July Is Here.....!!!!

[Paul Wykes]

Couldn`t resist!!![:D]

Any news?[:D]

[Greyshaft]

* I'm currently writing the tutorial.
* Sabre and Catgh are wrapping up the scenarios.
* Robert is tweaking bits and pieces.

As a humble betatester I don't have the big picture but right now I can't see anything stopping us from finishing the game as per David's prediction.

[Paul Wykes]

Cheers for that.

Just touching base and seeing what was happening. Good to see progress is been made[:)]

[Cpt. Canuck]

Been waiting for this game for months.

A few more weeks ain't gonna kill....ack...thug

[IronManBeta]

I am working on it constantly - even dreaming about it - and every time I think it is "done" I spot something else I don't quite like. Mainly though we are waiting for the last bits of the final art and sound. Then we make one last push on the rules and we are there.

Cheers, Rob.

[Paul Wykes]

Thanks for the update, looking forward to this no end!

[IronManBeta]

I can remember when summer used to be a slower time of the year in the ol' day job and other interests could be enjoyed. That quaint notion seems to be going the way of dinosaur but I work on it every day, even if it is from 11 p.m. to midnight! So are the rest of the team. Right now I am tinkering with the AI because some of the scenarios make it look, well, a little foolish. The scenarios themselves are still in a state of flux so we are trying to hit a moving target here.

Incredibly, I am still finding the odd bug but nothing that is a show stopper.

Cheers, Rob.

[JudgeDredd]

ORIGINAL: RobertCrandall

I can remember when summer used to be a slower time of the year in the ol' day job and other interests could be enjoyed. That quaint notion seems to be going the way of dinosaur but I work on it every day, even if it is from 11 p.m. to midnight! So are the rest of the team. Right now I am tinkering with the AI because some of the scenarios make it look, well, a little foolish. The scenarios themselves are still in a state of flux so we are trying to hit a moving target here.

Incredibly, I am still finding the odd bug but nothing that is a show stopper.

Cheers, Rob.

Aahhhh....the old "another bug" scenario. You'll never get rid of them all. Do what other companies do...call them "features". Apparently that's a legal way of getting out having to fix it! [:)]

Anyway...what's this 11 p.m. to midnight! rubbish?! Why stop at midnight? [;)]

[IronManBeta]

FYI, we are still working like lunatics on this game but July isn't looking very likely now. We are getting the last minute graphics at last and they are requiring a little bit more revision then we had allowed for. Rob Armstrong is doing them and he is excellent but he comes late to the project and sometimes assumes things are a little different then they really are. Everything all has to hang together as a seamless whole and that is the tricky part!

The game plays well - we just need the final pieces of 2D art, 3D art, sound and scenario mission briefing art. I wish it was as simple as turning on a tap but it is not. There has been a lot of email flying around though and there is real momentum to get it done!

We will ship the instant it is done. Nobody wants it out more than us.

Cheers all, Rob.

[Paul Wykes]

Keep up the good work, still waiting for this one....

[JudgeDredd]

ORIGINAL: RobertCrandall
...Nobody wants it out more than us.

Cheers all, Rob.

Wanna bet? Is there a price available for this yet? So I can try and "lose" money when I do the shopping so the wife don't find out. Also, is this digital download?

Sorry if these have been answered before

And thanks for the update

[IronManBeta]

The plan is for this game to be a Digital Download only. Of course no plan survives contact with the enemy, but this is now the plan. David has been travelling again so I haven't been able to nail him on a price for the game, but doubtless he has one in mind. The original intent was to keep it affordable and my best guess is that still will be.

Cheers, Rob.

[Greyshaft]

Still moving ahead. The Graphics have been added to the Tutorial and the whole document will be submitted for Matrix approval as soon as I can figure out how to get a 6mb zip file onto the Matrix web site...

[IronManBeta]

Well here it is late on the 31st and no release yet. There is still a significant amount of content outstanding and the playtesting has ground to a halt while everybody chases other lose ends.

A treat for the patient, attached is a screenshot showing a late-breaking innovation: little vehicle icons on the unit counters. Thank David Heath for bugging me about it unmercifully. The graphic is not of the vehicle(s) in the unit per se, but rather an indication of unit role. For example, all recon units will have a single 4 wheeled armored car on them regardless of their actual TOE. The idea is that you can sweep your eye across the map and see where all your recon assets are. Simple and direct - I like it! No wonder David is the boss....

Cheers all, Rob.

[JudgeDredd]

I like those....very nice

[JudgeDredd]

Robert

What language do you program in?

[wodin]

Those counter look superb. Good on you David.

Shame Im not really interested in the time period.

[IronManBeta]

This program is done in a language called Borland Delphi 7. Delphi is an object oriented Pascal ('C without the pointers') that I have been using since version 1. It is just so easy to get industrial strength apps written in it that I doubt I will ever change now.

Part of the beauty is that there a million 3rd party components out there that can be bought for a song. Flashpoint relies heavily on them so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel and I can concentrate instead on the parts that make the game a game. Very efficient!

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

Robert

What language do you program in?

[IronManBeta]

I should add that the Borland C compiler uses almost all the same 3rd party components and they both have the same backend optimizing compiler so it is really a choice in the end of language implementations. I could have gone with Borland C but Delphi is just so much more concise and readable.

At Origins I was hanging out with Marshal Ellis who is doing Empire in Arms in Borland C. When he realized how much mileage I had gotten out of 3rd party components that he had never heard of but could have used too, he vowed never to be caught out like that again. It would have saved him a ton of time and headaches I suspect.

Rob.

[JudgeDredd]

Thanks Robert.

I always thought games (all games) were written in C.

I program in Visual Basic 6 and, to be honest, I couldn't understand where to begin when writing a game...not even sure it can be done in VB!

As for the 3rd party components (I know about not wanting to re-invent the wheel), can you give me an example of one?