The Forge Reference Project

 

Topic: Wiki game problem
Started by: BunniRabbi
Started on: 12/24/2010
Board: Game Development


On 12/24/2010 at 5:18am, BunniRabbi wrote:
Wiki game problem

I've been working on this wargame in the form of a wiki, specifically to allow development by others as much or as little as they want.  It's great for fast rules reference while you play, provided you have a laptop or phone with internet access on you at the time.  The problem is a lot of players won't, and since it's in wiki format, you can't really just print the rule book.

Any ideas as to how to solve this dilemma?

I'm considering creating a rule book from the forum content and having it available for download on the site, but it would need to be updated a lot.  Part of why I created this project was so that players wouldn't have to get a new book every other year or wait to see an update they felt should be in place.  I've yet to find a work-around.

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On 12/24/2010 at 7:01pm, Chris_Chinn wrote:
Re: Wiki game problem

Hi BR,

Maybe you should consider updating the PDF on intervals that work better for you?  For example, you can simply update the PDF every 6 months or even once a year. 

A nice possible side benefit of this is that if the game is being continuously developed, by having the PDF take in changes at a slower rate, it can focus on being more stable as some rules/ideas will probably be rejected as they're stress tested through play.

In this way, your game would be taking advantage of methods used in open source software- for example, Linux distributions often have a "stable" version that is updated slowly and more experimental versions that are updated regularly, but, naturally, are being worked out through use.

Chris

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On 1/1/2011 at 8:29pm, BunniRabbi wrote:
RE: Re: Wiki game problem

Hm, the software analogy seems very apt...

I'll probably be looking at an annual update, but I don't want people to have to print out a large rulebook every year.

Maybe something more like a software patch?  Print the book and place it in a binder, then replace a few pages annually? 

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