Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical (
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Giftzwerg wrote:
> But the concept at the core of what Verssen is doing - a tabletop card
> game - is a very old idea. The only thing "new" here is porting that
> card game to PC/net format using VASSAL.
Well, he is a boardgame developer pioneering this new format - showing
the way for others so to speak.
> My point is that this can be a double-edged sword. Sure, some designers
> with no programming experience will bring cool boardgame designs to
> PC/net play using VASSAL. But other designers might take *only* their
> cool designs to PC/net play using the VASSAL shortcut - instead of
> throwing in with programmers and doing the game right.
Well, that last thing doesn't happen IRL - wargame programmers nowadays
are at the same time their own game developers. Whether this is an ego
thing (*I'm* programming the game *I* want to make) or simply that the
matching mechanisms are lousy I don't know, but I suspect the latter.
Ideas are a dime a dozen, I think the average wargame programmer has
more ideas than he can possibly program in his lifetime.
>
> And (you'll have to forgive my ignorance here, because I'm not all that
> familiar with VASSAL) it almost seems like you'll need considerable
> programming moxie to actually *extend* the VASSAL engine in some truly
> innovative new direction ...
Correct - if you want to extend it - you could use it as it is
> Hmmm. I'm counting on laziness and sloppiness and avarice to take over.
> Like they always do. And I'm counting on the sheeple to buy their
> sausages right-on-schedule, like they do now. Maybe I'm just cynical,
> but people tend to make a buck the easiest way they can.
Surprisingly enough (and lucky for us) this doesn't hold true for
some/most wargame developers. Practically all of them could make more
money, more easily by becoming corporate database
programmers/developers. On the other hand, I like to think that "reward
for work" goes beyond money. Recognition, sense of having achieved
something, wargame programming being more interesting than database
programming, etc. must also be taken into account.
It's essentially the "reward for work" beta-testers get - and there's
no shortage of wargamers willing to do some work for "free" so I'm not
alone in this.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx