Gary Grigsby’s World At War Demo Released!

[Alex Fiedler]

Demo Release Includes Tutorials and 1941 Campaign Year

Matrix Games and 2by3 Games (www.2by3games.com) today announced the release of the first public demo for the new World War II grand strategy game, Gary Grigsby’s World at War. Based on the latest release of Gary Grigsby’s World At War, the demo includes two tutorial scenarios as well as a full year of the 1941 campaign scenario.

The included tutorials cover movement, combat, production and research and the demo also includes a full manual for gamers interested in learning more about the game. The 1941 campaign scenario starts with Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and ends in the summer of 1942. Players can play any of the five major powers in the one year campaign, which also covers the opening of the Pacific theater of World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor.

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said, “This is the best World War II grand strategy game around and we felt that everyone should have a chance to see what it’s all about. This demo gives players a great chance to get up to speed and get an idea of the gameplay and a taste of the various possible strategies.”

Gary Grigsby’s World at War takes place in the Second World War and places you at the helm of one of five possible powers: The Western Allies, China, Russia, Germany, or Japan. Command your army and coordinate your attacks. Gain supplies, resources, and factories to fuel your war machine. Manage your supply lines to ensure you have enough to capture territories and press your attacks. Gary Grigsby’s World at War has been hailed as an elegant and accessible game design with adjustable realism and detail; where the difficulty and realism can be tailored to your specific level. Your opponents can range from a challenging computer AI to up to four other human players.

Click here to download the demo.

[Fred98]

What is the size of the file for download?

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[Scott_WAR]

291 MB

[Mojo_582]

Well ive played the demo and happy too have seen that in the short time given me it pretty much came up too expectations(ie better than axis & allies),only thing i found in the demo was that i tended too spend most of the time watching the Ai make its moves and clicking through the rather boring "battles" that took place leaving what seemed too me a short period of time making my attacks then building units i found out i was not even going too see a majority of due too the somewhat short 4 turn restriction.. yes only 4 turns,i was never given the chance too test the game myself as far as uncovering any bugs or being able too get a proper feel for the game at all,a couple of things i thought could be improved but probably have been covered in earlier posts.

Suggestions for an updated demo..

(1) Extending the turns too 12 or 18.(this was my biggest gripe about the demo)

(2) In extending the turns would suggest disableing the technology tree.

[Uncle_Joe]

18 turns is almost the whole game! In fact, if you can pull off the early AV, you can finish a full game in about that many turn. [;)]

[33Vyper]

Thank you Matrix !

Although after trying this product I will not buy it....I did give the tires a kick. It looks like a good mid level game. I am a WITP kinda nut so this one was not for me. But to anyone who reads this who wants a step down from WITP this looks and feels like a winner.

[Mojo_582]

Had no idea how long a campain could take Uncle Joe and so you are probably right about my suggestion for the turn increase in the demo,i just like too be able too discover any possible "bugs" and also get a feel for the game,just seemed like i never really a chance for either with a four turn restriction,still in saying that it dose look good.

[Canuck_jp]

I hope that this is a sign of a change in Matrix Games "no demo" policy. I was always interested in playing WAW but I wasn't going to pay $40 for a game taht I wasn't sure that I was going to like. I am currently downloading the demo now. I can't guarantee that I will buy the game after playing the demo but I can guarantee that I will be more likely to buy the game than if there was no demo in the first place.

[Paul Vebber]

Many of our games have had demos - our "demo policy" has been "appropriate demos". In general complex wargames are not very condusive to being shown off in a demo so they have been inappropriate 'demo material'. Its not "our" policy, but a discussion we have with each developer when we move a game forward. Most agree with our take on it, and if they really want to make a demo we don't prohibit it.

And we do try things and see if "things change".

In the past we have seen no correlation between a demo and sales, and in some cases a NEGATIVE correlation. So until we see a strong correlation between a demo and product sales we will continue to be skeptical of their value in a business sense.

If you want to see more demos in the future, then release of the demo has to cause a spike in sales.

If more sales do not result, then we have no reason to expend the resources to make a demo, if no return on that can be expected.

In this case, since we are trying to reach out to a broader community, a demo was deemed worthwhile, but it remains to be seen if that indeed is the case.


I also want to clarify the purpose of the demo. A demo is not a Beta - it not made so you can find bugs in the entire game, neither should it cripple aspects of the game important to understanding how the game works.

Most imprtantly it should give players a feel for how the game plays, without "giving away the game away" with a full year of the 41 scenario, it gives a good feel for that with amply opportunites as the Axis to attack, and as the Allies to play spoiler. You can get 'one set' of tech improvements in play, and you can build and field "basic units" though not some of the more powerful ones - though they are all included in the scenario. The Aliies don;t realy get a chance to turn the tables, but hopefully, having gotten to see how it works, that "leave them wanting more" will be what creates the sale.

It should also give palyers a warm fuzzy the whole game will work on their system (still an issue with M$ and their architecture).

I think this demo acheives those goals, and we have to see if pays off!

