Wargame toolbox from PzC engine?

[DaveK]

I think the more relevant question-- after 10 years (or 15, if you reach back into the Talonsoft origins of the Tiller games), aren't we all overdue for a new game engine?

This was never a great engine to begin with, and the AI has always been atrocious. After 15 years and over a thousand of my dollars donated to Mr. Tiller and Co., I'd vote for a grand game editor to close out the series, and a new game engine that uses code written in the 21st century.

BTW, the argument that "If we put it out there, amateurs will make the scenarios and we'll never sell anything again" strikes me as preposterous. How many amateur scenarios and campaigns have even a fraction of the research that HPS puts into a game? Even something like Bolt Out of the Blue has taken years of collaborative work, and most of that built on what HPS put in there already. All the gamers on this board-- HPS's customers-- would buy new games with an HPS "seal of quality" even if they owned the engine. Those who wouldn't pirate the games already, you're not losing their business.

I vote for open source. What's the fear at this point? HPS will never be a major publisher, they'll always cater to an insanely loyal niche market who spends money on every game, no matter how ill-thought out.

It's like the DRM arguments-- does HPS trust their customers, or do they fear them? (Fear them, I'd say, given that HPS still insists on the copy protection scheme that stops absolutely no one from playing without the CD).

Anyway... old story, sour grapes, I admit I'm grumpy. I want more HPS games, I want to *give them more of my money*, but they won't release them on a normal schedule anymore, grrr.