[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Fixing ICS (simply)

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Hellen Claggett [mailto:hellen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>
> That sounds fair enough. I've nothing against creative new ideas
> (particularly when 'minions' are involved :-). While I'm not a
> professional game designer, I do appreciate the trade.
> Lately, my design
> aesthetics with regards to gaming has been shaped by the so called
> 'German board games' like Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico and Tigris &
> Euphrates. As a result, I'm approaching Civ more from a reductionist
> point of view where I'm actually looking to abstract the game in ways
> that lend themselves to several viable multi-player strategies. At the
> moment, ICS is the only viable multi-player strategy and so I'm
> personally interested in solving that (preferably by
> subtraction) before adding new complexity.

Ah, well, see, the leap I feel I made with the Migration idea, is to
solve ICS *during* the addition of new complexity.  And I really do
think Migrants are an "automated Settlers" type of complexity problem.
I didn't propose that you would move around Migrants, you don't even
control them.  Nobody does.  They're about as tactically complicated as
Barbarians.

> Oh, and your comment about Python? I'd LOVE Freeciv to port
> to it! I've
> got some really great ideas on AI design that I'd have half a
> chance of
> expressing in Python as opposed to C. If only I could find the time to
> help...

Maybe I can cajole you.

> PS Here is link I found in Wiki concerning German board games.
> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamewiki/GermanGame

Thanks!  I know several people on gamedesign-l who are enthusiasts of
German Games.


Cheers,                         www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.