Vassal - Open Source Boardgame Engine | Hacker News Reader

Vassal - Open Source Boardgame Engine

vassalengine.org

44 pointsFargren16 comments

It's pretty hard to discern how it works from the web site. What programming language is used to create modules? Does it run on the web, or as desktop client? And so on...

Interesting, though...

It runs as a client, and I think the modules are created from the client, but I don't know what language they use, if any. Haven't tried the module creator yet.

Wikipedia says Java. And it use LGPL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VASSAL_Engine

Respect, as the kids say. (-: Don't tell the old guy if the kids stopped saying that ten years ago. :-)

I implemented most of the design rules for an old love, Car Wars. It can be hard to implement complex board games.

(My CW stuff was planned as the first step of a full implementation. Steve Jackson Games didn't want that, even if they got to control the servers, so I gave up. It would have been legal to use for game owners, but I really didn't have the motivation to go against the wishes of sjg.)

Would have loved to see an electronic version of Car Wars.

VASSAL modules are created using VASAAL's GUI-based module builder and optional custom Java classes if needed. Modules run in desktop client app.

To run the modules server-side as-is, I think you'll need to use a server-side JSwing frameworks. Re module building part of VASSAL, I think it'll be easier to rewrite entirely. IMO, more serious issue is copyright issues in hosting VASSAL modules server-side.

Since the site is directed mainly at non-technical users, we don't dwell on that much. To answer your questions: It's written in Java, it's a desktop client.

Hmm, this is very similar to an idea I've been working on for a short time. It's great to get some validation and see that something like this can work, even better to see a community of any size embracing it.

Note that while some modules are hobbyst work, some publishers (most notably GMT Games) make the vassal modules of their games freely available when the paper game is published. It's a great resource indeed.

No SPI games at the publisher's request. :-(

I've never searched for them, but I know that modules for SPI games do exist, they aren't just distributed on the Vassal site.

As an old wargaming geek who's always been disappointed that the never translated well to the electronic medium, this looks pretty exciting. I can't wait to spend some quality time digging into it more.

It's amazingly impressive that they took on ASL as a first target and didn't give up before completing that beast of a rule set.

There is very little "rule set" in Vassal. Essentially it is a configurable electronic board; rules are enforced by the players, not by the platform.

I'm one of he VASSAL developers. We're flattered to see VASSAL featured here. Should anyone have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them---either here, by email (uckelman@nomic.net), or in our forum.

Vassal is mostly used for wargames. There are some modules for eurogames, but they are few and not always of good quality.

VASSAL is AWESOME. It is the engine for VASL, the virtual tabletop for the greatest boardgame in the world.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com