Legality of HeroScape emulators?

[Pygon]

Thanks.

So far, it's been easy enough to work. It's just that install that's the problem. I THINK it compiles into a workable install, but unfortunately I don't have a blank testbed to try it out on.

For now, though, the game will remain private, and the maps will remain hardcoded as will the figures available.

It would be nice if I could hear some word about whether or not it's ok to go public with it, but from what I've seen, Hasbro doesn't spend much time looking at what the programmers are doing. If anything, I'll probably get the blanket "property of Hasbro" etc. etc. statement.

[0rbital]

Originally Posted by Pygon

Thanks.

So far, it's been easy enough to work. It's just that install that's the problem. I THINK it compiles into a workable install, but unfortunately I don't have a blank testbed to try it out on.

For now, though, the game will remain private, and the maps will remain hardcoded as will the figures available.

It would be nice if I could hear some word about whether or not it's ok to go public with it, but from what I've seen, Hasbro doesn't spend much time looking at what the programmers are doing. If anything, I'll probably get the blanket "property of Hasbro" etc. etc. statement.

Leave it free and never charge for it and you may not have any issue with Hasbro. If you charge for it or they release their own version of computer Heroscape then they may give you a cease and desist for it. I'd finish it up until you're happy with it and put it out on bit torrent. Get a coordinated effort going on here so we all seed it and you'll be set. Then you don't have a site hosting it that can be shut down, etc.

[Pygon]

I'm trying to put in private chat dialogs so 2-player teams can talk with each other without anyone else seeing it.

The first one works great. The moment I try to create a private chat with a second player, it fails and the exe asserts out. Which is strange because I have a test button in the app that creates multiple dialogs of another type in quick succession without any trouble.

Sometimes, I hate MFC.

EDIT: Looks like it's working now. But I don't know why... I don't like that. I'll keep an eye on it. Meanwhile I'll keep adding all the bells and whistles to them

[Karkadinn]

Originally Posted by Pygon

It would be nice if I could hear some word about whether or not it's ok to go public with it, but from what I've seen, Hasbro doesn't spend much time looking at what the programmers are doing. If anything, I'll probably get the blanket "property of Hasbro" etc. etc. statement.

IMHO, expecting a positive reply from a behemoth like Hasbro on a smalltime fan project, no matter how useful it is, is unrealistic, yes. Such things tend to fall under the same domain as fanfiction in my experience... if they approve of the extra publicity and don't see it as competition, they'll technically decry it but in practice look the other way. Copyright and IP laws are sufficiently screwy that acknowledging such things openly as permissible and beneficial is potentially risky, so yeah. You know the saying, no news is good news.

[Pygon]

All my Wave and Terrain figures are now added. Whew.

Ok, everyone stand together on one end of Ch1cano's Battle Bridge! Smile! *click*

[Pygon]

I'm happy to report I figured out how to get the program to run in Vista, 64-bit no less! I had to set up my own Vista machine to figure it out, but hey, it works.

eScape also now allows loading of map files (custom .txt), so more maps can be added without a recompile. It can also save a game in progress and load it back up, either while the players are connected, or even before they connect, and it will attach them to placed figures!

It's still private, though. I'm just reporting progress for those interested.

[Karkadinn]

Glad to hear good progress is being made. Also heartened that you're going with a common file format for maps... it makes it so much easier to make additions.

[Pygon]

Plain old text files are just easier to program on and debug, too. I was debating on making the savegames binary, but pff... why? So they have the same format, except with an optional FIGURES block at the end. And the host already communicates the custom map files down to the client (it doesn't communicate the textures or the hardcoded army card data, since those are part of the package), so practically all the savegame work was done already. It just made sense.

What might be a problem is having to convert a physical map into one of these text files. You have to draw the map out on hex paper, plot out the hexes and their heights, and count over and down to place the other objects like ruins and trees, etc. When I add a new map, it usually takes me 1-2 hours, depending on how complex it is. I still need to get the VS file format from Zzzzz, so a converter for one of those files could be another option. That would allow someone to set up a map using VS, run it through the converter, and voila.

[STAROCEAN980]

Sounds good Pygon!

[Pygon]

At long last, I finally played an ACTUAL online game of HeroScape with drafting and varied armies!

The map was Nadi's Table Turn.

My army:
Spiderman
Marro Stingers *2
Major Q10
Shiori

Army 2:
Hulk
Zettian Guards
Izumi Samurai

Army 3:
Abomination
Venom
Marrden Nagrubs



Stupid frogmen hopping all over the dang place. Hulk smacked Q10 with one hit. But my Stingers picked away at Hulk and Abomination until they were easier to kill. Abomination did a stomp and killed 1 Zettian Guard and all 3 Samurai! With imminent death in sight, Hulk lept over and killed Shiori. She was just filler anyway Spiderman took out Venom and spent 3 rounds trying to finish off the dang dogs, leaving him as the sole survivor. Whew. Took 3 hours!

[rym]

That's awesome! Glad you finally got to play Pygon. Keep up the great work you're doing.

[Pygon]

Since one of the players asked about putting glyphs around the board, I added the ability to either place a glyph of your choice, or set up two random pools of glyphs from which you can place one at a time. It reports the placed glyph as random or non-random.

Dang players, always coming up with something. It wasn't an issue with my first player, he said he hates glyphs.

I still need to add the Marro glyphs (and the decoding of the names in the txt files), but that shouldn't be a big deal (EDIT: done. ).

You can't place more than one glyph on the same hex, nor can you move them. Yet.