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[Fwd: Re: What to do with Xconq]
- To: xconq7 at sourceware dot cygnus dot com
- Subject: [Fwd: Re: What to do with Xconq]
- From: Stan Shebs <shebs at shebs dot cnchost dot com>
- Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2000 12:05:46 -0800
- Reply-To: shebs at shebs dot cnchost dot com
Some good comments from Mike Howe. -s
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: What to do with Xconq
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 21:26:51 EST
From: MLHowe@aol.com
To: shebs@shebs.cnchost.com
Stan,
I read your emails about XConq with interest, though not being very
technically inclined, not always with understanding. You might be interested
to know that they came on the very day that I posted a "Best Free Games"
thread on the c.s.i.p.g.s newsgroup, listing XConq as one of the seven, of
course. Here's what I think of XConq and what it needs:
Graphics: I don't care. They're fine. I care about gameplay and interface.
The incomplete or buggy libraries are a problem. I'd like to see only
fully-implemented libraries in the game, with "in progress" libraries clearly
separated out.
If you want more users to design libraries for XConq, you might need to make
the language easier, though I'm the last person to be giving advice about
this. For example, Zillions of Games has a language that I was able tolearn
well enough to implement several chess variants. I doubt if I could write an
XConq library given an equal time investment.
To attract a broader audience, you definitely have to stabilize the PC
version and add some interface conveniences, especially a city/production
screen. After giving it several honest tries, I found that the Windows
version kept crashing, even crashing my system, and I took it off my hard
drive.
I don't think that XConq lacks a genre. I think of it as a 4X game, similar
to Empire Deluxe, which still has lots of fans. And I didn't understand what
you meant by it being not state-of-the-art. I would much rather play a
considered, turn-based game of strategic conquest than any number of
Starcraft-like clickfests. And please don't turn XConq into a realtime game.
So I guess for me it just comes down to getting a good, bug-free PC version
with some display glitches fixes and an interface enhancement or two. Then,
give me some good modules that don't crash because they have missing
components. To extend longevity, every modules should have a random map
generator and a choice of world sizes and number of opponents. Then, when
the game looks stable, I might become interested in learning how to author my
own modules. What modules should the game come with? Ancients,
age-of-cavalry, WW2, late 20th C, one or two SciFi, one or two fantasy
settings, and each era should come in a range of complexities from few units
to many and from no economics to complex. I realize that it's a lot to ask
for, but a lot of it seems like it's already in place, or at least the
framework for it is there.
I hope this non-technical feedback from a gameplayer, not a programmer, is
helpful. XConq is an exciting system that I would love to see continued.
Regards,
Mike Howe