Some additional AE information...

[Wirraway_Ace]

Erik,

thanks for re-posting the marketing stategy. AE is a Grognard's dream come true! The market for such games is so small and the develoment time so great, that I am astounded and appreciative that you were able to pull it off. I hope Matix has a couple more in them, but, if not, you and the team have made one life-time wargamer for ever grateful.

mike

[Akos Gergely]

Hi Erik,

I know I'm one of the lead-whiners because of the resolution thingie, but any chance this 'future development' might mean a patch? At least adding one or two additional fixed resolutions? Anything bigger than the 1024X768 would be a big help for the larger screen community - and I honestly think most of the guys here run screens with 1280X1024 resolution or even larger in these days when a 19" TFT is barely more expensive than AE itself.

I would suggest running a poll what do guys use here as the most common resolution. Obviously you can't please everyone but I always curse the 1024 resolution on my 32" Full HD TV- such a waste to stare at the desktop instead of seeing more area from the map - especially now with AE's bigger hexes.


One more thing I can not leave to comment on: you say the graphics engine is from the late 1990s. I'M sure many of you here knwo Transport Tycoon deluxe, the original is from 1994. Now, a purely volunteer team patched the whole thing (TTDX patch) to run on 32 bit OS-es and able to run windowed where in a simple editor you can set the reolution pixel by pixel - and Witp is sort of more 2D than TTDX! So it's a bit difficult to accept that a game that is 15 years old now has a more advanced graphics engine than AE...
Please don't take it a negative critics, I just hope that future dev. will invest more into this area as it is a major shortcoming IMHO. Or if you have the time please look into TTDX patch or ask the devs (it's open source now) there has to be a solution

[Lützow]

Would be indeed nice if this feature still could be added with a later patch. Large widescreen display with high resolutions are a perfect gameboard replacement. Gives a complete different feeling than playing on a 17" (4:3) display, as it was common some years ago.

[Wirraway_Ace]

Some day I hope to be able to play this type of game on a 50inch in the upstairs family/wargaming room.

[Lomri]

Hey Erik,

Thanks for the run down. I'm an AI player, and don't post much, but I wanted to chime in that I'm really excited for AE to come out. I certainly would pay $100 for this type of game with the understanding that this niche of gamers is shrinking. (I played UV before witp, and when witp came out I went and bought t-shirts and the tiny printed out maps just to support the project). It's too bad hearing people complain about the cost. We are lucky that their are still folks designing games for this community. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it - when the next 'best' thing in war gaming is stuff like Hearts of Iron, you know there is a giant gaping hole to fill.

(I'm not saying it should be $100 of course, since that might turn off some people and I want you guys to keep your funding! ; )

Thanks again to the AE team, and I'll be buying AE right when it comes out just like WitP. Us silent forum trollers are waiting just as patiently as everyone else!

[Canoerebel]

Matrix is toying with my celibacy, foul seductress!

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: csatahajos
I know I'm one of the lead-whiners because of the resolution thingie, but any chance this 'future development' might mean a patch? At least adding one or two additional fixed resolutions? Anything bigger than the 1024X768 would be a big help for the larger screen community - and I honestly think most of the guys here run screens with 1280X1024 resolution or even larger in these days when a 19" TFT is barely more expensive than AE itself.

I doubt it will be a patch, simply because of the effort required, but I suppose anything is possible. It's honestly hard to judge that now before AE's release.

One more thing I can not leave to comment on: you say the graphics engine is from the late 1990s. I'M sure many of you here knwo Transport Tycoon deluxe, the original is from 1994. Now, a purely volunteer team patched the whole thing (TTDX patch) to run on 32 bit OS-es and able to run windowed where in a simple editor you can set the reolution pixel by pixel - and Witp is sort of more 2D than TTDX! So it's a bit difficult to accept that a game that is 15 years old now has a more advanced graphics engine than AE...

It's not easy to explain this to someone who hasn't seen the engine or programmed a game. However, let me make this point, back when it was originally developed, I would guess that Transport Tycoon had a very nice development budget for its time, unlike WITP. Wargames are unfortunately, as a rule, developed on a shoestring budget and that can make a big difference engine-wise as far as future flexibility.

I'll say this, we all want higher resolution support. I just don't know if it's feasible before WITP 2 and a new engine, whenever that happens. We know how to do it technically, but it would be a LOT of work (probably a few months) to add an extra fixed resolution or two and I'm guessing that we'll be plenty busy after AE's release running down bugs, making tweaks and adding features. I can say that the better AE does, the sooner WITP 2 is likely to happen and the better AE does, the greater the possibility that more features will get into AE post-release.

Regards,

- Erik

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
My concern may have been unnecessary but I have seen products (not Matrix related) being sold to US customers (via the internet) for lets say 80 US$ and for European customers to 90$ because the US$ isn´t worth as much as it was a long time ago. And that´s something I don´t understand because when the US$ still was worth a lot (compared to the EUR for example) then I didn´t get it cheaper either, only because the US$ was worth a lot at that time.

