rails-devel — List for discussion of Rails development

Re: [Rails-devel] Bug in 18EU implementation in 1.54

[Erik V. <eri...@xs...>]

Martin,

 

You are quite correct on this bug and its cause.

I have added a new StockRound attribute 'raiseIfSoldOut' that is normally
true, but is set false at the start of 18EU/FinalMinorExchangeRound.

 

I don't believe that any other pseudo-StockRounds are vulnerable to this
problem, but if so, there is an easy fix now.

 

Erik.

 

From: Dr. Martin Brumm [mailto:dr....@t-...] 
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011 12:48 AM
To: Rails Developer Liste
Cc: Hans-Juergen Krupp
Subject: [Rails-devel] Bug in 18EU implementation in 1.54

 

Hi all,

 

in a recent game i exchanged a minor for the last share of a major
corporation in the Final Minor Exchange Round. 

This caused the Stock price of that Corporation to Rise at the start of the
Subsequent AR/End of Minor Exchange Round ?

 

I believe that this is not correct as the rules state it should only rise at
the end of a Stock Round.

I suspect that this comes from the implementation of the Final Exchange
Round as a Subclass of Stockround ?

 

Anybody can share light on that behavior, I deem this a not correct feature
:-) (even though I would profit from it :-)).

 

Regards, Martin

 

Enclosed the 3 Save Files from Minor Exchange and following SR.

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[John D. G. <jd...@di...>]

Mark Smith wrote:
> OK, just to add more... in 1856 and 1870, you have the Home Base, you have the
> Destinations, as well as placed tokens. There should be ways to distinguish
> each from each other. 
> 
> Grey Shading doesn't seem like the right answer.
> 
> If you do something "fancy" with the font, say Outline Text for Home, and
> Italics for a Destination, and Solid Font for Placed... it may work.
> 
> Can anyone think of other ways a Company is represented on a map?

In the published game 1870, the destination "token" is shown in black and
white, while the actual home base is in color.  (Of course this makes no
difference for the T&P, whose logo is in black and white anyway.)  In the
published game 1856, the tokens are plain text, but the destination "token"
is substantially smaller than a city circle.

Either will work.  Combining both methods should work especially well.

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Mark S. <mar...@gm...>]

OK, just to add more... in 1856 and 1870, you have the Home Base, you have
the Destinations, as well as placed tokens. There should be ways to
distinguish each from each other.

Grey Shading doesn't seem like the right answer.

If you do something "fancy" with the font, say Outline Text for Home, and
Italics for a Destination, and Solid Font for Placed... it may work.

Can anyone think of other ways a Company is represented on a map?

Mark

On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 2:12 PM, Chris Shaffer <chr...@gm...>wrote:

> Grey shading?
>
> --
> Chris
>
> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Mark Smith <mar...@gm...>
> wrote:
> > Thought on just black and white -- how to distinguish placed tokens and
> home bases?
> >
> > Sent from my iPad
> >
> > On Dec 17, 2011, at 12:51 PM, Chris Shaffer <chr...@gm...>
> wrote:
> >
> >> This, by the way, is what I meant by simple black & white text
> >> abbreviations.  It's from a ps18xx map.
> >>
> >>
> http://www.mikkosgameblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1860-mikko-ed.jpg
> >>
> >> --
> >> Chris
> >>
> >> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 9:46 AM, Chris Shaffer <chr...@gm...>
> wrote:
> >>> There are ways to support the color blind, and those of us with less
> >>> than perfect vision:
> >>>
> >>> 1. Global option to replace all SVG token graphics with simple black &
> >>> white text abbreviations.
> >>> 2. Pop up text when mousing over a token.
> >>> 3. Pop up larger image when mousing over a token.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Chris
> >>>
> >>> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 2:48 AM, Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> wrote:
> >>>> Currently, all tokens have the company abbreviation and colours, so
> there is a good match.
> >>>> However, the abbreviations are drawn on the token circles with start
> positions and font sizes that are derived from the number of characters in
> a very simple way, and the result is not very satisfactory.
> >>>> So I am all for better ways to draw tokens.  And I would be happy to
> optimize colours so that the colour-blind can better distinguish these -
> but I am not, so I would be dependent on advice from such players.
> >>>>
> >>>> Apart from the colours, I see two ways to improve token visibility by
> using SVG:
> >>>>
> >>>> 1. Design simple SVG tokens that are similar to the existing ones,
> having just the company colours and abbreviations, but better designed so
> that the abbreviations are well-centered and have the best font and size
> for readability.
> >>>>
> >>>> 2. Design SVG tokens that resemble the real logos in terms of colours
> and shape. I believe that this way the name will not be readable in most
> cases, so (for the colour-blind) shape becomes the only distinguishing
> factor.  In this case I would try to include such tokens into the grid
> windows as well, at least at the left-hand side. But the abbreviation has
> to stay there.
> >>>>
> >>>> Like Brett, I think that just the name abbreviation is best (option
> 1).
> >>>>
> >>>> Erik.
> >>>>
> >>>>> From: brett lentz [mailto:bre...@gm...]
> >>>>> I'll complicate this a bit further:  Color blindness.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Red-Green color blindness is relatively common in men. Other forms
> of color
> >>>>> blindness also exist, and make these sorts of decisions sort of
> dicey.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> There are a few people in my old gaming group that were color blind
> and
> >>>>> some games were more difficult for them to play because of this.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I think all markers should have the initials of the company along
> with an
> >>>>> associated color. If we can also make each token it's own shape or
> use
> >>>>> distinct combinations of foreground and background colors, so much
> the
> >>>>> better. However, 18xx games have a *ton* of information
> >>>>> (comparatively) and so there's a balance to be struck lest we
> needlessly
> >>>>> complicate things.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> At a minimum, players should be able to match up the B&O token on the
> >>>>> stock market with the B&O tokens on the map and the B&O entry in the
> >>>>> game status window... very much like in a physical game. The easiest
> way to
> >>>>> do this is just to have the characters "B&O" everywhere the company
> is
> >>>>> referenced. If there's space in the UI to include the full name
> *and* the
> >>>>> abbreviation in some places, that's great. But, at a minimum, we
> should
> >>>>> maintain some amount of consistency by always displaying the
> abbreviation
> >>>>> and not rely on just coloring to convey this information.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ---Brett.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
> >>>> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
> >>>> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and
> what it
> >>>> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE
> online.
> >>>> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> Rails-devel mailing list
> >>>> Rai...@li...
> >>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
> >>
> >>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
> >> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
> >> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what
> it
> >> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
> >> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Rails-devel mailing list
> >> Rai...@li...
> >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
> > Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
> > developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what
> it
> > provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
> > Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails-devel mailing list
> > Rai...@li...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it
> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
> _______________________________________________
> Rails-devel mailing list
> Rai...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
>

