When?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

March 1, 2006 Status Report for Matrix Games’ MWIF Forum

Accomplishments of February

Project Management
A target date of summer 2006 is my best guess at this time (unchanged from last month).

Communications
Rob Armstrong is formally under contract. This past month he provided artwork for icons and bitmap examples for high resolution air and naval counters. He also made some revisions to the river and lake bitmaps for the European maps, (1) removing the anti-aliasing and (2) thickening the outlines so the images do not distort as much when zoomed out. Rob made a first pass on the Alpine hexsides too.

I monitored all the threads in the MWIF World in Flames forum daily. Members of the forum have been extremely helpful.

Graham Dodge, a.k.a., Greyshaft, has all 20 beta testers in their starting stalls, chopping at the bit.

Dan Hatchen is writing code for testing the design for Internet play. He has it working in a restricted environment and is modifying it to handle the conditions likely to be encountered in the real world.

Roger Feed has coded up a new random number generator - which I had yet to subject to analysis as to the evenness of distribution of numbers it generates. I do not expect any problems with that though. Roger is now processing the Cruisers in Flames and Convoys in Flames counter sheets, as provided by Patrice in Excel spreadsheet format, into CSV (comma separated values) files that can be read by MWIF.

I met with Claes Insulander (who lives in Honolulu) and discussed with him revising the Scandinavian portion of the map in accordance to the changes made by Nils Andresen. It shouldn’t be too difficult to do and Nils’ recommended changes are an improvement over the CWIF depiction of Scandinavia.

Another volunteer has offered to help with the game and is looking into creating write-ups for the naval units. We had 2 previous volunteers for this task who disappeared, but perhaps the third time is the charm.

I remain in email contact with Chris Marinacci about how CWIF works, though this has become less frequent.

CWIF Conversion
I am in the throes of replacing the save and restore game routines. As of today I have added 4000 new lines of code and counting. My objective here is to understand perfectly what game data elements are saved and restored. As new features/code is added to the program, there will be additional variables that will have to be saved and restored. The CWIF code for this capability was scattered in dozens of different files (roughly 50). Because of their diffuse locations, it was very difficult to determine exactly what was being saved and restored, much less start making changes intelligently.

The single file I have now created is long (70+ pages when completed) but it is possible to print out the save and restore routines and place them side by side to see that they fit together “hand-in-glove” which is essential for them to work correctly.

Saving setups has been dropped from MWIF product 1. Conceptually there were several problems with how to do this and the forum members said they had no interest in the capability. The player can save the game at almost every point in the game. During setup just isn’t one of them.

Scenario Information
No changes here, though one person has offered to do the extremely tedious task of typing in the data for the two remaining scenarios. Placement of commas and blanks has to be perfect or the data doesn’t load correctly.

Map and Units
The European map is ready for beta test. I have positioned all the icons and names to minimize overlap and maximum clarity. I also modified the rail line generation routines to smooth them out and avoid running into the various pools of water on the map. In making these changes I went back to my original design of 25 different set locations within each hex: the center plus 2 locations for each o’clock position. The clock positions are halfway and 2/3rds of the way from the center to the edge of the hexagon. Using these 25 locations, I control where the icons are placed in each hex using data from the “Named Locations” file. I also use them to route the rail lines around wet spots. This stuff works at all 8 levels of zoom.

Rob still need to do the artwork for some basic map elements: fortifications, straits, and Alpine hexsides. For the last, he and I worked out a design and he made a first pass at the graphics.

Rob sent over a first pass on the high resolution air and naval units and then a revised one later, without anti-aliasing. I coded up a preliminary system for loading and displaying them. Once I see how Rob wants to format the thousands of bitmaps, I will need to have them uniquely identified and linked to each specific unit. Patrice and Roger are waiting to perform that task, once Rob starts sending them over en-mass.

There are a few items that need to be worked out first though. For example, Rob does not have the latest and greatest images of the counter sheets in computer file format. Rob is in communication with Harry Rowland and should get them someday soon. Part of the reason for the delay is that Harry is moving from one side of the island they both live on (Australia) to the other, so things there are a bit at sixes and sevens.