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Canuck35
I hope that this is a sign of a change in Matrix Games "no demo" policy. I was always interested in playing WAW but I wasn't going to pay $40 for a game taht I wasn't sure that I was going to like. I am currently downloading the demo now. I can't guarantee that I will buy the game after playing the demo but I can guarantee that I will be more likely to buy the game than if there was no demo in the first place.

As Paul noted, we don't have a "no demo" policy. It would be more accurate to say we don't have a "mandatory demo" policy. We evaluate based on each game, resources and perceived benefit based on experience with other demos.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Paul Vebber
In the past we have seen no correlation between a demo and sales, and in some cases a NEGATIVE correlation. So until we see a strong correlation between a demo and product sales we will continue to be skeptical of their value in a business sense.

We have seen correlation, actually, but it varies by title. From the past results though, we've been able to form some rules of thumb for which games are good for demos and which are not.

If you want to see more demos in the future, then release of the demo has to cause a spike in sales.

To clarify, this is very true, but as noted above we do evaluate results on a specific level. A successful demo for a Sci-Fi game will not suddenly result in a rush of historical wargame demos, for example.

I agree with what Paul said otherwise.

Regards,

- Erik

[JanSorensen]

I have been playing WaW for a while - from my point of view its a very good demo. It includes everything aspect of the game except PBEM - while still leaving enough out to not give away the game. A splendid balance.

[Mojo_582]

A nice clarification erik,it seems indeed that paul is quite skeptical of a demos value as far as market performance is effected,i would wish too add though that a demo or "demonstration" of your product may or may not as he mentioned affect sales,i myself will only buy a product after i have played a demo,in saying that playing some demos in the past have lead me to the conclusion that the product was a bad one with many bugs,i had in fact brought CA's RomeTW without playing the demo as i perceived a high quality product and had read rave reveiws from customers in the forums but upon buying the product there were many glaring "bugs" in the game and so continue too stick too my guns as far as "testing" a product before i buy it.

Most game buyers out there have become alot more "savvy" as far as being groomed by the companies "glowing" reports on how great their product is and so almost demand too have a peek at what they are about too spend their hard earned money on,and so see a demonstration of a product as part of the full product also (yes folks this is it) and not a BETA version of it,i did feel that the turn limitaions in the demo did indeed not limit my understanding on how the game works but neither did it allow me too get a feel for the game either as it hardly gave me a chance too see how the Ai behaved/reacted too my moves and having a good Ai in a game these days is so very important,comanies also continue too put out bad products (assuming working too self imposed deadlines) and so i still look too demos in order that i myself can "flesh" out any bugs that the beta testers may have over looked (which they invariably still do these days but cannot understand why),a demo in short gives many buyers "peace of mind" in knowing they are buying the product they guessed they were going too pay for in the first place if they decided too buy it,this dose leave me "wanting more" in the demo.

[JanSorensen]

Mojo

Seeing you comment on the AI - let me throw in my experience with it.

a) The AI does very well against an inexperience player - possibly beating you at first meaning you feel a sense of accomplicement when you get "revenge". This is good as it lets you learn the ropes in a challenging envirronment without the pressure of playing a human oppenent.

b) The AI does not have any chance at all against an experienced player on "normal" difficulty. I can take out England and all of North America as the Axis by mid 42 for example.

c) The AI does put up a hard fight if you give it help. On "impossible" I can barely win as the Allies and I have yet to win as the Axis.

d) The real meat of the game is in playing other people (PBEM or soon TCP/IP). Its simply another game once you play a devious human.

I find the AI quite impressive actually. Its just extremely hard if at all possible to make an AI that can stand up against the human mind in such a game as this.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: JanSorensen

Mojo

Seeing you comment on the AI - let me throw in my experience with it.

a) The AI does very well against an inexperience player - possibly beating you at first meaning you feel a sense of accomplicement when you get "revenge". This is good as it lets you learn the ropes in a challenging envirronment without the pressure of playing a human oppenent.

b) The AI does not have any chance at all against an experienced player on "normal" difficulty. I can take out England and all of North America as the Axis by mid 42 for example.

c) The AI does put up a hard fight if you give it help. On "impossible" I can barely win as the Allies and I have yet to win as the Axis.

d) The real meat of the game is in playing other people (PBEM or soon TCP/IP). Its simply another game once you play a devious human.

I find the AI quite impressive actually. Its just extremely hard if at all possible to make an AI that can stand up against the human mind in such a game as this.

Quite true!

But let us not forget the _BEST_ fun and experience ever possible that GGWaW offers - the multi PBEM game where several players can participate - each playing one mayor power: Germany, Japan, China, Russia, Western Allies!


Leo "Apollo11"

[Canuck_jp]

Well I just did the tutorials and so far I am impressed. I am going to email my friend and try to convince him to try the demo and see if he likes it. If I can convince him to buy it then I will also purchase said game.

[Mojo_582]

Cheers for the heads up on the Ai's capability Jan,will probably look at buying WaW because of the fact that it also has PBEM and the upcoming TCP/IP feature too,have too mention also the great community here. 8)