Any game like Steel Panthers on the horizon?

[Manticore]

I'm surprised that there aren't more games like Steel Panthers. I guess there just isn't much demand for historical games anymore? Are there any games like it being produced?

Thanks

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: Manticore

Are there any games like it being produced?

I guess development with WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT are still going on. SPWAW is officially completed and there is no more work done for it. There is Enhanced Definite Version, but that is more like mod.

[Alby]

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

ORIGINAL: Manticore

Are there any games like it being produced?

I guess development with WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT are still going on. SPWAW is officially completed and there is no more work done for it. There is Enhanced Definite Version, but that is more like mod.

Enhanced is a "MOD" but in my book, its an upgraded SPWAW
[:D]

[sami heimola]

Sometimes was speak about doing Steel Panthers IV but I'm afraid that it never comes[8|]...

[Arctic Blast]

What would be in another game, if it were to appear?

I'm guessing it would cover another era.

[Nikademus]

Combat Leader was (is) supposed to be the successor to SPWAW but it's run into multiple snags and may never be completed. I think part of the prob is that its real hard to improve on something so enduring and popular. Other companies like Battlefront.com have offered worthy alternatives (Combat Mission series) but while the 3D is interesting and injects fresh life into the subject matter, I still end up going back to Steel Panthers in the end. Thats a problem Matrix faces in trying to develop CL.

[Manticore]

ORIGINAL: Nikademus

Combat Leader was (is) supposed to be the successor to SPWAW but it's run into multiple snags and may never be completed. I think part of the prob is that its real hard to improve on something so enduring and popular. Other companies like Battlefront.com have offered worthy alternatives (Combat Mission series) but while the 3D is interesting and injects fresh life into the subject matter, I still end up going back to Steel Panthers in the end. Thats a problem Matrix faces in trying to develop CL.

I think many people would be willing to churn out $50 for improved graphics and AI alone [;)]

[KG Erwin]

For what it's worth, Cross of Iron is a pretty good game, and with the various available mods, is worth the investment.

As for SPWaW itself, Alby is correct. The Enhanced Mod IS equivalent to an upgrade, as it uses a different mech.exe that improves upon the last official release.

[Wuotan]

And the AI? No chance to improve it?

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: Manticore


I think many people would be willing to churn out $50 for improved graphics and AI alone [;)]

perhaps....but CL wasn't advertised as simply a graphical upgrade with a hopefully improved AI. It's supposed to be next generation but thats a tall order.

[Wild Bill]

Sad that the concept introduced by the original Steel Panthers and culminating in SPWAW, SPWW2 and SPMBT has sort of stalled.
 
I still have high hopes that fine turn-based low-level tactical game for WW2 and beyond is on the way. I hope it gets here before I go, or my fingers get so stiff I can't play it[>:]
 
Wild Bill

[azraelck]

I'm sure that eventually there will be another low-level tactical strategy game, based on WWII (WWII is always a favorite ground for shooters and strategy games. I'd like to see an RPG), but another SPWaW? Not likely, unless Matrix takes SPWaW, goes over it with a fine-toothed comb to get the good stuff out, and basically uses the core design and wraps a nice new shiny engine around it, replete with fancy graphics, full online play like in CoD, and ease of modification like nothing else.

The problem is, can there be a business case made for it? Matrix ultimately is out to make money, they have to pay for the development costs and office somehow. Is there a market for it? Can the SPWaW community be counted on to pull a project like that into the black? Or will they stick with the tried and true SPWaW? If the guys at Matrix can't make a case for it selling well enoguh to draw a profit, then it probably won't make its way to the drawing board. I'd love to see a (new) game like this, but upgraded for easier modification and user expansion. Heck, so long as it wasn't a click-fest, an RTS isn't out of the question for me. We all would pay for just better AI and some of the current engine's limits removed. Would Joe Q Public?

[Wild Bill]

Oh, I think there would be a market for it, PROVIDED that it offered all the features of the current game, with upgraded menus, editor, and some stunning graphics.

SPWAW is an evolution of the original Steel Panthers over a dozen years and folks are still tinkering with it. Its greatest asset is its versatility. To think, orginally a DOS game, it has evolved into something that still captures the heart of many a wargamer. There is so much to be said for the fact that so many types of scenarios can be built with this engine. Its truly amazing.

I've watched guys with a lot more talent than me add one improvement after another. The champion of the cause was Michael Wood. I worked with him closely as SPWAW went from one version to another. I can remember when paratroopers were added, complete with parachutes! What excitement those days brought to me!

I'm not a businessman. I wish I had been![X(] Maybe things would have been a little easier for this 70 year old retiree. But I am and have always been a die-hard wargamer.

With David Heath at the helm and the very talented programmers, artists, and developers, they can make a real winner. I've worked with David from some very meager beginnings, when a gaming company was only a gleam in his eye, over 10 years ago.

David made it happen. He is that kind of guy. We worked and worked on this, often talking at 2AM about the game and what we might do to make it better. I don't dare try to calculate the hours I have spent with it, but they run into the thousands and that is NO exaggeration

I think it will happen. I hope that it will. I hope I'll be around to see it and play a part in it's preparation.

Wild Bill

[azraelck]

If there's a market that can support it (and for the record, I don't think that the SPWaW community is too small, but that they might refuse to even go to a newer game, instead sticking with the old war horse!), then it can happen. Will it depends on Matrix (unless someone built a game from scratch elsewhere, but TBS are a scarcity, and generally very few prefer to develop them).

Given the close ties Matrix has kept (relative to other developers, even the small ones like Shifting suns) with it's community here, enough emails might convince them to at least do a study of the prospect. I prefer real, hand-written letters, as those just seem more real and verifiable. Mostly because you only get a limited number of addresses, usually one, to send from. Whereas in email one dedicated nut job can start thousands of emails to sigh a petition with or make a case to a dev. That's why those kinds of things are ignored; EA ignored the Bard's Tale community, even after 1000 signatures were filed with them. We only got a new Bard's Tale when nXile took it and made a console-type thing out of it.

[macgregor]

I could see where improved graphics and animation, could really rock this game specifically, higher definition. realism, maybe bigger battlefields. My favorite was SP3.