Update on TCP/IP/LAN and next patch

[Reiryc]

Another victory for tcp/ip! [:D]

[Scott_WAR]

MantisMan, I can sympathize. Many companies nowadays really dont care too much about the games they make after the initial sales are made. However, as you will find out the more you play GGWAW, and other Matrix games once you see their dedication, Matrix REALLY cares about their games. They fix the problems their games have, and you can count on TCP/IP working great, and if there is a problem with it after it is made available, you can count on them fixing it quickly. I have been extremely impressed with the support Matrix gives their games.

[GOPconservative1]

It would be very neat if you could somehow work a chat feature into IP games. However, I don't really know how much work that would take. Just offering a suggestion.

[JanSorensen]

Isnt it easier just to use Skype (or similar) for chatting if you want to do that while playing IP?

[Joel Billings]

We use Skype at 2by3 games now to communicate with people we work with all over the world. We expect players to be able to use Skype while playing online, although there will also be some kind of chat capability. For those that don't know about Skype free internet phone, you should find out.

[tactician]

Now.. after buying War in the Pacific, Uncommon Valor, AA: HttR ... I was NOT going to by the GG: W@W.
UNTIL... I found out that TCP/IP feature is going to be implemented ! Kudos 2by3 & Matrix for really going
way out for us Grognards!

[&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o]

[Scott_WAR]

Any updates or ETA?

[quiritus]

i don't know if it's possibel but it's no possible to realise a patch for the tcp/ip/lan applicable to all the 2by3 games?

waw is a "giochino" (for me, boys, for me) but witp, and the decisive battles serie is another question

[Joel Billings]

Well it's certainly a little game compared to WitP (but so are all the games compared to that one). As for TCP/IP for UV and WitP, no that's not going to happen.

As for an update, I've been holding off waiting for Keith to get the first playable version of the TCP/IP version. We hoped that was going to be done 2 weeks ago, but as often happens when doing something technical for the first time, it's taking longer than planned. He is heavy into debugging the LAN version and we are hoping within days to be testing it out over the internet. We very much want to have a version for Origins next week that can be played on the LAN there. If Keith is able to make this date, all that will be left to do is to add some background art, hook up the save game feature, deal with any internet latency issues, and add any special "viewing" options for the players while they are watching the other players make their moves. We originally were hoping to have a good beta version by the 4th of July, but it looks like it will be later than that before we have something that can be posted publicly as a beta patch.

This work is our first priority at the moment. Keith has only taken a few short breaks to help Gary out with a couple of critical issues on our Civil War game (not more than a few hours of Keith's time), and he won't be doing any other work on WaW until the Online play version is fully ready for testing. It's very important to us to get Online Play completed. Hopefully this will happen sometime in July and Keith will then be able to deal with a few of the issues that have been raised since 1.040 was released. We appreciate your patience.

[Scott_WAR]

Excellent.

[craigcarlson]

Thanks for the update Joel. Anything in the last week?

[Doobious]

Wow. you guys really know how keep the community informed. Good work.

Thanks for the update!

[Uncle Lumpy]

kOOL! I have a friend that I want to play this game against, but he lives too far away to do so. And he doesn't PBEM.

I'm still learning-have only played the AI a few times. Had to practically rebuild my old computer just to run the game. Gald that I did. It's been a lot of fun from what I've done and learned so far!

[Joel Billings]

Keith had a mostly working LAN version of WaW at Origins. We're hoping to get the TCP/IP into testing within the week and hope to have a public beta release by late July. Given summer vacations, debugging, etc., this could easily change, but that's what we're shooting for.

[tactician]

Time marches on... Looking forward to the Beta testing!
As always, Matrix is just awesome! Thanks again !

[Joel Billings]

Keith and I just had our first 3 player test of the TCP/IP version of WaW. We hope to release a version to the beta testers by late tonight or sometime this weekend at the latest. There were a few problems which Keith needs to correct, but all in all it worked pretty well. There will need to be some polishing done while the testers hunt for bugs, so we're certainly not finished yet. Keith and I will both be gone from July 23 to August 7 so it is very possible that a public beta version release will be delayed until sometime in August. However, there is still a chance if things go well in the next seven days for the Online version to be far enough along to be posted as a public beta before we leave. We'll let you know. To be honest, this has taken Keith about 6 weeks longer than he initially expected. He was surprised by just how much slower debugging a multiplayer version is compared to debugging a normal program (he said debugging was taking as much as 8 times longer than normal).

This is still our highest priority so you can be assured that we will finish as soon as possible. We obviously hope that once we get the Online version working you'll tell all your friends that might be interested and we can get an online community of WaW gamers built to support and enjoy the game.

[Joel Billings]

After fixing most of the known problems Keith and I ran into (and the big one Paul ran into) we posted our first version of Online play for the beta testers last night. We hope the new testers coming online tomorrow will give us enough critical mass to get some solid test in quickly. We're still have a day or two of polish work to add a few items to the game (timers, etc.), but at this point the public beta release will mostly have to do with how many new problems are found in test. Let's hope the testers have smooth sailing.

