OT: Grid Iron

["D. Cooper Stevenson" <cooper at gencom dot us>]

Hi All,


As many of you know, I've been working on a project that incorporates
GIS information in a strategy game. The game should have a good mix of
realism and playability. It should also be generic enough that would let
others modify the game to suit their tastes.

"Grid Iron" is a networked strategy game written in Java and based on
the Game Environment for Command and Control Operations (GECCO) system.
You can take a look at Grid Iron's (temporary) web site with screen
images here:

  http://www.intrinzix.net

I can map the entire globe this way.

I want to make Grid Iron (or, "Mercator Grid," I haven't settled on a
name yet...what do you think?) a game like Xconq.

I think it would be neat to have each city have a type of resource.
Texas, for example, would have oil fields that you would have to control
at least some of if you want to refuel your units. I stress, however,
that the engine is designed to let _you_ decide what kind of a game
_you_ want.

The terrain matrix is active, so if you want to blow up a dam and watch
it flood down river you can. If you want to start a fire, you can.

As an extension of this principle, it should be possible to include
weather conditions. I had an idea this morning to parse national weather
service data into the game for real-time weather!

I'm happy to share the source code with you. I plan to finish setting up
the CVS server soon. If you have any thoughts or ideas, please don't
hesitate to let me know!


-Coop