When?

World in Flames is the computer version of Australian Design Group classic board game. World In Flames is a highly detailed game covering the both Europe and Pacific Theaters of Operations during World War II. If you want grand strategy this game is for you.

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Anendrue
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RE: When?

Post by Anendrue »

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Matrix seems to think there might be some interest in MWIF products 2 and 3 to include other WIF add-ons.

If I should still be interested.

Steve please,

I can't seem to control the drooling on my keyboard; however Matrix Days of Decision 3 (MDoD3) add on would be highly acclaimed by the community here. Should we start the begging now or just begin the worship services? [:D]
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RE: When?

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: abj9562
ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Matrix seems to think there might be some interest in MWIF products 2 and 3 to include other WIF add-ons.

If I should still be interested.

Steve please,

I can't seem to control the drooling on my keyboard; however Matrix Days of Decision 3 (MDoD3) add on would be highly acclaimed by the community here. Should we start the begging now or just begin the worship services? [:D]

Currently I am dealing with numerous alligators in my quest to drain the swamp. My intent is to eventually plant some crops that I can sell. Crop rotation is a ways off yet.

On a similar theme, above my computer I have a (painted) picture I purchased almost 20 years ago that shows a major hurricane sweeping into a shore line of palm trees. All the tree trunks and branches are bowed over into a C shape and the plumes of ocean water spray are 30 feet in the air where it hits the rocks. I bought this picture to remind me that the world continually applies great force towards creating chaos. As a programmer, I keep battling to impose some order against that ever present tide.
Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.
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Anendrue
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RE: When?

Post by Anendrue »

Hmmm, maybe you could design your own mini game with the title "It Came From Above" something like BoxeyBoy but instead of boxes the little guy could push computers around dodging torrents of water from the idiot above with his evil powersaw.
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RE: When?

Post by SamuraiProgrmmr »

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
On a similar theme, above my computer I have a (painted) picture I purchased almost 20 years ago that shows a major hurricane sweeping into a shore line of palm trees. All the tree trunks and branches are bowed over into a C shape and the plumes of ocean water spray are 30 feet in the air where it hits the rocks. I bought this picture to remind me that the world continually applies great force towards creating chaos. As a programmer, I keep battling to impose some order against that ever present tide.


Yes, well, the Samurai Programmer Law of Thermodynamics states that every time some data is sorted a series of random numbers must be generated to balance Entropy.

Maybe if we play more games (using random number generators), nature will ease up on the storms and such! [;)]

Keep up the good work and know that there are those of us looking forward to more products if you can see your way to producing them!
Bridge is the best wargame going .. Where else can you find a tournament every weekend?
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RE: When?

Post by wworld7 »

ORIGINAL: abj9562

Hmmm, maybe you could design your own mini game with the title "It Came From Above" something like BoxeyBoy but instead of boxes the little guy could push computers around dodging torrents of water from the idiot above with his evil powersaw.

It is no game, it is called "The Chinese Water Torture" and it is very effective...

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RE: When?

Post by composer99 »

Shannon V. OKeets said:

Player’s Manual
I made a first pass on the table of contents for the Player’s Manual. It is going to be big. Marc Schwanebeck from Matrix Games sent me the specifications they use for printing Player’s Manuals but I think I will reaffirm those details for MWIF, since it is going to be such a big manual. For example, I expect the revised version of Rules as Written (Rules as Coded - RAC) will only be half of the manual. And RAW is 60 double column, small font pages, not counting the player’s notes - which I also expect to copy over verbatim into the MWIF Player’s Manual. The other items for the Player’s Manual cover the player interface (i.e., how to play WIF using the computer) and the particulars of the different modes of play (e.g., over the Internet and by email).

You will probably want to find someone who will be willing to update the player's notes, as they are getting rather long in the tooth in some cases (there are one or two references to rules that no longer exist in the current RAW, and there is at least one syntax error that I'm surprised hasn't been eliminated).
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RE: When?

Post by Neilster »

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

My intent is to eventually plant some crops that I can sell.

I've got some seeds that might come in handy. You could have a few problems with customs though. [;)]

I'm sure, given your Hawaiian location, that you'll be able to source some local...er...genetics. [:'(]

Cheers, Neilster
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RE: When?

Post by KAGE »

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Matrix seems to think there might be some interest in MWIF products 2 and 3 to include other WIF add-ons.

If I should still be interested.


DoD forsure!
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RE: When?

Post by Manic Inertia »

My radar is going haywire after reading the earlier mention of a CD release, rather than limiting MWiF to the status of an online download. I am totally ignorant of how these things work/are costed/distributed etc, but it seems common sense to produce the game on CD/DVD whatever ..
 
