oh my, a year has gone by.....

[Civfan]

A year ago I went out and forked over $50 Canadian for this game and guess what, its not on my system... I thought maybe with the new graphics, the 4 maps and new macro language that this would be a good investment....A nice scenario was brought out by microprose to extend this game and some scenario creators have planned new scenarios for it...By the way did harlan bring out his scenario for it?
I'm surprised to see this forum still active.... I see Apolyton.net reports every week of this game in the charts but who here actually plays this game.... I have mpg, 2.42 and ToT but MPG and FW are only active... Try playing a game on the zone with TOT.... Maybe 1 player or 2 max in the community... Well most of you here I hope have at least MPG... This game at least did one good thing, it brought interest back in an old game I buried several years back.... Hopefully Civ3 will do what this poor game tried to, fill in a empty passion of ruling the world.... Well good luck to ya and will be with ya all when Civ3 comes out.....

[Civfan]

P.S. does John Possidente still come by and help others out.... I remember he left microprose awhile back with those lay offs from the company....

[Angelo Scotto]

Civfan,
Do you want to leave us right now...
While i'm finishing a secret project that will make civconverter resemble a kid toy and which will (probably) put Tot several meters above original Civ2 (at least in scenario creation)?

P.S. No it's not CivCAD
P.P.S. Even if the project is finished, probably i'll need at least another month to finish testing it so you've to wait a bit.
P.P.P.S. No, don't ask me what it is, i cannot release a similar information

Angelo

[This message has been edited by Angelo Scotto (edited October 19, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Angelo Scotto (edited October 19, 2000).]

[Miner]

Angelo

Go on, just a hint, pleaassee. I'm a little puzzled that it isn't CivCAD.

[KhanMan]

Hmmm...it's better than CivConverter (which is cool and necessary), and it's not CivCAD?

Awww...c'mon! Just one hint? Maybe a picture of three lines of the source code, so we can guess at a subroutine or two?



I eagerly await news, peaks, hints, code, or playtesting offers...

-KhanMan

[DarthVeda]

No, JP left MPS

I'm working pretty furiously on my scenario Kyokujitsu, and hoping for a Thanksgiving release (easily do-able). Worst case would be a Christmas Eve release.

For those who don't know, it's a scenario playable only by Japan in WW2. It features 1937-1945 playability.

[Angelo Scotto]

I stumbled upon this thing while working on a way to force TOT to link maps east-west.

just two hints:

1)To use it you should be able to write bit of C/C++ code

2)I called it CSPL, does it remember you another four word acronym well-known in another civ genre game? Nooo, really?


Angelo

[John Possidente]

Well, yeah, I got laid off, but I still pop in to the forum once in a while. I've been very quiet, though.

It wasn't long after the game came out that folks here just took it and ran with it. I don't mind admitting that the discussions here sometimes got more in-depth than I was ready for. After a while, I just sat back and read--learned a lot from you folks, too.

[Xin Yu]

Hey John. People here were talking about go commecial -- assemble a CD with the most intriguing scenarios made by folks like Captain Nemo. Do you still have connections in MPS so that we can get permit from them to release the CD? If you want to, and can, help, go to the scenario league forum and start a topic about this. You will have some of the best scenario designers and testers here responding. Not only this is a good business opportunity, but also it will be a big contribution to the civ community. Plus, some people who made terrific scenarios should have their rewards.

[John Possidente]

Well, as long as you didn't distribute the CD commercially (i.e. sell it), you wouldn't really need permission. That's not as much fun, though, is it?

Hasbro has said they're looking into "strategic alternatives" for their interactive division, which includes the studio that was once MicroProse. That's business code for, "we're trying to sell it off". For the time being, then, they're likely to be very busy and distracted, which means that any request for permission like this would be put aside until the dust settles. Best to wait until Hasbro Interactive is sold off, then contact the new owners.

I think it's a good idea, just not the right time.

