Clarification of future development plans

[tigercub]

Joel Billings

Thankyou for clearing things up for me I was feeling like i was dumped by my girlfriend persay...lol

[denisonh]

Thanks Joel.

[Sonny]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

Did you know, Mr.Frag, that Paradox is no longer using Strategy First as their distributor?

Yep, I know ... we'll see how their forum reads with HoI2 comes out ...

HoI2 will be much better than the original.

There will be those who think it is the best thing since EU II and there will be those who think it sucks. Those who think it is a great game and those who think it is a horrible simulation. Those who enjoy the what-if aspect of the game and those just can't bring themselves to play it because their favorite tank is not simulated correctly.

But if you look at the screenshots released you can see it is a better game than HoI. Screenshots can't tell the story when it comes to performance but CK is a relatively stable game and Victoria is an extremely stable game - no reason to believe HoI2 won't be at least as stable as those two.

Rush out to buy it soon as it hits the shelves? Well, there are those who will wait until they think it is a playable game and then there are those (like me) who enjoy playing the game during the patching period (like I did with WitP).

[denisonh]

You mean like you are DOING with WitP.[:D]

I fiddled with Victoria, but do not have the time any more to devote to more than one WitP PBEM and one ongoing UV PBEM.

Is Victoria any better with the latest patch?

ORIGINAL: Sonny

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

Did you know, Mr.Frag, that Paradox is no longer using Strategy First as their distributor?

Yep, I know ... we'll see how their forum reads with HoI2 comes out ...

HoI2 will be much better than the original.

There will be those who think it is the best thing since EU II and there will be those who think it sucks. Those who think it is a great game and those who think it is a horrible simulation. Those who enjoy the what-if aspect of the game and those just can't bring themselves to play it because their favorite tank is not simulated correctly.

But if you look at the screenshots released you can see it is a better game than HoI. Screenshots can't tell the story when it comes to performance but CK is a relatively stable game and Victoria is an extremely stable game - no reason to believe HoI2 won't be at least as stable as those two.

Rush out to buy it soon as it hits the shelves? Well, there are those who will wait until they think it is a playable game and then there are those (like me) who enjoy playing the game during the patching period (like I did with WitP).

[Sonny]

ORIGINAL: denisonh

You mean like you are DOING with WitP.[:D]

I fiddled with Victoria, but do not have the time any more to devote to more than one WitP PBEM and one ongoing UV PBEM.

Is Victoria any better with the latest patch?

ORIGINAL: Sonny

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag



Yep, I know ... we'll see how their forum reads with HoI2 comes out ...

HoI2 will be much better than the original.

There will be those who think it is the best thing since EU II and there will be those who think it sucks. Those who think it is a great game and those who think it is a horrible simulation. Those who enjoy the what-if aspect of the game and those just can't bring themselves to play it because their favorite tank is not simulated correctly.

But if you look at the screenshots released you can see it is a better game than HoI. Screenshots can't tell the story when it comes to performance but CK is a relatively stable game and Victoria is an extremely stable game - no reason to believe HoI2 won't be at least as stable as those two.

Rush out to buy it soon as it hits the shelves? Well, there are those who will wait until they think it is a playable game and then there are those (like me) who enjoy playing the game during the patching period (like I did with WitP).

I haven't played it since WitP came out.

[509th Bob]

Dear Mr. Billings [&o]

I have waited for YEARS for this game to arrive (I seem recall projections for year 2000 arrivals), and I truly appreciate your (and everyone else's) work in bringing this game to life. Sure, there are bugs, but this gaming community will survive. It is the "grognard" level community. We may have "issues," but let's face it, we are just plain obsessed and "wierd." That is the strength that drives many of us (even the much-reviled "Hirohito") to do what we do in real life. Just keep improving the game until you can't, then turn it over to the community to fix or improve the product. Some of that is already happening (see the mods). The Steel Panthers outgrowth series of games is a perfect illustration of this phenomena (and I -do- understand the legal issues involved) of what can happen when the gamers add life to a game that will live on well beyond the original scope or concept of the creator [the computer world -bows- to Gary Grigsby [&o]]. Of course, THIS game is an outgrowth of PACWAR, so the creator saw that it was GOOD, and on the second day He (and all those involved) created WiTP. We (the community) just want Wednesday, and then Thursday, etc., to show up.

Just remember, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!! Your name might be forgotten in the future annals of history, but your work will not be.

[fbastos]

quote:

ORIGINAL: fbastos

I gotta give, all programs have bugs.

Even Pacman had an infamous bug.

Do you guys know what was that bug? You had to work really hard to see it...

F.


You mean this one?

Pac Man Cheats

Aye, the infamous lockup screen on Pac Man.

That is in fact a humbling lesson; the only thing the player can do is to move the joystick in one of 4 directions.

Still, the players find some way to break the game by doing something unexpected...

F.

[MadmanRick]

Joel,
I apologize in advance if this has been asked and answered elsewhere, but I am curious is the UVMed (or whatever it was to be called) officially dead? I for one, would be HIGHLY interested in this title, especially if it were to incorporate all of the lessons learned from UV/WitP. Thanks,

Rick

[dtravel]

ORIGINAL: denisonh

You mean like you are DOING with WitP.[:D]

I fiddled with Victoria, but do not have the time any more to devote to more than one WitP PBEM and one ongoing UV PBEM.