I also have to work out with Rob, at the pixel level, exactly where the bitmaps leave off and the numbers written by the program begin. Since the different unit types have the graphic images placed differently (e.g., fighters versus bombers), this needs some care to get it right. The goal is to maximize the number of pixels available for the pretty pictures while keeping the numbers from obscuring/being obscured by the bitmap image. Details, details.

Saved Games
The save portion of this code is completed, but I keep making some small changes to it as I write the restore piece. Doing this task has certainly added to my understanding of all the various data structures CWIF used for different game elements. Every aspect of WIF seems to require creating and storing completely different data. When I find that two game elements can use the same data structure, I am instantly concerned that I am missing something. This task is essential, but really boring.

Game Interface
Made serious revisions to the Start of Game form. Modified the optional rules section so it is now up-to-date with the list of optional rules for MWIF product 1. That includes new default settings for newcomers to WIF, experienced WIF players, and personal preferences. There are an even 80 optional rules at last count. Reworked the scenario section of the Start of Game form and struggled to get the Players section to work correctly. That latter problem has been put aside for now, but will get attacked anew in March. Killed off a few bugs and made some small improvements to the routines for placing units on the map during setup.

Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
I have delayed this to give higher priority to those tasks needed for beta testing.

Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
I completed the design document for the tutorials. The beta testers reviewed the Rules as Written (RAW) and marked it up for where changes will be needed for a comparable document for MWIF. I had titled that document Rules as Coded (RAC). The changes mostly have to do with the use of the unified world map and the replacement of the physical pieces of the board game (paper map, cardboard counters, and dice) with computer equivalents. Any changes to the rules themselves (and they are extremely few in number) have been provided as optional rules.

The beta testers are also discussing the user’s manual and we hope that the WIF-naive beta testers will give us a better understanding of what needs to be included for players who have had no previous exposure to WIF.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Work on this has been in hiatus because I have been focusing heavily on the map and the interface issues that are needed for beta testing.

Other
Program and sing, an odd combination, but I have always been odd. Aside from the time I take out for quartet practice and singing in a barbershop chorus, I spend all my time on this game. We have our annual show coming up in May and I have to finish writing the dialogue for the script. For the past 3 years, I have been writing dialogue for our show and trust me, it is a real kick to hear thousands of people laugh at your jokes. I do not act, just sing. Other members of the chorus, and some outside talent, act in our shows and deliver the laugh lines.

====================================================================
February summary: good progress on graphics, but beta test wasn’t ready in February - rats!
====================================================================

Tasks for March
Communications
Continue monitoring the forum threads.

Map and Units
Get the rest of the map icons finalized and refine the high resolution bitmaps for the air and naval units. Sort out the rivers and lakes so they look good at all levels of resolution. Start Claes on revising Scandinavian portion of the map.

CWIF Conversion
Finish replacing the Save and Restore routines. Thoroughly test the new random number generator.

Rules
Start the beta testers rigorously testing the rules to see if they perform in accordance with RAW.

Saved Games
Finish coding the restore game feature. And release the first beta test version.

Game Interface
Finish the changes to the Start of Game form.

Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Identify with whom at Matrix I should work to define exactly what will be included in the game for all of these.

Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Finalize the design for the help system.

AI Opponent
Finish defining the relationship between the air, naval, and land unit values. Continue working on defining the value of individual hexes and a line of hexes (i.e., a front line).

Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
Formalize and finalize the game engine design so that integrating the Multiplayer Internet system can be done smoothly.

Software Development Tools
Develop an expanded version of the test program for Internet communications using Indy10 (multiple players over the Internet).

Multiplayer Internet [April]
Incorporate the Indy10 code for the new design for the multiplayer system into MWIF. This requires replacing the the CWIF calls to DirectPlay.

================================================================
March summary: the beta testers will need something new to keep them amused in April.
================================================================

[Froonp]

Thanks for this. [&o]
Each month you have posted this status report, and each month I wondered if I was dreaming !
This must be taking a lot of your time (writing all those documents), but I'm happy you're amongst the ones that understood that work was better when it was organized and supported by written documents .

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

Thanks for this. [&o]
Each month you have posted this status report, and each month I wondered if I was dreaming !
This must be taking a lot of your time (writing all those documents), but I'm happy you're amongst the ones that understood that work was better when it was organized and supported by written documents .

