rails-devel

[Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

[Rick W. <wes...@pu...>]

 From the small bit I did searching the archives I suspect that the 
answer to this question is a resounding "NO" but ... are there any docs 
on how to create a new game and especially the options available to 
modify the game's parameters?  

    I can certainly go through the existing games' xml files and try to 
figure out what needs to be placed where, but it would be handy to know 
what some of the options mean without have to parse the code.  For 
example, in the 'CompanyManager.xml'  there are options such as 
'PoolPaysOut' -- which is clear but makes me wonder what other options 
are possible; e.g., 'PoolRetains' or just perhaps not including the 
'PoolPaysOut' line is sufficient?  And in the 'LayCost' option there is 
a method.  The particular file I am looking at has the method 
'sequence'.  Are there others available?  And so on.

    If there is no such document then I will try to make one up as I 
create a couple of games.  BTW:  At the moment I am working on 1800 and 
1876 -- these are some very simple 1830-style games which should not 
(knock on wood!) give too many config problems.

TIA.

-- 
Rick Westerman wes...@pu...

Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

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

As with most small projects, the documentation is minimal and usually
out of date. ;-)

You're on the right track, the XML tends to be the best documentation
of existing features.  In general, the options that exist, are the
ones used by the XML already.  Any new features that we may need, will
need to be created.

If the games don't add any new game mechanics, they should be easy
additions. 18Kaas was fairly simple to add, as I recall, exactly
because we had 1830 working and it's just uses the 1830 rules on a
different map. So, if you compare the 1830 and 18Kaas XML, you should
be able to get an idea of how to add in other 1830-style games.

The other place to that documents what's possible is the various
ConfigureFromXML() methods within the code. Those methods handle the
XML parsing, and more or less define the things we're expecting to
find in the XML.

If you're interested in adding real documentation, it's definitely
something we'd love to have.

---Brett.



On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Rick Westerman <wes...@pu...> wrote:
>  From the small bit I did searching the archives I suspect that the
> answer to this question is a resounding "NO" but ... are there any docs
> on how to create a new game and especially the options available to
> modify the game's parameters?
>
>    I can certainly go through the existing games' xml files and try to
> figure out what needs to be placed where, but it would be handy to know
> what some of the options mean without have to parse the code.  For
> example, in the 'CompanyManager.xml'  there are options such as
> 'PoolPaysOut' -- which is clear but makes me wonder what other options
> are possible; e.g., 'PoolRetains' or just perhaps not including the
> 'PoolPaysOut' line is sufficient?  And in the 'LayCost' option there is
> a method.  The particular file I am looking at has the method
> 'sequence'.  Are there others available?  And so on.
>
>    If there is no such document then I will try to make one up as I
> create a couple of games.  BTW:  At the moment I am working on 1800 and
> 1876 -- these are some very simple 1830-style games which should not
> (knock on wood!) give too many config problems.
>
> TIA.
>
> --
> Rick Westerman wes...@pu...
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community
> Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support
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> Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers
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> _______________________________________________
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> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
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Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

[Rick W. <wes...@pu...>]

brett lentz wrote:
> ...
>
> If you're interested in adding real documentation, it's definitely
> something we'd love to have.
>
> -
    I'll see what I can do.   I am planning to "work hard" (as much as 
real-work, home-activities, and outside activities permit) on this for 
the next week and the will probably taper off after that.  The ultimate 
goal is to get some games working that we can play in the car on the way 
to ChatCon 8 days hence.  Yes, I know, last-minute-Rick here!   But if I 
can get excited about the 'rails' project then maybe, despite minimal 
Java skills, I might be able to contribute something useful.



-- 
Rick Westerman wes...@pu...

Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

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

In some places the XML contains some documentation 
(mainly in some of the 1830 files) but unfortunately 
that's an exception rather than the rule.
For me it's easy: I look it up in the code. 
But I realize that we aren’t well prepared yet for 
other contributors to configure new games.

The alternative to <PoolPaysOut> is <IPOPaysOut> 
(in fact both can be present, although that never
happens in practice). Looking back at it now, 
I'd say that these items should have been moved into
the <Payout> tag that was introduced in a later version;
perhaps I'll do that at some point in time.