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Chris S. <chr...@gm...>]

Grey shading?

--
Chris

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.



On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Mark Smith <mar...@gm...> wrote:
> Thought on just black and white -- how to distinguish placed tokens and home bases?
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Dec 17, 2011, at 12:51 PM, Chris Shaffer <chr...@gm...> wrote:
>
>> This, by the way, is what I meant by simple black & white text
>> abbreviations.  It's from a ps18xx map.
>>
>> http://www.mikkosgameblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1860-mikko-ed.jpg
>>
>> --
>> Chris
>>
>> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 9:46 AM, Chris Shaffer <chr...@gm...> wrote:
>>> There are ways to support the color blind, and those of us with less
>>> than perfect vision:
>>>
>>> 1. Global option to replace all SVG token graphics with simple black &
>>> white text abbreviations.
>>> 2. Pop up text when mousing over a token.
>>> 3. Pop up larger image when mousing over a token.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Chris
>>>
>>> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 2:48 AM, Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> wrote:
>>>> Currently, all tokens have the company abbreviation and colours, so there is a good match.
>>>> However, the abbreviations are drawn on the token circles with start positions and font sizes that are derived from the number of characters in a very simple way, and the result is not very satisfactory.
>>>> So I am all for better ways to draw tokens.  And I would be happy to optimize colours so that the colour-blind can better distinguish these - but I am not, so I would be dependent on advice from such players.
>>>>
>>>> Apart from the colours, I see two ways to improve token visibility by using SVG:
>>>>
>>>> 1. Design simple SVG tokens that are similar to the existing ones, having just the company colours and abbreviations, but better designed so that the abbreviations are well-centered and have the best font and size for readability.
>>>>
>>>> 2. Design SVG tokens that resemble the real logos in terms of colours and shape. I believe that this way the name will not be readable in most cases, so (for the colour-blind) shape becomes the only distinguishing factor.  In this case I would try to include such tokens into the grid windows as well, at least at the left-hand side. But the abbreviation has to stay there.
>>>>
>>>> Like Brett, I think that just the name abbreviation is best (option 1).
>>>>
>>>> Erik.
>>>>
>>>>> From: brett lentz [mailto:bre...@gm...]
>>>>> I'll complicate this a bit further:  Color blindness.
>>>>>
>>>>> Red-Green color blindness is relatively common in men. Other forms of color
>>>>> blindness also exist, and make these sorts of decisions sort of dicey.
>>>>>
>>>>> There are a few people in my old gaming group that were color blind and
>>>>> some games were more difficult for them to play because of this.
>>>>>
>>>>> I think all markers should have the initials of the company along with an
>>>>> associated color. If we can also make each token it's own shape or use
>>>>> distinct combinations of foreground and background colors, so much the
>>>>> better. However, 18xx games have a *ton* of information
>>>>> (comparatively) and so there's a balance to be struck lest we needlessly
>>>>> complicate things.
>>>>>
>>>>> At a minimum, players should be able to match up the B&O token on the
>>>>> stock market with the B&O tokens on the map and the B&O entry in the
>>>>> game status window... very much like in a physical game. The easiest way to
>>>>> do this is just to have the characters "B&O" everywhere the company is
>>>>> referenced. If there's space in the UI to include the full name *and* the
>>>>> abbreviation in some places, that's great. But, at a minimum, we should
>>>>> maintain some amount of consistency by always displaying the abbreviation
>>>>> and not rely on just coloring to convey this information.
>>>>>
>>>>> ---Brett.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
>>>> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
>>>> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it
>>>> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
>>>> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Rails-devel mailing list
>>>> Rai...@li...
>>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
>> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
>> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it
>> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
>> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
>> _______________________________________________
>> Rails-devel mailing list
>> Rai...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it
> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
> _______________________________________________
> Rails-devel mailing list
> Rai...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Mark S. <mar...@gm...>]

Thought on just black and white -- how to distinguish placed tokens and home bases? 

