DVG - Vassal Games

[dan verssen]

Hello All,

To date, my company has released almost a dozen Vassal and PDF strategy games. I wanted to get your feedback on what you think makes a good or bad Vassal game, and the game topics you would like to see in the future.

Also, do you prefer multiplayer, two player, or solitaire games?

Thank you for your help,
-Dan Verssen
Dan Verssen Games (DVG)
www.dvg.com

 

[GJK]

Hello All,

To date, my company has released almost a dozen Vassal and PDF strategy games. I wanted to get your feedback on what you think makes a good or bad Vassal game, and the game topics you would like to see in the future.

Also, do you prefer multiplayer, two player, or solitaire games?

Hi Dan,

Those are straight forward questions but difficult ones to answer I think. What makes a Vassal game good (or bad)? I assume that you mean by the way that it is built into a module for use in Vassal and not neccessarily the game itself? Then again, since you design games, you may in fact mean what makes a game good or bad and not neccessarily because it's a Vassal module. Here's my thoughts:

What makes for poor Vassal design? Not giving as many features to your counters as you can. For example, if your game has a "dead pool", why not add a "Send to Deadpool" option when someone right clicks on the counter (and with a keyboard shortcut)? If your game uses "Fired" markers or some other marker that commonly gets placed on several units each turn, it would be a bad design decision to not include a global key to remove all of those markers with one press of the button (IMHO).

So, what makes a game good or bad? I think that's just too subjective to justify it with an answer to be honest. I do think that the way that the rules are organized and written is a big part of it though.

What kind of game would I like to see in the future? Tough one too, I think there's a boardgame that covers just about every conceivable battle of every conceivable war already, but I'll give it a shot. I've been enjoying some non-WWII stuff lately, Texas Revolution by Mings Enterprises (very rare but enjoyable game), the Civil War Brigade Series of games by The Gamers as well. I'd be real interested to find a game that covers 1861-1865 that can be played in just a few hours and doesn't take a doctorate to learn, yet is well beyond a "high die wins" type of simplicity. That'd be something to look out for.

I personally don't care to play 2-player games solitaire. I did that for so many years well before Vassal came along. So, I like 2-player games, but I also enjoy games made just for solitaire play - for example Carrier by Victory Games (though that's a toughie to learn). Something like that game that was just a tad bit easier to handle would be great. Something where you manage flight deck and carrier operations - how many to launch in a sortie and what type of armaments are they carrying when you have no idea if a wave of Japanese dive bombers will descend on you just as you're launching - that's some intense action.

Hopefully that helps answer your questions a bit!

 

[dan verssen]

Hello Gary,

Thank you for the feedback!

From your description of what you would like to see in a carrier game, it sounds like a mix of our Hornet Leader and Corsair Leader. Maybe a Wildcat Leader?

I agree, building in a much functionality as possible is important.

-Dan Verssen
Dan Verssen Games (DVG)
www.dvg.com

 

[GJK]

Hello Gary,

Thank you for the feedback!

From your description of what you would like to see in a carrier game, it sounds like a mix of our Hornet Leader and Corsair Leader. Maybe a Wildcat Leader?

I agree, building in a much functionality as possible is important.

-Dan Verssen
Dan Verssen Games (DVG)
www.dvg.com

Yes, a CDG that covers air op's in the Pacific, WWII would be cool - be sure to include carrier and flight deck operations, payload types (AP vs GP, etc), penalties for getting caught with loaded and fueled planes on deck during an attack, etc. The game Carrier does a neat job of "controlling" the Japanese forces, albeit with a gazillion dice rolls and chart look ups. If those types of things could be handled by cards and random events, that would be the ticket. You just have to be careful that the Japanese don't appear in one place only to "teleport" some place else automagically, i.e., their movement, while masked unless you have a successful screen/search, should be logical and within reason.

Keep us posted if you do decide to look into such a project, I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

 

[travillaintim]

I wanted to get your feedback on what you think makes a good or bad Vassal game, and the game topics you would like to see in the future.

Thank you for your help,
-Dan Verssen
Dan Verssen Games (DVG)
www.dvg.com

Just my opinions

What I think makes a good vassal game is the level of functionality put into the module - or as Gary said , the features. If there is a way for the engine to take care of something for you, it should be in the mod.
Understanding the traits and how they can interact is key in this. There are a lot more things that can be done than what appears on the surface of these traits in terms of complex woven interactions (domino effects for example).

