Campaign Series Vietnam - Sneak Peek

[Jason Petho]

With CS: Middle East 1.02 UPDATE being finalised for a release in a few weeks time, we are continuing our work towards the next game in the series; CS: Vietnam.

True to the Campaign Series approach to game titles, this game will also span a long period of time, covering conflicts for instance:

- First Indochina War
- Second Indochina War (aka Vietnam War)
- Laos Civil War
- Cambodian Civil War
- Chinese-Vietnamese Border War

The game will continue to be equipped with a full series of editors, as well with a Random Battle Generator and a Linked Campaign Game option. Dynamic Campaign Games are being discussed, given the DCG mechanism is to go a complete overhaul, likely after CS:VN 1.0 is out, whether it will be included from the word go is still under discussion.

While we're very happy with the game engine itself, and the rich variety of gaming features and options it provides, the user interface continues to be in the center of our attention too. In-game dialogs are the first to begin their long due overhaul. Front End menus too will receive some attention, all things going well.

This time around, 3D will get a thorough overhaul, with a new set of terrain tiles in the making. All 3D units continue to be lovingly hand painted too. We've got two project members dedicating their full development time to 3D. The design philosophy continues to be that of the hand painted table top miniatures, familiar to CS players from the previous game titles. More of them later.

On 2D, after the two new Zoom levels that appeared with CS:ME, the tasks in hand are the development of the new Tropical temp zone terrain tiles. The design philosophy here continues to be that of a Boardgame look and feel. To that aspect, now with the Counter Stats being available for chits, the 2D Graphical Unit Icons view receives a new design approach. 2D NATO symbol view remains the same, with 420+ individual platoon and section icons available to describe the various units.

There's a lot of foundation work done already all along while the JTCS 2.0 and CS:ME 1.0 titles were being developed. We hope to release CS: Vietnam in some 12 months time from now, all going well. Here's hoping!

If you have any questions, comments or wishlist items to make, shoot!

Oh, the first sneak peek: Version 1.0 mock-up of the new 2D Graphical Unit Icons view:





As always, everything is work-in-progress and subject to change.

CS Legion