Re: An xconq story and question

["Benjamin Brewster" <bcbrewster at hotmail dot com>]

Stan, Hans, Eric, All,

Thanks for responding - thanks to Hans and Eric, for their comments, as 
well.

I'm basing the entire project on memories from 15 years ago - I haven't 
played xconq since then, nor have I ever seen the code.

Amen: if there is any money to be made trying a new game based on the 
context of an old game from 15 years ago, we'll see what happens.  In terms 
of probability of completion, though, it's more likely that I get sucked 
into another project... :)

If it's alright with you guys, I'd be happy to lurk on the list and post 
screenshots as I go - this is definetely a long-term project. :)

In any event, let me know if I'm doing something I shouldn't do.  I have 
tried not to read the rules manual for xconq so I don't accidently use ideas 
from it...

Moving my interface over to xconq is an interesting idea, though.  At this 
point, it renders the board and all units (that I've finished) succesfully.  
I wonder how hard that would be to hook into the game logic of xconq.  Let 
me get the engine more stable before I tackle that project.  But it's a good 
idea. :)  Hey, if I forget to post shots in a week or so, and anyone 
remembers, poke me via email and I'll get on it... Spring break is starting 
over here, so it's time for some R&R... 8)

-Benjamin Brewster

> From: Stan Shebs <shebs@apple.com>
> To: Benjamin Brewster <bcbrewster@hotmail.com>
> CC: xconq7@sources.redhat.com
> Subject: Re: An xconq story and question
> Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 14:30:14 -0800
>
> Benjamin Brewster wrote:
>
> > Hi All!
> >
> > Hi all!  I just subscribed - I've got a story and a question for you 
> > all...
> >
> > When I was a kid, my dad had some UNIX computers at home.  He worksat HP, 
> > and always had tons of equipment.  On them was this game called xconq that 
> > I absolutely loved.  Eventually, the computers were replaced, and xconq 
> > went with them - I forgot about it until last year.  Fast forward fifteen 
> > years...
> >
> > I'm now a student at Oregon State University, and I've been working with 
> > DirectX for awhile now.  So, not knowing that it still existed, I decided 
> > to start work on a copy of the old xconq as I remembered it, with some new 
> > rule sets that I had always wanted to see.  I've got the graphics engine 
> > pretty far along (in DX9), and am working on the models and rules.  (I'll 
> > try to post a URL of some screenshots soon.)
> Cool...
>
> > Eventually, I thought I'd search for the old xconq, and blammo, here you 
> > guys are!  As I glanced around, I found that the rule set had grown 
> > enormously, and that it was now quite a complicated game. :)
> Sorry; seemed like a good idea at the time. :-)
>
> > My question is this: I've named my game Conqueror, and I've included many 
> > game elements from that old xconq.  Am I going to get in trouble by 
> > releasing this thing? :)
>
> Depends on what kind of trouble you're looking for, heh-heh. If
> you've been working with the 5.x or earlier code, it's not actually
> GPLed; the two lines of "license" at the top of those old files is
> BSD-like if anything, but two lines is not enough to be precise
> about these sorts of things, one of the reasons I switched later
> code to GPL.
>
> In any case, the intent was to be pretty unrestricted about usage
> and distribution. The old license could be construed to disallow
> closed-source moneymaking versions of the sort that the BSD license
> allows, but if you can make a buck from the old code at this late
> date, I'll be amazed and admiring rather than unhappy.
>
> You might not find it too hard to move your interface over to the
> latest Xconq; the old stuff had a lot of X10/11 dependency woven
> into it, and that's all been moved into separate subsystems. Plus,
> there's plenty of people on this list who can help you if you
> have any questions.
>
> Stan

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