It's Norm...
I need to clear few things up. This is going to be a bit long.
Bear with me.
Back in my USAF days, I ran a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
Every weekend, a bunch of GI's would get together on SAC hill at
Griffiss AFB. We used to play just outside the vault where the 416th
Bomb Wing's sealed war orders were kept. My Russian friends would
probably be horrified. Our beer was stuck in the snow outside the door
to keep it cold. A refrigerator is an optional purchase if you live in
upstate New York. If we'd ever suddenly gone "toe to toe with the
Ruskies" on a Saturday evening, my friends and I would probably all
have ended up behind bars until our various squadron chief NCO's came
to round us up. It was a strange time and place. One evening, in part
to cover a small oversight in an area of one of my scenarios that my
fearless adventurers were wandering through, I spontaneously dropped a
little detail in the description of a door. I mentioned a handprint.
Just a little thing, it seemed. Then I sat back and watched in wonder
as the players began speculating on the meaning of the handprint
(there wasn't any - it was just a handprint). Within ten minutes, this
normally stable, sane group of people had concocted a complete
mythology about "Demons from Space" who were now after them. (No drugs
were involved. This was one of the most secure locations in the United
States after all, and we weren't that crazy.) Like any good DM, all I
did through this was smile enigmatically while contemplating the
dynamics of a group mentality. From time to time for months
thereafter, totally unrelated things would spark new speculation about
the Demons from Space whenever we played.
Hey, SAC hill guys. You were a great group. But there never
were any Demons from Space, and they certainly weren't after you.
I have not been posting much here over the last couple of
years. It's not that I haven't wanted to. Long timers here know that
Norm does like to talk... But while I have been working, some of the
critical details regarding the results of my work have been up in the
air. How would my next game be published? Who would be involved? I
couldn't say, because nothing was nailed down. Most of the last couple
of years, I've been in an "if you build it, they will come" mode. I
really don't worry about finding a publisher these days, and I'm more
concerned about getting things right than hitting a deadline. I've
been playing with my friends, and taking pains to avoid saying or
doing anything that could burn bridges I might later need. (I do try
to do that, even if I don't always succeed.) So I couldn't post much
regarding the things gamers most wanted to know about what I've been
doing. Things have been happening. Youbetcha. I just didn't feel I
could talk about them.
A few weeks ago David Heath called, informing me of his plans
for the Take-2 game properties and asking if I'd mind helping out in
the transition for TOAW. He graciously offered to provide support if I
wanted to resume serious development on the title, but I had to
decline. I appreciated the offer. But I'm just not in the position to
handle it right now. TOAW "Classic", as I've come to think of it, was
my baby. I'd love to see it still in circulation. So I agreed to
assist, with some pretty serious constraints. David asked if he could
mention my agreement to assist, and I said yes. Why not?
Being a bit snowed under right now, I didn't make any public
comments of my own - even though I was encouraged to do so. In
retrospect, that may have been a mistake. Remember that handprint on
the door? "Demons from Space": all it takes is a bit of silence. The
enigmatic smile is apparently unnecessary. It was funny 25 years ago.
Now I find it may have happened again, and not everyone is amused.
To paraphrase Sigmund Freud, "sometime a handprint on a door
is just a handprint on a door."
Here's what's really going on with Norm: The Russo-Japanese
title is a real game. It's sharp, I'm proud of it, and it's pretty
much ready to go out the door. It has generated very encouraging test
feedback from some of the guys associated with the Russo-Japanese War
Research Society. Jim Rose (the founder of Talonsoft, and a personal
friend) and I will be publishing the game as Storm Eagle Studios. The
title is to be "Distant Guns: The Russo-Japanese War at Sea", and it
covers the naval battles of 1904-1905 on a tactical level. We plan to
follow this title reasonably quickly (not just data and art,
considerable additional coding will be required) with WWI and WWII
period releases. An operational-campaign element is in the works, on
the side, as an eventual add-on. We also have an operational land
campaign engine ("project Ivan") at an advanced stage of development.
It's nowhere near as ready as the RJW title, but it's coming down the
tracks - and while it is quite different in many respects, it could be
considered a competitor to Classic TOAW. When the time comes, you can
be the judge. Everything I'm doing these days is real-time and 3d
based. The same kind of attention to what I consider fundamentals
(...if a shell of a certain weight flies in this way, at this
velocity, and strikes a target with this amount of armor of this
particular type at this point, at this angle, does it penetrate or
bounce off? etc...) is there, but now that is accompanied by things
like specular lighting considerations and Doppler effects for sounds
emitted by moving objects. The engine is designed to work, with
variations, for both naval and land games, operational and tactical,
or even a mix of the two. This is where ALL of my effort is going
right now.
