New Tiller Game Panzer Battles

[junk2drive]

DD means digital download.

Edit, you mean PB. Click the store, click wargames

[markw]

Nevermind, found it, sorry for the confusion.

[general_solomon]

hello, is there anymore news on this title? nothing on the website except a small screenshot.

[junk2drive]

Because I am on call and bored at the moment, I thought I'd drag up this oldie but goodie.

Hey look above, there is berto!

Meanwhile...

January at the wargamer someone asks about PB

http://www.wargamer.com/forums/posts.asp?t=585574

A reply in April by Strela

The Panzer Battles series is definitely being worked on. It is between Squad Battles and Panzer Campaigns and uses some of the best features of both. Expect some very positive things in the graphics department....

The dev team have made a lot of progress recently after a long hiatus.... Be patient, it will be worth it.

Then a post at the blitz by Strela July 29

http://www.theblitz.org/message_boards/ ... #pid378990

I am involved with JTS (not HPS) and am here on almost a daily basis. If you have any specific questions I will assist where I can.

What I will say is that we do monitor the various forums and have our spies out who let us know if we have missed anything We do follow all the threads and changes have been made to the code to reflect players suggestions and wishes.

As far as letting you know what's coming next - it's a very deliberate decision not to do that. Why, you ask? Because every publically released game is done by a part time developer. The only games John Tiller does himself are usually classified and released to the military. All the games you see that are supported by these forums are done by part time hobbyists. These hobbyists have real lives, real jobs and a limited amount of time they can allocate to game design. Ultimately that means games can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to release! By not announcing what we are working on prevents the hype getting out of control.

John Tiller had one experience where he 'pre-announced' a new series (Panzer Battles) back in 2009 by putting it up on his website. The game was almost complete and just needed maybe 3 - 6 months more work and it was expected to be released pretty quickly. Post the announcement the designer went on sabbatical and shelved the game due to a lack of time. As a result of the pre-announcement, John and Rich field almost daily requests for Panzer Battles. Now lets be clear, that title (and series) is not dead, but it requires either the original designer to return or another to pick the project up (and subsequently delay whatever they were working on).

What I will say is that there are a heap of titles being worked on covering every game series John has released - what we don't have is a clear schedule (or demand) of dates to release titles on.

Finally, I think many people have missed a very significant development of late. John Tiller has released Modern Air Power (MAP) for tablets including Android, iPad and Kindle. John has a very robust engine that works across all his game series - if he can do it for MAP, I expect we will see it for some if not the whole range of his game series. For more info go to the official John Tiller Software site.

So JTS is not dead, just driven by folks who put all their time into creating games for you guys (and not enough time playing them!!!).

David

Which someone posted a link to in the wargamer thread. Which received this reply by Strela

Please reread my note posted in the thread here. Panzer Battles is being worked on currently.

As I was the one who posted in the other thread, I used the comment about sabbaticals as an example of the challenges with official release cycles. Please do not infer that it means there is not work ongoing on Panzer Battles. We are fortunate that there is more than one designer available for the series.

David

So which are we going to see first, berto's improved JTCS or Strela's JTPB?

[berto]

ORIGINAL: junk2drive

So which are we going to see first, berto's improved JTCS or Strela's JTPB?

Please remember that JTCS is a team effort, and that I am just one member of Jason's team. I code; they don't. They develop OOBs, maps, scenarios, artwork, documentation, etc.; I don't. Code and data -- it wouldn't be a game without both.

[LoneWulf63]

Since I am making new maps for JTCS, my vote would be JTCS.

[junk2drive]

Yes berto I know what you are saying. I appreciate what the team does.

However the work on MW and 1.05 (and some games that I have worked on) came to a stop when the team lost its coder. I frequently see posts at other websites from dreamers that want to make a game. All they need is someone that can write the code.

The orchestra needs a conductor. It needs musicians. But without the composer to write the music it is noise.

