[Freeciv-Dev] Re: experimental directory

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

From: Mark Metson [mailto:markm@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
>
> I suspect that is the main problem with game engines as compared to
> fixed-definition games. The more different options/games an
> engine has,
> the smaller proportion of the market/audience plays a particular
> combination, so the less comparable the play, which maybe limits the
> amount that people have in common. Oh you play the same game
> I do, we have
> something in common. Oh wait the settings you play with are
> so utterly
> alien to those I play with that maybe we have almost nothing
> in common at all.

It is indeed quite a lobbying problem.  Thanks for reminding me of that.

> I saw this with Xconq, it looked kind of neat to have umpteen
> games just
> by downloading that one engine, but, the most variants there
> are the fewer
> of them any one person is likely to get around to trying.

But that's not really Xconq's core problem.  Their core problem is,
their AI is mediocre and the same in all games.  So it doesn't feel like
you're playing different games, it feels like you're playing the same
Xconq game with different fluff around it.

It's impossible to make an AI play well in the face of arbitrary rule
changes.  Thanks for reminding me of another one of the problems.
Still, AI can be better than Xconq's.

> But hey I still like the fact that in FreeCiv we can have utterly
> different modpacks. But as you indicate, marketting is going to be an
> issue as more variants appear. Its all very well to manage to
> implement
> some favorite scenario, but then you gotta get players for it...

Survival of the fittest, baby!


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.