Hello all! I have previously hosted a Diplomacy variant I created on the westeros.org forums, which borrows from games like Crusader Kings 2, dynasty and history simulators, to bring to life the Game of Thrones vibe from the TV series and fantastic book series A Song of Ice and Fire. My goal was to create a highly customizable game where players could create their own houses with some basic overall traits like having Dornish blood to gain a movement bonus in the sandy deserts of the deep south while taking a penalty trait like wraught for battle which makes said houses’ generals develop slower. The game also handled issues like succession crises, the unnatural long winters that come along, and managing families and marriage alliances, diplomatic ties.
Here is the map as of latest updates(note the war torn state of the realm) and below it the rules:
img38.imageshack.us/img38/8656/g09y.jpg
wattpad.com/story/6506602-rules-of-diplomacy
I was painstakingly updating the map each weak and tallying up figures for banks and such, but the work became too stressful at points so I ended up having to put the game on indefinite hiatus even though all parties were having a good deal of fun(some less as they had been eliminated ;D) Every person would have to send me their orders, and I would be required to keep note and keep track of a bank, and keep note of all movement and also be the general rulemaster.
Later the idea came to me if I could digitalize all of this input of orders and map movement it would save me loads of time each update and I would only have to put in a bunch of time at the front end with no deadline.
So I am a total noob to this kind of thing, and while I have followed some principles of the manual I was wondering if anyone would take a pinch of interest and help me start working on this at the ground level to guide me in the right direction towards making this. Ideally each game could even require its own module so that a lot of the input could once again be done on the front end instead of working towards a deadline every week. It’s not the most straightforward of ideas, but based on other engines I’ve looked at Vassal definitely seems to be the best for what I am thinking of and for the design I have already taken through its paces.
My questions are:
How ambitious a scope is this, and what are some helpful links or guides I can use to start making a development outline for myself?
Thus spake Leonardothered:
Hello all! I have previously hosted a Diplomacy variant I created on the
westeros.org forums, which borrows from games like Crusader Kings 2,
dynasty and history simulators, to bring to life the Game of Thrones
vibe from the TV series and fantastic book series A Song of Ice and
Fire. My goal was to create a highly customizable game where players
could create their own houses with some basic overall traits like having
Dornish blood to gain a movement bonus in the sandy deserts of the deep
south while taking a penalty trait like wraught for battle which makes
said houses’ generals develop slower. The game also handled issues like
succession crises, the unnatural long winters that come along, and
managing families and marriage alliances, diplomatic ties.
Here is the map as of latest updates(note the war torn state of the
realm) and below it the rules:
img38.imageshack.us/img38/8656/g09y.jpg[1]
wattpad.com/story/6506602-rules-of-diplomacy[2]
I was painstakingly updating the map each weak and tallying up figures
for banks and such, but the work became too stressful at points so I
ended up having to put the game on indefinite hiatus even though all
parties were having a good deal of fun(some less as they had been
eliminated ;D) Every person would have to send me their orders, and I
would be required to keep note and keep track of a bank, and keep note
of all movement and also be the general rulemaster.
Later the idea came to me if I could digitalize all of this input of
orders and map movement it would save me loads of time each update and I
would only have to put in a bunch of time at the front end with no
deadline.
So I am a total noob to this kind of thing, and while I have followed
some principles of the manual I was wondering if anyone would take a
pinch of interest and help me start working on this at the ground level
to guide me in the right direction towards making this. Ideally each
game could even require its own module so that a lot of the input could
once again be done on the front end instead of working towards a
deadline every week. It’s not the most straightforward of ideas, but
based on other engines I’ve looked at Vassal definitely seems to be the
best for what I am thinking of and for the design I have already taken
through its paces.
My questions are:
How ambitious a scope is this, and what are some helpful links or guides
I can use to start making a development outline for myself?
Would you be more specific about what you want VASSAL to handle for you?
If what you’re looking for is a map, some pieces, and the ability to
color the regions based on the owner, the first two are simple and the
third is a bit more complex, but still doable.
–
J.
Sorry, I realize I wasn’t very conclusive at all, but I’m really looking for a step-by-step guide on some similar games maybe or at least one I can break down. I mainly want to use Vassal as a tool for online gaming, as a way to handle some of the legwork I’m having to do by detailing the map myself every step of the way and having to collect all of this information like trades between players, their expenses each turn, and in the way that armies clash against eachother in a very specific but mathematical order.
I’ve already hosted the game before and want to create an interface where players can relay all of their information for the game without me having to break everything down and update the status of the game.
So yes I need a map, some pieces that can be color coded and have a number value attached, the map color colored by region based on owner, and most importantly I need it to keep track of game characteristics like food/gold both its banking and production each turn, whether or not a region has a castle and what kind of castle it is, transactions between players, and behind the scenes track things like which person’s heirs and family are where.
The deeper I get into the game the more complex and branched out it gets, which I’m sure is common with most game ideas.
-Map screen with regions labelled as or show color of owners, labelled with a graphic or text that shows whether or not it has a castle, and finally show what armies are there and who they are. I want to duplicate what I was doing with my map that I linked above, but have the game engine do it instead of editing it by hand every week
-Interface for player transactions and purchases, meaning a drop down menu and what you want to send. It doesn’t have to verify trades and things, as this is part of the game, that someone can backstab you and not send you anything.
-Interface for troop movement w/generals and movement of members of nobility, though the latter doesn’t have to be represented aside from a /whoiswhere report type thing or another screen as what family members are where and if they’re prisoners is pretty important
-Finally, an interface/screen for political actions and attacks. This could probably be combined with the interface for transactions if need be
All of the player communication is done through a forum, westeros.org so it doesn’t need support for that or be anything other than a really awesome tool for the players and myself.
Thus spake Leonardothered:
Sorry, I realize I wasn’t very conclusive at all, but I’m really looking
for a step-by-step guide on some similar games maybe or at least one I
can break down. I mainly want to use Vassal as a tool for online gaming,
as a way to handle some of the legwork I’m having to do by detailing the
map myself every step of the way and having to collect all of this
information like trades between players, their expenses each turn, and
in the way that armies clash against eachother in a very specific but
mathematical order.
I’ve already hosted the game before and want to create an interface
where players can relay all of their information for the game without me
having to break everything down and update the status of the game.
It sounds like you want a move processor more than a virtual tabletop.
Are you intending for the players to make their moves themselves on
the map, or declare what those moves are and have the moves be made
for them?
–
J.
I want them to all be able to submit their moves, but they all happen at the same time and on a deadline.
Thus spake Leonardothered:
I want them to all be able to submit their moves, but they all happen at
the same time and on a deadline.
VASSAL—in it’s current incarnation, at least—isn’t a move processor.
There aren’t any facilities in 3.2 for taking in moves and applying them
to a game state, other than doing that by hand. There will be a library
you could use for this in VASSAL 4, but that’s some ways off at present.
Regardless of what you use, to do what you describe is going to be a
significant coding effort.
–
J.