Reminds me of the joke about the brain and heart fighting about who is the boss. Then the a hole steps in and wins.

I am pleased with what I see you do and propose. I hope it gets out the door first.

[berto]

ORIGINAL: junk2drive

The orchestra needs a conductor. It needs musicians. But without the composer to write the music it is noise.

In all humility, I'm more like a song writer attempting to reorchestrate Wagner's Ring Cycle. My meager efforts (so far) tweaking the Campaign Series pale in comparison to what John Tiller had accomplished. (Although my Open Source project, PIKT -- see the second line of my sig -- is no mean achievement.)

But, yes, your Everyday Joe (Programmer) can't do this. I always laugh when I read uninformed forum opinion like:

[*]"You don't like it? Write your own game."
[*]"Maybe I can help with the coding?"
[*]"How hard can it be for a replacement coder to pick up where the other left off?"

To which I think:

[*]You have no idea of the difficulty.
[*]Um, maybe not. (Too many cooks spoil the soup.)
[*]Very hard.

Thanks for the kind words. Back to work...

[LoneWulf63]

Berto. I agree with you 100%. I wouldn't even think of asking to help with the coding of JTCS, even if I knew how. So, I will continue making the maps for this fine simulation of World War II platoon level operations. In time, I will also get into making both historical and some hypothetical ORGs and scenarios. But back to you. Without you, whether you consider yourself as the songwriter or the composer, the rest of us would not be able to do what we do and this game would fade away. Many thanks from an old war-gamer to you. Chris.

[junk2drive]

I reread the whole thread last night. My imagination visualized Jason reading Robert's posts and thinking "if you think it is so easy, why don't you code these things". Time will tell if he does.

[tide1530]

Hi Gents

When I was helping with the original Matrix edition Jason asked me to check the coding for certain errors, that was interesting but that minimal task was enough to convince me that code tinkering was not for the faint of heart.
As for Panzer Battles who really knows if one or the other will come out first. I do know that Dave will listen to gammers and make changes to the game if possible when it comes out as he did when Moscow'42 was released.

[junk2drive]

resinslinger's post about scale of units reminded me of the story of the units in CS. IIRC Talonsoft had a deal with GHQ miniatures. A mini was placed on a marked turntable, photographed in each view, grayscaled, then artists painted and camo'ed these for the game.

Makes me wonder what JT will use for PB? Old Squad Battles graphics? Counters only? Years ago one of the Pacific games received an update that included 3D graphics. It was stated that the plan was to add 3D units to all the SB titles. That never happened.

[tide1530]

Hi Junk

Five or six years ago I play tested a couple of scenarios for PB and it was like a platoon sized SB. What I can say now is it don't look that way now [;)]

[wodin]

SB just needs a couple of new features to make it a classic (Proper Ammo counts and RoF options and multi level buildings). Sadly it will never happen as JT refuses to do any major work as he says it wont be worthwhile. Such a shame.

[junk2drive]

Posted by Strela at wargamer

For Panzer Battles it is 250 meters per hex and 30 minute daylight turns (60 min night).



Panzer Campaigns touch is Company/Battalion while Panzer Battles is Platoon/Company.



All the graphics are stylized and will never be to exact scale. The Panzer Battle graphics were used for touch as they needed to be oversized for smaller screens. This is a new thing that has to be considered in the world of mobiles!



David

A little different than JTCS.

[LoneWulf63]

JT is such a putz at times.

[wodin]

Seems us PC users are going to have to lump it and have to have a game designed around the limitations of tablets etc..something I feel strongly about to be honest.

[Crossroads]

Tablets might be OK for the likes of the Panzer General format, and why not, but not even remotely so towards games such as Campaign Series...

[wodin]

I was struggling playing wargames on a 19inch monitor..upgrading to 24inch was a godsend..so playing on a tablet would drive me mad.

[Crossroads]

How I wish I could afford that 27" monitor... [:D]