Matrix / Slitherine - Opportunity Knocks

[Major_Mess]

ORIGINAL: Alby
Plus, the team is out here, many of us worked on this game for years on our own time

I would be more than willing to help.

MM

[mkr8683]

Count me in if you need any new unit icons. I'll let Tracer handle the terrain graphics [:D]

[Erik Rutins]

We're thinking about giving SPWAW some attention. I am interested in hearing from any active SPWAW community members, scenario designers and modders regarding your thoughts on the future of SPWAW. Please contact me via PM or at erikr@matrixgames.com.

Regards,

- Erik

[Graymane]

Please do! This is a great game that needs some maintenance work to take advantage of hardware/software advances over the last few years. One of my favorite games of all time.

[baloo7777]

ORIGINAL: Graymane

Please do! This is a great game that needs some maintenance work to take advantage of hardware/software advances over the last few years. One of my favorite games of all time.

+1 [8D]

[Matt R]

TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Email sent. It has an attachment, let me know if you don't receive it.


Matt

[KG Erwin]

Well, I'm glad to see that our interest has had some effect after all. I'm done some tweaking to the USMC OOB, so maybe I can get this included in any update.

What I've desired for many years has been an "Old Breed" Mega-Campaign, featuring the battles of the 1st Marine Division from 1942-45. This would include Guadalcanal, New Britain, Peleliu and Okinawa. It would be a big project, surpassing even "Screaming Eagles" in its scope. It's too bad that Bill Wilder has retired, as this would have been his crowning achievement.

Alternatively, and a bit simpler, you could consider doing a Mini-Campaign about the Marine Raiders, which would last just from 1942 to early 1944. This could include the invasion of Tulagi and the Battle of Bloody Ridge in 1942 and a few other operations in which they performed missions that they were intended for.

[Matt R]

Hear hear - more Mega Campaigns would be very welcome. I'd like to see MCs for US 1st Armored, German Grossdeutschland and 501st sPzAbt, Belarusian partisans, and any Italian armored unit from the Spanish Civil War to the armistice.

Again.. TAKE MY FRIGGIN' MONEY!!!

[&o]

Matt

[Major_Mess]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin
...................... you could consider doing a Mini-Campaign about the Marine Raiders, which would last just from 1942 to early 1944. This could include the invasion of Tulagi and the Battle of Bloody Ridge in 1942 and a few other operations in which they performed missions that they were intended for.

Dude, you consider it.

You have all the tools you need right in front of you.
Damn, you've got half the task completed with your knowledge of them dumb Gyrenes. [:)]
Any Q's that you can't source out, ask.
It ain't that hard, making a campaign is all laid out in the manual.

Grab a pencil and a big piece of paper.
Storyboard that campaign that you have in your head. Every chapter, with results good/bad, in detail. Then make it an interesting tale. A heroic journey. Beware WBW's warnings, don't make it huge! Small engagements in a big theater is OK fine.

That's first up. Job One. It all hangs off of this work.

But remember Gunnie, dem Marines ain't the heros in this little story. They are just the ones that survived. Most of them. Not like those other guys. And it coulda gone waaaay different. All could have changed due to a different course of events. Just like every other conflict since forever.
So it's got to be balanced, sorta. But tilted towards the CO at the keyboard.

After you've got all that paperwork sorted out, the rest is easy.

Combatants. Pfffft. I think you got that covered.
Maps. You need maps.
Building each node is easy, just follow the story. Paint the picture (red team vs blue team) on the canvas (the map that's been made).

It's one step at a time man.
Do some groundwork, make some headway. Show people what you're doing.
Ask questions. Who knows, you might get some help.

Learn new skills.

What else are you doing right now?




What does SEMPER FI mean?


cheers

MM

[JMass]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

We're thinking about giving SPWAW some attention. I am interested in hearing from any active SPWAW community members, scenario designers and modders regarding your thoughts on the future of SPWAW. Please contact me via PM or at erikr@matrixgames.com.

A good news, finally! [:)]

[Major Destruction]

ORIGINAL: Graymane

Please do! This is a great game that needs some maintenance work to take advantage of hardware/software advances over the last few years. One of my favorite games of all time.

Agreed. The game itself can use a few minor tweeks to update it but basically nothing should be done to fix the original concept. Play is relatively simple which makes the game a joy. The game engine is deceptively complex which makes the game a joy. Sounds, graphics and OOB's can all use some TLC, however this is not the time to reinvent the game itself.
My one wish is to make the Mega-Campaign editor available to all users so that more Mega-Campaigns can be produced.

[Matt R]

Agreed on that. I've been so intrigued about the Steel Tigers project for so long that I guess at first blush, I thought MG was going to rehabilitate it.

This may surprise you, but I actually disagree about the MC editor being available to the public. If MG would pick it up again and milk that cash cow for all it's worth, we would have some well-researched, well laid-out MCs that have the proper time and attention devoted to them by professionals (not that we amateurs are incapable of such - see Das Reich and Russian Steel, for example). If support for the game was officially dropped by them, though, I'd favor releasing the editor.

[Matt R]

IMO, the best course of action, barring any legal entanglements, would be to adopt the Enhanced OBs, replace the unit icons that belong to another WW2 game, tweak the minor issues, expand anything that will fit (such as engineers with bridging capabilities, ARVs that actually remove disabled vehicles, fuel ratings for vehicles, (eh, eh? [:)]), expand the color palette, give the terrain icons a facelift, and start cranking out Mega Campaigns again, while updating the existing ones.

[DROregon]

PM sent. Thanks for seeking input.

[rwenstrup]

This is fantastic news!!! Been hoping for some positive movement for years. Just finished the Screaming Eagles campaign last night...

Mega Campaigns is the DLC magnet...I would concentrate on creating a quick and easy campaign editor...for internal use. The OOBs, maps, etc. can all use a brush-up...but the campaigns will be where the money is...

Let the market make scenarios...make money on the campaigns...

...that way we can have a stream of game improvements, scenarios, and campaigns...and Matrix can make a string of income.

Whatever you decide...I hoping this is a really successful effort!

[76mm]

This is great news, hopefully more comes out of this than with TOAW...

[dje]

I happily pay for an update to the greatest pc war game ever made

[Zap]

Hopefully, more have responded to Eric's invitation then I see here on this thread who say they will contact him. I can't contribute with talent but I will do my part in a purchase.

[Rodwonder]

I'm very interested... I have a half a dozen scenario designs for WW2 and I could make many more for WaW...

[Riitaoja]

"Future of SPWAW"... That was the wording so I assume the idea is to make one more patch for the current game.

I guess I would be more interested in hearing what Matrix Games thinks about the future of SPWAW. It would seem pretty obvious what people would want. A whole new Steel Panthers game that would include some new features that were not possible to do with the old game code.

In any case I did send a message to Erik with information regarding the current issues of SPWAW running on Windows 7 and multi core processors.