======================================================================

Power's Edge Announce: Map Re-sends and More!
Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 22:00:55 +0000

Announcement from the Moderator to All Leaders:

The Power's Edge software has just been upgraded with several new
features.  All of these have been tested in the Development Zone, so
there should be relatively few bugs.  The new features include:

1) Leaders can now ask to have their most recent maps and newspapers
sent again. (This is helpful if you are sometimes afflicted by flaky
email systems or hyperactive spam filters). Requests are processed
every 3-4 hours, and the result goes to your regular address.  To have
your latest map/news sent to you again, go to the Power's Edge home
page (URL is below) and click on the "Have Latest News and Map Sent
Again" link in the "Visit Headquarters" area.

2) The "Compare Universes" page now links directly to the special
rules and info for each Universe (the old "T.B.D."s are gone at
last.)

3) Maps now include a legend and some vital stats for your nation each
turn.

4) The King of the Hill universe is now closed, since we're on Turn
10.  We'll see who survives!

5) The Region Crises feature in Sudden Conflict is now installed,
although it is likely to remain dormant for the near future.

Meanwhile, some other developments are in the works, and I'd like some
feedback, thoughts, suggestions, and votes on priorities.  I'll be
updating the Development Plan (at http://pe-dev.net/?Page=plan ) soon
and would appreciate comments!

(A) Create-your-own-Universe:  Would anyone like to have a form that
could be filled out which would allow players to create new universes
with custom rules, player limits, etc.? (A player would have to serve
as Moderator.  An automated announcement could be sent to all Players
about the start of the new universe, much as we do now.)

(B) Starting Scenarios:  Would anyone be interested in playing in a
Universe that started with a pre-set scenario?  (i.e. a given set of
regions with ownership, production, links and units pre-assigned.)  I
would be happy to make the starting gamefile format available (it's a
human-readable tab-delimited text file) so that folks could do this
(and maybe help build tools to make it easier than doing it all by
hand).    

(C) Players' League:  Several players have already suggested this
idea.  Basically we would allow everyone to create permanent identity
(associated with the rest of their player information, e.g. email
address).  When a Universe ends, the Player behind each Leader would
be revealed, so that you'd know who you'd vanquished or
been-vanquished-by. Players would then be able to accumulate various
types of fame, glory, honor, etc., and to send messages to one
another.

(D) Multi-Page, Graphical Maps:  I've upgraded the PDF generator so
that it can draw multiple-page PDFs which potentially can include
graphical elements from GIFs, JPEGs, etc.  One idea is to have a World
Map.  Another one is to make the current map system more aesthetically
exciting.  Both are in the works for the "Next Version" of Power's
Edge, but some elements could be incorporated sooner.

(E) Immediate Creation of new nations:  Now that it's possible to have
maps and newspapers re-sent between updates, the new-nation signup
process could be accelerated so that new Leaders would have their
nation created, receive their first newspaper and map, and be able to
submit moves within 3-4 hours, instead of on the next update (i.e.
within 84 hours).  How important is this?

(F) Power's Edge II (the next version):  This is the total rewrite of
the updater (that has been taking forever).  Should I put more effort
into debugging this (a very rudimentary version could be playable very
soon, but all the fancy bells and whistles listed on the Development
Plan will take time), or focus on the other enhancments? (A to E,
above, which don't require replacing the updater, only adding bits to
other parts of the code.)
  
-- Power's Edge, http://www.powersedge.net/ 

P.S. If you are no longer playing, please use the Resign button 
in your newspaper to resign.  After your resignation goes through, 
you will no longer receive these messages.