Update? and question about any eventual release

[Princessjj1]

Was wondering if there's any update on when we can expect this baby .

Also, is the plan still to release Middle East and Red Storm simultaneously?

[Spechtmeise]

This has been asked before...don't expect any answers. Matrix doesn't seem to care enough to inform us of the current status.
Really a pity, I like Flashpoint a lot.

[IronManBeta]

Hi, I'm the lead developer and I'm watching this forum again. Our real-life intrusions on the bliss of game programming seem to be getting worse rather than better but FPME is code and art complete and 'just' needs data completion from 95% to 100% so we can make the scenarios and campaigns. Normally that would just be a few more months but at a current rate it is hard to say.

FPRS will most likely come out a couple of months later. It needs just a little more artwork and also to finish the data conversion which is 90% done.

Cheers, Rob

[KEYSTONE07950]

Much more interested in Red Storm. Will probably pass on Middle East unless Matrix offers a discount for both games.

[sabre1]

Game looks great, I'm looking forward to FPME. Thanks for the update.

[Emilio]

I'll go for both.

FMDE is the best tactical partner to be played together with Schwerpunkt's Middle East War.
Red Storm will be a big improvement to FPG, adding leaders and custom maps.

[Rosseau]

Been playing FPG again lately and checked the forum on a lark. This is great news. One of my first buys from Matrix and still one of the best. Way to go Mr. Crandall.

[Dennistoun]

I concur with Emilio. Looking forward to both games.

[Vyshka]

Great to hear that work is continuing on this series.

[sabre1]

Any news to post on progress? We don't want no tumble weed pics posted here.

[IronManBeta]

No real news of note. Playtesting and data gathering continues. Scenarios not finished yet.

Cheers, Rob

[sabre1]

Thank you Mr. Crandall for updating us, it is appreciated. Back to lurk mode.

[Emilio]

Hi Rob & Jim,

Do you have any news for this summer?

Thanks in advance, [:D]

Emilio

[IronManBeta]

Well, yes and no. The critical path to release is still what it was a year or two ago and while progress is being made, we are all very impatient to see it go faster.

For my part, I have sunk a lot of time into both AI tweaking and UI decluttering. The former is the most fun part of the game for me and yet it is the hardest to get to because everything else pretty much has to come first. I want to take what is already there and make it operate in a more visible manner so I can doublecheck that it is actually doing what it does for the reasons I think it should, lol. That is easier said then done.

For the UI, I just found that it was accumulating distracting detail faster than a sea ship collects barnacles. It was time for a bit of a clean up in light of actual use and I managed to purge a fair bit. My hope is that this will make it easier for newcomers to get started and quicker for veterans to play. The trick is to present the right amount of info, not too much and not too little or the game will veer from overwhelming to incomprehensible and back. Finding the sweet spot is a real trick and requires a lot of work and testing.

[IronManBeta]

This is another shot showing a new "Game" tab in the command notebook in the top right.

It will ship when it is done. If we need to cut a few high effort / low impact features to speed that up we will.

Thanks for your interest, cheers, Rob Crandall

[Dennistoun]

Thanks for the update, Rob. Looks good!

[sabre1]

Looks GREAT! Thank YOU, for letting us know you are still in the game.

[SwampYankee68]

Really looking forward to FPRS!

[sabre1]

Any news?

[IronManBeta]

We have 1,856 commits to the source code control so there have been a lot of changes and the work is continuing. The basic hold up though is the lack of final TOE information so that we can go into the final lap.

Believe me, I want to get this out just as much as you want to!

Rob C