Started back in 2013, Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead hold a prominent position in the open source games community. With nearly a decade of independent development behind it, (More if you include the original Cataclysm) today we take a look at the game's history and evolution.

Let me know about any other additions you think were important to the game. I'm fairly certain that some of the things I mentioned and that were labeled in patch notes were technically added in other stable releases, while receiving improvements in others. It's a similar story with other parts of the game's history. Check out the wiki and other websites, and you'll often see different accounts of who founded the standalone version, or who was in charge, only for another source to word things differently.
Between older websites and downloads not always being available, info on some of the earlier versions seemed to be sparse at times. No archives seem to exist of the mod back on Whale's forums for the game, so let me know if you have any info regarding what it was like. Also comment if you know anything about the various international communitis that play Cataclysm. Didn't get a chance to look into or talk about them much, but I'm aware they exist and can get creative with their own mods.

Shoutout to older channels that played the game such as Akhier Dragonheart, Fengferth, Jefmajor, TheUberHunter, BoxMacLeod, Tivec's World, and others. I spent hours looking through guides and tutorials, troubleshooting, and doing whatever I could to try the original versions for myself, but I could never get them to compile without error. Also, some of the dates I mention may be slightly off. Trust me. Check multiple websites and forum posts, and you'll get 10 different dates from people listing official release dates, dates that code freezes went into place, release candidates, and timezone differences since many versions would be released late in the day.

If you're new to the game, you can get the latest stable version at:
https://cataclysmdda.org/
Consider getting an experimental build instead for newer QOL features and other additions.

Credit to Clever Raven, Whales, contributors, and the DDA community for making the game what it is today.


Songs Used:
https://pastebin.com/rB7aNXUy

#gamehistory #cataclysmdarkdaysahead #cataclysmdda