Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Kung Karl

As far as graphics go I think they are great. There is just ONE thing they NEED to change and that is the resolutions. With widescreen LCD:s becoming more and more usual improved support for these resolutions is a must. On the other hand they wont fix it since it require a reworking of the engine so no need to keep ddemanding it for this release since it wont happen. But pleas, for next game at least support modern resolutions.

/signed

I know that the wargame world is all about how unimportant graphics are, and it is something of a mark of grognardliness to NOT be up to speed on current capabilities, but...

The widescreen revolution in monitors is here to stay, and quite frankly, should be LOVED by the wargaming community, giving a lot more usable screen real estate to display maps and such.

This is a basic problem though - the impression I get is simply that the people developing these games lack the skill set to properly exploit even the basics of what is possible these days when it comes to graphics. Things like multiple screen resolutions are taken for granted in pretty much all games and applications, but are apparently a serious effort for many wargames, for some reason.

I find the decision not to include widescreen support extraordinary. I can only assume financial constraints prohibited adaptation of the engine to include it, but if it's too late for Kharkov it really does need doing for any subsequent game.

Widescreen support for future releases is already in the works and has been. Note that CAW does support multiple resolutions, but it was not possible to implement that for the Kharkov release. It's simply a matter of the time required (and thus also the expense) to not only create a new engine (as was done for CAW) but to then add all the additional code that is in effect "the game" to it.

Also, despite the gripes, the game really does look fine and work well in the higher resolutions even when not natively supported. We don't require you to run at 1024x768 or 1280x1024 to play the game. I've been playing with it here at 1680x1050 and honestly there's no problem, though I'll welcome 1680x1050 native support when it's available.

Unlike the mainstream game companies that can spend millions on each new release, we get by on what would be practically a "rounding error" for the likes of Electronic Arts. It's worth keeping this in mind when considering how long it takes us to create a new engine or a new releae.

Regards,

- Erik

1024x768 is...IMHO...perfectly fine. SSG has awesome graphics, although the counters are being neglected imo, and frankly it's hard enough to read[X(]. Spend the money/time on "meat & potatoes" because that's the only thing that will keep these games alive!