"Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@indiegamedesign.com> writes:

> From: Jakob Ilves [mailto:illvilja@yahoo.com]
>>
>> > designer / mediocre programmer write a Python script that
>> > implements a
>> > One Hex Combat Resolution system.  With that sort of API tool, Xconq
>> > doesn't have to be a game about hiding outside of cities you've just
>> > taken over.
>>
>> Oh, yes, I know!  Take the city with ONE tank... And don't leave
>> any other units in it when the enemy is nearby.  But cannot GDL be
>> written such that unless you kill or route away all units of a
>> certain type, you cannot capture the unit?  Isn't there a
>> "occupant-defend" or such?  Or maybe that just means they counter
>> attack and if they fail to slay the attacker the attacker then has
>> a chance to capture the city ANYWAY?
>
> Maybe all of these things can be done in GDL already.  

Yes, "protection" applies to capture attempts.

something vaguely like:

(table protection
  (infantry city 0))

(table capture-chance
  (infantry city 100))

(table acp-to-capture
  (infantry city 1))

would make infantry capture cities 100% of the time, unless there's an
infantry in the city, in which case they need to kill it first.


> The question is, does anyone know they can do them?  

Yes.

> Is it a fungible API?  

It's a declarative language, more akin to HTML than a real programming
language.  The fact that a game can be statically analyzed without
having to solve the halting problem is a major win for AI writing and
many other similar things.

I think, at least, before you decide to throw out GDL you should try
using it to design a game (or part of one) to at least get some feel
for what's there, and what it does.

> Is it OO, hiding details you don't want to deal with at present? 

Most of the tables have sensible defaults, and can be ignored.

> I will be making a judgement this weekend, as I attempt to embed
> Python into Xconq.

Like others, I think replacing GDL with python would be a mistake.

> Do game developers and game players have easy ways of switching to
> whatever they prefer?  Do different variants get played regularly?  If
> not, why not?

Yes, and Yes.

-- 
Eric E. Moore