Wouldn't that mean that the game could be sold in retail outlets, as opposed to being some relatively obscure acquisition that would, essentially, depend on 'word-of-mouth' to develop sales? I'm a psychiatric nurse without the benefit of a degree in marketing or even sales experience, but I defy anyone to tell me I'm not making sense. For the sake of this wonderful project, I think everyone who counts should exert maximum pressure on whoever makes the decisions at Matrix Games to put MWiF into the shops, or at the very least into jewel cases.
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RE: When?

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: Manic Inertia
My radar is going haywire after reading the earlier mention of a CD release, rather than limiting MWiF to the status of an online download. I am totally ignorant of how these things work/are costed/distributed etc, but it seems common sense to produce the game on CD/DVD whatever ..

Wouldn't that mean that the game could be sold in retail outlets, as opposed to being some relatively obscure acquisition that would, essentially, depend on 'word-of-mouth' to develop sales? I'm a psychiatric nurse without the benefit of a degree in marketing or even sales experience, but I defy anyone to tell me I'm not making sense. For the sake of this wonderful project, I think everyone who counts should exert maximum pressure on whoever makes the decisions at Matrix Games to put MWiF into the shops, or at the very least into jewel cases.

Marketing is not my forte, which I have proven to my pain and frustration too many times in my life already.

However, I do know that marketing typically requires a multi-media marketing plan for reaching potential buyers. Now most of those media have a direct cost (per ad) and they all require time and effort on the part of the manufacturer/seller, even the 'free' publicity of articles about new relases in gaming magazines. Someone has to put together material for the reviewer and take time to talk with them, etc.. Attending trade shows (e.g., Origins) costs money too. Ideally, the whole packaging, advertising, and promotion of a new product is coordinated, and in particular timed, to maximize sales while minimizing associated expenses. You see this all the time with authors and actors on the talk shows promoting their new books/films and the movie industry has a non-so-minor subindustry devoted to releasing their products.

Knowing my own limitations, and the complexity of this optimization problem, I'll leave it in the hands of Matrix management to decide. As for me, "a man's gotta know his limitations."
Steve

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Jimm
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RE: When?

Post by Jimm »

Hi Shannon

Not posted before, just joined and only really read through these threads in any depth today. Very surprised and impressed (relieved?) at level of progress on MWif I confess I thought it had hit the buffers with Matrix. Particularly impressed the level of consultation/interaction with "Wiffers" you have had and continue to encourage. All too often project management tends to encourage a very single minded attitude where even with the best of initial intentions the project becomes "owned" by the manager and interested parties become at best a tiresome distraction to the overall holy goal of COMPLETION- I speak from a different field but I'm sure the rule holds.

I wont post again unless I have something interesting to say but I figured a supporting message to start is worthwhile to be added into the balance just in case your employers are monitoring numbers on this forum as an indication of potential market and after weighing the sheer number of posts will hopefully will continue to support this product- and further developments... (a DOD add on would certainly get my vote!)

Keep up the good work and best of luck - we're on the home straight now- right?

cheers
Jimm
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RE: When?

Post by Jeff Gilbert »

Awaiting Steve's next installment ... I love these updates! [:)]
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RE: When?

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

August 1, 2006 Status Report for Matrix Games’ MWIF Forum

Accomplishments of July

Project Management
December 2006 as a release date is too optimistic now. I basically lost most of the month of July as far as making progress against my schedule. See below for details.

Communications
Rob Armstrong made a good start on the skins for the player interface.

Erik Rutkins of Matrix Games reported that there was interest in MWIF expressed at Origins.

I monitored all the threads in the MWIF World in Flames forum daily. Members of the forum continue to be very helpful.

Beta testers were mostly quiet because I owe them a new version to fix existing bugs.

Dan Hatchen is waiting on me to install what he has already sent me for NetPlay.

Patrice did a ton of work on the maps both in hosting forum discussions and in making changes to MWIF data files.

No word from Terje on changes to the naval unit descriptions recommended by Greyshaft. Greyshaft himself has been occupied with family matters.

Ian Wilson and Richard Dazeley continued our discussion on the design of the language for the AI opponent rules.

Mziln finished culling the optional rules from RAW and assembling them into packets that correspond to the 80 optional rules in MWIF. He sent me the complete set at the beginning of the month.

Light communication with Chris Marinacci over the past month.

Beta Testing
There are some new bugs in version 2.00 related to saving and restoring screen layouts. I haven’t found time to track them down and correct them yet.

Map and Units
I installed all the medium resolution unit bitmaps that Rob gave me. They were copied from the back of the WIF FE counter sheets. But then Patrice sent me improvements on all of them that he had crafted. Today I finished replacing all the medium resolution bitmaps with those provided by Patrice.

