Sophie: xconq-7.5.0-1.20050612.5mdv2009.1 i586

xconq-7.5.0-1.20050612.5mdv2009.1.i586.rpm

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<TITLE>Designing Games with Xconq - Game Module Organization</TITLE>
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<H2><A NAME="SEC89" HREF="xcdesign_toc.html#SEC89">Game Module Organization</A></H2>

<P>
Each separate file is known as a <STRONG>game module</STRONG> or just <STRONG>module</STRONG>.
A module has a name, displayed name, an advertising-style blurb, a version,
and designer notes.

</P>
<P>
This is an example of an elaborately-declared game module with no
actual content:

<PRE>
(game-module "foobar"
  (title "Foo of Bar")
  (blurb "An exciting game with lots of cliffhanging suspense")
  (version "1.3")
  (program-version (&#62;= "7.0.3"))
  ;; other properties?
  (complete-game true)
)

;;; contents here

(game-module (notes (
  "This is just a sample game."
  ""
  "It's not really as interesting as the blurb makes out."
  )))

(game-module (design-notes (
  "This is commentary addressed to other designers."
  "Also a good place to mention things to work on."
  )))
</PRE>

<P>
The <CODE>notes</CODE> and <CODE>design-notes</CODE> could have been supplied with
the first <CODE>game-module</CODE> declaration, but in practice, putting the
player and designer notes at the end of the file keeps them out of the
way.  You can supply any number of <CODE>game-module</CODE> declarations in a
file.  Only the first need include a name.

</P>
<P>
The game module format is only loosely structured.  In general, anything
that you might want to reuse or combine in different ways should be a
separate module.  Good candidates include text generators and maps of
real terrain.  Unfortunately, they don't always mix-and-match as well as
you might like!

</P>
<P>
The following are the generally preferred module names:

</P>
<P>
Terrain-only modules should be named <CODE>t-</CODE><I>xxx</I>.

</P>
<P>
Lists of units should be named <CODE>u-</CODE><I>xxx</I> or <CODE>ob-</CODE><I>xxx</I>
(for "order of battle").

</P>
<P>
Name generators should be name <CODE>ng-</CODE><I>xxx</I>.

</P>
<P>
When supplying a year in the module name, use four digits,
unless the rest of the name makes the
century clear (WWII scenarios are pretty much guaranteed to
be in the 20th century!).

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