Matrix Games Forums

Eric? Iain? Last december is a fair while ago now...

Anything at all regarding SSG?

I tried emailing them again. Nothing.

No replies at the Run 5 forums.

Have Matrix discussed anything with them? Any games happening? Are they still in business?

I saw a comment on the Run5 forum many months ago which could be interpreted as "after Ian died they went out of business".

Here is the post by Roger Keating I thought of when I read Joe's reply above. This was specifically to Battlefront, but perhaps the general feeling about SSG as well.

I suppose the real problem here now is that since Ian died the motivation for developing the series died with him. I now spend my time teaching college students about Game Design.

I still find that there is little demand in finding anything out about AI techniques and besides a couple of comments here no one has approached me to develop the series.

Putting it on the iPad would be a great step but I think I am the only person who truly understands the code so without my input it would not be possible.

I would like to think that this would be possible one day but I personally do not see it happening.

Perhaps some of the students I teach will one day join me in such an enterprise but I feel the chances are equivalent to (place any battle here that would be appropriate, such as Japan in it's fight against Russian forces in 1939).

It reminds me of Octavian's speech about Antony's death in Cleopatra.

The " death " of SSG should have resounded like a thunderclap not a whimper.

I had no idea that it was in effect gone.

The amount of my life I have spent since the early 80s playing SSG games represents a large chunk of my computer gaming since then.

that is very sad that Ian passed away and it was not more widely known. The SSG games are absolutely outstanding models of how thrilling and realistic wargames even in abstraction can be - i have played battlefront recently and loved how it is not a game that you can just win with "gamey" unrealistic tactics at all. Great great games and i really hope that the code can continue on in new forms.

Hmm, I hope you blokes are wrong.

I know Ian was the point man of the outfit, so perhaps that is what is missing. Someone to lead them on and drive the charge home. They still have the tech/code guru Roger there, and it would be a great pity not to have his expertise still running through new wargame releases. From the above, it seems he wouldn't say no to someone wanting to 'develop' the series, but what does this mean? Someone to write up new scenarios to sell? Offer ideas and testing on new rules implementations?

From what it sounds like from what I have seen, Roger Keating, the one that commented, is willing, but cannot do it by himself and he has no one else that will commit the time. This happens all the time in small companies where they have a dynamic leader, but when they lose that leader no one is willing to step up and be the leader or feel they aren't capable of it. So, the company falls apart, slowly or quickly.

I like their titles. But, I feel a little leery of buying any due to knowing there is probably no support left. I'd hate to buy a game that won't work and having to rely on the community to get it up and running. Nothing against communities like the ones we have here, but when no one is truly on the line to get things solved, problems can go a long time unsolved.

I just saw that Erik Rutins mentioned in the thread on $10 old wargames that a new version of CaW will be coming out soon or something - surprising given whats mentioned on the run5 forums. i would like to hear something more definite on this

Hey all, any news on this game?[;)]

I just thought I would pop over to the SSG Run5 forums...they seem to have gone down, though the site itself still sits there. It reminds me of an old Victorian building, its roof slowly sagging in, weeds growing in the gutters peeling wallpaper and paint sheeting off the walls, and the smell of mildew...

Ah well. SSG, thanks for all of the great years. I might go and play Complete Carriers at war again. On dosbox.

I believe most things connected with SSG began to decline after Ian Trout died in 2011. [:(]

Indeed.

Ian used to run a famous military bookshop in Sydney, called Napoleons Bookshop. The story I have heard is that Roger Keating, a programmer in those days (late 70s/early 80s) used to come in the shop from time to time. Both of them also loved board wargames. When Ian heard about Roger being a programmer, he apparently pestered Roger into making a wargame on a computer! The two of them did just that (with Ians Enthusiasm being tempered by Rogers programming ability as to what is possible with up to 64k of ram). SSG was born, and on they went.

So Ian was the driving force of the operation, with Roger being the mad scientist that made the machine magic happen.

But that is just what I have been told before. And I do remember Napoleons bookshop back in the day and also remember them stocking....SSG wargames! Good times.

One thing just occurred to me though: Ian LOVED Napoleonic history and warfare. Loved it, possibly more than any other period. And yet, SSG never did anything on that particular subject. I am sure there is a story there.