is expected to compile (build) the game before being able to play it. The source package is mainly directed towards developers and others who are interested in modifying the game for one reason or another.
TripleA is programmed exclusively in the JAVA programming language which allows it to be platform independent. That means that TripleA can run on many operating systems so long as it has a Sun Compliant Java Virtual Machine. Such operating systems where TripleA has been successfully tested on are: GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows 95/98/2000/XP, Mac OS X, SGI IRIX, and IBM OS/2.
Even though TripleA is exclusively a strategy gaming engine with a robust framework, it comes with some games included. It would be rather boring if you just got the engine without any interesting games included. TripleA comes with the following supported games that uses its game engine (just to name a few):
- Axis & Allies : Classic edition (2nd, 3rd with options enabled)
- Axis & Allies : Revised Edition
- Pact of Steel A&A Variant
- Big World 1942 A&A Variant
- Two if by Sea
- Battle Ship Row
It's finally time to test out TripleA's capabilities by actually playing a game on it! Please refer to our complete game playing guide to get you started on this subject. Go to the Game Playing Guide
With the success of the engine and growing popularity of the games it supports among strategy gamers, it was inevitable that a community would assemble and evolve. The TripleA community is a group of individuals from all over the globe who share the passion of strategy war gaming and/or developing custom variants using the engine.
The community has established it self to be one where everyone is courteous to one another and where ideas are expressed and respected by all. The main objective of the community is to interact with one another and have fun by engaging in a good game or discussion concerning the TripleA engine.
Anyone can participate in the community. Below are links to community pages:
Both the sites above have a link to a Java applet where one can join our dedicated IRC chatroom. Access to the chatroom is not exclusive to the forums themselves. For more information about getting into the IRC chatroom and a guide on getting help with IRC programs on various operating systems, please refer to our IRC Community Guide.
For those who are interested in the internal workings of TripleA and are interested in modifying the engine, the developer documentation page will be your ideal source of information. Everything (as much as we can possibly include) is covered. From editing the xml game files to engine code to using the map utilities to compiling the source on various platforms.
Visit our Developer Documentation page for more details.
TripleA is a volunteer project. That means that all work done on TripleA is done out everyone's free time. No one is forced to do anything they don't want to do. We also do not oblige persons to contribute, but we welcome anyone who wishes to give a little back and help make TripleA better.
TripleA is currently in need of the following:
- Java Developers: We need more programmers to help maintain the engine and develop new features
- Optional game rules, such as paratroopers and marines
- More Development on our current AI subsystem
- A battle calculator
- Other games for TripleA such as: Axis & Allies Europe and Pacific
- A Game Server to act as a central place where clients can join, chat, and start games.
- Better sounds
- Better graphics and images
- Documentation writers for game variants and other related game playing documents
- MySQL and PHP skilled users to build a gaming Database for the TripleA War Club
- Iron Cross : TripleA Banner and background watermark
- Ali Ibrahim : Game Properties and Low Luck sections
- Naiby : Practical Guidelines for PBEM section
- Sean Bridges : About TripleA section (and of course for TripleA itself)
