HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: stacey@desktop.nsc.com (Stacey Toland)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: Creating games
Date: 4 Sep 92 23:52:07 GMT
Organization: PLD Software Group, National Semiconductor Corporation


I'm interested in creating a simple game, like car racing, and would
like some information on how to begin. Suggestion of software tools
and books would be appreciated. 


Thank you,
Stacey
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
From: kmathias@afit.af.mil (Karl S Mathias)
Subject: Re: Game Design bookS
Organization: Air Force Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 03:36:24 GMT

In article <1992Sep08.205227.24232@rchland.ibm.com> BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com writes:
>
>There is an old book by Dunnigan that I found in my library.  I don't
>remember the name.  It was OK but very, very dated.
>

_The Complete Wargames Handbook_, James F. Dunnigan, 1980

Good book, unfortunately out of print.  Additional ideas not directly
related to wargaming can be found in his book _How to Make War_.

>There is a recent book called _The Art of Wargaming_ that is NOT
>about artwork but is about designing wargames.  I was a bit disappointed
>in that it turned out to have more history of wargaming than tips on the
>current art.  I recommend it none-the-less.  The author was Peters(?) I
>think.
>

_The Art of Wargaming_, Peter P. Perla, 1990

I agree, more history and philosophy, but still a good book on the
subject.


To original poster:

One way to locate books on wargames is to do a subject search on the 
Lanchester equations (assuming you have access to a good library).  This
usually generates a list of books that discuss how to model combat.  You
might also try a search on War Games (note: two words).


Capt Karl Mathias                                  kmathias@afit.af.mil
Graduate Student, Air Force Institute of Technology
"Opinions expressed are my own and not those of the U.S. Air Force" 



Newsgroups: rec.games.design
From: seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Bill Seurer)
Subject: Re: Game Design bookS
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1992 20:52:27 GMT
Reply-To: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester

The SJ book is long (a decade) out of print.  Good luck in finding it.  It
does have some good basics and lots of sound tips.

There is an old book by Dunnigan that I found in my library.  I don't
remember the name.  It was OK but very, very dated.

There is a recent book called _The Art of Wargaming_ that is NOT
about artwork but is about designing wargames.  I was a bit disappointed
in that it turned out to have more history of wargaming than tips on the
current art.  I recommend it none-the-less.  The author was Peters(?) I
think.

Other than these 3, I found only magazine articles.  Moves magazine has
had some very good articles in the last few years.  I found one from
last year particularly good.  I don't remember any issue dates, sorry.
-- 

- Bill Seurer     Language and Compiler Development      IBM Rochester, MN
  Internet: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com    America On-Line: BillSeurer@aol.com
From: bhchan@soda.berkeley.edu (Billy H. Chan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: Re: Creating games
Date: 6 Sep 1992 09:07:24 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley, CS Undergraduate Association
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Sep4.235207.23250@berlioz.nsc.com> stacey@desktop.nsc.com (Stacey Toland) writes:
>
>I'm interested in creating a simple game, like car racing, and would
>like some information on how to begin. Suggestion of software tools
>and books would be appreciated. 
>
I assume this will be a computer game, in which case, I think handling
graphics is different for each platform (computer system) you choose.
However, I suggest trying it on C if you know that language, because
it's easier to port (or so I've heard).
Else, there's always Basic (j/k)

>
>Thank you,
>Stacey


-- 
-------------
Billy H. Chan 		<bhchan@ocf.berkeley.edu>	"Hey, the OCF
Friendly OCF Helper 	<bhchan@soda.berkeley.edu>	 is running!"
Disclaimer: I do not claim to be correct, just curious.
From: linshih@nextnet.csus.edu (shih han lin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: Learning Basic Game design for ms-dos based machine
Date: 14 Sep 92 17:32:52 GMT
Organization: California State University Sacramento


	I was wondering, are there any books out there showing the basic
concept of game design using PASCAL or C languages for ms-dos? I know that this
must be a faq, but I can't find any faqs for this group. Please either post on
the net or reply via e-mail.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't ask me why, I just work here -- Joe Gunchy

internet e-mail linshih@nextnet.ccs.csus.edu
From: ketil@hauk.ii.uib.no (Ketil M. Malde)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: Re: New RPG, survey
Date: 8 Sep 92 12:43:37 GMT
Reply-To: ketil@ii.uib.no
Organization: student of computer science at the University of Bergen, Norway


