When?

[Froonp]

Rob Armstrong has yet to start serious work on the graphics. I discussed this problem with David Heath.

What was the oucome of the discussion then ?
A change of Artist ?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

Rob Armstrong has yet to start serious work on the graphics. I discussed this problem with David Heath.

What was the oucome of the discussion then ?
A change of Artist ?

Ambiguity continues. If the fog ever lifts, I'll let you know what I see.

[Smiffus64]

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

I agree with Froonp... we're still looking for someone to do the Naval unit commentaries similar to my air unit descriptions.

Todays aircraft is the Italian CR-42
Made by Italy and first flown in 1938 the Fiat CR.42 Falco was the last biplane fighter to be designed, built and flown operationally. Twentyfour of these aircraft were sold to Belgium and delivered between January and May of 1940 when political developments rendered further sales unlikely. The aircraft’s inadequate forward firing armament of two cowl-mounted machine guns (one 7.9mm and one 12.9mm) and the low cruising speed of 378 kph proved no match for the Luftwaffe fighters. In November 2005 the world speed record for a biplane of 520 kph was held by a modified CR-42.

How can I help? I haven't got WIF, so I don't know which units you need descriptions for. But I'd like to lend a hand.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Smiffus64

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

I agree with Froonp... we're still looking for someone to do the Naval unit commentaries similar to my air unit descriptions.

Todays aircraft is the Italian CR-42
Made by Italy and first flown in 1938 the Fiat CR.42 Falco was the last biplane fighter to be designed, built and flown operationally. Twentyfour of these aircraft were sold to Belgium and delivered between January and May of 1940 when political developments rendered further sales unlikely. The aircraft’s inadequate forward firing armament of two cowl-mounted machine guns (one 7.9mm and one 12.9mm) and the low cruising speed of 378 kph proved no match for the Luftwaffe fighters. In November 2005 the world speed record for a biplane of 520 kph was held by a modified CR-42.

How can I help? I haven't got WIF, so I don't know which units you need descriptions for. But I'd like to lend a hand.

Send me an email (Steve@PatternDiscovery.us) and I will send you the list of Naval units for MWIF as a PDF file. Greyshaft can tell you how to look them up on the web and distill what that produces down to a couple of paragraphs per unit. It is mainly for the named units that we would like to have some historical background descriptions available - so the players can learn more about the history associated with the game.

Thanks for offering to help.

[Greyshaft]

Thats great! I just had an email from Mike (Nails) offering to help also so maybe one can start with the Allied navies and one on the Axis fleets?

Todays aircraft is the FW-190... (I've done 533 aircraft descriptions... only 292 to go!)
The FW-190 first flew in June 1939 and outclassed its Bf-109 older sister in everything except high-altitude performance over 6,000m. The most common uses was as an air superiority fighter or fighter-bomber, however there were many other modifications including a planned FW-190A-5/U14 torpedo-bomber variant with an extended tailwheel to provide ground clearance for the torpedo. The technical secrets of the FW-190 were given to Britain on June 23rd, 1942 when Oberleutnant Armin Faber of 7th Staffel/III/JG2 'Richthofen' misread his compass and confused the Bristol Channel with the English Channel. Mistaking the coastline of South Wales for France, he did a victory roll over RAF Pembrey before landing his undamaged FW-190A3 on that airfield where he and his aircraft were warmly welcomed by the heavily armed RAF ground staff. Over 20,000 FW-190 aircraft were manufactured during the WWII.

[Smiffus64]

I'm fine with either, just give me some names to start with

[Shannon V. OKeets]

December 1, 2005 Status Report for Matrix Games’ MWIF Forum

Accomplishments of November

Project Management
Hopes for the target date of spring 2006 fade.

Communications
Rob Armstrong started work on the graphics. This task is just about where I expected it to be at the end of August. For those without a calculator handy, that’s 3 months behind schedule and is the direct cause for the first sentence of this report. More on this below.

I monitor all the threads in the MWIF World in Flames forum daily. Members of the forum have been extremely helpful in providing alternate strategic plans for the major powers.

Graham Dodge, a.k.a., Greyshaft, continues to do extraordinary work towards developing text descriptions for every air unit in MWIF (over 500).

I remain in frequent email contact with Chris Marinacci about how CWIF works.

CWIF Conversion
The routines to scrap units and setup the game are now completely separate and distinct. I also revised all the other routines related to Section 24 of the rules (Scenario information), so they are well structured, general purpose routines that process data for all 11 scenarios. Previously they were a hodgepodge of procedures for the 3 previously developed scenarios. This applies directly to the next section of this report.

