Re: Marketing Xconq?

["Bill Macon" <pzgndr at hotmail dot com>]

> do you guys make any effort to market Xconq?

  I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I posted a message on the forum at 
Wargamer.com.  Jim Cobb, one of the game reviewers, mentioned that he would 
take a look at it.  If you guys want to attract wargamers who are interested 
in designing their own games, Wargamer is a good place to start.  I think 
there's potential.

  It's fair to mention that many gamers are using a Windows platform and 
not Mac or Linux, so a Windows version is important.  Also, most gamers are 
not programmers and some are practically computer illiterate, so a simple 
complete download like Eric has developed will be most helpful for expanding 
the Xconq user base.  Even I have had trouble figuring out CVS, so I don't 
bother any more.  Simple patch downloads to supplement the full install 
should also be considered.

  I've tried the recent download and it works somewhat, but there are still 
bugs and graphics problems.  At least on WinMe that I'm still using, and I'm 
too busy with other things right now to spend time troubleshooting Xconq.  
And so are most of your potential customers, so the sooner a clean v7.5 can 
get completed and released the better.  Once that happens, marketing efforts 
should be more effective.

 There were two items I mentioned a long while back that would improve 
Xconq's appeal to traditional wargamers.  One is some way of providing 
conditional events within the game, like If-Then statements.  There's no way 
to simulate politics and diplomacy by having some sides or forces inactive 
until something happens (declaration of war, surprise attack, specific 
objective taken, etc.)  There are a lot of possibilities with this.  The 
other is some way of providing multiple unit attacks and standard combat 
results tables based on odds.  Like three units against one getting 3-1 
odds, or whatever when other factors are computed, and a "die roll" resolves 
the combat all at one time.  The current combat models do not lend 
themselves to doing this well.  So maybe with the newer Xconq programmers on 
the list now, someone can think about addressing these things.

Bill

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