Status reports, as I use/define them, are very useful for they let you know where you have been and plan where you are going. Each cycle you see how well you did in accomplishing the planned tasks. Some successes[:)], some delays[:(], some failures[:@]. Then you get to prioritize for the next cycle. I have 3 or 4 tasks lists going at any one point in time, each with a different scale and/or focus. Love to check off the items as done.[8D]

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

It might be interesting to poll users on just how important AI is to them.

My impression of the computer game industry is that:
a) a disproportionately large amount of time (and therefore development cost) is spent on AI, and
b) AI is easily outwitted by a devious human opponent once the underlying algorithms have been sussed, and
c) most of the post-publication de-bugging relates to the AI.

Personally, I really don't have any interest in beating up a mere computer. For me gaming is social, so I would buy (and promote to my friends) MWiF solely on its internet/PBEM software ... in other words, its ability to give an old favourite new life.

Virtually all my on-line gaming these days is via ACTS, a wonderful free resource with no AI at all. I've just completed a game of Age of Renaissance with players from four different countries, for example, and it was great.

Now I concede that some AI to handle lesser nations like the KMT and CCP might be handy... but it would be really sad if a project as huge and important as this went over-time and over-budget because of problems with the AI that few players actually care about or would use.

I suggest that a shrewd corporate startegy would be to publish MWiF initially without the AI, and so keep unit costs down and profits up, and then offer the AI subsequently as an add-on for those few lonely players without a modem.

I for one cannot imagine myself playing seriously any computer game against AI, when the net is awash with interesting and sociable people more than ready to be my opponents (and, worse, my allies!)

What do others think?

The AI is very important to me. I might be a bit odd but I like playing computer oponents. I also like playing when I want to play.

Have you read all the AI thread? If not, I recommend it. It might change your mind about the quality of the oponent we can expect.

Cheers, Neilster

[tigercub]

AI not very important to me as they are never been hard to beat! only tend to use them to find out how the game ticks! Then play a human.
taking on board Rob Armstrong is a master stroke! keep up the good work guys[:)]

[SamuraiProgrmmr]

I think the AI is VITAL for many reasons.

1) IMHO, No computer game will sell well without it... With no AI, you might as well play using Vassal or Cyberboard.

2) Having an AI lets new players learn how to play the game without getting hammered and deciding to move on to something else.

3) (Hopefully a by-product of 1 and 2) An AI will contribute to a bigger WiF community of players.

Please note that 1-3 are accomplished even if the AI is only mediocre.

If the AI is actually competent, the following happen:

4) Having an AI will allow players to try out new strategies and tactics without showing them to other players before they are ready.

5) Having an AI will allow players to replace dropouts from long term games without totally restarting the game or slowing things down by requiring remaining players to take on more responsibilities than they are willing to.

6) Having an AI will allow a situation where you cannot count on completely cooperative allies. While this sounds bad at first, just ask yourself this question: Was Germany happy when Japan forced the issue by bombing Pearl Harbor? Could the timing be better? What about when there is a conflict of whether to lend lease units or lend resources?

Due to the investment of time, space and energy in organizing schedules, I have not been able to play this game in over 8 years. I have a brand new copy of the game that has NEVER BEEN PLAYED. I, personally, NEED an AI even if it sucks to reacquaint myself with the game. I will need to be able to do it incrementally and at my own pace as Real Life (TM) seems to always know how to get in the way.

I am not sure I will be able to promise to allocate enough time to ever play against humans any time before retirement (2029 or thereabouts). I NEED an AI to even think about playing this game. Otherwise I might as well be dinking around with cyberboard.

Irregardles of ANY of these, the most important reason of all is that THE PEOPLE INVESTING THE MONEY INTO THE GAME WANT AN AI.

More real progress seems to have been made on this game in recent months than in quite some time. If Steve says Summer, then I believe Christmas at the latest. (Please don't be offended, Steve.) Maybe I am a fool. Maybe not.

Only time will tell. We have waited years for this. Lets be happy that progress is being made.

One other thing, while we are on the subject. Before anyone starts pointing to Empires In Arms and how long it is taking to be released, I would like to say that I am ecstatic that this company is willing to continue to polish something until it is READY and not release it just to cash in on hopeful gamers. That doesn't guarantee anything in the way of quality, but it is the biggest step I can think of in a situation where the producers MUST MUST MUST operate in a profit motive.

Sorry about the rant. I have no intentions of angering anyone.

Keep on trucking STEVE!!!!

[&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o]

[marcuswatney]

The chemistry of carbon is greater than the chemistry of all other elements combined. Likewise, the challenge of producing AI is greater than the challenge of producing every other aspect of a computer game combined. That is why it worries me greatly that the developer reports in detail trivial matters such as success with graphics, while work on the AI merits two lines.

I believe that the AI challenge of MWiF will prove financially crippling to Matrix and that will lead the head honchos to pull the plug, so we end up with nothing at all. That is why I am implacably opposed to the idea of burdening development with AI, because it is an albatross that threatens to destroy the entire project.

Better, I submit, to publish the game as a Game Assistance Program initially, with the AI as an exciting 'advanced' module "coming to a game shop near you soon". That way Matrix at least gets an income to justify the outlay made to date ... and if as I suspect the AI never works properly, they can then pull the plug on that module alone, yet still have a creditable product and one admired by the hobby.

The gung-ho attitude I have read in these threads really really worries me. If Empires in Arms is in such difficulties, with only a part-time developer allocated, what chance does MWiF have? EiA is an area movement game with very straight-forward rules, and should not require more than a year of development time. Compared to an area-movement game, any hex-game hugely increases the options available at any given moment (a geometrical progression no less) and therefore the strain on the AI. I will be (pleasantly) amazed if, in the end, the AI does more than advance the enemy at us as the British advanced on Bunker Hill.

It is years since I played WiF, but here is an example of what I mean. I remember that there is a fascinating decision to be made by the Japanese at the start of the game: how to hit the KMT without irritating the United States into increased hostility. I recall, after hours analysing the pros and cons, I devised an exotic strategy that involved the Japanese building some bombers to hit Chinese factories (which hurt the KMT but didn't seem to irritate the US as much as a land offensive) ... an extremely unhistorical strategy, but one that did seem to work. Is the AI really going to be able to handle such subtleties? Is the AI going to sense how to counter such a strategy?

WiF is one of the very few monster games which actually works. It would be such a shame if an over-ambitious attempt to create an AI opponent scuppered the worthiest project of a decade.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

The chemistry of carbon is greater than the chemistry of all other elements combined. Likewise, the challenge of producing AI is greater than the challenge of producing every other aspect of a computer game combined. That is why it worries me greatly that the developer reports in detail trivial matters such as success with graphics, while work on the AI merits two lines.

I believe that the AI challenge of MWiF will prove financially crippling to Matrix and that will lead the head honchos to pull the plug, so we end up with nothing at all. That is why I am implacably opposed to the idea of burdening development with AI, because it is an albatross that threatens to destroy the entire project.

Better, I submit, to publish the game as a Game Assistance Program initially, with the AI as an exciting 'advanced' module "coming to a game shop near you soon". That way Matrix at least gets an income to justify the outlay made to date ... and if as I suspect the AI never works properly, they can then pull the plug on that module alone, yet still have a creditable product and one admired by the hobby.

The gung-ho attitude I have read in these threads really really worries me. If Empires in Arms is in such difficulties, with only a part-time developer allocated, what chance does MWiF have? EiA is an area movement game with very straight-forward rules, and should not require more than a year of development time. Compared to an area-movement game, any hex-game hugely increases the options available at any given moment (a geometrical progression no less) and therefore the strain on the AI. I will be (pleasantly) amazed if, in the end, the AI does more than advance the enemy at us as the British advanced on Bunker Hill.

It is years since I played WiF, but here is an example of what I mean. I remember that there is a fascinating decision to be made by the Japanese at the start of the game: how to hit the KMT without irritating the United States into increased hostility. I recall, after hours analysing the pros and cons, I devised an exotic strategy that involved the Japanese building some bombers to hit Chinese factories (which hurt the KMT but didn't seem to irritate the US as much as a land offensive) ... an extremely unhistorical strategy, but one that did seem to work. Is the AI really going to be able to handle such subtleties? Is the AI going to sense how to counter such a strategy?

