| Author | Message | ||
| Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt)
|
According to a recent thread in rec.games.abstract: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.abstract/browse_frm/thread/f3e6a5b6a6998afa/8ae752472f1fba1b?hl=en#8ae752472f1fba1b [Unfortunately, though, it's no longer in development. There will not be a Zillions 3, nor any more patches for Zillions 2. Too bad, because there are quite a lot of new features it could use, and it can always use better AI. ] Does anyone have any further information on this or is it speculation? Do we know for certain that there won't be any further support for Zillions? -- Greg | ||
| Derek Nalls (Omegaman)
|
No support since May, 2003- appr. 3 full years. Draw your own conclusions. | ||
| Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt)
|
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Zillions was first released in 1998 followed by the 2.0 release early 2003. If past performance is any indication of the future then perhaps it's not totally unreasonable to expect another release within the next 2 years. At least I can dream, can't I?  -- Greg | ||
| Derek Nalls (Omegaman)
|
Of course, you can dream. Between the first release of Zillions in 1998 and the 2.01 patch in May, 2003, patches, news and personally answered messages from Mallett & Lefler on this discussion board were commonplace. Then, nothing. | ||
| Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt)
|
Sadly, it's probably an indication of how hard it is to survive in this particular niche. Sales of Zillions has likely saturated at this point. I think it would be great if somehow Zillions could be released as open source, thus prolonging it, but that's an even bigger dream. In any case, I'm grateful for the many contributors who continue to create new games and post messages to this board. Thank you for you thoughts. -- Greg | ||
| Kevin M. Crocker (Zeta1ret) New member Username: Zeta1ret Post Number: 22 Registered: 12-2000 |
To bad...i loved zil! Use it all the time (though i've only posted one game here...im a perfectionist...got to get it 100% right before i present them you see...heehe)... does anyone know of similar type programs/engines out there? Im familiar with programming...and get quickly board with all the overhead defining statements that one must write when designing a game from scratch...that's what made zillions so great! When i encounter students who want to start programming games and things i tell them learn Zil first!...then go for java, etc!...anyway...its very sad indeed to see it go... -zeta | ||
| Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt2)
New member Username: Gschmidt2 Post Number: 31 Registered: 1-2007 |
Hi Kevin, You wrote: [does anyone know of similar type programs/engines out there?] I am currently working on completing a universal game engine called "Axiom". For some additional information on Axiom, refer to recent posts in the "Designing Games" topic of this forum. Also, you can email me personally. Currently, Axiom exists as a plug-in for Zillions although with a GUI front-end, it could evolve into a standalone game engine. -- Greg gschmidt958@yahoo.com | ||
| Keith Carter (Keithc)
New member Username: Keithc Post Number: 139 Registered: 8-2000 |
Hello Kevin, Greg is really on to something with Axiom. It is the best thing to happen to Zillions since version 2.0. Maybe better. | ||
| Keith Carter (Keithc)
New member Username: Keithc Post Number: 163 Registered: 8-2000 |
Axiom continues to be developed with the release of version 1.42 of the Axiom Developer's Kit. That is the 7th update in less than a year. I did get a kick out of this out of context humor from the release notes. "- Fixed a memory leak that occurs when FORGET is invoked." I have aged to that point where I am starting to forget things I used to remember. In my case I forget things because of a memory leak. | ||
| Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member Username: Karl Post Number: 384 Registered: 9-2000 |
To Greg Schmidt: will Axiom be able to run all Z games as a stand-alone machine one day?? What is the situation of development? | ||
| Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt2)
New member Username: Gschmidt2 Post Number: 121 Registered: 1-2007 |
[What is the situation of development?] In addition to developing games (some of which can be downloaded from board game geek), I've been enhancing the engine and the Axiom client (GUI). For example, I've recently added a variety of animation options, improved the interface, added PDF help support, but I still need to add sounds and music (when I do that, it will support more than just midi). I have a long list of improvements to make to the existing base of code so that should keep me busy for awhile. [will Axiom be able to run all Z games as a stand-alone machine one day??] It's currently possible for Axiom to load a zrf (must be pre-processed if it contains macros and file includes), and display the game with the initial piece setup, but that's it. Also, the toolkit has a zrf converter that takes a zrf and converts it to a .4th file which defines the board, pieces, players, turn order, but does not contain any game logic. BTW, simple puzzles which don't have complex movement rules can be converted to Axiom very easily. "Solitaire Tree" is a good example of that. Karl, I have a feeling many of your simpler puzzle oriented submissions shouldn't be too hard to convert. I have no immediate plans on extending the converstion to other areas of zrf, although I'm open to the idea and could get excited about a project to do so. On the other hand, it would be a sizable task and a major time committment on my part to do so (and I have many other obligations). Now if I was independently wealthy... These stand-alone axiom games have been posted at BGG: Cluster Adaptoid Shannon Emanations Grim Reaper Domina 4 Festival Climbers Dipole "Limit" by Cameron Browne is in the works. -- Greg | ||
| Christine Floris (Sitting_on_the_moon)
New member Username: Sitting_on_the_moon Post Number: 1 Registered: 9-2024 |
Hello, I really want to know how to use Axiom to develop games. The .doc file does not explain the status of the stack, which makes me confused. | ||
| david bennett (Dpoly)
New member Username: Dpoly Post Number: 57 Registered: 4-2017 |
You really will need to talk to Greg Schmidt for anything seriously to do with Axiom. But I can tell you it's like any other stack-oriented language and if you know how to use Forth it's quite straightforward. | ||
| Christine Floris (Sitting_on_the_moon)
New member Username: Sitting_on_the_moon Post Number: 2 Registered: 9-2024 |
To David Bennett: I will learn more about Forth. In addition, I can't seem to contact Greg through the email he reserved. Anyway, thank you for your help.(oŽω｀o) | ||
| david bennett (Dpoly)
New member Username: Dpoly Post Number: 58 Registered: 4-2017 |
I have emailed him on axiom-system@yahoogroups.com gschmidt958@yahoo.com But not for some years. | ||
| Christine Floris (Sitting_on_the_moon)
New member Username: Sitting_on_the_moon Post Number: 3 Registered: 9-2024 |
The Yahoo group has been out of service since 2020, and I did not find any legacy information on the Internet Archive. In fact, it's a surprise to see someone reply here. |