MapMod for First World War Campaigns

[-72-]

Just goes to show (again) that it is great that modders like Jison give up their free time to create choice with improved graphic Mods...

In no way did I mean that the mails, comments and feedback I have recieved over the years was positive only - just that they show that the visuals engage people. ;)

Jison

I should feel lucky that no one generally emails me then :) ...

Camp ... you know that might not be mainstream American slang -you may have just gotten away with one Foul. . . now where's my featherboa... it worked for Barry Humphries.

[Volcano Man]

I will second what Foul says. If you do not like the original graphics or any of the mods for graphics, make your own and share them here with the community.

I would much rather the HPS guys spend their time on all the excellent research they do for these games.

Dog Soldier

This is the kind of attitude why these games are only available for only a very limited audience.

And this is the kind of attitude why these games -if they remain unable to evolve- will eventually extinct.

Well, these games haven't gone extinct yet even though they did look mildly good (from memory) back in the Talonsoft days, it is the substance that matters. Besides, I don't see what the problem is since they are open to modding. Everyone has their own opinion on what they think is "good looking", especially in this genre full of, well, more mature people (no offense to anyone's age). Besides, who is to say that in some far away time that the same games don't get graphical face lifts and a new engine and voila, they have new life? Anything is possible, it is not as if these games will ever die off in my opinion.

Not to mention, it goes back to the old argument of invest before revenue or get revenue to invest. In case you haven't noticed, these games aren't exactly making anyone rich. The big concern in investing money in artwork is that there will never be enough money made to pay for that expense. On the other hand, there are those that think that you invest that money in order to get more sales and better revenue, but the latter is a risk as it is directly related to how many strategy game developers have went tits up / out of business in that they never made back the money they spent on the investment.

The start of a new series (the ww1 campaigns) would have been a good opportunity to release a product with a new look.
But naaah, lets just keep the engine we used in the past 20 years.
Why change?

In F14's defense (imagine that), there was a great deal of desire to improve the looks and I think that has been achieved. Of course it doesn't look as good as Jison's complete mod, but there are reasons why that could not be official and I am just grateful that Jison agreed to do the 2D artwork that is in the stock game. I think it is a nice balance of old and new so as not to push anyone completely off the deep end, but that is just my opinion. IMO, Jison is probably the most talented artist I have seen in a long time and we are lucky that he is making mods for the community and we are also lucky that the game is easily "moddable" so that we can pick and choose what we like, like some sort of salad bar or something.

[Al]

OK, first of all I'm old (older than VM, but not as old as Blackie ) but I've seen these comments about "poor graphics" before but yet to have read what specifically should be changed. The map & the counters convey the needed information. VM & Jison's art mods are nice & add a lot - I pick & choose what to take & what to leave. So, I guess I don't know what these youngsters are looking for in different graphics. :coffee:

[Dog Soldier]

I will elaborate on my point a little more for Sch's benefit.

HPS is not Apple or Microsoft. It is small like a diamond. About as rare and beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The HPS games are much more like that out of the way restaurant that you never went into because of how it looks on the outside or the neighborhood. Until someone you know takes you there and you taste the food. Now you wonder, why did I judge the place because it was Mom & Pop style instead of big corporate chain? I come to a restaurant because of the food.

With limited resources, I am glad HPS, Tiller & Co. put their effort into bring out a well designed and the very best researched games. And where the design is found wanting, they upgrade it, free of charge instead of issuing a PZC 2 and 3 etc like most game companies.

If you want eye popping graphics, go play the latest game console FPS WW2 games. All fantasy, but beautiful. If you want intellectual stimulation with your gaming, then stick with this series and game company. Those involved have earned their reputations.

Dog Soldier

[Jison]

Just goes to show (again) that it is great that modders like Jison give up their free time to create choice with improved graphic Mods...

In no way did I mean that the mails, comments and feedback I have recieved over the years was positive only - just that they show that the visuals engage people. ;)

Jison

I should feel lucky that no one generally emails me then :) ...