As part of this process, I modified the player interface so the players can change between medium and high resolution with a single mouse click. My next task for this aspect of the interface will be adding an automatic change feature so the unit resolution depiction changes when the zoom level changes. Which resolutions go with which zoom levels will be up to the player to set (with a default in place, of course).

I finished the work started by Claes on revising the map data for Scandinavia. Patrice then offered to do the rest of the map data changes he had accumulated and I instantly agreed. So far he has touched up Scandinavia, and made the changes agreed to in the forum for the Caucasus and China. Patrice has also gathered final versions of changes for most of the island chains in the Pacific and will do those too. As I write this, there is an on-going discussion in the MWIF forum to finalize the additional cities in the USSR east of the Urals. Once that is agreed upon, Patrice will put them into the map data files.

The changes to the weather overlays and fortifications are waiting on Rob. He had to put in extra time for his primary customer and MWIF lost his services for about half of the month of July.

CWIF Conversion
Most of this past month I spent making changes to the program to accommodate the upgrade from Delphi 2005 to Delphi 2006. In particular, the ‘packages’ I inherited from CWIF contained numerous dependencies on elements of game play - the map and units in particular. To transform them into true self-contained packages, without any dependencies on other code, required about 3 weeks of hard work. These routines are used in over a hundred places so discarding them was not a viable option. But getting them to function under Delphi 2006 was labor intensive. I had to try several different approaches before I found one that actually worked.

My first attempt was to break apart the cross references. That involved extensive expansion of the separate modules I had created earlier which contain type definitions, constants, and variables. I now have over 2600 lines of code in those modules (up from 200). This code only defines values and very simple record structures. Previously, these had been dispersed over 40 different Pascal units - hence the interdependencies. This new central clearing house for type statements, constants, and common variables make the code much easier to work with. Of course, that attempt ultimately failed in making the packages self-contained and more drastic measures were required.

This was all aggravated by the normal weirdnesses when upgrading software. And then my upstairs neighbor flooded 15 floors of apartments by cutting through a hot water line with a power saw. For days I had workmen wandering in and out doing repairs and 4 or more large industrial fans blowing 24 hours a day to dry things out. It took them almost exactly 1 week to get things back to normal. Still, I had the aroma of latex paint floating in the air for several more days and my hearing took another week to get back to normal. The idiot above me continues to bang on the floor every day. I have come to the conclusion that his hammer is vastly more intelligent than he is. His intellect is more like that of a 10 penny common nail.

Game Interface
The CWIF packages I revised were exclusively for the game interface. They display: a single unit on a form, a list of units, details on a single unit or stack of units, and a map snapshot. For example, the combat forms show which units are involved, summary and/or detailed statistics about them, and a little map view of where the combat is taking place. In making all the modifications, I am now intimately familiar with their details. I also am extraordinarily more knowledgeable about the 104 different forms the program uses to communicate with the player.

Since I was messing around with them everyday anyway, I made a lot of changes to those form layouts. Mainly I increased the size of: the forms, the fonts, the map snapshots, and the unit depictions.

Rob came up with a design for the MWIF skin. A skin is a set of modifications to standard Windows components that causes them to appear much more interesting that Microsoft’s normal design. For MWIF, Rob is using color, shape, and texture elements based on a WW II airplane cockpit. We have decided to have 8 skin variations, one for each major power. When the major power you are playing changes (e.g., from Germany to Japan) then the color scheme for the forms will change too. Progress is pretty good on this and it should be complete in the first half of August.

For designing the skins the tool we are using is Theme Engine, which is a commercially available product. Since this is my first time working with something like this, I am exploring the range of its capabilities. I probably will have to make a lot of changes to other CWIF interface components. That’s because CWIF has unique interface elements that Theme Engine doesn’t know about. I will replace the CWIF-unique components with standard Windows ones so the skins designed by Rob can be applied throughout the program.

Rob also redid all the flags for the major powers. They are vastly improved.

MWIF Game Engine
I did actually manage to write some new code, instead of spending all my time revising existing code. In the last 4 days I wrote 11,000 lines of code for transforming game record log (GRL) entries from a set of fields into a text string and back again. There are 462 GRL record definitions with an average of 8 fields per record. That’s a lot of fields to convert into and out of text strings.

Now that this code is complete, I can use it for turning game events into strings and: (1) writing the strings to the GRL disk file, (2) sending them over the Internet as part of NetPlay, and (3) enclosing them in email for PBEM. I still have to locate the 462 places in the program where game events occur and insert code to call the routines I just wrote. Nonetheless, the conversion from record layouts to strings is crucial for testing NetPlay, since that is the form NetPlay uses to pass game events over the Internet.

Internet - NetPlay
I commented out all the calls to DirectX, so I did not have to recompile the DirectX package for Delphi 2006. Rather than remove them outright, I left them in as comments, so they can serve as reference points for inserting the NetPlay equivalents. As a point of note, I had previously reduced the DirectX calls so they only appeared in a half a dozen places.

