The VASSAL Engine
Overview
VASSAL is a general-purpose engine for building online versions of
traditional turn-based games. Any number of players may play
either by email or over a live internet connection. Hundreds of
people are using VASSAL every day to play their favorite games
online. Why not you?
Installation
If you are reading this, you have successfully run VASSAL using Java
Web Start. On Windows systems, Web Start will prompt you to create
a shortcut on your desktop for you to run the program without going
through a web browser. On Mac-OS-X/Linux, you can launch VASSAL
directly with the command line $JAVA_HOME/javaws/javaws
http://www.vassalengine.org/ws/vassal.jnlp
You can make a shortcut that runs a module in one step:
- Locate the launch_module.jnlp
file (in the same folder as this README file)
- Make a copy of the file, with a name that still ends in .jnlp.
- Edit the copy with a text editor. Substitute the full name
of your module file for the NAME_OF_MODULE_FILE
text, e.g. C:\Program
Files\VASSAL\zap.mod
- Double-clicking on the new file will launch the module in VASSAL
without going through the opening screen.
Quick Start
The VASSAL executable launches the VASSAL module editing
program. To play a game, choose "Play Module" from the opening
screen and select the module. Choose "Edit Module" to make
modifications to a module, or "New module" to begin defining your own
module. Modules are available for download from the VASSAL Modules page.
If you create a new one, send
a message to the VASSAL engine mailing list, upload it to the files section
and it'll make it from there to the VASSAL site.
See the User's Guide for detailed
instructions on playing games with VASSAL.
See the tutorials and Reference Manual for detailed
instructions on building modules for VASSAL.
Recent Changes
Version 2.5:
- Game Piece Images: a flexible and convenient way to build images from scratch for use in game pieces.
- New 'Last Move Highlighter' component highlights the last piece moved on a map.
- Non-stacking pieces can be made selectable but not movable
Version 2.4:
- New Map Shading component for overlaying a map with semi-transparent color or image. Usable in combination with Area of Effect trait.
- Trigger Action trait fires multiple key events in response to a single key event.
- Right-click menu commands apply to all selected pieces
Version 2.3:
- New tool for updating saved games to be compatible with a new module version
- Module updater accessible through module edit window
Version 2.2:
- Rotate pieces to a random facing
- Select random level within a Layer
- Make pieces transparent when showing the Line of Sight thread
Version 2.1:
- Global Key Commands that are much more powerful. Apply to all maps at once. Place them in the right-click menus of individual pieces. Select targets based on level value in a Layer, map position, and more.
- Customizable buttons for step/undo/server-controls buttons in toolbar.
- 'Replace With' trait will match label values, Layer status, etc. with the original piece.
- 'Area of Effect' trait highlights an area surrounding a game piece, for showing zones of control, etc.
Version 2.0:
- Any key combination (not just CTRL-) can now be used to manipulate counters.
- Dragging the mouse now selects all pieces in a region, which can be moved as a group.
- Trait to draw a movement trail for a piece
- Pieces that can be moved using keyboard shortcuts
- Pieces that pivot around a fixed point
- Change offset and orientation of grid numbering
- Fix positioning of rotated counters within a stack
Recent Changes
Version 1.9:
- Create predefined setups accessible from the File menu
- Multi-zoned grids define sub-regions of a board with their own grid
- Keyboard command to reset a Layer to a particular level
- Customize title of "Choose Boards" dialog
- Use HTML to format Text Labels
- Default "Mark Moved" icon
- Scale thickness of highlight in overview map
- New windows don't go off screen
Version 1.8:
- Ability to lock rooms on the server, preventing new players from joining
- Server now supports full international character sets
- Create your own tutorials in Help
- Transparent background for text labels.
- Reduced memory usage for rotated images
- Bug fix: undo delete counters
- Bug fix: clone counters on maps with stacking-disabled
- Bug fix: unable to disable "send deck to other deck" command
- Bug fix: recenter map when right-clicking on shift-to-select piece
Version 1.7:
- Define layers for ordering pieces on maps.
- Toolbar wraps when buttons reach edge of screen
- For gridless boards, Line of Sight Thread can define range in raw pixels.
- Button to shift all pieces to be recentered on a map.
- Specify auto-report format for changes to piece on a map-by-map basis
Version 1.6:
- Ability to group right-click menu items for game pieces into
sub-menus.
- Place Marker and Replace with Other traits can specify an offset
and optionally match rotation angle with the original piece.
Version 1.5:
- Fully configurable auto-report messages: Specify the exact
format for reporting movement of pieces on/between map windows, dice
rolls, keyboard/right-click commands on pieces, etc.
- Symbolic dice: configure with any number of images and select
one at random to display in a dedicated window
- Replace with Other trait now supports "circular" replacements: A
-> B and B -> A
Version 1.4:
- Improvements to Decks: Menu item that shuffles entire deck into
another deck. Bug fixes: undo/redo, drawing
- Non-standard dice: any distribution of numbers or select a
random string from a list
- Set default zoom factor
- Improvements to irregular grids for area-movement games
- Counters with the Place Marker trait can specify text to
automatically echo to chat area
- Internet Dice Button stores opponent's email address with the
saved game.
License
This software is free for non-commercial use. The core engine is
supported by an open-source
project lead by Rodney
Kinney and distributed under the GNU Library General Public License
(LGPL). This distribution includes a number of third-party binary
libraries, including some proprietary software whose copyright is held
exclusively by Rodney Kinney. Complete terms of use are given in
the license file.
For more information, post a
question to the Vassal
Engine Yahoo Group or send email directly to Rodney Kinney.
Enjoy!
rk