'No news is good news' can be very very true at times... :)

Jison

[Taffy6]

If any of you guys know of the controversy raging in the submarine simulation community right now over the release of Silent Hunter V, you can see where/how a developer concentrating on "eye candy" and "modern graphics" for a new release can literally kill a game series. Silent Hunter III is a five year old, patched, deep and mature game that has been modded into the best U-Boat campaign simulator out there.

The developer (Ubisoft) decided to concentrate on "flash bang" graphics for sucessor SHV. Ubisoft has deep pockets, and spent their money making the game look good. They hoped to grab attention of a younger generation of players and generate better sales for the game series. After all, there are millions of console gamers out there with money. The end result was they shoved a beautiful-looking turkey out the door. The water is so realistic you can feel the salt spray. Want to play in high def? You can. It LOOKS awesome. Even on a lap-top. They spent a lot of time/money on LOOKS. It auto-updates patches etc etc.

However, the new SHV game itself is such a poor tactical/ operational/ strategic simulation that the subsim community has largely turned its back on the product. Game play is horrible. Not just buggy, but crippled because R&D was spent on graphics and gee-whiz instead of HOW it plays. Play as designed SUX. In my opinion, Ubisoft has pulled the plug on supporting the product because sales have tanked. Thus, the series is at an end (in my opinion). Sadly, the best looking naval simulator ever is the worst wargame simulation of the series and signals the end of the development cycle due to the piss-poor sales the poor game play has caused.

Personally, I think HPS has it just right. While there are some very minor game engine changes that might be cool to experiment with, I'd rather HPS keep on keeping on. I do respect the fact that this is the 21st century and PC graphical power has come a long way, but to me the beauty of the HPS games is the research, the engine and most of all the superior support these guys provide for the player. I own about 25 of these games and love every one of them. I hope the HPS guys are at least breaking even on game sales, because I would love to buy another 25 over the coming years. Masterpieces all, and a superior community of gentlemen-wargamers playing them. Maybe someday I will actually learn how to achieve a victory against a human, LOL!

Taffy

[P.Ako]

Just for curiosity, which HPS game is the best selling one and which one is the worst?

[Mr Grumpy]

Just for curiosity, which HPS game is the best selling one and which one is the worst?

HPS don't make that info public. ;)

Taffy, great post and exactly why we all love HPS games!

[Volcano Man]

...Sadly, the best looking naval simulator ever is the worst wargame simulation of the series and signals the end of the development cycle due to the piss-poor sales the poor game play has caused.

Interesting stuff. Being myself deeply involved in the sim community (professionally) since the late 90s, there was a death of all things simulated because at the time the design philosophy was to concentrate completely on visuals and nothing on substance. This in turn began a cycle of death where the sales tanked because of poor reviews about buggy and bad gameplay (but they sure were good looking games!) and the publishers / developers decided amongst themselves that the whole sim genre was dead, and so it was. I remember this intimately because this is how the company I work for got started -- they took the opposite approach to concentrate on substance first and graphics last and in many ways this is what has caused it to be successful by being adopted by a mature, loyal and small community and going from there. This all sounds familiar.

Anyway, I thought the simulation genre had learned from its past mistakes during the dark days of the late 90s, but it seems that history is repeating itself. Hopefully the SH series isn't totally dead and that they can learn from their mistakes before the pull the plug on it prematurely.

[Prussia21]

Ed,
I went to your website and was fully enjoying your Panzer Campaign Unit artwork/scenario update mods, but after I downloaded and saved them; When I tried to re-open them to unzip them into their correct files, It came up with an error and with nothing to unzip. I'm using Winzip 14.5 and I am buying France '40, Moscow '41 and Sicily '43 and couldnt open any of them. I must be doing something wrong. The question is, what is it? Thank you!

-Von Lettow-Vorbeck aka Gary :)