Talking about design of rpgs, once upon a time there seemed to be a
lot of discussion about designing a net.rpg that was to be freely
available and all that.  DId anything come out of that?  Anybody have
a list of games that are public domain/freeware and preferably
ftp'able? 
--
 = Ketil Malde                     In real life:  ketil@ii.uib.no =
 = Nuke the whales!                    Honk if you love unicorns! =
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
From: tek@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Ted Kim (Random Dude))
Subject: Re: Game Design bookS
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 22:15:39 GMT

In article <1992Sep08.205227.24232@rchland.ibm.com> BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com writes:
>There is a recent book called _The Art of Wargaming_ that is NOT
>about artwork but is about designing wargames.  I was a bit disappointed
>in that it turned out to have more history of wargaming than tips on the
>current art.  I recommend it none-the-less.  The author was Peters(?) I
>think.

Actually the author is Peter Perla. The publisher is Naval Institute Press.

-ted

--
Ted Kim                           Internet: tek@ficus.cs.ucla.edu
UCLA Computer Science Department  UUCP:     ...!{uunet|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!tek
3680A Boelter Hall                Phone:    (310) 825-8524
Los Angeles, CA 90024             FAX:      (310) 825-2273
From: dfn@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (David Nalle)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: Re: Call for Playtesters
Date: 6 Sep 92 04:13:11 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

Sure, as requested, info on Nightmare Realm.

However, since we have already received FAR more applicants than we can 
actuall use -- even without a description -- we're not actively looking 
for any more.

In brief:

Nightmare Realm is a fantasy strategy game set in the dreams of a 15 year
old Victorian girl who has a serious fever.  Ancient lords of the realms of
dream and nightmare are in competition for her soul.  Some want to slay her
before she awakens and steal her spirit.  Others want to bring her out of 
her fever dream so she will live.  The competition to see who will determine
her fate is fought out as a symbolic battle in the strange terrain of the
dream world where fantastical creatures and magical powers are the main weapons
of the dream lords.

Enough?

Dave
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
From: braca2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au (BRAY CHRISTOPHER)
Subject: New RPG, survey
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 08:01:09 GMT

This is a quick yes/no sort of survey.  I am trying to work out how I should
design a new rpg I am presently writing, independently of any publishing
house.  This is my market research.  The more people who reply the more
accurate this will be.

If you feel there is anything else you wish to add then please do so.
This is totally anonymous.

PLEASE REPLY BY EMAIL TO THE ADDRESS AT THE END.

If another game was to come out, what sort of genre would you like to play:

Fantasy	[  ]	Horror [   ]	Contemporary [   ]	Superhero [   ]

Science Fiction [   ]	Space Opera [   ]	Dark Futre [   ]

Mixed Genre ( ie Shadowrun, Torg) [  ]	Multi Genre (GURPS,etc) [   ]


How much time would you want to spend on character generation

<10 minutes [   ]	10-30 minutes [   ]	about 1 hour [   ]

2 hours [   ]	All day [  ]


Would you prefer:

random rolled characters [   ]		Point based system [   ]

a bit of both [   ]


What is your favourite system: ( explain why if you want to )


What is your most hated system: (why if  you wish)


Would you prefer your task system to be:

single die roll [   ]	Bell curve (2D6, etc) [   ]

Percentile(D100) [   ]	No. of successes (as in ShadowRun) [   ]


Would you like to see a basic system that could 'open out' with rules to 
suit your style of gaming? (i.e. a relatively abstract system that you could
focus on Magic, politics, horror, combat as you wished)



Would you prefer a large skill list, where a skill of 0 meant no or little
ability; or have each character with differing proficiencies, where a skill 
level represents some expertise, or understanding of a difficult field ?
(ie sport, theiving, physics, computing, combat)

Do you feel that social interaction should be governed by rules, or by 
roleplaying.\

Is there anything you wish to add?


