HnM and HnM2

[DeadInThrench]

I am a long time war/strategy game player that has been out of the genre for a while now but recently have been getting back into it and.... got Dragoon from an abandonedware site and was playing it then found the Shrapnel site and the complete set of player developed scenarios for the American Revolutionary War and the French and Indian War as well and had to have those so ordered HnM (did I get the last one out there, was only a month or two ago?) and DLed all the scenarios from the Shrapnel site and have been playing those both against the computer and PBEM. I also DLed and played the HnM2 demo but stopped short of getting either of the two HnM2 games (can they still be had? Fair chance otherwise they will show up on an abandonedware site some day).

And.... I have my opinions on things <g>.

The first thing... IMO... is I believe where Shrapnel went wrong on their business plan for HnM2.... is the updated interface is real nice and.... IMO.... most HnM players would be more than willing to pay for the updated interface... but having to pay for it for just SOME of the scenarios that you had before... and then having to pay for a totally new game for just SOME MORE of the scenarios that you already had... was going too far (one reason I stopped short of purchasing either of those two games).

A better business plan, IMO, would be an HnM2 (HnM3?) release with a scenario setup along the lines of the original HnM... and then updates and/or scenario packs covering specific eras (no need for the 'parts of battles' scenarios with these) as time goes along. For example, an initial scenario pack could be the complete set of American Revolutionary War battles (and, throw in the FIW scenarios as a bonus) with any updates to the game interface itself... and you could offer the update to the interface for those not wanting the scenario pack for a nominal fee or even for free which is popular these days. Then you could move on to the WSS, WAS and probably a couple of scenario packs for the 7YW.

An even BETTER plan... IMO.... would be the same but a scenario converter that would convert Dragoon, HnM and HnM2 scenarios to HnM3. This would keep HnM players happy while they waited for the scenario packs and.... when the scenario packs came out it would be a matter of taking the older and player developed scenarios and updating them and releasing them as 'official' releases... and those that were playing the older and player developed scenarios... would want the official release (I would).

Hmmmm... I have a lot of other comments on HnM (particularly on the AI <g>) but will post them separately. To me, kind of a shame what happenend with HnM as the HnM2 interface is real nice.... just need a good business plan to go along with it. Unfortunately as things stood HnM was going downhill so hopefully Matrix can do a better job on the business plan in today's environment.

DiT (DeadInThrench)

P.S. Oh, I DLed and re-orged all the user developed, Dragoon and HnM scenarios by war and have the complete list... and will send it to anyone willing to play these scenarios real-time or PBEM. Just drop me a line at DiT@echoes.net.