Re: Proposed game to be added to packages: Neopendulous

["Jason D. Clinton" <me jasonclinton com>]

Hi Jon;

GNOME Games is slowly splitting out in to individual game modules.
Additionally, there's no such thing as official GNOME applications any
more. Just ask for a git account and Bugzilla hosting and you're ready
to start developing a GNOME application. After you've got the project
established, feel free to ask the marketing-team to include your app
in their GNOME marketing efforts.

On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 17:22, Jon Roland <jdr pynthan com> wrote:
> The game is called Neopendulous, taken from the orphaned Pendulous that
> originally ran on Windows machines. The author, Vincenzo Buttazzo, has
> released the source code for it on GitHub:
> https://github.com/caribe/Neopendolous
> under GPL3. It's written in C and uses the Allegro Gaming Library
> http://www.allegro.cc/ so it should compile without problems on Linux,
> Windows and others.
>
> Some further development is needed on the AI algorithms needed for skilled
> play by the computer as an opponent. The original Pendulous had a fairly
> strong computer player routine.
>
> I would like help in getting it packaged for delivery with other games for
> various distros.
>
> My interest stems from a standard game I used to code to learn new
> languages, that I called WHAM (Winning the Hearts and Minds). It was a
> competitive diffusion game, like Pendulous (although not as cool-looking),
> in which one played to gain control of territory with moves that could
> spread influence to neighboring points (or squares or hexagons) on the
> board. The general idea is to simulate the ways ideas, diseases,
> innovations, or other such diffusion processes spread. It was inspired by my
> insight into the Viet Nam war and the way there were two competing diffusion
> processes: nationalism vs. constitutional government. Nationalism won
> because it had a higher coefficient of diffusion. Had the Pentagon
> strategists had such an insight-producing tool we might have been able to
> avoid a useless war that cost more than a million lives. Having a general
> game like this, with other kinds of scenarios than just warfare simulations,
> could be helpful to many other people in trying to decide how best to spread
> innovations of all kinds, from some new product to some new political
> reform, or some candidate for public office. Imagine being able to play on a
> board consisting of an actual map of some market or electoral jurisdiction
> to decide where and how to best devote the campaign resources to maximize
> the spread of support for whatever one is selling, or perhaps to prevent the
> spread of some contagious disease, by playing disease-control efforts, such
> as quarantines or vaccinations, to points on a map.
>
> So my aim is to eventually enable the player to set up a board with real
> maps, and rules of play that resemble all kinds of competitive diffusion
> processes.
>
> This is not just about having fun. There is a serious social purpose
> involved.
>
> -- Jon
>
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> --
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Jon Roland                  http://pynthan.com/jr_summ.htm
> 2900 W Anderson Ln C-200-322              Austin, TX 78757
> 512/299-5001                               jdr pynthan com
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>
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