Introducing Wargame Design Studios

[wiggum]

@Xaver
Very true post, at least one that is willing to view reality like it is.
Speaking of discount, Tiller games as download are already 10 dollar cheaper compared to the HPS physical disks.

You make up your own "reality" thats all !

@wiggum
I'm tired of your insane interpretations of my posts. The only one making things up is you with you cry baby attitude and your not ending rogation that nothing is & can be wrong with steam.

And i'm tired of your insane claims you cant provide any evidence for.
You just did make stuff up, nothing else.
Thats why you shy away from a discussion with me...but ok, at least everyone can see now that you are wrong on the subject.

That is not how business is done unless you want to flush it down the toilet before it even started.
In business steps are taken with great care, you might not want to see the problems that can come with steam, still reasonable people especially those in charge of WDS will surely not have this attitude because they just can't allow themselves such a silly behavior.

Tell me again about the "problems that can come with steam"...
Oh, you cant without making stuff up ?

WDS will not miss the opportunities Steam provides them just because that would hurt your silly "grognard" feelings or, heaven forbid !, people who not consider themselves "grognards" would buy and enjoy PzB...on Steam...
(because thats all whats left from the many words you hammered into your keyboard, you did not provide a single argument thats not entirely made-up and/or easily disproven !)

[Xaver]

You know how works Matrix-Slitherine offers??? because in Steam they use the SAME politic except special packs you can find in other webs with very cheap prices (you need be ready to cath them, for example last one for 7 euros i buy 3-4 AGEOD titles... last releases).

In few words, when they have a title 1 year in the catalog they release a discount of around 20% the problem is they do discounts only in november-december but last times they introduce titles under 1 year here with smaller discounts 10-15%, over 1 year is possible see bigger discounts and even over 50% discounts.

The example i put of Hell is because in 1 year it receive a 60% discount if i dont remember bad and before it more discounts.

My point here is that Matrix-Slitherine ALLWAYS had discounts on their politic of prices maybe not common and arrive late for newer titles BUT have them, instad Tiller NEVER release a discount the only thing he do is remove the physical part and sell the games cheaper than HPS... but not cheaper compared with NWS if you have in consideration shipment (now Tiller games cost the same tham physical copies from NWS, a CD+CDbox).

And yes, now PzB have few competition in Steam but in future Matrix is going to release the reworked version of Campaigns (like they did with Middle east) and in 3-4 titles, ONLY 3-4 you can have all WWII covered and in a game with 3D tools to edit EVERTHING.

I like Tiller games for the historical part, the use of OOBs, maps and cover actions in certain moments... for me apart play them i have fun using them as tool for my reads.

I think this is something irrelevant now, we are going to continue buying in Tiller Store in short-med time and i want know now more about demo and PzB3... i need feed my mates in other wargame forum, i spread the word in a hard place... they are veteran wargames with refined taste hehehe.

[Ricky B]

Please be civil or we will have to start clearing things out. Appreciate all the thoughts but drop the distracting personal attacks.

Rick

[BigDuke66]

@wiggum
Do you really think I waste my time an explain you the trouble that can come with steam when your ignoring even simple facts.
Your just totally ignorant about this platform and that is surely nothing that WDS will do just because you think steam is the solution to every problem that Tiller games ever had.
Get lost Bavarian!

[-72-]

Getting a bit out of hand, isn't it?   Think about it.

I imagine Tiller has the final say about how JTS will function as a business; I guess David has input, I guess I have input and a bevvy of other guys that I know too - but at the end of the day, seriously who cares?  There are other things that are a bit more important.

Thing is -none of this exchange has anything to do with what David announced (or any of the guys directly involved with his design house).

If someone (or some people) really wants to have a shitfight conversation about the merits of Steam as a business model should be doing this in another, separate thread.

[BigDuke66]

I don't mind if all the steam crap goes into a separate thread or is delete right away.
The thread is here as announcement for the Wargame Design Studios, all other crap just messes the thread up.