WiF is one of the very few monster games which actually works. It would be such a shame if an over-ambitious attempt to create an AI opponent scuppered the worthiest project of a decade.

A few of points in reply.

Graphics are not easy.[:-]

I have a 83 page design document for the AI - so far. Plus I have loads of detailed ideas on strategic plans from various members of this forum. [You might read through some of the old threads in this forum on strategic plans for the AIO. There are separate threads for each major power.] The AI has received little attention over the last 3 months. I have trouble keeping 17 balls in the air at once. Work on improving the graphics, drastically revising the player interface, adding new counters, revising optional rules, starting the Internet programming, ... just couldn't seem to find any time for the AIO since mid-December. My highest priority is to keep the other people who are working on this project productive - I do not want to cause any delays in what they are working on.

My payment is from royalties, so I cost Matrix nothing until the game is released and a revenue stream exists. I believe that is the case for most of the other people involved.

A little calculation seems to indicate that my 60 - 70 hours a week on this is more than part time.

The difference in doing the AI for area and hex based games does not lend itself to a simple calculation - any more than you can say that carbon is 4 times more complex that hydrogen.

[macgregor]

Part of me has to concur with Marcus on this. Though I do believe you Steve, and wish you godspeed. And I am indeed eternally grateful that you have rescued this project from inaction. However, at some point I will be having to wait for a game I love in order that some enhancement will be added that I will not use. I don't need to hit this point too hard. I know you're working your butt off. The IGOUGO thing is understandably a concern. In reality, my IGOUGO game will be TOAW, which was concieved as IGOUGO, and which should be released before WiF. I've always felt that the strength of WiF was as a simulltaneous play strategy game,with a certain amount of, well almost realtime decisions, something I've never seen for a PC.

[mlees]

While I encourage Steve et. al to work on an AI, for me it is not going to be a sale breaking deal if it is a weak one. Afterall, I still play CWiF solo. As additional alternatives, hotseat and play by email will still offer the diehard fans an opprtunity to play WiF without losing any floorspace.

[Jeff Gilbert]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

Thanks for this. [&o]
Each month you have posted this status report, and each month I wondered if I was dreaming !

I must say, I fall into this category myself. I've been playing WiF for quite a while [on and off] and am absolutly thrilled to see the computerized version taking shape.

I'll get back on my lurker perch now and let you code. [:D]

[Jeff Gilbert]

Almost time for the 1 April 2006 update!
Be still my beating heart.
One of my absolute favorite reading areas.

Of course, I am prepared for the April Fools Day "MWiF is ready" joke. [:'(]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

April 1, 2006 Status Report for Matrix Games’ MWIF Forum

Accomplishments of March

Project Management
A target date of summer 2006 is my best guess at this time (unchanged from last month).

Communications
Very little product from Rob Armstrong this past month. He sent 4 versions of the Alpine hexes, none of which were worthy of being posted for review to the forum members. He also sent a revised bitmap for the 15 or so Qattara Depression hexes. I need to slice that into separate bitmaps for individual hexes and modify the program to read them in and use them. Rob and I have worked out how to do the rivers and lakes so they will look good at all levels of zoom. Once Rob gets the Alpine hexes and the new rivers and lakes overlays to me, I’ll have him start sending me the thousands of high resolution graphics images for the air and naval units.

I monitored all the threads in the MWIF World in Flames forum daily. Members of the forum continue to be helpful. Though, things are a little slow there because of the lack of new graphics and the fact I am busy debugging in support of the beta testers

Dan Hatchen is close to sending me the Internet code to integrate into the existing code. Over the past month he and I ironed out a few more of its details.

Roger Feed promises to finish converting the new counters from Cruisers in Flames and Convoys in Flames to a format I can immediately incorporate into MWIF.

Claes Insulander has agreed to work on modifying the Scandinavian portion of the map in accordance to the changes made by Nils Andresen. He is waiting on Matrix Games to give him authorization to work on the project, having just submitted a non-disclosure agreement this past week.