                              -=[   hook   ]=-
-----------------------------                  ----------------------------
 braca2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au          |    "If you've got it shake it" - hook
       ========			      |    "My heart beats just like yours, 
      /        \                      |    When I dream, my mind soars,  
      |        |                      |    but no fantasy will pay my bills
      \        /                      |    Another dream unfulfilled"
       ---  ---                       |                - Living Color
	 / /                          | "Right now there are hundreds of
	 | |                          | sceptics falling of the edge of the 
	 \ \   /|                     | Earth"  Clem Turner (LEUT, RAN)
	  \ --/ |                     |
	   \---/                      |
copy this sig and help `Just Say No' to Big Brother monitoring public bandwidth
      NSA KEYWORDS:  AVIARY, OCELOT, KIT GREEN, JOHN ALEXANDER, ED DAMES


Newsgroups: rec.games.design
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Subject: Re: Game Design bookS
Organization: California State University, Chico
Date: Mon, 07 Sep 1992 17:42:27 GMT

Darragh J. Delany writes:
>I was wondering if anyone knew of any books on the design of board wargames?

Steve Jackson put out a relatively good book about game design in the mid
80's.  You may have a hard time finding it, I don't think it's in print
anymore.  Me, I lent it to a 'friend' and never saw it or him again.
-- 
A nuclear war can ruin your whole day.
From: bill@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (William Logan Lee)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: Re: Game Design bookS
Date: 14 Sep 92 14:43:17 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <1992Sep7.122943.18748@maths.tcd.ie> darragh@maths.tcd.ie (Darragh J. Delany) writes:
>I was wondering if anyone knew of any books on the design of board wargames?

    Strategy & TActics Staff Study Nr. 2
    Wargame Design
    by the Staff of Strategy and Tactics Magazine
    Hippocrene Bookes, Inc (c) 1977, 1983

    100-odd pages of how S&T used to design their games. There is a lot more
    to designing a marketable game than providing a set of counters and a
    CRT.  The actual CRT is often the easiest part to build.
    
>I assume there must be some references out there somewhere. I'm interested
>in things such as CRT models and their applicability, assess combat factors
>for larger sized units and how to determine hex contents when transcribing
>real terrain  onto a hexmap.

    Do a literary search on Operations Research:
    "Lanchester Models of Warfare" by the Operations Research Society of
    America (from memory).  This is a double-paperback sized book consisting
    mainly of warfare model equations for all sorts of situations, usually
    based on 2 units in opposition firing at each other (including such
    minutea as interfiring gaps [reloading and reaquisition to you and I]).
    That Society puts out a number of similar publications.

    There is another book that contains a lot of information on lethality
    of weapons and comparisons from sword, javelin to atomic bomb.  Based
    really on tactical (laboratory) assessments, it ignores the human part
    of the effectiveness equation.   Yet another book tries to distill the
    essential features of WW2 combat, and, based on these, predict the
    winner of other battles to be compared with the actual winner.
    Unfortunately, reports of battles can often be distorted, depending on
    who wrote the history (see _About Face_ by Col. Hackworth for examples).

    Ultimately, your game will reflect some aspect of conflict you wish to
    bring out; be it supply, tactics, communications, politics.  To cover
    "Everything" would lead to "War in Europe" sized games, so pick what
    is important to you and do an excellent job on that and a good job on
    everything else.

    Good Luck,
    Bill Lee
From: glasser%sparcelc@uunet.UU.NET (Scott Glasser)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: xtank problem
Date: 9 Sep 92 19:42:57 GMT
To: xtank@eng.umd.edu


I'm having a problem with xtank 1.3a (Beta) on a Sparcstation ELC running 
SunOS 4.1.2.  When I press "Play", the xtank screen is painted (with a maze 
and a vehicle), but immediately xtank crashes, reporting "Alarm call".  I 
presume that somehow the signal handler for SIGALRM is not being set up 
properly in icounter.c, but I didn't want to hack around if there is an 
easy fix.

Thanks!

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Scott Glasser			Phone: (919) 870-8800
Performance Awareness Corp.	uucp: 	uunet!prevue!glasser
Raleigh, N.C.			inet:	prevue!glasser@uunet.uu.net
From: kr1@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk (Kevin Richards (METOFF))
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Xtank and Sound
Keywords: rplay xtank
Date: 11 Sep 92 08:33:32 GMT
Reply-To: kr1@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., University of Reading

Hi,
	I noticed there was no inclusion of the sound facilities in the latest release.
  Yeah, okay I know your really busy !!!
	