Sent from my iPad

On Dec 17, 2011, at 12:51 PM, Chris Shaffer <chr...@gm...> wrote:

> This, by the way, is what I meant by simple black & white text
> abbreviations.  It's from a ps18xx map.
> 
> http://www.mikkosgameblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1860-mikko-ed.jpg
> 
> --
> Chris
> 
> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 9:46 AM, Chris Shaffer <chr...@gm...> wrote:
>> There are ways to support the color blind, and those of us with less
>> than perfect vision:
>> 
>> 1. Global option to replace all SVG token graphics with simple black &
>> white text abbreviations.
>> 2. Pop up text when mousing over a token.
>> 3. Pop up larger image when mousing over a token.
>> 
>> --
>> Chris
>> 
>> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 2:48 AM, Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> wrote:
>>> Currently, all tokens have the company abbreviation and colours, so there is a good match.
>>> However, the abbreviations are drawn on the token circles with start positions and font sizes that are derived from the number of characters in a very simple way, and the result is not very satisfactory.
>>> So I am all for better ways to draw tokens.  And I would be happy to optimize colours so that the colour-blind can better distinguish these - but I am not, so I would be dependent on advice from such players.
>>> 
>>> Apart from the colours, I see two ways to improve token visibility by using SVG:
>>> 
>>> 1. Design simple SVG tokens that are similar to the existing ones, having just the company colours and abbreviations, but better designed so that the abbreviations are well-centered and have the best font and size for readability.
>>> 
>>> 2. Design SVG tokens that resemble the real logos in terms of colours and shape. I believe that this way the name will not be readable in most cases, so (for the colour-blind) shape becomes the only distinguishing factor.  In this case I would try to include such tokens into the grid windows as well, at least at the left-hand side. But the abbreviation has to stay there.
>>> 
>>> Like Brett, I think that just the name abbreviation is best (option 1).
>>> 
>>> Erik.
>>> 
>>>> From: brett lentz [mailto:bre...@gm...]
>>>> I'll complicate this a bit further:  Color blindness.
>>>> 
>>>> Red-Green color blindness is relatively common in men. Other forms of color
>>>> blindness also exist, and make these sorts of decisions sort of dicey.
>>>> 
>>>> There are a few people in my old gaming group that were color blind and
>>>> some games were more difficult for them to play because of this.
>>>> 
>>>> I think all markers should have the initials of the company along with an
>>>> associated color. If we can also make each token it's own shape or use
>>>> distinct combinations of foreground and background colors, so much the
>>>> better. However, 18xx games have a *ton* of information
>>>> (comparatively) and so there's a balance to be struck lest we needlessly
>>>> complicate things.
>>>> 
>>>> At a minimum, players should be able to match up the B&O token on the
>>>> stock market with the B&O tokens on the map and the B&O entry in the
>>>> game status window... very much like in a physical game. The easiest way to
>>>> do this is just to have the characters "B&O" everywhere the company is
>>>> referenced. If there's space in the UI to include the full name *and* the
>>>> abbreviation in some places, that's great. But, at a minimum, we should
>>>> maintain some amount of consistency by always displaying the abbreviation
>>>> and not rely on just coloring to convey this information.
>>>> 
>>>> ---Brett.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
>>> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
>>> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it
>>> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
>>> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Rails-devel mailing list
>>> Rai...@li...
>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for 
> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it 
> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.  
> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
> _______________________________________________
> Rails-devel mailing list
> Rai...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Chris S. <chr...@gm...>]

This, by the way, is what I meant by simple black & white text
abbreviations.  It's from a ps18xx map.

http://www.mikkosgameblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1860-mikko-ed.jpg

--
Chris

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.



On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 9:46 AM, Chris Shaffer <chr...@gm...> wrote:
> There are ways to support the color blind, and those of us with less
> than perfect vision:
>
> 1. Global option to replace all SVG token graphics with simple black &
> white text abbreviations.
> 2. Pop up text when mousing over a token.
> 3. Pop up larger image when mousing over a token.
>
> --
> Chris
>
> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 2:48 AM, Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> wrote:
>> Currently, all tokens have the company abbreviation and colours, so there is a good match.
>> However, the abbreviations are drawn on the token circles with start positions and font sizes that are derived from the number of characters in a very simple way, and the result is not very satisfactory.
>> So I am all for better ways to draw tokens.  And I would be happy to optimize colours so that the colour-blind can better distinguish these - but I am not, so I would be dependent on advice from such players.
>>
>> Apart from the colours, I see two ways to improve token visibility by using SVG:
>>
>> 1. Design simple SVG tokens that are similar to the existing ones, having just the company colours and abbreviations, but better designed so that the abbreviations are well-centered and have the best font and size for readability.
>>
>> 2. Design SVG tokens that resemble the real logos in terms of colours and shape. I believe that this way the name will not be readable in most cases, so (for the colour-blind) shape becomes the only distinguishing factor.  In this case I would try to include such tokens into the grid windows as well, at least at the left-hand side. But the abbreviation has to stay there.
>>
>> Like Brett, I think that just the name abbreviation is best (option 1).
>>
>> Erik.
>>
>>> From: brett lentz [mailto:bre...@gm...]
>>> I'll complicate this a bit further:  Color blindness.
>>>
>>> Red-Green color blindness is relatively common in men. Other forms of color
>>> blindness also exist, and make these sorts of decisions sort of dicey.
>>>
>>> There are a few people in my old gaming group that were color blind and
>>> some games were more difficult for them to play because of this.
>>>
>>> I think all markers should have the initials of the company along with an
>>> associated color. If we can also make each token it's own shape or use
>>> distinct combinations of foreground and background colors, so much the
>>> better. However, 18xx games have a *ton* of information
>>> (comparatively) and so there's a balance to be struck lest we needlessly
>>> complicate things.
>>>
>>> At a minimum, players should be able to match up the B&O token on the
>>> stock market with the B&O tokens on the map and the B&O entry in the
>>> game status window... very much like in a physical game. The easiest way to
>>> do this is just to have the characters "B&O" everywhere the company is
>>> referenced. If there's space in the UI to include the full name *and* the
>>> abbreviation in some places, that's great. But, at a minimum, we should
>>> maintain some amount of consistency by always displaying the abbreviation
>>> and not rely on just coloring to convey this information.
>>>
>>> ---Brett.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
>> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
>> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it
>> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
>> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
>> _______________________________________________
>> Rails-devel mailing list
>> Rai...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Chris S. <chr...@gm...>]

