What can we do to get Developer support ? - Seems to have been resolved once again

[sabre1]

Thanks Gamerincol!

[Tim Coakley]

Well deserved blast from the customers. I am taking steps to formalize the plan to bring on a project manager to provide customer feedback and organize the needed bug fixes.

The plan has always been to support the game. Matrix provides excellent support to the developers so this should not reflect on them.

More to come in the next week or so.

Tim

[michaelincol]

thanks for reply - and your action plan, Tim.

I am hopeful... and hanging around.

I really like this game and the small user community here that has spent alot of time threshing out issues and compiling some great documentation. Joining a project manager to this user effort can put some great fine tuning on both the play mechanics and documentation.

michael

[SeaMonkey]

Been watching the development of this game since before it came out and now I can actually say it may be a future purchase, depending.......

I've learned, I don't purchase any game on release, too much errant software these days, always was, if you think about it. Time, testing, player interaction, designer attentativeness, sometimes, and I use the term loosely, sometimes culminate in a purchase of value.

It seems this version may get there.[&:] It surely won't be at the lack of user effort.

[PirateJock]

ORIGINAL: Tim Coakley

Well deserved blast from the customers. I am taking steps to formalize the plan to bring on a project manager to provide customer feedback and organize the needed bug fixes.

The plan has always been to support the game. Matrix provides excellent support to the developers so this should not reflect on them.

More to come in the next week or so.

Tim

Sounds promising [:)] ... looking forward to see what the next step will be.

Cheers

[MichaelCooney]

Hello, I'm the developer you're (politely) yelling about.  I apologize - I'm really embarrassed this thread even exists.  I do have a full-time job like Tim mentioned but we also had twins in the fall to add to our other two year old, so free time to devote to Boku has been somewhat limited.  For Boku, we put out Horse and Musket 1 and this Combat Command edition.  Both games were originally released years ago and are very mature products, so it hasn't really crossed my mind to come in here and check for error reports (game crashers, such as the PBEM problem, are reported to me through Matrix).  Instead I've been using my limited time to update Horse and Musket for a second volume and am now working on my pet project, which is updating and revamping the graphics engine for Combat Command.  Like any self-respecting engineer, I tend to have a laser focus on the project at hand. 

That being said, I can take a step back and address the issues you're running into.  No point in working on the next version if we've lost everyone along the way, eh? 

As for the next version, it's a pretty radical design and interface change and it's only become possible because of the support and resources I'm receiving from Dave Heath and Matrix as a whole.  I guess if there's anything to pull out of this post, it's that Matrix has your back and I'm the only one to be irritated with for not addressing your posts sooner.

[Max 86]

Thanks for stopping by. I am sure we all will be looking forward to hearing more about your plans for the future. An updated interface would be a HUGE plus for me. Good luck explaining the Withdrawal logic. [;)]

Again, thanks.

[sabre1]

Ok, you have my attention. Good start, stepped up and took the blame like a man. Your candor is admirable, so now lets see how it goes from here.

I'm turning my horse around and head'n back to the shack.

On a positive note, like the game, and it has TONS of potential for being the best of the best, so lets geter done.

[PirateJock]

Hi Michael

Thanks for the post. As you say, no point in working on the next version if everybody has jumped ship.

What issues are you looking to address in the short term? The first things that jump to mind, and which would increase your standing with the players considerably, are:

• Addressing the queries on how withdraw and supply works - with possible tweaking if needed
• Improvement in the usefulness of the information given in the combat info window, with an easy way of saving it, e.g. generate log text file
• Improving working with the OOBs, in particular in the editor. For example, importing text file into the scenario file with unit characteristics and location

One of the great things about the game is it's easy to play but there's a lot going on under the bonnet. From what's been posted here, people do want to understand how the game works so they can play better. Improvements on how that information is put across definitely needs some work. At the moment it's a time-consuming and difficult process to tease out what's going on; very few people have the time or the inclination to do it.

I'm not sure you'll get a second chance ... Sabre1 will get dizzy if he has to turn his horse round again!

Fingers crossed

Cheers

[Magpius]

I would be voting against a 'bells and whistles' graphics update. (aside from a wheel mouse zoom & right-click command functionality, and on-map labelling.)
How many current games can boast a 24MB download.
Focus on A.I., movement mechanics etc. and employ JMass for the graphics.
The race for increased eye-candy, is generally at the expense of map real estate.
What makes this game great IS the simplicity of the interface.

[Fred98]

ORIGINAL: PirateJock
...Sabre1 will get dizzy if he has to turn his horse round again!

Every hint is useful. Psychology 101 [:)]

-

[MichaelCooney]

It's mostly going to be pin-up girls from the era plastered around the UI, as that's all war gamers really care about.  And maybe some dinosaurs.

No, my main interface goal, in a nutshell, is to reduce the amount of mouse and keyboard work needed to play the game.  I want to increase the map real estate so I can use it to present more information rather than relying on dialogs, etc.  Of course, the question is how to do that without covering up other needed information.  The obvious first step is move from the adequate-but-limited Windows GDI graphics to DirectX so that I can use my interface framework from Horse and Musket, which has left and right mouse click context menus, tool tips, unit name popups, etc.  I can't say I'm familiar with JMASS graphics, so if you can point me to some screen shots/representations, that'd be cool.  I don't want to turn this into a 'game improvement' thread though (yet!).

Thanks for the top 3 items to focus on, PirateJock.  I assume the details are all in the Tech Support area?  I see Joe 98 has bumped a number of threads that he cares about.  How about if everyone does the same and I'll start working on the ones that are less than two weeks old?  I need to make one thing clear though: I developed (read: coded) this game, but I didn't design it.  So while I can say, for example, what a particular value is for a combat modifier, I won't be able to tell you why it was specifically chosen.

[Magpius]

[X(] JMass graphics....ummm take a look in the graphic mods section for THIS GAME.

[sabre1]

Yep check out JMass's mods, and there is another guy working on WWI mod (forget his name).

[MichaelCooney]

Well, that was certainly good for a laugh. My military background eked through as I automatically thought of the Joint Modeling and Simulation System (JMASS) and thought maybe there was a graphics standard that I simply couldn't find.

I looked at JMass' graphics and I'm a believer. I think I'll use them during my development as they're much easier on the eyes.

Thanks!

[PirateJock]

Thanks for the top 3 items to focus on, PirateJock.  I assume the details are all in the Tech Support area?

Nope - they've all been discussed in the General forum - here, here, here & here. I'll bump them.

Cheers

[Wolfe1759]

With the announcement of V1.02 (and the new V1.01 update) my original post is fully answered and pleasantly resolved.

I think have taken a very positive turn for CCME [:)]

[Wolfe1759]

Apparently I spoke to soon [:(]

P.S. reserve any comments for Saber1's thread.

[Fred98]

Bump