Scenario Information
After fumbling around with trying to work with the RAW documentation on scenarios, I finally wised up and extracted all the relevant facts into a document that has a single page for each scenario. I was then able to find each element in the existing code, and track how it is defined, initialized, and used throughout the dozens of routines involved in starting a new game. By comparing the scenario specifics with the existing code I was able to make the modifications so all 11 scenarios now start with all variables initialized correctly.

These include: countries, maps, # of players, initiative, weather, aligned countries, force pools for all countries, states of war, conquered countries (complete and incomplete), control of hexes (occupied territory for various start lines and claims upon neighboring countries), reserve units’ status, intelligence, neutrality pacts, trade agreements, new home countries, automatic declarations of war, creating Vichy France, may align permissions, moving factories, offensive and defensive markers set up at start of scenarios, US entry markers and entry and tension pools, US entry options taken, and US entry actions rolled for. Each scenario has something unique to it in terms of what is required in order to set it up, so standardization was not easy to do. All of this stuff is even more complicated because it depends on which optional rules are being used. That means that the routines that process scenario information have to have branching logic to accommodate every optional rule being on or off. Very tedious.

I still have to complete the unit lists for Brute force, Darkness before the dawn, and Decline and fall, but that is trivial compared to the nightmare of getting all the above entered and processed correctly.

Map and Units
Rob has created the bitmap for the British Isles and it is quite wonderful. It uses double the resolution of CWIF (up from 68 wide by 76 high pixels to 136 by 152) and increases the number of colors from 256 to billions (8 bit to 24 bit). The new pixel scale is comparable to the highest zoom-in level for CWIF. From that resolution I will let the players zoom out to whatever they find most comfortable when playing the game. The maximum zoom-out will be the same as for CWIF: 1/8 scale = 17 by 19 pixels.

We are currently working on how to render the terrain for each terrain type and how they each will look with the overlays for the different weather types: fine, rain, storm, snow, and blizzard. The goal is to have the weather visible without obscuring either the underlying terrain or the units. Of course, weather visibility can be turned on or off using a toggle switch. The common terrain types (clear, forest, mountain) will each have variations so the map doesn’t look monotonous. The variations for the mountains currently look very nice using textures. Because the map is so important, this will probably have to go through several iterations to make sure each terrain type is easy to identify (doesn’t get confused with another one that looks similar), even for the 10% of the male population that is color blind. Once we get something that looks presentable, I will present to you-all to look at. Not there yet.

What I especially like about the British Isles bitmap is that the coastlines are a perfect replica of those used for the WIF FE maps. They should be, since Rob was working from the original computer graphics files from WIF FE. The only change is that Rob has added gradations to the color of the water between the all sea hexes and the land pixels. WIF FE maps use a dark blue for all sea and a pale blue for coastal waters, without any gradations. Still a long way to go on this, but a good start.

Eventually I will be replacing the current 11 bitmaps for terrain (one for each terrain type) with thousands of bitmaps. Making variations on the 11 basic terrain types will only add a few dozen new ones. But to make the maps better than those in WIF FE requires each coastal hex to have its own bitmap. And there are over 5000 coastal hexes in MWIF. The rivers will be simple overlays, and also look precisely like those in WIF FE (at least for the European map). The alpine hex sides will receive less artistic crafting but look much better than those used in WIF FE. Available as a toggle on and off will be all the country borders and weather zones, which are drawn on the fly. That also applies to the rail lines and roads.

Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
The graphics is holding this up. I first want to see the graphics completed for several reasons. The primary being that the speed of processing the graphics is essential and whatever changes are needed to the code to make the higher resolution appear at near instantaneous speed has to have highest processing priority. Once the graphics are in place, then other changes can be made, and tested to make sure they do not degrade the speed of displaying the maps and units.

I really want to redesign the MWIF game engine so that there is one central processing routine that accepts input from different sources. This game central processor (GCP) will provide the link between the actors and the acted upon. The actors are: the player at the keyboard, internet allies and opponents, email allies and opponents, and the AI assistant and opponent. The acted upon are all the game elements that make up the simulation of WWII that is WIF.

The redesign of the MWIF game engine is required for a whole host of reasons:
(1) To provide structure for all the disparate bits of logic that make up the convoluted rules of WIF.
(2) To facilitate replacing the DirectX internet communications code with Indy10.
(3) To permit installation of the PBEM system.
(4) To permit installation of the AI assistant and opponent.
(5) To permit writing the game record log and replaying games.
(6) To serve as a foundation for future versions of MWIF (e.g., America in Flames, Days of Decision III).

