Re: spiral arm II

From: Enno Rehling <enno@despammed.com>

Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 15:56:48 +0000

Paul Walker wrote:
> On 15 Apr 2004 09:35:44 GMT, MadCentral wrote:
>
> Which is an interesting thing (going off at a complete tangent). If nobody's
> running a game any more, and the owners aren't licensing it to anyone, could
> it be productive to release the source for the games? That way people can
> play with them, customise their versions, improve them etc. You get all
> kinds of unexpected stuff that way; might even drag more people into PB[E]M.

Yes and No.

I feel very much in debt to Russell Wallace for giving out the Atlantis
1.0 code.

1. Atlantis 1.0 is a fun game, and easy to get started.
Lots of people have played the game, but pretty much everyone who hosts
it will immediately find rooom for improvement. You can get started over
a weekend. Which is much better than having to code for a few weeks
before you have a first beta.

2. Atlantis 1.0 has lots of room for improvement
The code is so darn simple in structure that adding something new is a
breeze, even if you've only just read the first 50 pages of "C for
dummies". And the game is so wildly unbalanced that everyone will want
to add something, change it around, etc. Nobody would run the game "as
is" over a long stretch of time.

But OTOH, if you give somebody the source to a more complex,
better-balanced game, they'll just run that game and that's it. There
are a number of Atlantis 4.0 clones out there, and they are all the
same. And no, I don't think A4 is balanced, but it'scertainly more complex.

If all you want is to learn the ropes, see how a PBEM works, and then
get on with things and make your own, Atlantis 1.0 is great. If you just
want to copy some other game, what's the point? Make your own. I
wouldn't want to play another Atlantis 4.0 copy, I wish the people
running them could just sit down and make a good original game instead,
and then write it.

Or if you can't think of a good game idea and want to do some
programming, then take an existing board game you like and turn it into
a PBEM.

Enno.
--
If C++ has taught me one thing, it's this: Just because the system is
consistent doesn't mean it's not the work of Satan. (Andrew Plotkin)

References

Re: spiral arm II
Paul Walker <usenet@blacksun.org.uk>
Sat, 17 Apr 2004 14:55:26 +0000
spiral arm II
"R.J. van Loon" <nieuwsgroep@rjvl.demon.nl>
Thu, 15 Apr 2004 08:32:12 +0000
Re: spiral arm II
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Thu, 15 Apr 2004 09:35:44 +0000

Referenced By

Re: spiral arm II
Paul Walker <usenet@blacksun.org.uk>
Sat, 17 Apr 2004 14:55:26 +0000
spiral arm II
"R.J. van Loon" <nieuwsgroep@rjvl.demon.nl>
Thu, 15 Apr 2004 08:32:12 +0000
Re: spiral arm II
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Thu, 15 Apr 2004 09:35:44 +0000