Is it possible to make a feature so that you can have either 4 or 8 players, instead of min and max.  An alternative that allows x specific number of players.  For example you can have 4 numbers of players allowed, 2, 4, 6 or 8.  Or 2 numbers of specific players, 4, or 8.  Is that do-able?

I don't think so, but I like it.

I think there is something that with set starting locations the unused ones will go to neutral. So if you have a map with 10 starting positions and there are only 6 players in the game, the 6 players will be randomized (not really) into spots and the other 4 spots will start neutral.
I think I saw tom post something like that and I am basing some ideas on that so I hope it is correct.

Yes that's correct Risky - each player will be randomly assigned one of the 10 starting positions and the other starting positions will be converted to neutrals.

Does this meet your requirements EN or do you specifically want set player numbers for another reason?

i'm assuming he needs it for his dungeon map. there are only 4 spots to start in (unless you have teams then there is a multiple of 4 needed) so having only 3 players is weird and it can't have say 5

Weathertop is right, that's why I was hoping for it. Also in a game with 10 starting territories it would be best to have 2,5, or 10 players randomized throughout, so you could eliminate the option of 3,4,6-9, and 10+ so that curious players can only play the map it's intended way.

An interesting idea. I also think it would be neat to have different gameboards available for different size groups. For example, imagine a game based on Chinese Checkers where a player starts in one of the triangles and there is a center region filled with neutrals. For a 6 player game, you'd launch the standard gameboard. For 4 or 5 players, you'd have a 4 or 5 pointed star. For 3 players, you'd have a triangle. For two players, you'd have football-shaped gameboard. The game would adapt to the size of the group without any unfair starting positions.

Presumably you would also want to customize the starting scenario based on the different player numbers, is that right?

I was thinking about this. We have "Version" in the designer tool area for if we copy the map but it doesn't seem to come up when the map is being played. Is there someway this area could be used to do this? Have version 1 for 6 players, version 2 for team play, etc, etc?
Kinda like moding but in one area. Might clog the screen up, however if you are like me and have like 6 projects going at a time.

tom wrote: Presumably you would also want to customize the starting scenario based on the different player numbers, is that right?

Yes, I think that would be necessary.

Another thought: Though mods on Warfish are useful for creating game variations and fixing bugs, there has always been a certain awkwardness about them.  They don't have the same power as base games; you can't change permitted number of players, or game screen size, or card set, among other things. If you make any really significant design change to a board you have to start over with a new base game, losing whatever reviews and statistics and history your game has acquired up to then.

I've been thinking that a better way to provide game variations would be to make the variations full-fledged games, and then have a concept that I think of as a "game family."  A game family would act something like a directory for holding similar games, and launching it would bring up a page that would coordinate the launching of an appropriate member.  The individual games would not be represented in the main game directory, only the game family as a unit.  Logic would be put in so that if a game was started for X players, an appropriate board supporting X players would be selected or recommended, and others would be unavailable.  Individual members could be added or retired, and the game family would retain the overall history of the family.

Food for thought, anyway.

That's a nice idea... one other way that I previously put forward was to have different scenarios available for selection when you create a game board. So when you create the game, there would be an additional drop down list for the different starting scenarios that are available for the board.

All the different scenarios would still count as ranked games, perhaps there could also be some text that would give short description of what the different scenarios mean.

tom and rb sound like they're talking about the exact same thing here.