Anyone was rather happy about it but I'm not sure if anyone thanked the guys, so let me simply thank the crew of WDS for taking up the flag and caring it on for the PB series and best luck for your endeavor.

[Chris Merchant]

Getting back to some of the exciting possiblities of game development rather than discuss retail delivery channel strategy, I think its great that the team have been given access to the code, so you will start to see faster turnaround in wishlist items that the team and community value.

I'll throw in one for starters, to encourage more pbem games and grow the community due to ease of entry into the multiplayer world - automate file transfers and ladder postings.  This could be as simple as using mapi to invoke the mail client to compress and attach a file and send off to the opponent, and end results pushed from the game engine into the Blitz ladder database.  

One other item - I also don't think that the 3D side of things is worth working on, now that we have those fantastic unit portraits and the grahics in general are better than previous PZx games.  

But I do think that it is worth noting that the base resolution of monitors is gradually increasing and I would like to see options for larger hex sizes and corresponding graphics so I don't have to use reading glasses to see all the details on a monitor greater than say FHD (1920x 1080).  I would rather trade monitor real estate for larger hexes, larger unit counters etc at *native resolution* (generally, running at non-native resolution looks rubbish).

cheers and best wishes

[Strela]

Getting back to some of the exciting possiblities of game development rather than discuss retail delivery channel strategy, I think its great that the team have been given access to the code, so you will start to see faster turnaround in wishlist items that the team and community value.

I'll throw in one for starters, to encourage more pbem games and grow the community due to ease of entry into the multiplayer world - automate file transfers and ladder postings.  This could be as simple as using mapi to invoke the mail client to compress and attach a file and send off to the opponent, and end results pushed from the game engine into the Blitz ladder database.  

One other item - I also don't think that the 3D side of things is worth working on, now that we have those fantastic unit portraits and the grahics in general are better than previous PZx games.  

But I do think that it is worth noting that the base resolution of monitors is gradually increasing and I would like to see options for larger hex sizes and corresponding graphics so I don't have to use reading glasses to see all the details on a monitor greater than say FHD (1920x 1080).  I would rather trade monitor real estate for larger hexes, larger unit counters etc at *native resolution* (generally, running at non-native resolution looks rubbish).

cheers and best wishes

Hi,

I have 2560 x 1440 monitor to develop and play the games on and yes we need another zoom level. This comes with implications - you can either do it the way Tiller did it in PzC with a 'fake zoom' which just takes the graphic set and doubles the size with no change in detail resolution or you add another 'real zoom' level where all the graphics need to be replicated at this higher resolution. It is definitely on our wish list to discuss, but it is not currently on a list to action.

As far as the PBEM - all good suggestions - my only concern is whether tying the results explicitly to the Blitz Database is a good idea - what if the Blitz closed tomorrow? I can think of a few workarounds, but we probably need to help grow the user base and then add more of this kind of feature.

David

[BigDuke66]

Not sure about MAPI but a bit help for PBEM would be an option for a default folder that can be set for use in the File Selection Dialog.
With any Tiller game I have to save & move the PBEM file to the appropriate game folder and than back again to mail it off.
A single folder where I could save & load my Tiller turns from and that I can also use as default folder for my mail attachements would save some time.

[Strela]

Not sure about MAPI but a bit help for PBEM would be an option for a default folder that can be set for use in the File Selection Dialog.
With any Tiller game I have to save & move the PBEM file to the appropriate game folder and than back again to mail it off.
A single folder where I could save & load my Tiller turns from and that I can also use as default folder for my mail attachements would save some time.

We're looking at all the file structures.

This is actually a bigger deal than it sounds for a patch as you essentially either have to change the players/game file structure as it stands or alternatively provide a complete new download that has to be reinstalled. We're yet to talk through the practical implementation of this.

That said, we want much more logical file layouts with minimal files in the games root directory.

David