I am loathe to even start thinking about GCP in detail until the graphics are done. Getting partway into designing GCP and then having to drop it to work on the graphics full time is very inefficient. When I leave code incompletely done, I find that it takes me so long to reacquaint myself with what I was doing earlier, that I might just as well start over.

So, I have been working on the periphery of WIF, on stuff that has to be done sometime, and that I can do now with great efficiency, independent of the graphics and the GCP. That is why you might have noticed my focus on the PBEM design, the AIO, and scenario data. This is not my preferred sequence of doing tasks. However, the world rarely behaves the way I want it to, and the main lesson of evolution is “adapt or die”. Hey, I’m adapting, I’m adapting, don’t kill me yet! And as always, I try not to get annoyed at the world for doing what it does.

Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
I have yet to definitize the design documents for these.

Saved Games
This received only a cursory glance last month.

Game Interface
I reviewed all 100+ forms/windows again and this time made changes to practically all of them. Much more to do on this.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The draft design document for the AI opponent (AIO) is now 78 pages long and I have started a supplemental document that contains strategic plans for each major power. I have started taking on some of the more difficult problems, like measuring the value of air and naval units and converting them in to land unit combat values.

Several forum members participated in a Germany versus USSR land combat case study to assess how the AIO will make decisions about how to attack a defensive line. It was very helpful to work through an example with multiple critics poking holes in the logic I have for the AIO. Though only a paper study, it serves as a partial solution to testing the current design. The ultimate judgments will occur when the game goes into play test.

Other
I still put in over 50 hours a week on this despite performing practically every week singing Christmas carols. That is as a member of the local barbershop harmony chorus, Sounds of Aloha. Our scripted show next weekend is titled “Santa Lite”. The plot line is that Santa has gained so much weight that he no longer fits in his sleigh. For those of you seriously into theater, we keep the line between comedy and tragedy perilously close - as it should be.

====================================================================
November summary: Progress, but not on the highest priority items.
====================================================================

Tasks for December

Communications
Continue monitoring the forum threads.

Map and Units
Work with Rob on all aspects of rendering the map and units on the screen.

CWIF Conversion
Finish replacing the Save Setup routines. Replace the random number generator.

Rules
Modify the code on optional rules so it includes those, and only those, selected for MWIF Product 1.

Game Interface
Continue modifying the 100+ windows/forms.

Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Identify with whom at Matrix I should work to define exactly what will be included in the game for all of these.

Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Finalize the design for all three of these areas.

AI Opponent
Finish defining the relationship between the air, naval, and land unit values. Continue working on defining the value of individual hexes and a line of hexes (i.e., a front line).

Software Development Tools [January]
Develop a small program for Internet communications using Indy10 to test the design for multiple players over the Internet.

Multiplayer Design [January]
Code the new design for the multiplayer system using Indy10, removing the calls to DirectPlay.

Saved Games [January]
Finish the design for saved games (including encryption) and code it.

============================================
December summary: Same old, same old.
============================================

[mlees]

Thanks, Mr. OKeets, for these updates.

For me, it gives the impression that you (and by proxy, Matrix) are not a monolithic corporate entity that is only concerned with the bottom dollar profit, and that customer satisfaction is somewhere on the list. Too often have I shelled out $50 for unusable, half finished (buggy) software.

I feel, as well, that knowing where you are in your development provides me with a degree of patience (and confidence) with the process.

Keep up the good work, sir!

[composer99]

Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Identify with whom at Matrix I should work to define exactly what will be included in the game for all of these.

I certainly will be interested in seeing how the sound stuff works out from a semi-professional point of view.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Identify with whom at Matrix I should work to define exactly what will be included in the game for all of these.

I certainly will be interested in seeing how the sound stuff works out from a semi-professional point of view.

You have to mean 'hearing' how the sound stuff works out. Or are you one of those types that can look at sonic wave forms and understand them? They just make me dizzy.

For the current status on MWIF sound see the thread "Historical Details, Animation, and Sound" post #73. That thread is in the second page of threads for this forum. There are a dozen or so other posts that follow #73 you might find worth reading too.

[composer99]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Identify with whom at Matrix I should work to define exactly what will be included in the game for all of these.

I certainly will be interested in seeing how the sound stuff works out from a semi-professional point of view.

You have to mean 'hearing' how the sound stuff works out. Or are you one of those types that can look at sonic wave forms and understand them? They just make me dizzy.

