Colour Maps

[88_Noldo]

Colin. I know you are friends with the Harley staff and it is alright if you praise them.

Myself, when I print the color map in B&W the Free icons disappear in the background clutter. Also, I wished Harley was less aggressive in injecting itself in this game. I admit I'm jaundiced: Back in GSI game 313, when Harley took over, they allowed the Mordor DS to fill the dropped DS positions and did not tell the FP that this was being done. This was around turn 20 and it was mighty disconcerting to have a DS nation suddenly arise from the grave, to your rear, after being idle for four to ten turns. My personal preference would be for Harley to administer the game and stay out of it.

Some of what you say about GSI is justified, I have been on the wrong end of their business practices. But they are not (or were not) lazy. They produced a product we all love and they are proud of their baby. Harley is NOT given the source codes because Feild and Stassun know they would cut it apart and resew it into their own image. Yes, I'm talking Frankenstein here. A company that produces Automagic, Palantir, etc, ets can not resist tinkering with the mechanics. Let me say that would be a BAD thing.

···

From: "Colin Forbes" <colin@timewyrm.co.uk>
Reply-To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [mepbmlist] Re: Colour Maps
Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 01:37:35 -0000

Hi,
Just got my first turns with colour maps and loved them. I' not too
sure yet whether there's much practical benefit, though one thing that
does spring to mind is that it's much easier tell where there's a
minor river next to a mountain hex (black next to black was never good).

The thing that stood out about middle Earth when it was first launched
was the appearance of the turns. at the time most PBM turns were
printed on dot-matix printers, and often on horrible gatefold paper at
that. MEPBM had nice fonts (since largely lost, alas), character
pictures and wonderfully easy to read graphical maps. Anyone wanting a
contrast should look at the maps you still get with Austerlitz - full
of vital info, but impossible to take in at a glance.

Sadly this initial gorgeousness has not been improved upon over the
past decade - part of the overarching stupidity of the GSI business
plan, ie get a product and live on the profits without making
continual improvements. Happily Harlequin understand the necessity of
keeping the ball of progress rolling a lot better that the game
designers. colour maps are a leap forward - or rather a leap to catch
up with other PBM games who have sadly overtaken MEPBM in the
presentation stakes over the past 10 years. Now if only those nice
fonts can be restored .. and better scans of the gorgeous original
character artwork made, then MEPBMwill once again look snappy and
contemporary.

Kudos to Harlequin - sorry, *M.E. Games Ltd*, for making what
improvements they can while being hamstrung by lazy and lacklustre
programmers at GSI.

Keep up the good work!

Colin

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[Colin_Forbes]

"Ovatha Easterling" (whoever he is) wrote ...

Colin. I know you are friends with the Harley staff and
it is alright if you praise them.

Hmm, I think I object to this. Firstly You know my name but I don't
know yours. Secondly whether or not I am friends with anyone at Harly
has nothing to do with my opinions of the game. If you are suggesting
that my views *would* be affected, then you are questioning my
objectivity. Given the, um tough line I have taken in the past with
clint and the lads overcertain issues, this is an absurd suggestion.

Also, I wished Harley was less aggressive in injecting
itself in this game. I admit I'm jaundiced: Back in GSI game 313,
when Harley took over, they allowed the Mordor DS to fill the
dropped DS positions and did not tell the FP that this was being
done.

That's not injecting themselves into a game, that's standard practice
in PBMs throughout the UK. It's just a cultural difference. Whatever
you may think, this is NOT done to maximise the profit, it's done to
make sure the games are closely fought and fun for all. In the long
run that's what brings the profit (such as it is!)

But they are not (or were not) lazy. They
produced a product we all love and they are proud of their baby.

So producing a game over 10 years ago and doing diddly squat to it
since is not being lazy? Yes there was 2950, but that hardly required
much work and fourth age (while a good game) again addresses none of
the actual structural faults of the game.

GSI do not respond to player suggestions (even with a "thanks for your
opinion") and have done little or nothing to promote the game to a
wider audience.

Harley is NOT given the source codes because Feild and Stassun
know they would cut it apart and resew it into their own image.
Yes, I'm talking Frankenstein here. A company that produces
Automagic, Palantir, etc, ets can not resist tinkering with the
mechanics. Let me say that would be a BAD thing.

I utterly disagree both on a personal level and for business reasons.
Personally I feel - and have felt since the game was first launched -
that there are many areas of the game which could be tinkered with.

On a business level, any game needs to adapt or die. Your preferred
model of administration only would have the game dying. A look at the
fall in numbers of GSI players over the years of their
'administration', would be revealing. I have been playing this game
for 10 years, i want to play it in another 10 years -- yet without the
'tinkering' ME Games are providing, the game will not survive. Player
numbers would fall and the game would eventually become commercially
non-profitable. As things stand GSI are taking a huge cut of the
profits and doing nothing in return. Any normal supplier of a software
product is expected to provide support and regular updates. Why does
this not apply to GSI?

Anyway, I've said my piece and I'm not going to respond to anything
else Mr Ovatha Easterlings posts unless he reveals his name.

Colin "not afraid to have his opinions linked to his real name" Forbes