Is Victoria any better with the latest patch?

Define "better". [:D] I'm a big fan of EU2 and VIC. Was a fan of HOI until that latest patches started screwing around with some of the basics, trying to add new features that the engine wasn't really balanced to handle (IMHO). VIC has been pretty stable, I've never had any crashes or serious problems. The one big issue that I recall (haven't played it for a while) was a bug in a calculation. There was a long discussion about it and it was actually a player who pinpointed exactly what the problem was. In my experience, Paradox has been one of the better companies in regards to QC, both in terms of number of problems existing upon release and how quickly they deal with the ones that do.

[bradfordkay]

Joel, thanks for the info. You have always been above board with us on the forum, and it is greatly appreciated.

I think that your decision is sound, but I worry that you might give up on income from this masterpiece too early. I'm not begging for more work on the game, I'm very happy with it as is (but will happily accept any updates). I'm talking about giving away the code of a game that I believe will have a fairly long shelf life.

Have you thought about allowing the code to be used, as long as those using the further developements have a legitimate 2by3/MAtrix purchased copy of WITP? I don't know if the legalities would be too difficult, or the coding, but I'd like to see you guys get all the income you possibly can from your work.

[fbastos]

Within the "future plans" idea, it ocurred to me... Mike Wood is also the main programmer for Squad Leader - Cross of Iron, and it seems that World at War took precedence over that game too.

I'm beginning to dislike World at War, as it is taking an invaluable resource out of WiTP and Cross of Iron, which are the two games I liked the most through my lifetime.

F.

PS: Hmm.. I lie; there was a very very old game called "Starflight", which I absolutely loved. It was a marvel with about 1,000 planets, beautiful graphics (for its time) and a strong, complex story that used only two 360K floppies.

[tsimmonds]

I wish we still had a Wish List. Is the fact that we don't significant in some way?

If we did have a wish list, I would wish that I could put ships on hold regardless of the fact that they had not yet started started burning shipbuilding points. I know from Day One which ships I want to build and which ones I do not; it's irksome to have to remember to go into the Ship Availability List on the proper day to halt the losers one by one....

[fbastos]

I wish we still had a Wish List.

Be happy: you have a wish list with one item on it - that there should be a Wish List.

F.

[SpitfireIX]

ORIGINAL: fbastos


PS: Hmm.. I lie; there was a very very old game called "Starflight", which I absolutely loved. It was a marvel with about 1,000 planets, beautiful graphics (for its time) and a strong, complex story that used only two 360K floppies.

Wow--I would have bet money that I was the only one who remembered Starflight. I have to say I liked the sequel, Starflight II, even better.

[fbastos]

Wow--I would have bet money that I was the only one who remembered Starflight. I have to say I liked the sequel, Starflight II, even better.

Didn't like Starflight II; it would run too fast on my engineering marvel, a 386SX with 4 MB of RAM. 16 MHz, I think, but might be wrong.

Oh, and did I say VGA graphics? Wow, that was really incredible!

F.

[SpitfireIX]

ORIGINAL: fbastos

Wow--I would have bet money that I was the only one who remembered Starflight. I have to say I liked the sequel, Starflight II, even better.

Didn't like Starflight II; it would run too fast on my engineering marvel, a 386SX with 4 MB of RAM. 16 MHz, I think, but might be wrong.

Oh, and did I say VGA graphics? Wow, that was really incredible!

F.

I played SFII on a 386SX--I can't remember the processor speed. That was the 3rd computer I ever owned.

[Rossj]

I understand the situation, but it might be possible to do both (1-improve the game and 2-make money to pay salaries).

1) Identify and fix the top three bugs and stop the patch process. There are a few annoying bugs (top on my list is the base changing ownership...Changsa, et. al.) that should be fixed. A BIGGER ISSUE to me is the A.I. (it's too easy to surround units during ground campaigns and piecemeal convoys/units invading strongholds with no chance of success.

2) Start work on WITP-2 and sell it to WITP owners at a discount and to new players at an appropriate price. All the lessons learned, new features and bug removal can be accomplished.

[ancient doctor]

Maybe more realistic combat casualties especially in bombardment attacks(in some AARs the numbers of dead are very very low for the number of guns involved) or whatever you can think that will make ground combat more "logical" and generally better?

[ilovestrategy]

I've played a lot of games in my time and I have to say Matrix is waaaaay up there in taking care of it's products and customers. So this is what I have to say"Good Job Matrix!"

[ilovestrategy]

ORIGINAL: SpitfireIX

ORIGINAL: fbastos


PS: Hmm.. I lie; there was a very very old game called "Starflight", which I absolutely loved. It was a marvel with about 1,000 planets, beautiful graphics (for its time) and a strong, complex story that used only two 360K floppies.

Wow--I would have bet money that I was the only one who remembered Starflight. I have to say I liked the sequel, Starflight II, even better.

I loved starflight, that game was sooooo deep.