While it can be a pain to put together these routines with all the cross referencing, the end result is a very slick system that handles the mundane, that players might forget about, but could potentionally affect the game overall - its kind of hard to "go back" 3 turns to fix a mistake or something you forgot to do, that might have had a significant effect and thus kills the fun in the game.

Another thing that matters (to me) is presentation - eye candy. While taxing for some users with lower end machines, the graphical look of the mod is the first thing the user is going to notice. Some prefer funtionality over candy but it's the candy that's going to sell the mod. As Gary can attest with the maps he has made, users are quick to 'wow' how fantastic this or that looks, and this is what is going to stick in the user's mind when they recommend "try this".

Finally, and I'm sure you know this well being in the game business yourself, support. Ever critical. Don't be fooled into thinking that you write a manual - your done. In the past 2 days alone I've helped out 4 new users who were trying vassal out for the first time but didn't understand ' synching' even though its in the user guides, on the wiki, on the web etc. explaining how to do this. People don't take time to read through things.
Because it's on the computer, users expect to be able to fire it up and away they go just like they were running any other regular computer game software - install, launch, play. Many users on forums have expressed frustration at using vassal, probably because of this type of mentality or something similar, gave up, and are less likely to try it again later because of the experience. I suspect those 4 new users may have done the same had I not hopped on and helped them out.

Ok - enough of that, just m.o as I said, wont hold anyone to it if they didnt do any of that and told me I'm full of it

 

[Guy R]

I conditionally agree with the comment about built-in functionallity. Gary's mods seem to fit the balance pretty well--I like to let the computer handle mundane things like sending to the dead pool, or other holding boxes, removing markers.

But since I also like to play these games f2f when I can, I don't want the computer to handle everything it possibly can! The Twilight Struggle mod goes too far in that direction IMO. Automating the time-consuming marker placement and removal is one thing, but using it to move the DEFCON marker and OPS markers automatically is something I dont like! It makes the f2f player lazy and likely to forget to do something when playing f2f. Yes, potentially forgetting to do something 3 turns back is the penalty for lowering the amount of automation--but when you're playing the physical game in person, there's no computer to check and make sure you do everything right. So it's much better to learn good habits right from the start rather than letting on the computer to handle everything and "protect" players from themselves.

That's part of what I don't particularly like about things like the HPS computer games--they're cool in concept, but so much stuff takes place without me knowing about it that it remains wholly unsatisfying--I like to move markers, check tables, roll dice etc.

 

[GJK]

Good points Guy (and not just because you referenced my modules :laugh: ).

There's a reason that I've grown tired of many "pure" computer wargames - they just do too much for me; initiates combat, resolves combat, checks my supply status, conducts my retreats, etc. Unless I go through and click on each unit on the map (or 3d "icon" if it might be the case), I don't know that status of my own units. I feel disconnected from the game. And God forbid if it's an RTS where you don't have time to click on everything before something else happens!

Thus, I've enjoyed the rennaissance of playing the old board games, even via VASSAL where some things are 'automated' but for the most part, nothing gets done to my units unless I do it.

 

[dan verssen]

Cold War

We just released "Cold War" the second expansion to the Hornet Leader II series of solitaire games.

The expansion adds A-7s, more pilots, Campaigns, and targets.

We have it available in both Vassal and PDf formats through our website:
www.dvg.com

Thank you,
-Dan Verssen
www.dvg.com

 

[dan verssen]

Dan Verssen Games (DVG) is pleased to announce the release of “Down With The Empire” the first game we’ve released that has been designed by someone outside our company, Charles Duke.

Welcome aboard Charles!

Down With The Empire (DWTE) is a detailed board game covering interstellar warfare across the galaxy. Players command either the Imperial or Rebel forces in their quest to control the Empire. 2 or more players can play the game. DWTE covers the military (both space and surface combat), political, and economic elements of the struggle.

DWTE includes a large stellar map, over 1,400 counters, and over 200 cards.

Like all of our games, the rules can be freely downloaded from the DVG website.

Whether you want to crush the rebel scum, or bring freedom to the galaxy, this is the game for you!

Available in both PDF and Vassal formats through our website.

Dan Verssen Games (DVG)

DVG