A third volunteer who offered to help with the game by creating write-ups for the naval units has disappeared. Sigh. We are 0 for 3 on that task. Graham Dodge did stellar work on the air units and has now completed 3/4 of the Leader/HQ units too.

I remain in email contact with Chris Marinacci about how CWIF works, though this is now infrequent.

Beta Testing
I uploaded the first version (03) of MWIF for beta testing on March 9th and have averaged two new versions per week. The 20 beta testers currently have 08 to test, while I am working on 09. In order to maintain a semblance of order, I keep a master record of all the reports from the beta testers and any attempts I make at fixing problems. The goal is to move all the bug reports into the section labeled Closed.

The initial flood of reports was around 50 and after 3 weeks of effort on everyone’s part (they add to the list and I work on diminishing it), we still are at around 50. Today’s numbers are: 12 / 2 / 14 / 12 / 10. Those numbers stand for: Fatal / Critical / Bad / Cosmetic / Suggestion. I have 42 additional items marked as Closed. That works out to 2/day for both me and them. The majority of the fatal errors arose because of my ignorance concerning pre-existing program assumptions (i.e., CWIF). A few of the remaining fatal bugs I have tracked down as previous CWIF bugs that do not have obvious solutions.

Almost all the cosmetic and suggestion ‘bug’ reports have to do with the player interface, and I agree that most of the forms displayed on the screen need drastic revision. I have made notes on all of them (roughly 100 forms in CWIF) and have designed some new ones. However, I am holding off on coding them until I get the overall color scheme for MWIF forms defined by Rob.

CWIF Conversion
I finished the new save and restore game routines. That worked out to be 5600 lines of code. Virtually all the code related to saving and restoring a game are now in that one routine (85 printed pages). Of course there were numerous bugs - which the beta testers helped me identify. Hopefully not many (none?) remain.

I need to replace the interface for the save and restore functions. The ones MWIF currently uses were inherited from CWIF. Replacing them has to be done carefully because they were done using some Microsoft “easy to implement” routines. That means they can not be modified, their internal workings are obscure at best, dysfunctional at worst, and integrated into other lines of code in ways that can be viewed as either clever or diabolical. My vote is for the latter. For saving scrap lists, units, terrain and map data, and optional rules, I wrote my own interface. Trivial to do, simple to modify, and extremely reliable. The Microsoft provided stuff, on the other hand, ...

In addition to the above, my main problem with CWIF last month was with the Date and Phase variables. Now, as you would expect, these variables appear in the code in over 1000 places. It’s sort of important to know what the turn, impulse, and phase are. CWIF had two Date variables (both called Date) and two Phase variables (both called Phase). They had slightly different meanings, but were both used globally throughout the code. It took me a long time to figure out that some of the most annoying bugs the beta testers were running into were due to the variable Date being used when the variable Date should have been used. No, I did not mistype the last sentence. It is illustrative of the joys of debugging those problems.

The beta testers have numerous recommendations for improving the interface. Though they have nowhere near as many as I do.

Map and Units
Rob still need to do the artwork for some basic map elements: fortifications, straits, and Alpine hexsides. The beta testers also found many other cosmetic things to correct in the map (Patrice prepared a very long and detailed list). When I get a chance I’ll work my way through making all those little modifications. They are all data driven so changing them is easy to do; it just requires some time. Rob sent over new swamp terrain so the color blind players can now tell the clear hexes from the swamp hexes.

I have the layout for the high resolution air units pretty much done. I decided to write the text for the unit names on the fly rather than have them as part of the bitmap image. The trouble with using the bitmaps for text is that the different levels of zoom caused degradation of the image. Having the program put the text in on the fly using True Type fonts (Arial narrow) makes for clearer lettering.

Rob is still waiting on the latest and greatest images of the counter sheets in computer file format from Harry Rowland. That is rather quickly heading towards becoming part of my critical path.

Saved Games
Done, unless the beta testers find more bugs.

Game Interface
Several changes at the suggestion of the beta testers. For example, the naval combat form had two labels: Active Damage and Inactive Damage, with naval combat results listed for each. This was before any combat occurred. Somewhat confusing, eh? Who’s Active and who’s Inactive wasn’t all that clear. Those labels now read: Expected Axis Results and Expected Allied Results.

