Re: VGAPLANETS v. MoO

From: jwood@teleport.com (Bret and Jill Wood)

Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000

In article <4nvqeo$2if@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>,
mystro <cg@primenet.com> wrote:
>
>  You can't really expect anyone to believe this..Stars is not even
>in the same league as VGA-Planets. VGAP has dozens of authors that
>writer add-ons for the richest game in this genre..it has more
>authors then microsofts Flightsims add-ons.Stars players are always
>trying to compare their little game to the king of Spacewar
>multiplay games VGA-PLANETS..I guess you need the attention, but
>very few of you have a clue what the VGAP world is all about..have
>any of you ever even used Nemesis,Fhost,Phost,Plist,Dominator,The Q
>,custom Starmaps and many many other add-ons that make VGAP a
>master players game and changes every game setup so no 2 games are
>the same?

Well, considering that the Stars! mailing list is run by Andrew Sterian,
I would imagine that at least ONE stars player has played with Phost.  :)

You list all of these addons, _but_ Stars! will never have many of these
types of addons because it already allows you to choose the starmap
paramaters for every game, it has excellent AI, and it doesn't have a
deficient user interface in need of repair.  Stars! has just begun
compared to VGAP which has been around for almost (?) a decade.

Sorry Stars ppl, you'll never catchup up with VGA-Planets
>and if this king of all game is slowing down,why does the newsgroup
>keep growing to massive numbers..why the classy new magazines,why
>all the new add-on authors,why all the porting to other operating
>systems. Stop looking at interfaces and start talking substance.

Right now I enjoy VGAP more than Stars!, because VGAP has an intangible
quality to the gameplay which makes it really fun.  But, considering
that Stars! is being developed by several excellent programmers (at
least one of whom used to work on the Excel program for Microsoft) who
are extremely receptive to suggestions from players, and who are very
open about their progress, I think it is inevitable that Stars! will
develop into a game that is superior to VGAP in all ways.  (Except for
number of add-ons :)

The interface in Stars! is incredible because the authors have experience
designing user interfaces.  They are extremely interested in getting
feedback of all types from players, and when they become as experienced
in strategy gameing as they are in programming Stars! will really become
popular.  Also, Stars! IS being ported to Unix, and Windows NT by the
authors themselves, so that autohosting over the internet will become
easier.

I think that the main reason VGAP is dominant over Stars! is because of
the gaming experience of the programmer, and because it has had much
longer to develop a following.  No matter how many insults people here
sling at Stars!, it will eventually become VGAP's most serious
competition.

-Bret Wood
-jwood@teleport.com

References

Re: VGAPLANETS v. MoO
"<your name>" <"<your e-mail>"@wpo.sosc.osshe.edu>
Wed, 22 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: VGAPLANETS v. MoO
cg@primenet.com (mystro)
Wed, 22 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: VGAPLANETS v. MoO
hermes@rtd.com (Robert Dejournett)
Wed, 22 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: VGAPLANETS v. MoO
"<your name>" <"<your e-mail>"@wpo.sosc.osshe.edu>
Wed, 22 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: VGAPLANETS v. MoO
cg@primenet.com (mystro)
Wed, 22 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: VGAPLANETS v. MoO
hermes@rtd.com (Robert Dejournett)
Wed, 22 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000