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Vassal (game engine)

Field	Value
name	Vassal Engine
logo	[[File:VASSAL-logo.png	VASSAL's official logo.]]
screenshot
caption	Screenshot of a typical Vassal module.
developer	The Vassal Team.
released
programming language	Java
platform	Cross-platform
language	Multilingual (English and 6 other languages)
genre	Game engine
license	GNU LGPLv2+
website	vassalengine.org
latest_release_version	3.7.19
latest_release_date
operating_system	Any

The Vassal Engine is a game engine for building and playing online adaptations of board games, tabletop games and card games. It allows users to play in real time over a live Internet connection, and also by email (PbeM). It runs on all platforms, and is free, open-source software. For example, there is a Star Wars Miniatures module, where players can play with up to three others in a digital replica of the table-top game.

It is written in Java and the source code is available from GitHub under the LGPL open source license.

History

Vassal began as an application for playing Advanced Squad Leader. This program was named VASL, an acronym for "Virtual Advanced Squad Leader." In 2002, this was expanded into a generic board game engine now called Vassal, with VASL being changed into just one out of many modules for Vassal.

Available modules

Vassal modules exist for over 1000 games.

Copyright and licensing

In September 2008, Games Workshop issued a cease-and-desist order regarding the Vassal module for Warhammer 40K to Tim Davis, its maintainer at that time. The module is still played.

Games Workshop has also issued a cease-and-desist order regarding Space Hulk.

Similar projects

Similar engines for making board games include ZunTzu and Boardgame.io.

References

(August 2007). "Line of Attack: Your monthly guide to hard-core wargaming". Ziff Davis Media.
(7 October 2015). "Exploring the Vassal Engine for Online Boardgaming and Wargaming".
"Official Vassal Website".
(14 December 2010). "The Master and His Vassal".
https://vassalengine.org/about.html
"Category:Modules - Vassal".
"GW V40k Legal Action".
"ZunTzu - the Online Boardgaming Platform".
"Boardgame.io - Open-Source Game Engine for Turn-Based Games".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

2002-software free-software-programmed-in-java

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