  Could the guy responsible for them usher up some new ones for 1.3e release.
   		
		Many thanks

			Kev
---
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Kevin Richards                              K.Richards@reading.ac.uk        

                University of Reading, Whiteknights, 
                       Reading, Berkshire, Uk

                    Phone +44 734 875123 ext 7642
From: l2wang@cantor.math.uwaterloo.ca (  Lei Wang  )
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Xtank Color problem while running.
Date: 8 Sep 92 05:32:02 GMT
Organization: University of Waterloo


  I ran into a small problem running Xtank.

  It's Ultrix v4.2a on a Decstation.
  I am using a 1248x1024 24bit color monitor, but when running xtank,
it gives ...

Now What( 229 /tmp/lwmisc/xt/Bin )? ./xtank
Running xtank.mips-el
Couldn't allocate color Red
Couldn't allocate color DarkOrange
Couldn't allocate color Yellow
Couldn't allocate color DodgerBlue
Couldn't allocate color Violet
Couldn't allocate color grey71
Couldn't allocate color cyan
Cursor color failed
Cursor color failed
Cursor color failed
Cursor color failed

  before putting up the Xtank window.  Xtank runs normally, but without
color.  This looks like only a minor problem(somewhere some setup needs
to be changed), but I couldn't figure it out.
  What's the simple fix?


  Thanks.
From: barton@latcs1.lat.OZ.AU (Douglas P Barton)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: damage effects
Date: 11 Sep 92 03:30:57 GMT
Organization: What ORGANISATION???  This mess is total chaos!!!

In article <1992Sep10.124958.17004@qiclab.scn.rain.com>, nabil@qiclab.scn.rain.com (Aaron Nabil) writes:
|> 
|> Any ideas on damage?  For compatibility, I'm making the armor red
|> zone the area in which damage occurs (execpt for the radar), you still
|> blow up if it gets punched down to 0.


How about a battle tech type damage system...  after the armour is completely
gone, dammage is passed on to weapons and internals with a chance of critical
ie KaBOOM!!!  until of course nothing remains on that side to be damaged...

|> This is what I have implemented already...
|> 
|> Any hits on the top of the vehicle disables the radar.
|> 
|> Hits to the read when the armor is in the red zone has a 25% chance of
|> knocking the cooling system down to 50% capacity.
|> 
|> A small start, but it works.  I added a message class called "R2D2" that
|> gives you (only) comentator-like warnings as you pick up damage.
|> 
|> -- 
|> Aaron
|> nabil@cse.ogi.edu

-- 

Douglas Barton - barton@latcs1.oz.au
		"My ,son.  Take for thyself another world,
 		 for that which I leave thee is too small..."

And your fortune for today --

Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most Souls would scarcely
get your Feet wet.  Fall not in Love, therefore: it will stick to your
face.
		-- National Lampoon, "Deteriorada"
From: lidl@rodan.UU.NET (Kurt J. Lidl)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Re: Xtank and Sound
Date: 11 Sep 1992 11:47:21 -0400
Organization: AlterNet -- Falls Church, Virginia, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net
Keywords: rplay xtank

In article <BuEnrx.G6z@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk> kr1@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk writes:
>I noticed there was no inclusion of the sound facilities in the
>latest release.  Yeah, okay I know your really busy !!!
>	
>Could the guy responsible for them usher up some new ones for 1.3e release.

Well, it would have been a little ugly to test them, as we don't have
a sparc that does sound (yet).  We did look at the patches though,
and liked most of what we saw.  The method used is a good one -- it should
generalize to more than just a sparcstation though.  I think that we
are going for a #ifdef RPLAY_SOUND in a future release, once we get
the sound blaster driver working under 386BSD. :-)  Of course, I probably
ought to make the threading work there too...