There are ways to support the color blind, and those of us with less
than perfect vision:

1. Global option to replace all SVG token graphics with simple black &
white text abbreviations.
2. Pop up text when mousing over a token.
3. Pop up larger image when mousing over a token.

--
Chris

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.



On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 2:48 AM, Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> wrote:
> Currently, all tokens have the company abbreviation and colours, so there is a good match.
> However, the abbreviations are drawn on the token circles with start positions and font sizes that are derived from the number of characters in a very simple way, and the result is not very satisfactory.
> So I am all for better ways to draw tokens.  And I would be happy to optimize colours so that the colour-blind can better distinguish these - but I am not, so I would be dependent on advice from such players.
>
> Apart from the colours, I see two ways to improve token visibility by using SVG:
>
> 1. Design simple SVG tokens that are similar to the existing ones, having just the company colours and abbreviations, but better designed so that the abbreviations are well-centered and have the best font and size for readability.
>
> 2. Design SVG tokens that resemble the real logos in terms of colours and shape. I believe that this way the name will not be readable in most cases, so (for the colour-blind) shape becomes the only distinguishing factor.  In this case I would try to include such tokens into the grid windows as well, at least at the left-hand side. But the abbreviation has to stay there.
>
> Like Brett, I think that just the name abbreviation is best (option 1).
>
> Erik.
>
>> From: brett lentz [mailto:bre...@gm...]
>> I'll complicate this a bit further:  Color blindness.
>>
>> Red-Green color blindness is relatively common in men. Other forms of color
>> blindness also exist, and make these sorts of decisions sort of dicey.
>>
>> There are a few people in my old gaming group that were color blind and
>> some games were more difficult for them to play because of this.
>>
>> I think all markers should have the initials of the company along with an
>> associated color. If we can also make each token it's own shape or use
>> distinct combinations of foreground and background colors, so much the
>> better. However, 18xx games have a *ton* of information
>> (comparatively) and so there's a balance to be struck lest we needlessly
>> complicate things.
>>
>> At a minimum, players should be able to match up the B&O token on the
>> stock market with the B&O tokens on the map and the B&O entry in the
>> game status window... very much like in a physical game. The easiest way to
>> do this is just to have the characters "B&O" everywhere the company is
>> referenced. If there's space in the UI to include the full name *and* the
>> abbreviation in some places, that's great. But, at a minimum, we should
>> maintain some amount of consistency by always displaying the abbreviation
>> and not rely on just coloring to convey this information.
>>
>> ---Brett.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it
> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
> _______________________________________________
> Rails-devel mailing list
> Rai...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Erik V. <eri...@xs...>]

Currently, all tokens have the company abbreviation and colours, so there is a good match.
However, the abbreviations are drawn on the token circles with start positions and font sizes that are derived from the number of characters in a very simple way, and the result is not very satisfactory.
So I am all for better ways to draw tokens.  And I would be happy to optimize colours so that the colour-blind can better distinguish these - but I am not, so I would be dependent on advice from such players.

Apart from the colours, I see two ways to improve token visibility by using SVG:

1. Design simple SVG tokens that are similar to the existing ones, having just the company colours and abbreviations, but better designed so that the abbreviations are well-centered and have the best font and size for readability. 

2. Design SVG tokens that resemble the real logos in terms of colours and shape. I believe that this way the name will not be readable in most cases, so (for the colour-blind) shape becomes the only distinguishing factor.  In this case I would try to include such tokens into the grid windows as well, at least at the left-hand side. But the abbreviation has to stay there.

Like Brett, I think that just the name abbreviation is best (option 1).

Erik.