For the current status on MWIF sound see the thread "Historical Details, Animation, and Sound" post #73. That thread is in the second page of threads for this forum. There are a dozen or so other posts that follow #73 you might find worth reading too.

Not so much hearing the sounds themselves but knowing what's going on with them; I say on a semi-professional basis because video game sound (among other related things, particularly in music) is what I want to do when I grow up... er, graduate in five months. [:)]

As for post #73, I'll surf my way on over there, although not right now.

[c92nichj]

Project Management
Hopes for the target date of spring 2006 fade.

Do you have an updated plan to share, or shall we assume that since the graphics been delayed for three months the overall projects is also delayed by three months, which would get us to somewhere in the summer.

I understand if you don't want to share the plan with us, but as I am working as a project manager I cannot help myself from being curious. Your status reports are very helpful.

[StrictlyRockers]

[&o]

[8D]






[:)]

[StrictlyRockers]

Steve,

I am VERY excited to hear that this project has a capable and enthusiastic programmer working on it full time and moving it forward. I have been playing this game since I was a teenager. I have a group of gaming buddies in Santa Cruz who have been avid WiF fans and players for more than 20 years. One of us even got design credits on DoD. I personally met Gred Pinder and Harry Rowland at Origins. We have followed the game religiously through all of its updates, expansions and rules changes.

When I mention to people that CWiF is forthcoming, noone believes me. This game is a bear, a monster, a behemoth. You have taken on a Herculean task and you are to be commended for it!! [&o]

I would like to offer my services in whatver capacity I can be of assistance. I stated over a six months ago on this forum that I am committed to buying two (2) copies of this game for myself when it is completed. I also pledge to personally mail you a check for fifty bucks if the AI works and does not *totally* suck. That is a personal promise. This game has a reasonably large following of fanatical fans who would be giddy with glee to see it finished and shipped.

I am currently a beta-tester for Firaxis games. I have playtester/beta-tester credits on Civilization IV, which just shipped. I am still involved with that company and the forthcoming expansions. If there is anything I can do to help the CWiF project come to fruition, please email me at cjpurdin@yahoo.com. I will attempt to find your email here and email you directly, as well. I may also be able to recruit one or two others to help you on a volunteer basis.

I look forward to your updates. I have faith. There are those who simply refuse to believe that a game with this many variables in the turn sequence can be prgrammed correctly. PBEM will certainly require some streamlining. Use of standing orders and prioritization of targets would help there.

I am going to go through this forum now to see what I have missed in the last six months or so. WiF has always been my favorite wargame, head and shoulders above any other. Empires in Arms is good too, but it is a completely different animal.

Keep up the great work! Rest assured that you will be showered with kudos and more when it is done. You will have attained rockstar, if not minor-demigod status in my eyes when I see this game working on my computer.

SR

[pak19652002]

Because the map is so important, this will probably have to go through several iterations to make sure each terrain type is easy to identify (doesn’t get confused with another one that looks similar), even for the 10% of the male population that is color blind.

Thanks for throwing a bone to us poor handicapped types.

The only thing that has saved me so far is that the Italians almost never fight the Chinese and the Americans and Russians start at opposites ends of the world (yes, I believe the Earth is flat). Now, if I could only tell whether my pilots live or die I might be getting somewhere!

Peter

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: c92nichj

Project Management
Hopes for the target date of spring 2006 fade.

Do you have an updated plan to share, or shall we assume that since the graphics been delayed for three months the overall projects is also delayed by three months, which would get us to somewhere in the summer.

I understand if you don't want to share the plan with us, but as I am working as a project manager I cannot help myself from being curious. Your status reports are very helpful.

Well, to put this in project management terms, I have a subcontractor who is late in delivery. The choices are: (1) to continue to wait on the current subcontractor with the expectation that he will begin to perform as originally expected, or (2) replace the first subcontractor with another one - who has to start from scratch - with the expectation that the second will out perform the first. So, how much validity would you see in any project schedule based on either alternative? By the way, the relationship is NOT that of contractor and subcontractor; I am merely using it as part of the analogy.

We are still going with option #1 at this time. Once I get some more data on his speed of performance, then I can review the project schedule in its entirety. Until, then I consider any revised schedule as bogus.

I have plenty to do, it all is essential, and I can work efficiently on it. But, getting back to managing programming projects, one of the largest unknowns is the required CPU cycles for generating the improved map. If that turns out to be a non-issue, then there will be a large celebration hereabouts. Should it be a headache, I would like to tackle it asap rather that save it for dessert. Mostly, this is a sense I have that the fewer things I have in place when I take on a bear the fewer encumbrances I have to work around. Nothing specific in mind here. I just would like to have a perfectly clean arena when the hairy monster charges. And me armed only with this silly 2 button mouse.