<LayCost>: there already is an alternative called
"distance", which is used in 1835. But the code to use
that value still has to be written.

Several more tags and values exist that aren't used yet, 
for instance the <Reach> and <Score> tags in Game.xml
under <TrainManager>, as well as the majorStops
attribute of <Train>.

Feel free to ask any more questions.

Erik.


-----Original Message-----
From: brett lentz [mailto:wak...@gm...] 
Sent: Wednesday 06 January 2010 19:14
To: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
Subject: Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

As with most small projects, the documentation is minimal and usually
out of date. ;-)

You're on the right track, the XML tends to be the best documentation
of existing features.  In general, the options that exist, are the
ones used by the XML already.  Any new features that we may need, will
need to be created.

If the games don't add any new game mechanics, they should be easy
additions. 18Kaas was fairly simple to add, as I recall, exactly
because we had 1830 working and it's just uses the 1830 rules on a
different map. So, if you compare the 1830 and 18Kaas XML, you should
be able to get an idea of how to add in other 1830-style games.

The other place to that documents what's possible is the various
ConfigureFromXML() methods within the code. Those methods handle the
XML parsing, and more or less define the things we're expecting to
find in the XML.

If you're interested in adding real documentation, it's definitely
something we'd love to have.

---Brett.



On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Rick Westerman <wes...@pu...> wrote:
>  From the small bit I did searching the archives I suspect that the
> answer to this question is a resounding "NO" but ... are there any docs
> on how to create a new game and especially the options available to
> modify the game's parameters?
>
>    I can certainly go through the existing games' xml files and try to
> figure out what needs to be placed where, but it would be handy to know
> what some of the options mean without have to parse the code.  For
> example, in the 'CompanyManager.xml'  there are options such as
> 'PoolPaysOut' -- which is clear but makes me wonder what other options
> are possible; e.g., 'PoolRetains' or just perhaps not including the
> 'PoolPaysOut' line is sufficient?  And in the 'LayCost' option there is
> a method.  The particular file I am looking at has the method
> 'sequence'.  Are there others available?  And so on.
>
>    If there is no such document then I will try to make one up as I
> create a couple of games.  BTW:  At the moment I am working on 1800 and
> 1876 -- these are some very simple 1830-style games which should not
> (knock on wood!) give too many config problems.
>
> TIA.
>
> --
> Rick Westerman wes...@pu...
>
>
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Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

[Rick W. <wes...@pu...>]

     Erik: Thanks for the specific options advice.  One more question.  
What format would you like docs in?  Word ... HTML ... text ... other?


-- 
Rick Westerman wes...@pu...

Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

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

Depends on where you intend the docs to be viewed.

Anything that will just be in CVS alongside the code should be plain text.

Stuff intended to be posted to the web site can be HTML.

---Brett.



On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 10:50 AM, Rick Westerman <wes...@pu...> wrote:
>     Erik: Thanks for the specific options advice.  One more question.
> What format would you like docs in?  Word ... HTML ... text ... other?
>
>
> --
> Rick Westerman wes...@pu...
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community
> Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support
> A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy
> Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev
> _______________________________________________
> Rails-devel mailing list
> Rai...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rails-devel
>

Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

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

Personally, I have no particular preference.
Word is fine, but not really open source.
HTML would be best if we can publish it on some web site,
not sure if that can be done on Sourceforge.

Brett, any suggestions?

Erik. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Westerman [mailto:wes...@pu...] 
Sent: Wednesday 06 January 2010 19:50
To: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
Subject: Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

     Erik: Thanks for the specific options advice.  One more question.  
What format would you like docs in?  Word ... HTML ... text ... other?


-- 
Rick Westerman wes...@pu...

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Re: [Rails-devel] Docs for new games?

[Rick W. <wes...@pu...>]

     Thanks for the advice Brett and Erik.  I should have said 
OpenOffice-compatible instead of Word-compatible.  More open that way.  
:-)    The advantage of HTML or OO/Word-format over plain text is the 
ability to use bold, different font sizes, etc.   Of course there are 
converter programs between formats.   I'll see what I end up using.  
Probably HTML.

-- 
Rick Westerman wes...@pu...