> From: brett lentz [mailto:bre...@gm...]
> I'll complicate this a bit further:  Color blindness.
> 
> Red-Green color blindness is relatively common in men. Other forms of color
> blindness also exist, and make these sorts of decisions sort of dicey.
> 
> There are a few people in my old gaming group that were color blind and
> some games were more difficult for them to play because of this.
> 
> I think all markers should have the initials of the company along with an
> associated color. If we can also make each token it's own shape or use
> distinct combinations of foreground and background colors, so much the
> better. However, 18xx games have a *ton* of information
> (comparatively) and so there's a balance to be struck lest we needlessly
> complicate things.
> 
> At a minimum, players should be able to match up the B&O token on the
> stock market with the B&O tokens on the map and the B&O entry in the
> game status window... very much like in a physical game. The easiest way to
> do this is just to have the characters "B&O" everywhere the company is
> referenced. If there's space in the UI to include the full name *and* the
> abbreviation in some places, that's great. But, at a minimum, we should
> maintain some amount of consistency by always displaying the abbreviation
> and not rely on just coloring to convey this information.
> 
> ---Brett.

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[brett l. <bre...@gm...>]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 5:51 PM, John A. Tamplin <ja...@ja...> wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 5:45 PM, Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> wrote:
>>
>> IMO, what is really important is that the SVG and the company name fields
>> use the same colours.
>
>
> That isn't necessarily the case even with physical games -- for example, I
> try and make sure the company colors are distinguishable from each other,
> but sometimes the logos don't have that color or are distinguished by shapes
> or whether the color is the foreground or background, for example.  Also,
> multicolor logos don't map well to a color to use for the company.
>
> --
> John A. Tamplin
>

I'll complicate this a bit further:  Color blindness.

Red-Green color blindness is relatively common in men. Other forms of
color blindness also exist, and make these sorts of decisions sort of
dicey.

There are a few people in my old gaming group that were color blind
and some games were more difficult for them to play because of this.

I think all markers should have the initials of the company along with
an associated color. If we can also make each token it's own shape or
use distinct combinations of foreground and background colors, so much
the better. However, 18xx games have a *ton* of information
(comparatively) and so there's a balance to be struck lest we
needlessly complicate things.

At a minimum, players should be able to match up the B&O token on the
stock market with the B&O tokens on the map and the B&O entry in the
game status window... very much like in a physical game. The easiest
way to do this is just to have the characters "B&O" everywhere the
company is referenced. If there's space in the UI to include the full
name *and* the abbreviation in some places, that's great. But, at a
minimum, we should maintain some amount of consistency by always
displaying the abbreviation and not rely on just coloring to convey
this information.

---Brett.

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[John A. T. <ja...@ja...>]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 5:45 PM, Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> wrote:

> IMO, what is really important is that the SVG and the company name fields
> use the same colours.
>

That isn't necessarily the case even with physical games -- for example, I
try and make sure the company colors are distinguishable from each other,
but sometimes the logos don't have that color or are distinguished by
shapes or whether the color is the foreground or background, for example.
 Also, multicolor logos don't map well to a color to use for the company.

-- 
John A. Tamplin

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Erik V. <eri...@xs...>]

> From: Frederick Weld [mailto:fre...@go...]
> Regarding Erik's proposal for the station tokens:
> Replacing them with svg art would only be viable if all references to the
> company acronym were to be replaced (including the main portfolio / SR
> window). Otherwise, users could run into issues of associating the svg
with
> the acronym.

IMO, what is really important is that the SVG and the company name fields
use the same colours.  
The SVG will probably be unreadable at standard scale, so the company names,
as these are currently shown in the windows,  cannot be removed. Perhaps the
logo can be added.

Erik.

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[brett l. <bre...@gm...>]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 10:45 AM, Frederick Weld
<fre...@go...> wrote:
> Hi Brett/Erik/Stefan,
>
> thanks for the clarification. I now understand that your focus is on
> functionality. Apart from occasional svg art, I won't have the
> resources to contribute to the project. Hence, the priority of those 3
> feature requests can be downgraded.
>

Contribute whenever you can. All of us work on this project in our
spare time. :-)

> Regarding Erik's proposal for the station tokens:
> Replacing them with svg art would only be viable if all references to
> the company acronym were to be replaced (including the main portfolio
> / SR window). Otherwise, users could run into issues of associating
> the svg with the acronym.
>
> Regards,
> Frederick
>

---Brett.

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Frederick W. <fre...@go...>]

Hi Brett/Erik/Stefan,

thanks for the clarification. I now understand that your focus is on
functionality. Apart from occasional svg art, I won't have the
resources to contribute to the project. Hence, the priority of those 3
feature requests can be downgraded.

Regarding Erik's proposal for the station tokens:
Replacing them with svg art would only be viable if all references to
the company acronym were to be replaced (including the main portfolio
/ SR window). Otherwise, users could run into issues of associating
the svg with the acronym.

Regards,
Frederick

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Erik V. <eri...@xs...>]

Thanks Stefan, then I’ll keep my hands off.

Erik.

