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Marco Veldman is the
Game-Master of Expansion:World War II. He has studied Political Science
in the Dutch city Leiden (a Master of Arts' degree). He currently is a
'civics' teacher (teaching political science and sociology to high school
students). Veldman's interest in politics and military
affairs, combined with his knowledge of history and his programming skills
combined into the Expansion project.
"This game has been a huge project for me. In
the process of several years, much information,
knowledge and skills had to be acquired to make
it work. This could not have been done without
the help, teaching, or inspiration by the
following persons, whom I wish to thank (in
chronological order):"
- Chanel Stevens: for his
drive to ensure that rules are clear, are
just, and are historical, and for
reminding me time and time again to be the
GM, not an additional player. On top of
that: for introducing me to the game
World in Flames. And of course for giving
a brilliant show in his role as Stalin.
- Siger Vrees: for being a
friend, someone to reflect ideas upon and
for his analytical skills. I would also
like to thank him for being an absolute
madman in the game World Affairs and thus
teaching me to make some restrictions for
players.
- Daniel Radakovich: for
sharing his thoughts with me on general
Bernadotte and inspiring me to create a
game set in the Napoleonic Age one day.
Also for pointing out important details
while he was playing Roosevelt in World
Affairs. His knowledge of American and
even of non-American politics, diplomacy
and social issues is unsurpassed.
- Rick Cox: for his article on ground tactics,
for playing the French in World Affairs, for being a
listener, and for being a partner in Expansion Games.
- Gene Macdonald: for giving me a push in programming. He
uses Perl and Visual Basic, not the languages of my choice, but
Gene showed me that it would be possible to create interesting
playprogs and / or mainprogs (or in IT-terms: client/server apps).
My thanks as well for being a partner in Expansion Games.
- Alan Allport: for his
games Age of Reason and Marseillaise and
the way he set up the games. He has tried
to set up games that I enjoyed very much
and was thus an inspiration for this
project. Also, through Alan's wife Rosemarie
I got to know a woman who shares much of the
difficulties in coping with life that my wife has,
helping in this way to soften the road in
my relationship with my wife.
- Jack Bakker: for sharing
his knowledge of networks, internet, and
web servers with me. Most importantly, for
sharing his knowledge and experience of Delphi,
clearly the most accessible and yet
productive programming language of our
time.
- Christian Schlobach: for
discussing with me several important
aspects of the game, most notably virtual
political groups and the restraints they
give to players. Also, for helping me
with my final thesis, by discussing
matters related to history, philosophy
politics, especially with regards to
Huntington's Clash of Civilizations.
- John Bailey: for
discussing with me the military aspects
of the game. John convinced me to use hexes (hexagons)
instead of squares in building up the
map. Next to that: for entertaining me in his various
roles in Bill Logan's World in Crisis games.
- Brad Miller: for
play testing Sim-Exp, the forerunner of Expansion:World War II,
as the Supreme Commander of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and
for setting up an IRC channel so we could talk live about the
game. He pointed to the various ways of controlling IRC channels.
I must admit that I haven't done much with this valuable information.
- Russ Fagaly: for playtesting Sim-Exp as the Soviet general
staff (STAVKA) and for mirroring the old
World Affairs news; he improved it a lot.
- Ron Mentink: for suggesting to me the possibility of speeding
up scrolling of the map by first showing few details, and only when
scrolling has stopped to add more and more details.
- Ed Verlinden: for helping me gain knowledge of the essence
of vehicle engines, such as the relationship between horse power, perfomance,
and fuel consumption.
On top of the help of these intelligent and
inspiring fellow human beings, I wish to
thank those who helped in many other ways to make
this simulation-game possible:
- Internet provider Solcon
- All the former players of World Affairs,
but especially:
- Jeff Tarnowski
- Ivan Vulic
- Kenny Ray Cleveland
- Hector Cabezas
- Bill Logan
- David Thielen, designer of Enemy Nations
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