There are always a virtually infinite list of unknowns in a programming project schedule. You make as good a guess as you can and try to coerce things into going according to plan. [My wife tends to leave the room when my discussions with software become too loud.] Sometimes a laser focus on a problem solves it. Other times, a problem has to be ignored for a week or two before a solution seeps to the surface. The real trick is telling the two apart.

But enough on this, its mostly just applied philosophy.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: pak19652002

Because the map is so important, this will probably have to go through several iterations to make sure each terrain type is easy to identify (doesn’t get confused with another one that looks similar), even for the 10% of the male population that is color blind.

Thanks for throwing a bone to us poor handicapped types.

The only thing that has saved me so far is that the Italians almost never fight the Chinese and the Americans and Russians start at opposites ends of the world (yes, I believe the Earth is flat). Now, if I could only tell whether my pilots live or die I might be getting somewhere!

Peter

Your comments make me wonder if ADG knew about the proximity of the colors when choosing to assign those that are close to countries that are far apart.

MWIF will tell you if your pilot dies or not.

Until then, when reading the air combat chart (14.3.2) the lower left corner (-9, 20) has 3 Maybes and 9 Nos. Working your way up from there, the next row has 1 Yes, 3 Maybes, and 8 Nos. The next 5 rows are: 2/4/6, 4/4/4, 6/4/3, 8/4/0, and 10/2/0. All those above 14 are solid Yeses. Sadly, this means that you can't use this excuse any more when things go badly. Though you can always fall back on my favorite: "The sun got in my eyes!".

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: StrictlyRockers
Steve,

I am VERY excited to hear that this project has a capable and enthusiastic programmer working on it full time and moving it forward. I have been playing this game since I was a teenager. I have a group of gaming buddies in Santa Cruz who have been avid WiF fans and players for more than 20 years. One of us even got design credits on DoD. I personally met Gred Pinder and Harry Rowland at Origins. We have followed the game religiously through all of its updates, expansions and rules changes.

When I mention to people that CWiF is forthcoming, noone believes me. This game is a bear, a monster, a behemoth. You have taken on a Herculean task and you are to be commended for it!! [&o]

I would like to offer my services in whatver capacity I can be of assistance. I stated over a six months ago on this forum that I am committed to buying two (2) copies of this game for myself when it is completed. I also pledge to personally mail you a check for fifty bucks if the AI works and does not *totally* suck. That is a personal promise. This game has a reasonably large following of fanatical fans who would be giddy with glee to see it finished and shipped.

I am currently a beta-tester for Firaxis games. I have playtester/beta-tester credits on Civilization IV, which just shipped. I am still involved with that company and the forthcoming expansions. If there is anything I can do to help the CWiF project come to fruition, please email me at cjpurdin@yahoo.com. I will attempt to find your email here and email you directly, as well. I may also be able to recruit one or two others to help you on a volunteer basis.

I look forward to your updates. I have faith. There are those who simply refuse to believe that a game with this many variables in the turn sequence can be prgrammed correctly. PBEM will certainly require some streamlining. Use of standing orders and prioritization of targets would help there.

I am going to go through this forum now to see what I have missed in the last six months or so. WiF has always been my favorite wargame, head and shoulders above any other. Empires in Arms is good too, but it is a completely different animal.

Keep up the great work! Rest assured that you will be showered with kudos and more when it is done. You will have attained rockstar, if not minor-demigod status in my eyes when I see this game working on my computer.

SR

Thank you for your support. It is greatly appreciated. I can be reached directly by email at "Steve@PatternDiscovery.us".

[pak19652002]

Your comments make me wonder if ADG knew about the proximity of the colors when choosing to assign those that are close to countries that are far apart.

Never considered that. Next time I hear from Harry, I'll ask him.

MWIF will tell you if your pilot dies or not.

Thanks again.

Sadly, this means that you can't use this excuse any more when things go badly. Though you can always fall back on my favorite: "The sun got in my eyes!".

This is a time-honored excuse for missing overheads. Doesn't work as well indoors.

Back on point, I volunteer to serve as your official color scheme canary.

Peter

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: pak19652002

Back on point, I volunteer to serve as your official color scheme canary.

Peter

When we get to play test, you'll be one of the first we push out of the plane (does the back up rip cord work when the main one is defective?), throw in the water (are there any sharks?) and send out ahead of the main party (don't believe what those other guys said about land mines, they didn't all look badly wounded).