VGA Planets

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VGA Planets is a strategy, turn-based, multiplayer computer game for the PC, produced as shareware by Tim Wissemann. Older versions worked under DOS; the newer versions also work under Microsoft Windows. In addition, there are now cross-platform third-party tools, including clients written in Java.

1 History
2 Gameplay
3 Criticism and popularity
4 External links
- 4.1 Version 3
- 4.2 Version 4

[edit] History

The game became well known in 1994 with version 3, although the prior version 2.2 was already played worldwide. Version 3 allows up to 11 players to join, each of them leading one of the 11 possible races; in version 4 this limit has been abolished, and several instances of the same race can be played independently by different players.

The predefined races are modeled after Star Trek, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, though custom races can be created with special tools. Each predefined race has some special powers and specific fields of expertise (for example: Cyborgs can assimilate native races into colonists; Robots are expert minelayers; Birdmen excel at spy tactics and cloaking).

VGA Planets follows the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit & eXterminate) model: The players start with a homeworld, and have to build spaceships, explore the galaxy, colonize planets, mine minerals, build up their industry, etc. The game has no built-in victory condition: the players have to agree on one before starting a game.

[edit] Gameplay

A game is set up using three programs: a master program that allows the creation of a universe with the desired characteristics; a host program that acts as a server; and a copy of the client program for each player. Clients up to version 3.0 were DOS programs; from version 3.5 on there were clients for Windows.

First, the host sends a file with the initial conditions to each player. The client program allows the player to view data about the game and make decisions. Once the player has finished giving orders for the turn, either the client program or an external helper program takes the data, creates a turn file (usually with a .TRN extension), and sends it to the host person, who feeds all the turn files into the host program. The host processes all the turns and creates new status files (usually with a .RST extension), which are then sent back to the players. This process can be fully automated (the host can be an automatic server).

At the time that the game gained popularity, LANs and the Internet were not generally available to the public, so VGA Planets was primarily played via dial-up bulletin board systems (BBS), gradually moving to email as it became more widely available. The turn files and the game status files were transferred to and from the BBS or by email manually. This required games to have a regular hosting schedule.

[edit] Criticism and popularity

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A common complaint about version 3 was its built-in limitations, such as the maximum number of 500 ships for all players. Some saw this as leading to undesirable gameplay^{[citation needed]}. Despite this, VGA Planets was well established among PBEM gamers. In response to this complaint, Tim Wisseman released a version permitting 999 ships, but uptake was limited^{[citation needed]}.

Third parties have developed a large number of extensions, generally known in the VGA Planets community as addons. These range from the simple, such as those featuring wormholes or alien invaders, to complete replacements for parts of Tim's original software, such as the PHost portable host system.

As of 2006, Version 3 is still the most popular incarnation of VGA Planets with games being played by thousands and a large online community^{[citation needed]}. Version 4, a major departure from Version 3 with a completely new interface and many new rules and extensions, has been under development for more than eight years^{[citation needed]}, although it is now considered sufficiently bug-free to be used by a number of sites^{[citation needed]}. Changes include redesigned fleet combat, the removal of the 500 or 999 ship limit (although these have been replaced by adjustable per player limits), and modifications to the way ship building is managed.