 

From: Stefan Frey [mailto:ste...@we...] 
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 4:20 PM
To: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
Subject: Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

 

Erik:
I have added all maps already, only the push is missing yet.
Stefan



Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> schrieb:

My personal focus is on functionality, not on "User Experience". I would be willing to work on implementing SVG company tokens, if someone else would care to create these. I'm not interested in adding player portraits, and I generally hate background music, so you can count me out on these aspects. Personally, I have always considered the current UI to be a provisional one. What we have now was just within my reach. In the past several people have already done suggestions to replace or supplement it with a more sophisticated UI, but so far nobody has started working on one in earnest. On your other requests: I'll try to implement your 1856 background map. Possibly also the 18GA CP map, depending on whether or not Stefan can manage to do that. Erik. From: Frederick Weld [mailto:fre...@go...] Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 1:35 PM To: rai...@li... Subject: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience Hi, in several domains, the rails project has gone far beyond SimTex's 1830. But there are some other domains in which the situation is the opposite. One is the availability of computer opponents which is only of minor importance for rails for obvious reasons (the most important being the lack of complete rule enforcements as a prerequisite). The other domain where SimTex's 1830 shines is the user experience (UI and beyond), including the graphics and the music. In my opinion, these parts of the computer game have a large impact on the fun / athosphere of playing the game. Therefore, I consider this to be really important, too. Rails has already moved into this direction by providing the means of including background maps. For the future steps into this direction, I have already provided some feature requests: - 3460692: svg company tokens/logos - 3460927: player portraits - 3454269: background music What I would like to know is whether/how you (Erik/Stefan/Brett/...) plan to proceed here. Regards, Frederick ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Learn Windows Azure Live! Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011 Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online. Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure_______________________________________________ Rails-devel mailing list Rai...@li... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel 

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Stefan F. <ste...@we...>]

Erik:
I have added all maps already, only the push is missing yet.
Stefan



Erik Vos <eri...@xs...> schrieb:

My personal focus is on functionality, not on "User Experience". I would be willing to work on implementing SVG company tokens, if someone else would care to create these. I'm not interested in adding player portraits, and I generally hate background music, so you can count me out on these aspects. Personally, I have always considered the current UI to be a provisional one. What we have now was just within my reach. In the past several people have already done suggestions to replace or supplement it with a more sophisticated UI, but so far nobody has started working on one in earnest. On your other requests: I'll try to implement your 1856 background map. Possibly also the 18GA CP map, depending on whether or not Stefan can manage to do that. Erik. From: Frederick Weld [mailto:fre...@go...] Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 1:35 PM To: rai...@li... Subject: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience Hi, in several domains, the rails project has gone far beyond SimTex's 1830. But there are some other domains in which the situation is the opposite. One is the availability of computer opponents which is only of minor importance for rails for obvious reasons (the most important being the lack of complete rule enforcements as a prerequisite). The other domain where SimTex's 1830 shines is the user experience (UI and beyond), including the graphics and the music. In my opinion, these parts of the computer game have a large impact on the fun / athosphere of playing the game. Therefore, I consider this to be really important, too. Rails has already moved into this direction by providing the means of including background maps. For the future steps into this direction, I have already provided some feature requests: - 3460692: svg company tokens/logos - 3460927: player portraits - 3454269: background music What I would like to know is whether/how you (Erik/Stefan/Brett/...) plan to proceed here. Regards, Frederick ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Learn Windows Azure Live! Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011 Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online. Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure_______________________________________________ Rails-devel mailing list Rai...@li... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel 

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Erik V. <eri...@xs...>]

My personal focus is on functionality, not on "User Experience".

 

I would be willing to work on implementing SVG company tokens, if someone
else would care to create these.

I'm not interested in adding player portraits, and I generally hate
background music, so you can count me out on these aspects.

 

Personally, I have always considered the current UI to be a provisional one.
What we have now was just within my reach.

In the past several people have already done suggestions to replace or
supplement it with a more sophisticated UI, but so far nobody has started
working on one in earnest.

 

On your other requests: I'll try to implement your 1856 background map.
Possibly also the 18GA CP map, depending on whether or not Stefan can manage
to do that.

 

Erik.

 

From: Frederick Weld [mailto:fre...@go...] 
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 1:35 PM
To: rai...@li...
Subject: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

 

Hi,

 

in several domains, the rails project has gone far beyond SimTex's 1830. But
there are some other domains in which the situation is the opposite. One is
the availability of computer opponents which is only of minor importance for
rails for obvious reasons (the most important being the lack of complete
rule enforcements as a prerequisite). 

The other domain where SimTex's 1830 shines is the user experience (UI and
beyond), including the graphics and the music. In my opinion, these parts of
the computer game have a large impact on the fun / athosphere of playing the
game. Therefore, I consider this to be really important, too.

Rails has already moved into this direction by providing the means of
including background maps. 

For the future steps into this direction, I have already provided some
feature requests:
- 3460692: svg company tokens/logos
- 3460927: player portraits
- 3454269: background music

What I would like to know is whether/how you (Erik/Stefan/Brett/...) plan to
proceed here.

Regards,
Frederick

Re: [Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[brett l. <bre...@gm...>]

There hasn't been much discussion about art assets. I don't think
we've ever considered things like player portraits or background
music. For us, implementing game logic has always taken a higher
priority.

AI players is something we've discussed, but it's been a low priority.

If you're interested in working on the UI, you're welcome to do so.
The code is open, and patches are always welcome.

The first step is to subscribe to the mailing list, then check the
code out of the git repository. ;-)

---Brett.