The primary reason for that information is to assist the player in deciding how to spend Surprise points. However, the whole form needs a redesign. Spending surprise points can occur at different subphases of a naval combat, and unless you are extremely well versed in the naval combat sequence, where to spend how many points can be difficult to figure out. The form needs to clarify that so even novices feel that they know what they are doing when spending surprise points.

Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
I investigated this some more. Once Dan Hatchen is ready to go with integrating his Internet code into MWIF, I will wreck havoc on how the program currently does this (CWIF legacy code). CWIF was designed originally for Head-to-Head play and Chris built a second structure to put in Internet play. The latter code was never completed.

The redesign will support: head-to-head, Internet, play by email, and solitaire (against an AI opponent). It will also support replaying a game from a game record log: each move and decision the players make. Using the record log, previous games will be replayable both forwards and backwards in time.

Scenario Information
Nothing new here.

Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Nothing new here other than a few odds comments from different forum members (mostly beta testers).

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Work on this has been in hiatus because I have been focusing heavily on supporting the beta testing.

Other
I finished the dialogue for the script for my chorus’ spring show. I do so get annoyed when the director cuts some of my jokes. She did away with all my Shalespeare quotes too! Arrgh.

========================================================================
March summary: beta testing started in earnest. Go team! Now if I can just keep the graphics moving along ...
========================================================================

Tasks for April

Communications
Continue monitoring the forum threads.

Beta Testing
Have the beta testers continue to rigorous test the rules to see if MWIF implements them in accordance with RAW. And hammer away at the interface. And critique the graphics.

Map and Units
Get started on putting in the final high resolution bitmaps for the air and naval units. Put in a new (and hopefully final) overlay of the rivers and lakes for the European maps so they look good at all levels of resolution. Add the Alpine hexsides terrain as bitmaps. Start Claes on revising the Scandinavian portion of the map. Incorporate all the new units from Roger Feed.

CWIF Conversion
Thoroughly test the new random number generator (oops, this was here last month!).

Game Interface
Finish the changes to the Start of Game form.

Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
Begin installing a new MWIF Game Engine.

Software Development Tools
Develop an expanded version of the test program for Internet communications using Indy10 (multiple players over the Internet).

Multiplayer Internet [May]
Incorporate the Indy10 code for the new design for the multiplayer system into MWIF. This requires replacing the the CWIF calls to DirectPlay.

AI Opponent
Finish defining the relationship between the air, naval, and land unit values. Continue working on defining the value of individual hexes and a line of hexes (i.e., a front line).

Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Identify with whom at Matrix I should work to define exactly what will be included in the game for all of these.

Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Finalize the design for the help system.
===============================================================================
April summary: Some new high resolution air units would be nice. Add some functioning Internet code and I’ll be happy..
===============================================================================

[Jeff Gilbert]

Ahhh ... my thirst is quenched for another month.
My thanks for the updates.

[wodin]

Me too. I have to say it again these updates are very enlightening.

[Ballista]

Woohoo ! This gives me something to look forward to at the beginning of the month (instead of just making sure my bills have all been paid). Very enlightening too. Keep up the good work !

[wfzimmerman]

This is really one of the most impressive project management efforts I have ever seen. Quite inspirational.

Fred Zimmerman, B.S, J.D., P.M.P., TS/IITYIHTKY (If I Told You I'd Have to Kill You)

[wfzimmerman]

ORIGINAL: Ballista

Woohoo ! This gives me something to look forward to at the beginning of the month (instead of just making sure my bills have all been paid)...

That must be a nice feeling ...

[Mziln]

ORIGINAL: wfzimmerman

This is really one of the most impressive project management efforts I have ever seen. Quite inspirational.

Fred Zimmerman, B.S, J.D., P.M.P., TS/IITYIHTKY (If I Told You I'd Have to Kill You)

Not if they reactivated mine [:D]

[Windfire]

Very impressed by the detailed monthly status reports. Would love to see them for all Matrix games in development. Definately looking forward to playing this one on the computer. May be able to get some of the old crowd back into it who can't break free of families for the long term board game version.