[Civfan]

Well not to long ago I tried out Call to Power and must admit to myself I wasn't totally right with TOT... Ouch that game really sucks...At least theres something interesting in TOT to keep you interested in the game. The graphics are not bad but the animations was a really nice thing for it... As most of you know this game has alot of potentional for scenarios with its macrolanguage....Its to bad knowones really taken advantage of it. If someone has, can ya point me to the right place. Hey its nice to hear your still around checking and learning from us folks here at apolyton John.... A stupid question but do you play the game alot? Say multiplayer with others? Are you still in the game industry, say with another company...

Hey Angelo, its nice to see your still programming new programs for Civ2TOT...I wish Hasbro would release the source code for this game so programmers like yourself could make the game much better...If they did, maybe we could have more than 7 players + barbs.... Its the one problem for scenario designers is not enough civilizations to include in your work...anyways outta here for now...later all....

[Julius Brenzaida]

quote: Originally posted by John Possidente on 10-23-2000 05:01 PM Well, yeah, I got laid off, but I still pop in to the forum once in a while. I've been very quiet, though. It wasn't long after the game came out that folks here just took it and ran with it. I don't mind admitting that the discussions here sometimes got more in-depth than I was ready for. After a while, I just sat back and read--learned a lot from you folks, too.

Glad to meet you (in this forum) John. And thanks for the nice work. Here's something I am quite curious to ask you. Why did you put gold (30k), population (320b) and square (10k)limits, and how did you choose them. By changing simple numbers I was able to modify them easily up to almost illimited, almost illimited and 32767. Do you know the reason, is there any danger to modify them (I don't think there is).

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Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe

[John Possidente]

It's been a while, but if I remember correctly, the limits on Gold, Population, and Squares were built into the original Civ2. We looked into increasing them, but there were some significant dangers.

One issue was the speed of the game on low-end machines. Any time you make a game (except for high-end flight simulations, evidently), you need to keep in mind that most of your potential buyers don't have the latest and fastest computer. The Civ series is popular enough that it's really not wise to ignore the users with low-end machines--so we didn't.

Also--again, if I remember correctly--increasing those limits led to a greater chance of the game crashing. I don't remember the exact mechanism, though. (I was a designer, not a programmer.)

Last but not least, given our short schedule, it just wasn't a high priority. The average player will never get anywhere near any of the maxima. In a choice between adding a feature to the macro language or letting folks amass even more excess gold, it's an easy decision.

[Julius Brenzaida]

Thanks for the answer, John. In fact, the 32767 squares map were already possible with MGE.Maybe it was made and forgotten ... I don’t think it should cause any crash. I haven’t noticed any, though I have been playing those maps for quite a few months now. The explanation could be the low standard for older machines. But it definitely adds something to the game, and it’s good to be able to create much bigger maps, especially for earth.
As for the longevity of Civilization II, I think it’s a testimony of the great work of the programmers and game designers. Everything is, of course, not perfect, but the balance of the game is fantastic. There is just so many ways to lose or win, it’s simply amazing. And all units, all governements, all special squares, all strategies still have their supporters. I like to compare civ2 to chess. Every game you play is new, and as much as you know, you can’t tell what move is the better one. So you always come back to it. Call it addiction !


------------------
Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe

[Angelo Scotto]

Hello all,
I know, i told you that CSPL was planned for release in a month, i know also that since that thread a lot of weeks has passed by, but i must say that i undervalued the art of scenario making: CSPL is ready, but since it´s a bit hard to use (it´s like the event language only with a C++ Syntax) i decided to make a full scenario to test it and to release as a tutorial.
Even if i´m copying nearly all parts of this scenario from other masterpieces (especially from Alba de America) it is a huge work to do and i don´t know when it will be ready (anyway believe me, i´m working hard on it).
Since i hate to miss deadlines (and this is why my projects rarely have one ) i´ve decided to give you at least a couple of screenshots of CSPL system working:

Just the about box of CSPL:




A new kind of event: When palace is built in the new world all cities in europe map passes to computer controlled civ (at war with you, obvously...)




P.S. Hmm, maybe these screenshots are a bit too large...

Greetings,
Angelo
[This message has been edited by Angelo Scotto (edited December 01, 2000).]