Patch news (3.5)

Norm Koger's The Operational Art of War III is the next game in the award-winning Operational Art of War game series. TOAW3 is updated and enhanced version of the TOAW: Century of Warfare game series. TOAW3 is a turn based game covering operational warfare from 1850-2015. Game scale is from 2.5km to 50km and half day to full week turns. TOAW3 scenarios have been designed by over 70 designers and included over 130 scenarios. TOAW3 comes complete with a full game editor.

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Magpius
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by Magpius »

+1
It seems that if you are not part of some inner circle of people, everyone else is just hung out to dry.
Has momentum on this patch ceased?
Could we be given some official comment on what gives?
or a definitive "work has ceased".
fogger
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by fogger »

Jack (Lobster) you are not on my short list, but you did not say anything about TOAW 4. So you now have me thinking, have you signed a NDA?
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If you feel like doing some work, sit down and wait....... The feeling does go away.
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JMass
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by JMass »

I found this news on the Lock 'n Load Publishing Forum:
"Here are the first early screenshots of Tank On Tank West Front. Ralph Trickey is leading the charge on this game. The map graphics are just a rough a sample. The nice new maps should be available in a next set of Screenshots we put out."
I do not known if the Ralph Trickey named here is the same or another programmer.

http://forums.lnlpublishing.com/threads ... hots.1022/
"Klotzen, nicht Kleckern!"Generaloberst Heinz Wilhelm Guderian

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76mm
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by 76mm »

Interesting catch JMass. I serously doubt that there is more than one wargame-programmer named Ralph Trickey.

I couldn't see the screenshots in that game clearly (you have to register and log in to see screenshots, WTF?), but it looks like pretty lite fare, so it would be a shame if Ralph is concentrating on that rather than TOAW, but I guess that's his business. It would be nice, however, if TOAW could somehow be handed off to someone that would do something with it. For instance, it is kind of amazing (and commendable) to see what the guys are doing with the old Tiller Campaign Series.
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JMass
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by JMass »

ORIGINAL: 76mm
I couldn't see the screenshots in that game clearly (you have to register and log in to see screenshots, WTF?)

Yes, you have to register but you can search on google images: "ralph trickey tank on tank", it should find some images from Facebook.
"Klotzen, nicht Kleckern!"Generaloberst Heinz Wilhelm Guderian

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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by fogger »

Ralph also has his own software company called "Trickeysoft"
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Lobster
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by Lobster »

ORIGINAL: fogger

Jack (Lobster) you are not on my short list, but you did not say anything about TOAW 4. So you now have me thinking, have you signed a NDA?

TOAW 4

There, happy? [;)]
http://www.operationbarbarossa.net/

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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by tcarusil »

With all of the doom and gloom regarding Toaw's future, what other game(s), here or elsewhere, come closest to replicating the Toaw experience. Lobster has mentioned John Tiller and Battlefront. Any others?

TomC
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sPzAbt653
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by sPzAbt653 »

I couldn't see the screenshots in that game clearly


If you click the link for the poster [admin David Heath, the principal owner], it will give you a pop up, and from there click on the 'media' link which will take you to a page where you can view all the screenshots in full resolution.

I have signed the NDA but I don't violate it by saying that there is nothing in the Development Forum that would shed any light on situation. Nobody from Matrix visits there either.
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Jeff Norton
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by Jeff Norton »

The 'David Heath' from Matrix? If so, that is cool

I'm not negative - just inquiring on the status - there has been little\next to nada input from MG on this. Even a Simple "we hear you, and will have more news on the status soon..."

Even Ralph's FB status is a tad cold. I've left a few posts, with no replies.

Life does get in the way, but even a 'just a brief drive-by to say 'hi'' would be appreciated.

And, no, I have ZERO input this round for the update...
-Jeff
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Curtis Lemay
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by Curtis Lemay »

I'm happy to report that Ralph resurfaced today on the Development Board with a new update. [:)]
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BigDuke66
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by BigDuke66 »

[X(][&o] Hell yea!
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Lobster
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by Lobster »

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

I'm happy to report that Ralph resurfaced today on the Development Board with a new update. [:)]

That's good news Bob. Thanks for posting that. My first reaction was to think, "And...?".
http://www.operationbarbarossa.net/

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity and I’m not sure about the universe-Einstein

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r6kunz
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by r6kunz »

Thanks for the update. And Ralph (for your eyes only),- welcome back, looking forward to your input!
cheers
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by pzgndr »

ORIGINAL: Lobster
That's good news Bob. Thanks for posting that. My first reaction was to think, "And...?".

+1

Don't make us get out the Ouija Board again.
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by Meyer1 »

Two new posts in the blog...

http://operationalwarfare.com/
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r6kunz
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by r6kunz »

Wow, some news!
I do not have a clue as to what Ralph is talking about, it is great to see his interest and ideas!
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by josant »

to see, if this finally gets going and we have a new patch soon.
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Lobster
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by Lobster »

Well, from what I understand the code for TOAW is a bit of a mess. I guess Norm was not so much a programmer as a game designer and maybe had not heard of organized code. [:D]

So, given that it's a mess and someone who had nothing to do with the coding is working on it I can imagine it must be somewhat frustrating. Still, having some kind of communication at all is better than none and I appreciate it as I'm sure everyone else does. For instance, "I can't look at this crap anymore. I have to walk away for a bit". I'm perfectly fine with that.

As for getting a patch soon. Probably not if he's found other botched or out dated programming. TOAW is very old.
http://www.operationbarbarossa.net/

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity and I’m not sure about the universe-Einstein

Q: What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?
A: A stick.
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RE: Patch news (3.5)

Post by ralphtricky »

ORIGINAL: Lobster

Well, from what I understand the code for TOAW is a bit of a mess. I guess Norm was not so much a programmer as a game designer and maybe had not heard of organized code. [:D]

So, given that it's a mess and someone who had nothing to do with the coding is working on it I can imagine it must be somewhat frustrating. Still, having some kind of communication at all is better than none and I appreciate it as I'm sure everyone else does. For instance, "I can't look at this crap anymore. I have to walk away for a bit". I'm perfectly fine with that.

As for getting a patch soon. Probably not if he's found other botched or out dated programming. TOAW is very old.
Don't misunderstand me, TOAW was very well written for it's time. I've looked at other programs written around that timeframe and they are absolute messes in comparison. Norm did a fantastic job given the constraints. It was written before C++ so there is a huge reliance on global variables. There is some separation between the logic and display but some parts are better than others. I'm pretty sure it was also written originally as a DOS program and the conversion to Windows works, but it used to have lots of loops polling the input which was the only way to do it in DOS but not the best way in Windows and impractical for mobile. The interface code was written assuming an 800x600 display and everything was coded using pixel coordinates and an 8x8 font. While it wasn't OO, it did do some sensible things like passing x, y as the first two parameters when looking at terrain and other sensible things like that.

I've got the advantages of both using C++ and OO and having used several windowing systems (Delphi, C#, HTML, and a few others) so I have some ideas on what the programming interface looks like. So I'm taking the time to do an almost complete rewrite of the graphics system to isolate the windows pieces in a couple of source files and writing an abstraction layer above it.

Ralph Trickey
TOAW IV Programmer
Blog: http://operationalwarfare.com
---
My comments are my own, and do not represent the views of any other person or entity. Nothing that I say should be construed in any way as a promise of anything.
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