I have set up a spreadsheet to support playing Carcassonne remotely when you are communicating by e-mail IRC or through the forum. Obviously if all players can be online at the same time then JCloisterZone would be the preferred choice.
The spreadsheet consist of several sheets
1. Board is a playing surface - currently set to 21 X 21 squares as this seems a reasonable limit to allow viewing on the computer screen though your spreadsheet software should allow for zoom in and zoom out.
2. Tile sheet contains the tile images Basic set, Official expansions and Custom User created Expansions
3. Meeples contains all the followers, official and user custom ones also the Abbey tile and other features like ferries and tower pieces.
4. Tile Draw list holds all the tiles to be used in the current game, they are sorted in random order before the game starts. As each tile is placed on the board (using copy and paste and rotate command within the spreadsheet) the player records the column and row and the orientation of the tile. A meeple or other figure can then be placed over the tile and the position on the tile is recorded. Players will have to learn to use the Arrange – bring to back/front command to place the meeple above the tile on the surface. Once the meeple is placed the player records the meeple type , its role (Knight, Monk etc) , the action (place/score etc), points scored , who the next player should be and expected next action (next player and action may not be the next player in the turn sequence, it could be the current player using the phantom or moving a wagon or another player scoring on a completed road or city)
5. Move is standard short format you can copy and paste to communicate your move via e-mail or instant message/IRC.
6. Score is a detailed sheet to allow you to record the game information and players,
7. Ref holds the list of allowed entries for all of the drop down fields to ensure standard word usage
Spreadsheet contains no “game awareness” all moves performed and calculated by the player, spreadsheet only records what happened.
Spread sheet has no central update facility moves are communicated to other players by text message, or passing a PDF image of the board or by sending the spreadsheet to the next player.
More detailed instructions can be found at
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eqrzs83bbhtcwzq/Manual%2001.pdf?dl=0A working example in Apache Open Document format
https://www.dropbox.com/s/utiwx64o64sl1ha/Example%20Game%20001.ods?dl=0A working example in Excel format
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6vay2ey48d55ct1/Example%20Game%20001.xls?dl=0My first time using dropbox so I hope I set it up right.
I am looking for any and all feedback if you think this is worth using or not.
Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1320.0