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How to Play STAR SAGA: ONE using VASSAL
Jul 25, 2014 @ 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
Presented by Michael Sternberg. “STAR SAGA: ONE – Beyond the Boundary” is a hybrid role-playing/tabletop/computer game developed by R. Dutton, W. Freitag, A. Greenberg, and M. Massamilla and released in 1988 for the Apple II/IIgs family of computers and the IBM PC and its clones. Due to the scarcity of surviving physical copies of the game and its reliance on a hefty set of non-digital components (booklets, maps, etc), a present-day Apple II user may miss the opportunity to explore this unique game design.
One solution proposed here is to use the VASSAL Engine. VASSAL is a modern software system for playing computerized adaptations of traditional tabletop board games. It can be used to provide access to the non-digital components, maintain the state of the game board, and allow a multiplayer game to be conducted across the Internet or by email.
The purpose of this session is to provide some historical context for the game design and demonstrate the steps involved in acquiring, configuring, and using the software components needed to experience the game using an Apple II emulator and a STAR SAGA: ONE module for VASSAL.