I've seen that too, that's not our policy and it's never been our policy.

So does this mean if I digitally download it (from Europe) then my credit card will be charged with $59.90 or will it be charged with more?

It should be within less than a dollar of that, the only thing we do is round to $.99 on the dollar to make the prices look more "normal". We set the price based on the exchange rate on the day of release. You'll see the price, in Euros, before you place the order. What it gets converted to depends on the exchange rate your credit card/bank uses on that same day, but I would expect it to be extremely close.

Note that if the exchange rate changes to a significant degree in the future before our quarterly price updates, then you could conceivably get it for less than $59.99 or slightly more.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

Ack, sorry, I hid Edit instead of quote. See my reply in the post above.

[AW1Steve]

Erik. thank you for the run down and further data.[&o] It's always appreciated. And I'm assuming that as it stands now you guys probably won't hold back release to coincide with a major historic day in WITP? I mean that besides Guam liberation day (which on July 21 won't really fit with late July) , there really isn't a major date till late August , or reall the next real major day being VJ day in September. [:-]

[Shark7]

Erik, while I realize opinions are like noses...everyone has one...I do want to chime in on the graphics/resolution thing.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm older...or the fact I remember playing games back when DOS was the hot new operating system. Either way its like this: I will take gameplay over graphics 100% of the time. You could go back to blocky 2D graphics for all I care, its wether or not the game is fun and replayable that matters to me. WiTP Vanilla had good gameplay, and I feel rather certain that AE will as well.

IMO the graphics for WiTP are appropriate for the game. They don't distract from the gameplay itself. The body may be a little rusty and have a few dents, but there is a lot of horsepower under the hood, and that is what really matters.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
Erik. thank you for the run down and further data.[&o] It's always appreciated. And I'm assuming that as it stands now you guys probably won't hold back release to coincide with a major historic day in WITP? I mean that besides Guam liberation day (which on July 21 won't really fit with late July) , there really isn't a major date till late August , or reall the next real major day being VJ day in September. [:-]

While it would be nice to release on a historic date, I think we would be shot by the community if we delayed release one day longer than necessary. [8D]

I'll leave it to you guys as you explore your new copies of AE and start up your new AI or PBEM games to enjoy any coincidences between in-game events and historical anniversaries.

[kaleun]

I just don't know if it's feasible before WITP 2 and a new engine,

LOOK!LOOK! It's official.
There will be a WITP2!

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

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Ack, sorry, I hid Edit instead of quote. See my reply in the post above.

thanks for your answer Erik

[AW1Steve]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
Erik. thank you for the run down and further data.[&o] It's always appreciated. And I'm assuming that as it stands now you guys probably won't hold back release to coincide with a major historic day in WITP? I mean that besides Guam liberation day (which on July 21 won't really fit with late July) , there really isn't a major date till late August , or reall the next real major day being VJ day in September. [:-]

While it would be nice to release on a historic date, I think we would be shot by the community if we delayed release one day longer than necessary. [8D]

I'll leave it to you guys as you explore your new copies of AE and start up your new AI or PBEM games to enjoy any coincidences between in-game events and historical anniversaries.

Thanks Erik, you've relieved my worries any way. History is nice , but imediate gratification always trumps it! [:D] Many thanks! [&o]

[Terminus]

ORIGINAL: kaleun

I just don't know if it's feasible before WITP 2 and a new engine,

LOOK!LOOK! It's official.
There will be a WITP2!

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

[Akos Gergely]

Shark7: I really don't want to take this too far here but what I complain about has nothing to do with the graphics quality, it's just plainly about a too small visible game area/map area in the age of huge, cheap monitors. I'm totally happy with the graphics otherwise (well a bit larger ship sides won't hurt but I can live with that ).


Erik: just for your info, TTDX patch was made by volunteers, the original game was not able to run on WinXP at all and could not scale resolution.
I accept what you say that this would require a lot of effort,still it's good to know that the dev team/Matrix thinks the same way.

[pompack]

Erik:

I just have to chime in on this "pricey" pricing thingee

I am retired and live on a fixed income so I have to count the pennies. OTOH, the reason I retired was so I would have more time to play games. A few years ago I was buying 6-10 games a year (and I don't remember any of them being cheaper than $49.95). In the last two years I bought a total of three games, and I never had time to play one of them because it would cut into my WitP time.

So as far as I am concerned:
(looks around carefully and checks to insure that overhead cover is close by)

YOU COULD DOUBLE THE PRICE AND I WOULD STILL COME OUT WAY AHEAD!!!!

(Jumps quickly into previously prepared bunker) [:D]

[Grotius]

The pricing sounds reasonable to me, and I look forward to having the game.

[drw61]

The only drawback it that T has been selected as the project manager.
We select a unit, set a location to move to, and the interface says...No. Tell a TF to Bombard....No. Select a fighter to fly CAP....No
It should make for a very fast game. [:D]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

ORIGINAL: kaleun

I just don't know if it's feasible before WITP 2 and a new engine,

LOOK!LOOK! It's official.
There will be a WITP2!

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