ASL First FireWednesday, March 03, 2004
VASL/VASSAL
No new articles yet. Real life is simply too busy right now and I'm barely finding time to play a little SASL ("Hoch, Hoch" from Journal 3).
Gotta give a nod to the VASL/VASSAL guys, though, especially Rodney Kinney. VASL has been the savior of my ASL life, especially for SASL. With two children and two cats at home, leaving boards setup more than a day is simply out of the question. Using VASL though allows me keep the games going without worrying about the setup being destroyed (especially now that the mysterious "flipping boards" problem has been fixed). It also allows me to e-mail the saved games back and forth between home and work so I can get to it whenever I have free time.
VASL of course has now morphed into VASSAL, a generic Java-based program which allows modules for many games to be created, not just ASL. Many people have obviously put a lot of time into what is, as always, a labor of love, for which we all are the beneficiaries, at no charge. I've been greatly remiss in not contributing financially to Rodney and his gang, and have finally rectified that situation. You can too, and if you haven't done so before, please consider doing so. It is probably not overstating the case to say that VASL has been one of the biggest factors in saving ASL and encouraging further growth in the hobby over the last several years.
Gotta give a nod to the VASL/VASSAL guys, though, especially Rodney Kinney. VASL has been the savior of my ASL life, especially for SASL. With two children and two cats at home, leaving boards setup more than a day is simply out of the question. Using VASL though allows me keep the games going without worrying about the setup being destroyed (especially now that the mysterious "flipping boards" problem has been fixed). It also allows me to e-mail the saved games back and forth between home and work so I can get to it whenever I have free time.VASL of course has now morphed into VASSAL, a generic Java-based program which allows modules for many games to be created, not just ASL. Many people have obviously put a lot of time into what is, as always, a labor of love, for which we all are the beneficiaries, at no charge. I've been greatly remiss in not contributing financially to Rodney and his gang, and have finally rectified that situation. You can too, and if you haven't done so before, please consider doing so. It is probably not overstating the case to say that VASL has been one of the biggest factors in saving ASL and encouraging further growth in the hobby over the last several years.
