The Distant Guns DRM thread of doom (do not create new DRM threads below)

[Sgt_Rock]

Norm, really enjoyed your TAOW game.

While I am not a RTS guy for the most part your new game really looks great.

Any ship game needs some decent graphics and yours looks really good.

Question: what naval period will you model next? We have seen Age of Sail I and II. What about the Ironclad era? Its never been done on computer before and Talonsoft had an ad out for it before they dropped the title. Its one of my all-time favorite periods, Ironclads by Yacquinto being one of my favorite boardgames.

Good luck with your game! Its always good to see good folks like you out there putting new stuff together.

[Lohengrin]

Great choice for your naval sim, Norm! The RJW set the table for the naval engagements of WWI and is a natural starting place for 20th century naval conflict. As your narrative above suggests, the RJW has a lot of color and background, not least of which is the magnificent sight of coal smoke-belching battleships engaged in fleet action.

Can't wait for "Distant Guns".

[chetnikk]

The buzz on this title is that it will be chained to a server somewhere, and the user will have to activate to play. And re-activate via telephone when changing machines or hardware. And be in-activated at the point the designer goes out of business.

That's a huge "no sale" in my book. I don't do Steam, activation, Starforce, or any other paranoid copy-protection scheme.

John R.

[timetraveller]

The buzz on this title is that it will be chained to a server somewhere, and the user will have to activate to play. And re-activate via telephone when changing machines or hardware. And be in-activated at the point the designer goes out of business.

That's a huge "no sale" in my book. I don't do Steam, activation, Starforce, or any other paranoid copy-protection scheme.

John R.

Where have you seen this buzz? It's news to me. Got a link?

timetraveller

[Reckall]

Where have you seen this buzz? It's news to me. Got a link?

A lot of discussion took place/is taking place on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical newsgroup. This is an excerpt: http://tinyurl.com/dtgy4

You will find more by doing a search using Google Groups. The copy-protection issue has been debated a lot.

[timetraveller]

A lot of discussion took place/is taking place on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical newsgroup. This is an excerpt: http://tinyurl.com/dtgy4

You will find more by doing a search using Google Groups. The copy-protection issue has been debated a lot.

Thanks Reckall. Interesting read. Yes, I am aware of most of the various copy protection schemes. I just don't visit USENET that often. Starforce I'll probably live with. Online verification each time I play the game I probably won't.

hehe When the revolution comes, there ain't gonna be any Internet connection.

-timetraveller

[chetnikk]

Where have you seen this buzz? It's news to me. Got a link?

timetraveller

From the Storm Eagle home page:

"Server based software allows sales, support, and intellectual property protection options previously unavailable."

(http://www.stormeaglestudios.com/public/home.html)

Sounds like activation to me. Or something a lot worse - like Steam. But I eagerly await the developers rushing to tell us the rumor is untrue.

Think they will?

John R.

[NormKoger]

Norm, really enjoyed your TAOW game.
Question: what naval period will you model next? What about the Ironclad era?

Good luck with your game! Its always good to see good folks like you out there putting new stuff together.

Thanks.

We plan to bounce around a bit. The details are still up in the air. Jim and I have discussed the ironclad era. It might be fun, but I need to do a bit more research to make sure there is enough there to make for an interesting game.

Speaking of "modeling" and "putting new stuff together", I like to surround myself with visual encouragement when I'm working on a game. Every now and then, when I begin to feel like banging my head against the monitor, I shift over to the side of my desk to work with a bit of plastic, brass, and resin for a while. A couple of years ago, I finished up a 1/700 collection of the Russian Vladivostok Independent Cruiser Squadron. It sits on the shelf behind my desk. You can take a peek here: www.stormeaglestudios.com/pr_images/Norm/Vladsquad2.jpg

[NormKoger]

Hello guys,

Registering the game requires a one-time connection to the internet. Since we plan to sell over the internet, there has to be some kind of internet authorization scheme. We don't see any way around that. After that, if you don't mind passing up on automatic updates you never need an internet connection again.

Speculation that the game will become unusable if we ever go out of business is incorrect. The game includes a utility that allows you to move it from one computer to another with _no_ on-line interaction. The current implementation does require that both machines have some form of removable media (floppy, cdrw, whatever), but we may at some point set it up so that even that is not required as long as the two machines can "talk" to each other in some way.

In fact, you could register the game on a third party computer then move it to yours via the utility. Everything would work just fine on your stealth machine, we would have no record of it, and our guys in the black helicopter would never be able to find you.

By the way, I once pretty skeptical about Steam too. But I eventually broke down to play Half Life 2. Turns out I never had any problem with it, and I came to appreciate the way it worked every time I did not have to find some stupid key disk to launch the game. These days I very much prefer copy protection that involves some form of registration over anything that involves key disks.

[chetnikk]

What's to stop me from using the CD from the initial activation to activate a dozen machines? If you're describing the situation accurately, how does this bother a pirate? And if it doesn't bother a pirate, why inflict it on your customers?

John R.