[Joel Billings]

Just a quick update. We've had a good week of test on the Online version this week, with many problems identified. The process has continued to take longer than we had hoped, but Keith thinks he's over the hump. With vacations coming the next two weeks, it's clear we won't have anything for the public until at least mid to late August. We will definitely be shooting to finish up the Online version in August if at all possible.

On another front, we're just putting the finishing touches on a demo for World at War. For those asking for a demo, they'll finally get what they were asking for. The demo contains the 2 tutorials along with allowing play of the first four turns of the 1941 scenario. It'll be around a 300 MB download. With luck, it'll be posted for the public sometime next week. If you know someone that was interested in WaW but wasn't sure if it was for them, please encourage them to try the demo (once it's available).

[Doobious]

Well done! [&o]

Thank you for your effort and the updates!

[pzgndr]

I got something funny in email today that fits in with TCP/IP/LAN testing. Gotta have some humor. [:D]


If WWII were an online RTS game
-------------------------------

*Hitler[AoE] has joined the game.*
*Eisenhower has joined the game.*
*paTTon has joined the game.*
*Churchill has joined the game.*
*benny-tow has joined the game.*
*T0J0 has joined the game.*
*Roosevelt has joined the game.*
*Stalin has joined the game.*
*deGaulle has joined the game.*
Roosevelt: hey sup
T0J0: y0
Stalin: hi
Churchill: hi
Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
T0JO: lol
Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]; sure whatever
Stalin: cool
deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help
Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
Roosevelt: i dont got **** to help, sry
Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me
Roosevelt: get antiair guns
Churchill: i cant afford them
benny-tow: u n00bs know what team talk is?
paTTon: stfu
Roosevelt: o yah hit the navajo button guys
deGaulle: eisenhower ur worthless come help me quick
Eisenhower: i cant do **** til rosevelt gives me an army
paTTon: yah hurry the fock up
Churchill: d00d im gettin pounded
deGaulle: this is fockin weak u guys suck
*deGaulle has left the game.*
Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?
benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?
benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?
Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO
T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u
Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags im gunna kick ur asses
T0JO: not without ur harbors u wont! lol
Roosevelt: u little biotch ill get u
Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin
army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side of the world retard
Hitler[AoE]: fine ill clear you a path
Stalin: WTF u arsshoel! WE HAD A FoCKIN TRUCE
Hitler[AoE]: i changed my mind lol
benny-tow: haha
benny-tow: hey ur losing ur guys in africa im gonna need help in italy
soon sum1
T0J0: o **** i cant help u i got my hands full
Hitler[AoE]: im 2 busy 2 help
Roosevelt: yah thats right ***** im comin for ya
Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL
benny-tow: hahahh oh sh1t help
Hitler: o man ur focked
paTTon: oh what now biotch
Roosevelt: whos the cripple now lol
*benny-tow has been eliminated.*
benny-tow: lame
Roosevelt: gj patton
paTTon: thnx
Hitler[AoE]: WTF eisenhower hax hes killing all my sh1t
Hitler[AoE]: quit u hacker so u dont ruin my record
Eisenhower: Nuts!
benny~tow: wtf that mean?
Eisenhower: meant to say nutsack lol finger slipped
paTTon: coming to get u hitler u paper hanging hun cocksocker
Stalin: rofl
T0J0: HAHAHHAA
Hitler[AoE]: u guys are fockin gay
Hitler[AoE]: ur never getting in my city
*Hitler[AoE] has been eliminated.*
benny~tow: OMG u noob you killed yourself
Eisenhower: ROFLOLOLOL
Stalin: OMG LMAO!
Hitler[AoE]: WTF i didnt click there omg this game blows
*Hitler[AoE] has left the game*
paTTon: hahahhah
T0J0: WTF my teammates are n00bs
benny~tow: shut up noob
Roosevelt: haha wut a moron
paTTon: wtf am i gunna do now?
Eisenhower: yah me too
T0J0: why dont u attack me o thats right u dont got no ships lololol
Eisenhower: fock u
paTTon: lemme go thru ur base commie
Stalin: go to hell lol
paTTon: fock this sh1t im goin afk
Eisenhower: yah this is gay
*Roosevelt has left the game.*
Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
*tru_m4n has joined the game.*
tru_m4n: hi all
T0J0: hey
Stalin: sup
Churchill: hi
tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY **** I GOT NUKES
Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
T0J0: wtf is nukes?
T0J0: holy ****holy****hoyl****!
*T0J0 has been eliminated.*
*The Allied team has won the game!*
Eisenhower: awesome!
Churchill: gg noobs no re
T0J0: thats bull**** u fockin suck
*T0J0 has left the game.*
*Eisenhower has left the game.*
Stalin: next game im not going to be on ur team, u guys didnt help me
for ****
Churchill: wutever, we didnt need ur help neway dumbarss
tru_m4n: l8r all
benny~tow: bye
Churchill: l8r
Stalin: fock u all
tru_m4n: shut up commie lol
*tru_m4n has left the game.*
benny~tow: lololol u commie
Churchill: ROFL
Churchill: bye commie
*Churchill has left the game.*
*benny~tow has left the game.*
Stalin: i hate u all fags
*Stalin has left the game.*
paTTon: lol no1 is left
paTTon: weeeee i got a jeep
*paTTon has been eliminated.*
paTTon: o sh1t!
*paTTon has left the game.*