06-22-2013, 09:33 PM
Having all of those old issues of Paper Mayhem on my desk definitely helped. If nothing else, they provided a ready stash of food for thought.
Over the last several days, I have pondered on things PBM. Specifically, there have been two things which have been the subject of my play by mail thought patterns.
The first of these is that, of the remaining Play-By-Mail games still active, a number of these share something in common - namely, predetermined start-up positions. Hyborian War, Middle-earth PBM, and even the recently resurrected Alamaze all fall into this category, to name a few that come immediately to mind.
The second of these is that some of the more promising entrants into the quasi-PBM fray, such as Far Horizons, Rimworlds, Empyrean Cluster Wars, Ilkor: Dark Rising, and Fate of a Nation appear to be either dead or their development has slowed to a crawl. Both Rimworlds and Empyrean Cluster Wars seem to still be out there, making sporadic progress, but news from these beasts is few and far between.
We will soon be entering the second half of 2013, and from all appearances, it will be another year of drought for those seeking a new crop of PBM games to whet their appetite with.
PlayByMail.Net is one to talk, though, huh?
Week after week of bone dry emptiness. A mere hull of what it could have been, by now. What was it about the blind leading the blind?
With the vats of irony overflowing, with plenty for all to drink, the wheels of play by mail gaming continue to turn at their cosmically slow pace.
In our home, Red Dead Redemption and Injustice: Gods Among Us are the latest two entrants into my son's PlayStation 3 video game collection. But, the PBM cupboard is bare, as far as new entrants into the genre are concerned.
Where's Ryan Probert and Debellos Invinco, when you need them?
Site user, Ixnay, has set off down the path of game development for his project, Event Horizon. Rome was not built in a day, however, and neither will Event Horizon take form quite that quick - assuming that it ever comes to fruition, at all.
Over all of PBMdom, the pallor of doubt was cast, long ago. It is in that haze, that a term used in describing black holes gave birth to the spark of creation in Ixnay. It was not, however, a dream born yesterday. Browsing the quiet remnants of the PBM Gamer forum, today, I took note of Ixnay's words recorded there. The wheels in his mind have been turning the sands of imagination for more than a couple of years, it seems. I wish him well on his journey across the vast plains of game development. May he not get lost in pursuit of his objective.
Middle-earth with its twenty-five player positions, and Hyborian War with its thirty-six player positions, represent a degree of thought and complexity that strikes me as missing from much of the PBM-esque offerings that have appeared on the PBM horizon in recent years.
Somebody had to come up with all of the characters and information contained in the kingdom start-ups for Hyborian War and Middle-earth. How very time consuming it must have been - and without the Internet at one's disposal to facilitate such undertakings. Somebody had to move mountains. Somebody had to do the grunt work.
Programming is, I suspect, grunt work, even on the very best of days. Lots of mundane code to write. How does one create a PBM work of art out of the techno-babble of programming language, anyway? Your guess is as good as mine.
If play by mail is to rise once more, then someone is going to have to move a few mountains. Somebody's got to ante up, and step up to the plate, and do the grunt work necessary to turn an idea into an actual reality.
Right about now is when one begins to realize just how desolate that PBM space is.
We're all alone out here, you and I - and whomever else just might wander by this way.
I can't program. I just don't have the knack for it. I wouldn't even know where to begin. That's one mountain that this man cannot move - cannot hope to move.
But, I can fire up the engines on this editorial page, once more. It won't give you a new PBM game to play, but it will give you something new to read, when next you drop by this site.
It's been many months, since I last heard any news about the relaunch of PBM Universal by Bob McLain. Perhaps it was simply never meant to be. Just one of many rumors that blow in the PBM winds.
Whatever direction that these winds may blow, may you always enjoy the breeze.
Over the last several days, I have pondered on things PBM. Specifically, there have been two things which have been the subject of my play by mail thought patterns.
The first of these is that, of the remaining Play-By-Mail games still active, a number of these share something in common - namely, predetermined start-up positions. Hyborian War, Middle-earth PBM, and even the recently resurrected Alamaze all fall into this category, to name a few that come immediately to mind.
The second of these is that some of the more promising entrants into the quasi-PBM fray, such as Far Horizons, Rimworlds, Empyrean Cluster Wars, Ilkor: Dark Rising, and Fate of a Nation appear to be either dead or their development has slowed to a crawl. Both Rimworlds and Empyrean Cluster Wars seem to still be out there, making sporadic progress, but news from these beasts is few and far between.
We will soon be entering the second half of 2013, and from all appearances, it will be another year of drought for those seeking a new crop of PBM games to whet their appetite with.
PlayByMail.Net is one to talk, though, huh?
Week after week of bone dry emptiness. A mere hull of what it could have been, by now. What was it about the blind leading the blind?
With the vats of irony overflowing, with plenty for all to drink, the wheels of play by mail gaming continue to turn at their cosmically slow pace.
In our home, Red Dead Redemption and Injustice: Gods Among Us are the latest two entrants into my son's PlayStation 3 video game collection. But, the PBM cupboard is bare, as far as new entrants into the genre are concerned.
Where's Ryan Probert and Debellos Invinco, when you need them?
Site user, Ixnay, has set off down the path of game development for his project, Event Horizon. Rome was not built in a day, however, and neither will Event Horizon take form quite that quick - assuming that it ever comes to fruition, at all.
Over all of PBMdom, the pallor of doubt was cast, long ago. It is in that haze, that a term used in describing black holes gave birth to the spark of creation in Ixnay. It was not, however, a dream born yesterday. Browsing the quiet remnants of the PBM Gamer forum, today, I took note of Ixnay's words recorded there. The wheels in his mind have been turning the sands of imagination for more than a couple of years, it seems. I wish him well on his journey across the vast plains of game development. May he not get lost in pursuit of his objective.
Middle-earth with its twenty-five player positions, and Hyborian War with its thirty-six player positions, represent a degree of thought and complexity that strikes me as missing from much of the PBM-esque offerings that have appeared on the PBM horizon in recent years.
Somebody had to come up with all of the characters and information contained in the kingdom start-ups for Hyborian War and Middle-earth. How very time consuming it must have been - and without the Internet at one's disposal to facilitate such undertakings. Somebody had to move mountains. Somebody had to do the grunt work.
Programming is, I suspect, grunt work, even on the very best of days. Lots of mundane code to write. How does one create a PBM work of art out of the techno-babble of programming language, anyway? Your guess is as good as mine.
If play by mail is to rise once more, then someone is going to have to move a few mountains. Somebody's got to ante up, and step up to the plate, and do the grunt work necessary to turn an idea into an actual reality.
Right about now is when one begins to realize just how desolate that PBM space is.
We're all alone out here, you and I - and whomever else just might wander by this way.
I can't program. I just don't have the knack for it. I wouldn't even know where to begin. That's one mountain that this man cannot move - cannot hope to move.
But, I can fire up the engines on this editorial page, once more. It won't give you a new PBM game to play, but it will give you something new to read, when next you drop by this site.
It's been many months, since I last heard any news about the relaunch of PBM Universal by Bob McLain. Perhaps it was simply never meant to be. Just one of many rumors that blow in the PBM winds.
Whatever direction that these winds may blow, may you always enjoy the breeze.