My plan is to take what Dan has sent me so far and use that to integrate his routines into MWIF as much as possible. I believe I can get pretty deep by my lonesome. Once I push that as hard as I can, I’ll give Dan a call. My logic is that I will then have an improved understanding of both his code and what more I need to finish up NetPlay. I still think this is all relatively easy to do. I just haven’t been giving it enough time.

Saved Games
I fixed one small bug so the text descriptions for all the units get loaded when a game is restored.

Player’s Manual
I took the Optional Rules writeups that Mziln put together and formatted them so they can be read by the program. I still have to edit the contents so they make sense to someone who has never played WIF. So far I have done 2 edited nicely, thank you very much, but I have 78 remaining.

Scenario Information
Nothing new here.

Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Nothing new here.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
I wrote up very detailed rules for scrapping units and started looking into doing the same for deciding where to make land attacks. My goal here is to have some actual rules in hand to pass along to Richard and Ian for evaluating how the AIO language should be defined.

Other
I wasn’t a happy camper in July, but my wife is confident that my genetic background as an irrationally stubborn Swede will see me through.
====================================================================
July summary: Time spent rewriting existing code just so it continues to function, seems like time wasted to me. Hopefully all future revisions to CWIF code will be to add features.
====================================================================


Tasks for August

Communications
Continue monitoring the forum threads.

Beta Testing
Fix more bugs, both old ones and the new ones caused by the addition of the code for dynamic screen layouts. I expect to be able to get version 3.00 out in August which will contain al the map revisions that Patrice has made (is making) and the medium resolution units.

Map and Units
Incorporate Patrice map data revisions into the functioning program.

CWIF Conversion
Thoroughly test the new random number generator (this task is still collecting dust at the bottom of the pile of things to do). Start inserting the Game Record Log calls into the game play code so that entries are written to the GRL disk file as the game is played.

Game Interface
Finalize the theme and color scheme for the player interface including the definition of the skins. Add the bidding capability to the Start of Game Form so the beta testers can play one-on-one over the Internet.

Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
Review and add detail to the overview of the MWIF game engine.

Software Development Tools
Install the ThemeEngine 6.06 upgrade.

Multiplayer Internet
Incorporate the Indy10 code for the new design for the multiplayer system into MWIF.

AI Opponent
Work out detailed rules for several more decision points so the language for the Aio can be finalized.

Player’s Manual
Finish the table of contents and transfer all the various write ups I have done for different portions of MWIF into the Player’s Manual (e.g., PBEM design).

Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Start listing all the places the program will use historical video footage, sound, and music. Begin fleshing out the content for the first half dozen tutorials.

Help System, Tutorials, and AI Assistant
Set up forms dedicated to viewing the sequence of play, so they can be used later as an index/table of contents into the context sensitive help files.

Other
40 minute walk and an apple every day.

================================================================
August summary: Make the system for playing over the Internet work. Put in the map data changes. Finalize the player interface design and apply it to the full set of 104 existing forms. Give the beta testers something new to test.
================================================================
Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.
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Arnir
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RE: When?

Post by Arnir »

Thanks for the update.
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RE: When?

Post by macgregor »

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
I wasn’t a happy camper in July, but my wife is confident that my genetic background as an irrationally stubborn Swede will see me through.

I remember when neither were your Soviets. You moved a couple of isolated 4-5 cav units, yatta yatta, over a million Germans are out of supply. Niagara Falls...slowly I turn...
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RE: When?

Post by trees trees »

ten penny nails [:@]
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RE: When?

Post by thrud »

1st time posting. Been reading the forums for this game since the announcement that Matrix was going to be developing it. (have the Beta version from ADG). Just want to say I am looking forward to this game being released. My wargaming group who I used to play WIF boardgame with has been scattered all over the US. It will be nice to play via e-mail, or internet with the guys again. Just won't be as much beer drinking involved.

Eric
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RE: When?

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: thrud

1st time posting. Been reading the forums for this game since the announcement that Matrix was going to be developing it. (have the Beta version from ADG). Just want to say I am looking forward to this game being released. My wargaming group who I used to play WIF boardgame with has been scattered all over the US. It will be nice to play via e-mail, or internet with the guys again. Just won't be as much beer drinking involved.

Eric

Why not?
Steve

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RE: When?

Post by coregames »

ORIGINAL: thrud

Just won't be as much beer drinking involved.

I see Steve's point; arguably, more consumption will be possible, and less co-dependently!
"The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie." -- Lasker

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RE: When?

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: coregames
ORIGINAL: thrud

Just won't be as much beer drinking involved.

I see Steve's point; arguably, more consumption will be possible, and less co-dependently!
No need for a designated driver either!
Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.
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