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March 31st, 2008 - The giants return! . . . (Page 1/8)

Time marches on

You may be wondering why it's been almost a year since my last developer's journal entry. Things have been busy and I was waiting until I had something definitive to report on War Between the States before providing a new entry. At this time, work continues on the following new game projects:

* Gary Grigsby's War Between the States (WBTS) - Strategic American Civil War with monthly turns
* Gary Grigsby's Eagle Day to Bombing the Reich (EDBTR) - Update of Battle of Britain and Bombing the Reich
* Carrier Force (CF - not necessarily the official title) - Tactical Carrier combat added to the Uncommon Valor game system
* Russian Front (RF - not necessarily the official title) - Weekly turn "monster game" covering the Eastern Front 1941-1945

In addition to this, the last we've heard from Matrix Games is that work is progressing well on the War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition project. We wish the WitPAE team much luck in their efforts, as taming that beast has got to be one of the most difficult projects in wargaming.

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March 31st, 2008 - The giants return! . . . (Page 2/8)

We're almost done, really!

Our big news is that work on WBTS is finally nearing completion. The delay has been due to Keith's lack of time to work on WBTS. On several occasions he had to put some time into RF and EDBTR in order to keep those projects moving along and that's taken away from WBTS. Keith is now down to just a few items remaining, and he's trying hard to finish his list by early April. If this happens, the game may be out as soon as late May/early June. Of course there's no guarantee, and production scheduling could also delay things further, but we'll all be very disappointed if the game hasn't been released by the end of July at the latest. The extra time in development has allowed us to continue to refine the game and improve the AI. The game has been very playable for over a year, so we've been able to spend a lot of time tweaking the game and AI and adding features (like adding a fog of war system to the total forces list, and information and feedback on supply requirements and consumption). You can find several AAR's underway at the Matrix WBTS forum.I'm currently playing a PBEM game with Jon Pyle, our strongest tester, and that AAR can be found by clicking here . Although Jon's Union troops have been pushing me hard, I recently enjoyed watching a Cavalry raid led by Nathan Bedford Forrest wreck havoc on Union supply lines north of Jackson, Mississippi.

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March 31st, 2008 - The giants return! . . . (Page 3/8)

This raid showed why Grant elected to come at Vicksburg from the south and east, and it shows the importance of cavalry in WBTS. If you have an interest in the American Civil War, I strongly suggest you check out these AARs as they'll give you a good sense of how the game plays. One thing that we were never happy with in World at War was the way combat was shown. The combat animations were cheesy and weren't worth watching. In AWD we eliminated these entirely. In WBTS we think we've come up with the right solution. We show a quick running battle that adds some of the drama and excitement missing in WaW and AWD. In WBTS there aren't many battles per turn (month), but when I have an important battle, I find myself cursing the screen every time one of my leaders is hit or the "tug-of-war" indicator shifts against me, indicating I'm losing the battle. Sean Drummy and I had a basic idea of what we wanted to do, and Erik Rutins really helped us flush out the idea and we're very happy with the results.

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March 31st, 2008 - The giants return! . . . (Page 4/8)

Everything old is new again

Ron Lorence's team continues to make progress on EDBTR. Like WBTS, this project has dragged on longer than expected, as the programmers on the project are only part-timers that often have their real lives interfere with game programming. Gary has helped fix a few bugs recently (he said he was surprised that he could still read his code after all these years), and Keith helped on a couple of technical issues a few months ago. Ron continues to improve his incredibly detailed and accurate OOB. Gary's view is that the game is in good shape, and Matrix is about to organize the final beta testing for the project. Unless there are a lot of hidden problems that the alpha testers haven't uncovered (and alpha testing has been going on for many months), the beta testing shouldn't take longer than a few months.

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March 31st, 2008 - The giants return! . . . (Page 5/8)

The South Pacific in Detail

The Carrier Force project is proceeding rapidly. Justin Prince, the Producer for CF sent in this report:

"New beta testers and a few shakeups in the team have allowed for faster progress on the game. A new database is currently under construction, and new scenarios are planned including the Raid on Truk in February 1944 and the Battle of Santa Cruz in October 1942. Even though the game is focused on carrier combat, the strategic concepts of the Uncommon Valor engine are being improved, and the naval combat mode is receiving enhancements. New interface art is currently in the works to update all the new screens, and when it is finished screenshots will be sure to follow.
On the playtesting front the game is a joy to play. Taking key control over ever facet of carrier operations from arming to spotting to launching seems like a daunting task, but is easily mastered once a rhythm is established.

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March 31st, 2008 - The giants return! . . . (Page 6/8)

When in tactical mode the game is fast paced at times as you watch your planes dogfight or bomb enemy ships. However, in moments that must be reminiscent of history, there are nail-biting waits as you struggle to find the enemy task force, hoping one of your scouts reports back. Currently in the Uncommon Valor forums at Matrix Games, scenario and game ideas are being accepted, and if you have thoughts you should sound off. Mike Wood and I are reading them and would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions."

You can access that forum by clicking here.

Gary was inspired to do the initial work on CF two years ago when he read Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. This is a must read for anyone interested in the details of Carrier Operations in WWII. Published in 2005, this book was the first that I've read that detailed how a Japanese aircraft carrier and it's airgroups operated, and specifically what was going on minute by minute on the decks and in the hangers of those carriers during the battle. CF will bring this level of detail to carrier actions in the South Pacific. Justin hopes the game will be ready for publication later this year.

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March 31st, 2008 - The giants return! . . . (Page 7/8)

The Next Monster Takes Shape

As for our next "War in Russia" game, Gary's made excellent progress. Although this game has been in development off and on since 2000, it was only last summer that Gary was able to start devoting a considerable amount of time to the project. Last summer and fall, Gary was able to code a lot of the underlying supply and combat rules, and Keith was able to get the alpha version of the map up and running. For several months, Gary's progress was stymied by his inability to work on the interface code without more of Keith's help. Luckily, two months ago while working on the new combat resolution display in WBTS, Gary figured out how to do some things with Keith's system that he hadn't previously been able to do. This was the breakthrough he needed to be able to get the game up and running. After a few weeks of intense AI coding, he's been able to have the game play Barbarossa AI vs. AI, while he debugs the work he's done to date. Recently he sped up the AI's first German turn from 23 to 7 minutes by correcting inefficiency in his combat code (there's a lot happening on turn 1). He's enjoying the level of detail that 10-mile hexes allows, and is anxious for our work on WBTS to end so I can test the game and provide feedback. I'm hoping to be able to start intense work on RF in May.

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March 31st, 2008 - The giants return! . . . (Page 8/8)

The scale of this game means that it will take many months of testing, and there's a lot of work to be done to finish the interface and add real graphics (in place of the alpha "programmer" art and text we're using now). I can say for sure that it won't be done in 2008, but we may be able to finish it in 2009. We'll be looking for alpha testers (probably this summer). Only serious Russian Front fanatics should apply, both because this is another detailed/complex hardcore product (like War in the Pacific) and because the early alpha testing process is difficult work. Imagine testing the first turn of Barbarossa, spending several hours executing your moves, only to have to replay that turn a dozen times in a week due to bug fixes and game changes. Don't get me wrong, this work can be very rewarding, especially if you enjoy having input into a game's design. However, it will be many months of slogging through interface changes and improvements, bug fixes and rule changes, before the game begins to look anything like the final product. If you're interested in alpha testing this game, keep an eye on the Matrix forum for War in Russia: The Matrix Edition as we'll announce there when we're ready to start testing.

As you can see, there's a lot going on at 2by3, and together with Matrix's help we could see several new products finally make it out the door this year.

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