Things might have been different, but the fact of the matter
is that I had to move on and I am no longer free to tinker endlessly
with TOAW. Even if I were, there would be an obvious conflict of
interest considering my newer projects. Does this mean that I'm
contradicting the news from Matrix? No, not really. But I do want to
tone down some of the speculation other folks seem to be tossing
around in the general gaming community. One bout with Demons from
Space is enough. I do want to see Matrix succeed with TOAW and the
other Take-2 titles they have taken on, and I wish them well. I have
agreed to help them to the extent of replacing Talonsoft references in
the game with Matrix references, dropping their copy protection into
the mix (trivial, it took about 2 minutes), looking at a list of
reported issues (no promises on actions - I think everything is OK in
1.07) and answering questions to the limits of my memory if their
programmers call. I have a soft spot for TOAW, and would like to see
it in good shape when I hand the reins over. I didn't promise the
moon. It's been years since I really spent much time in the TOAW code,
and to some extent their guys will be on their own when they start
doing their own tinkering. I do know that the combat problem spotted
in v1.06 was corrected in the v1.07 update (never officially
released), and that there was some additional work as well. But for
the life of me, even I don't really remember what v1.07 brings to the
table over v1.06. I can't find my notes: embarrassing but true. I'm
not sure what Matrix' plans are for changes. At a guess, I think they
may be replacing some portion of the graphics (not hard, since it's
all in bmp format, and potentially rewarding) and flexing their
independent programming muscles to do things like expanding the number
of events available in the event engine. I also suspect they have some
fairly nice new or updated scenarios in mind. I've actually encouraged
them to avoid being too ambitious with changes right off the bat. I
really do wish them well, but their task won't be easy. Even I don't
really know my way around the TOAW code any more.
I've pulled a few comments out of recent postings in this
newsgroup for specific responses:
>David Heath confirmed on Matrix's boards that
>Norm Koger is working on TOAW: The
>Matrix Edition...."
Technically true, but it can be interpreted to imply quite a
bit more than is actually the case. I've agreed to provide assistance
to the extent that it does not impact my other projects in any way.
That's mostly a matter of helping them get started (mostly done
already) and trying to answer as many questions as I can without
spending a bunch of time digging around when they start their own
tinkering. I do not currently plan to implement any new features in
code.
>I distinctly remember something about Norm Koger
>having a patch for TOAW with new features and
>bug-fixes that was never even released by
>Talonsoft"
True. This was the 1.07 update. It is the basis from which the
Matrix guys will be putting together their edition of the game.
>Wait, wait... (sits down and breathes) would this
>mean that SUPPORT FOR TOAW WILL
>RESUME???"
I think so, but it will be on Matrix' shoulders. Some of the
guys there are pretty good.
>The latest patch released was 1.06, but that broke
>some features and the wargaming sites I've seen
>recommend sticking with 1.04.
Yep - and that annoyed the Hell out of me. The thing I most
wanted done in 1.06 actually broke part of the combat. Fortunately, it
was easy to fix once I was made aware of it. The enhanced combat
system envisioned for 1.06 works perfectly in 1.07.
>It runs fine under WinXP for me, although some
>people still report problems."
The reported problems have to do with the copy protection
system used. I still play the game from time to time, and there are no
problems on my system - XP of course. The Korea 50-51 scenario really
calls to me. If anything, I can't honestly say for sure now how well
the game runs on systems with _earlier_ versions of Windows.
>Norm Koger kept tweaking things in the patches,
>which is nice that he was trying to improve it but
>it played havoc with some of the earlier scenarios.
Unintended consequences: That's one of the reasons I can't
really tinker with it any more. I just can't take the time to deal
with all the side effects of even the best implemented possible
improvements.
>I think it's great that Matrix is doing this. Matrix
>as a publisher sticks it's neck out financially to
>obtain the rights to these games and suffers the
>upfront cost of QA testing and marketing.
I agree, and there's plenty of room in the pool. We're a long
way from having too many game buying choices for wargamers, aren't we?
>I wonder what ramifications this has for the
>TOAW improvement Norm K. implied
>were already pretty much in the can?
They weren't so much implied as actually stated, if I remember
correctly. V1.07 really is quite good. The last set of changes,
working the way they were designed to work, should at last see the
light of day. Who knows what the Matrix guys may have in mind for the
future? I expect good things from them.
>Hexside rivers en route?
Not from me- too much work. But feel free to lobby Matrix with
your favorite wish lists. I think they'd be pleased if you guys
respond with a list of wonderful changes to implement.
>HOWEVER, should Norm decide to radically
>improve TOAW (TOAW: The Next Gen,
>chough chough) be assured that I will pay
>full price for it.
Hmmm... Hmmm... Er... Oh... Jeez. There's something called
"project Ivan". I wish I could say more... I know: "There's this
handprint on the door..."
>Maybe they can get norm koeger out of
>retirement
Norm is nowhere near retirement. He's having too much fun to
retire.
>Here's hoping, though, that updating
>TOAW doesn't mean RJW stays in a
>vaporware state.
Nope. 1) Distant Guns has absolute priority. 2) I don't really
plan to do anything in the way of adding new features to TOAW (though
Matrix probably will). 3) Distant Guns was never vaporware, and won't
be under wraps much longer.
>BTW will MG publish Norm's long
>awaited RJW now that we're at it?"
No. Jim and I have decided to use it as the lead product for a
new company.
That's all guys. Thanks for reading, and thanks for keeping me
in mind. I plan to be posting a lot more here in the coming weeks.
Look for Stormeaglestudios.com to come on line any day now - if we can
just get that stupid text formatting problem in the center column of
our style sheet taken care of...
Norm Koger 2.0
I hate 3D and RTS stuff, it ruined the wargaming genre
