SEUL: [DRAFT] Settlers Announcement

["Pete St. Onge" <pete@seul.org>]

Cary, Roger (and seul-pub)
This is the draft of the announcement for the Settlers project. My
comments / questions are in square brackets. Your comments / suggestions
/ corrections are appreciated.
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The Settlers project is developing a multiplayer game based on the
Settlers of Catan board game. The web site can be found at
http://settlers.seul.org/. The 1.1 release for Linux can be downloaded
at http://settlers.seul.org/Settlers_1_1.tar.gz and the version for
Solaris 2.6.x can be found at
http://settlers.seul.org/settlers-1.1.solaris.tgz. Settlers uses libsx,
which can be obtained from
http://cds.duke.edu/pub/sunsite/X11/libs/clibs/libsx.tar.gz
[Cary: are there other dependencies?]

Settlers is part of the SEUL project (http://www.seul.org/). 

Please download the code and give it a try. Comments and suggestions are
most welcome, as are offers to participate - your input is very
important to us. Email me at cbrisebo@home.com. 

Settlers, like its predecessor, is different from many games in that
there is no direct conflict or combat. The game starts with the players
arriving in the New World, with each player having two settlements
situated among resources. Players use these resources to expand their
own civilizations. Players are simply competing for land resources.
There's the odd theft and nasty trade deal, but the game is a fun,
fair-play type game. Players gain points by developing their
civilizations though building settlements and cities, expanding their
road network, and building armies. 

The game would be suitable for all ages, as the rules are quite
straightforward and there is no real 'conflict' in the game, save the
competition between players. This is a simple game with sophisticated
thinking behind it. The game can be played over a network with up to
four players competing for land resources to expand their civilizations.

What's done:
* A full working game for Linux, and Solaris 2.6.x
* Support for playing game over TCP/IP, including the internet
[Cary: what else am I missing]

TODO:
* Improve graphics (migrate from libsx)
* Improve chat windows 
* Complete interface work for KDE and GTK
* Add better AI, and a single player version
* Building RPMs for the program

-- 
Pete St. Onge - McGill U.  Limnology - Fun with Ropes & Buckets
pete@seul.org                  http://wwp.mirabilis.com/4322052