On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 7:34 AM, Frederick Weld
<fre...@go...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> in several domains, the rails project has gone far beyond SimTex's 1830. But
> there are some other domains in which the situation is the opposite. One is
> the availability of computer opponents which is only of minor importance for
> rails for obvious reasons (the most important being the lack of complete
> rule enforcements as a prerequisite).
>
> The other domain where SimTex's 1830 shines is the user experience (UI and
> beyond), including the graphics and the music. In my opinion, these parts of
> the computer game have a large impact on the fun / athosphere of playing the
> game. Therefore, I consider this to be really important, too.
>
> Rails has already moved into this direction by providing the means of
> including background maps.
>
> For the future steps into this direction, I have already provided some
> feature requests:
> - 3460692: svg company tokens/logos
> - 3460927: player portraits
> - 3454269: background music
>
> What I would like to know is whether/how you (Erik/Stefan/Brett/...) plan to
> proceed here.
>
> Regards,
> Frederick
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Learn Windows Azure Live!  Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011
> Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for
> developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it
> provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online.
> Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure
> _______________________________________________
> Rails-devel mailing list
> Rai...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
>

[Rails-devel] Roadmap for improving User Experience

[Frederick W. <fre...@go...>]

Hi,

in several domains, the rails project has gone far beyond SimTex's
1830. But there are some other domains in which the situation is the
opposite. One is the availability of computer opponents which is only of
minor importance for rails for obvious reasons (the most important being
the lack of complete rule enforcements as a prerequisite).

The other domain where SimTex's 1830 shines is the user experience (UI and
beyond), including the graphics and the music. In my opinion, these parts
of the computer game have a large impact on the fun / athosphere of playing
the game. Therefore, I consider this to be really important, too.

Rails has already moved into this direction by providing the means of
including background maps.

For the future steps into this direction, I have already provided some
feature requests:
- 3460692: svg company tokens/logos
- 3460927: player portraits
- 3454269: background music

What I would like to know is whether/how you (Erik/Stefan/Brett/...) plan
to proceed here.

Regards,
Frederick

Re: [Rails-devel] How do I get the source?

[Erik V. <eri...@xs...>]

> From: brett lentz [mailto:bre...@gm...]

> On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 8:38 PM, John David Galt
> <jd...@di...> wrote:

> >> $ ant
> >> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 2: $'\r': command not
> >> found /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 17: $'\r': command
> >> not found /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 24: syntax error
> near unexpected token > `$'do\r''
> >> 'cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 24: `for arg in "$@" ; do
> 
> Unfortunately, this is where we hit the limits on my knowledge of Cygwin.
> It's been a few years since I regularly did much of anything on a Windows
> machine. Does Google give you anything useful searching on that error?
> 
> I believe Erik uses Windows, but I think he does everything through Eclipse,
> which has plugins for Git and built-in support for doing Ant builds from within
> the IDE.

I don't do ant builds, I'm just running inside Eclipse (or from the Rails jar in case I'm looking back to past releases).

But it seems to me that the commands you're running suffer from spurious CR ('\r') end-of-line characters.
Perhaps you should convert some file(s) with dos2unix?

Erik.

Re: [Rails-devel] How do I get the source?

[<Dr....@t-...>]

HI John, 

	i would highly recommend that you either use the Eclipse IDE or the
Netbeans IDE. 

	You can download the Eclipse IDE following this link: 

	http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-ide-java-developers/indigosr1


	It comes with egit included. 

	If you unzip that eclipse package into a folder the next step should
be to go File->Import->Projects from Git 

	Then clone -> git://rails.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/rails/rails 

	Next :) the rest should be selfexplanatory 

	To start the game you select the project and click on Run -Runs as
Java Application 

	it will then scan the project and five you some entry points -select
rails.Utils and the rails should start with the primary starting
screen. 

Regards,
Martin 

	  Von: John David Galt <jd...@di...>
 An: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
<rai...@li...>
 Betreff: Re: [Rails-devel] How do I get the source?
 Datum: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:38:52 +0100

 On 2011-12-13 15:28, brett lentz wrote:
 > I believe all of the build functionality is contained in the Ant
 > build.xml, so you should be able to just run "ant build" to get the
 > source to build. I believe you can install Ant via Cygwin's
installer,
 > too.
 > 
 > For reference, Ant's docs are here: http://ant.apache.org/

 Cygwin doesn't have ant, and maybe doesn't support it.  I downloaded
and unpacked
 the Ant distribution and set the PATH, but when I try to test the
install by
 typing "ant" from the Cygwin shell, I get this:

 > $ ant
 > /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 2: $'r': command not
found
 > /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 17: $'r': command not
found
 > /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 24: syntax error near
unexpected token > `$'dor''
 > 'cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 24: `for arg in "$@" ;
do
 >
 > Root@Mikey ~
 > $

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Cloud Computing - Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future?
 This paper surveys cloud computing today: What are the benefits? 
 Why are businesses embracing it? What are its payoffs and pitfalls?
 http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sdnl/114/51425149/
 _______________________________________________
 Rails-devel mailing list
 Rai...@li...
 https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel

Re: [Rails-devel] How do I get the source?

[brett l. <bre...@gm...>]

On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 8:38 PM, John David Galt
<jd...@di...> wrote:
> On 2011-12-13 15:28, brett lentz wrote:
>> I believe all of the build functionality is contained in the Ant
>> build.xml, so you should be able to just run "ant build" to get the
>> source to build. I believe you can install Ant via Cygwin's installer,
>> too.
>>
>> For reference, Ant's docs are here: http://ant.apache.org/
>
> Cygwin doesn't have ant, and maybe doesn't support it.  I downloaded and unpacked
> the Ant distribution and set the PATH, but when I try to test the install by
> typing "ant" from the Cygwin shell, I get this:
>
>> $ ant
>> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 2: $'\r': command not found
>> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 17: $'\r': command not found
>> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 24: syntax error near unexpected token > `$'do\r''
>> 'cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 24: `for arg in "$@" ; do
>>
>> Root@Mikey ~
>> $
>

Unfortunately, this is where we hit the limits on my knowledge of
Cygwin. It's been a few years since I regularly did much of anything
on a Windows machine. Does Google give you anything useful searching
on that error?