-Kurt
-- 
/* Kurt J. Lidl (lidl@uunet.uu.net)   | Unix is the answer, but only if you */
/*                                    | phrase the question very carefully. */
/* Don't even think of confusing my opinions with my employer's opinions!   */
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer,rec.games.xtank.play,comp.unix.bsd,comp.windows.x
From: lidl@pix.com (Kurt J. Lidl)
Subject: Xtank 1.3f is released
Organization: Pix -- The company with no adult supervision.
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 04:50:49 GMT

The latest version of Xtank is now available for anonymous ftp from
both azathoth.sura.net and from ftp.eng.umd.edu.

(The first site listed is better connected and faster than the 3/60 that
is ftp.eng.umd.edu.  Azathoth is a DECstation 5000 that has over twice
as much memory, and much faster disk drives. You probably want to snarf
your copy from there, but what the hey, *I* don't care, really.)

If you get this distribution, make sure you read both the README
file and the Help/xtank.FAQ file.

New features:

   * support for 386BSD threading.
     No support for dynamic loading yet, but we are working on it.

   * modificiation to the robot "shooter" to bring it up to speed with
     4 turret'd vehicles

   * more and better RDF/TACLINK work from Aaron Eastlund

   * removal of old code that wasn't ever getting defined, as part
     of our code cleanup activities

   * Imakefile file reorganization, tweaking of some compiler flags
     on suns, hp's.  Not widely tested.

   * re-arranged console layout, to better handle working on screens
     of size 1024x768

-Kurt
-- 
/* Kurt J. Lidl (lidl@pix.com)    | Unix is the answer, but only if you */
/* UUCP: uunet!mimsy!pixcom!lidl  | phrase the question very carefully. */
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
From: stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne)
Subject: Re: xtank problem
Organization: Pix Technologies -- The company with no adult supervision
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 16:39:49 GMT

In article <9209091942.AA17783@sparcelc.uucp> glasser%sparcelc@uunet.UU.NET (Scott Glasser) writes:
>I'm having a problem with xtank 1.3a (Beta) on a Sparcstation ELC running 
>SunOS 4.1.2.  When I press "Play", the xtank screen is painted (with a maze 
>and a vehicle), but immediately xtank crashes, reporting "Alarm call".  I 
>presume that somehow the signal handler for SIGALRM is not being set up 
>properly in icounter.c, but I didn't want to hack around if there is an 
>easy fix.

You have you stuff compiled under the SysV "universe", change paths, make
clean, and recompile.  This is covered in the FAQ (recently posted, at
least in the .play group).
-- 
           stripes@pix.com              "Security for Unix is like
      Josh_Osborne@Real_World,The          Multitasking for MS-DOS"
      "The dyslexic porgramer"                  - Kevin Lockwood
We all agree on the necessity of compromise.  We just can't agree on
when it's necessary to compromise.       - Larry Wall
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
From: stripes@pix.com (Josh Osborne)
Subject: Re: Xtank Color problem while running.
Organization: Pix Technologies -- The company with no adult supervision
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 12:57:33 GMT

In article <Bu8vDF.67w@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> l2wang@cantor.math.uwaterloo.ca (  Lei Wang  ) writes:
>
>  I ran into a small problem running Xtank.

What version of xtank?  I know somewhere between the current and previous
versions it ran on a 16-bit DirrectColor box.

>  It's Ultrix v4.2a on a Decstation.
>  I am using a 1248x1024 24bit color monitor, but when running xtank,
>it gives ...

Monitor or display?  DirrectColor, or TrueColor?  What does xdpyinfo
say?
-- 
           stripes@pix.com              "Security for Unix is like
      Josh_Osborne@Real_World,The          Multitasking for MS-DOS"
      "The dyslexic porgramer"                  - Kevin Lockwood
We all agree on the necessity of compromise.  We just can't agree on
when it's necessary to compromise.       - Larry Wall
From: mouser@cs.umd.edu (David Eccleston)
Newsgroups: rec.games.xtank.programmer
Subject: Tac Nukes not working...
Date: 14 Sep 92 19:15:30 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of Maryland, College Park

In the new release (1.3f) there is an error with the Tac-Nukes.
There's a line (in both weapon-defs.h and xtank.h) that says:
        #ifdef TAC_NUKES
That should be:
        #ifdef NO_GAME_BALANCE
If you define NO_GAME_BALANCE (without changing this line) it won't compile.

Mouser