What is a Wargame?
[Documents/02-TargetGames.txt]
Ernest Prabhakar, September 23rd, 1993

Wargames have been defined as competitions which involve projecting
force through space and time (or is that the definition of potential
energy?).  Trying to define precisely what we mean by a wargame - and
hence what we intend to support - will in fact be a major part of our
effort.  I believe the best way to do that is for us to give examples
of the particular games we would like to implement.

To start the ball rolling, let me give my idea of what our target
games are.  This is useful not only to set our focus, but to define
milestones for the kinds of things we want to emulate.  Note that our
purpose is not necessarily to write computer versions of all these
games (although members of the list are certainly welcome to!), but
rather to write a kit that would make it straightforward to do so.

In roughly ascending order of complexity, here are some of the
'paradigms' of games we might want to think about.  This list might be
somewhat broader than you expected, but that is merely to stretch our
thinking.  I'm just listing those I know a little about, don't feel
offended if your favorite isn't here.  If you know some game with
unique features, tell us about it.

- classical games (chess, go)
- strategy board games [not wargames proper] (Risk, Diplomacy)
- tactical wargames (Ogre, Squad Leader, SPQR [roman])
- strategic wargames (Third Reich)
- minatures (Harpoon, the one used for Hunt for Red October)
- computer war games (xconq, empire)
- role-playing games (rogue, Ultima, MultiUserDungeons (MUD))
- socio-political simulations (SimCity)

In addition, there are several things one can do specially with computers:
- computer players
- smart pieces
- client/server games, with multiple human players on separate hosts
- synchronous movement
- distorted/hidden information
- elapsed time

The one type of computer game I do *not* think we can cover is the
real-time simulation (e.g., "video games", from PacMan to Netrek).  We
are going for generality and flexibility, and that tends to preclude
the kind of efficiency needed for reflex-testing, carpal-tunnel-
syndrome-producing games.  However, scaled-time simulations (where
things happen continously, and if you wait too long you'll miss an
opportunity) are definitely possible.

Note that Don Yacktman's GameKit does provide for writing video
arcade-style games.  Since we hope to work with that, it is
conceivable somebody could take that plus this and write something
that incorporates elements of both.  That is beyond the scope of this
project, but other people are certainly welcome to think about those
issues.

A list of games - which you are more than welcome to add to - is
located in ~wargamer/Documents/GameList.txt.

I hope this fits in with what people are thinking.  Let me know if
I've missed anything of significant importance to you.