I believe Erik uses Windows, but I think he does everything through
Eclipse, which has plugins for Git and built-in support for doing Ant
builds from within the IDE.

---Brett.

Re: [Rails-devel] How do I get the source?

[John D. G. <jd...@di...>]

On 2011-12-13 15:28, brett lentz wrote:
> I believe all of the build functionality is contained in the Ant
> build.xml, so you should be able to just run "ant build" to get the
> source to build. I believe you can install Ant via Cygwin's installer,
> too.
> 
> For reference, Ant's docs are here: http://ant.apache.org/

Cygwin doesn't have ant, and maybe doesn't support it.  I downloaded and unpacked
the Ant distribution and set the PATH, but when I try to test the install by
typing "ant" from the Cygwin shell, I get this:

> $ ant
> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 2: $'\r': command not found
> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 17: $'\r': command not found
> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 24: syntax error near unexpected token > `$'do\r''
> 'cygdrive/c/Program Files/ant/bin/ant: line 24: `for arg in "$@" ; do
>
> Root@Mikey ~
> $

Re: [Rails-devel] How do I get the source?

[brett l. <bre...@gm...>]

On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 5:49 PM, John David Galt
<jd...@di...> wrote:
> On 2011-12-11 16:07, brett lentz wrote:
>> On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 6:19 PM, John David Galt
>> <jd...@di...> wrote:
>>> I want to create a new variant, but the .zip file doesn't seem to contain any
>>> XML, or for that matter any Java code.  Where is it?  (If I'm expected to use
>>> SVN or some newer gadget to get it, then I need instructions and passwords.)
>>
>> The source is available via the Git repository.
>>
>> Most of the basic instructions on cloning the git repository are here:
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/rails/develop
>>
>> It's basically just that single "git clone" command.
>>
>> There's a ton of documentation on learning Git located here:
>> http://git-scm.com/documentation
>
> OK, I've gotten that far (after installing Cygwin).
>
> But I can't tell what to do to build the code.  "make_rails_pkg.sh" seems to
> be about creating a tarball, while I don't think I have either the programs
> that created "build.xml" and "buildRails.xml" or the ones that can use them.
>
> I have the latest JDK (7u2), but Cygwin installed its own version of Java
> and I'm not sure how you build a program under *either* version.  If there's
> a "makefile" I haven't found it yet.
>

I believe all of the build functionality is contained in the Ant
build.xml, so you should be able to just run "ant build" to get the
source to build. I believe you can install Ant via Cygwin's installer,
too.

For reference, Ant's docs are here: http://ant.apache.org/

>> I'm looking forward to seeing your patches posted to the list when
>> they're ready. :-)
>
> Me, too.  I've got a huge to-do list, about half bugs, half features. :)
>


---Brett.

Re: [Rails-devel] How do I get the source?

[John D. G. <jd...@di...>]

On 2011-12-11 16:07, brett lentz wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 6:19 PM, John David Galt
> <jd...@di...> wrote:
>> I want to create a new variant, but the .zip file doesn't seem to contain any
>> XML, or for that matter any Java code.  Where is it?  (If I'm expected to use
>> SVN or some newer gadget to get it, then I need instructions and passwords.)
> 
> The source is available via the Git repository.
> 
> Most of the basic instructions on cloning the git repository are here:
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/rails/develop
> 
> It's basically just that single "git clone" command.
> 
> There's a ton of documentation on learning Git located here:
> http://git-scm.com/documentation

OK, I've gotten that far (after installing Cygwin).

But I can't tell what to do to build the code.  "make_rails_pkg.sh" seems to
be about creating a tarball, while I don't think I have either the programs
that created "build.xml" and "buildRails.xml" or the ones that can use them.

I have the latest JDK (7u2), but Cygwin installed its own version of Java
and I'm not sure how you build a program under *either* version.  If there's
a "makefile" I haven't found it yet.

> I'm looking forward to seeing your patches posted to the list when
> they're ready. :-)

Me, too.  I've got a huge to-do list, about half bugs, half features. :)

Re: [Rails-devel] Additional Fix - Rails: Bugfix for 3448493 and 3448498

[Frederick W. <fre...@go...>]

Hi Stefan,

the editing was done directly in svg.

Even though the redundancy between the variants' svgs is not desirable, the
alternative of making the svg more complex or to let rails alter the basic
svg are not too convincing either. And for "normal" hand-made svgs, I doubt
that the file size will be as large as for the 18GA svgs (that were
definitely not hand-drawn natively in svg).

Furthermore, in the long term, I expect that for some 18xx games there will
be more than one backround map available (which will happen when the BGG
drawing geeks begin to turn their attention to rails). Therefore, rails
should handle svgs as a black box and not be too closely coupled to them.

Just my opinion...

Regards,
Frederick