First Impression

[06 Maestro]

I agree the tilted view is not the best way to view a strategic level map. It does make the cities look better though[;)]

The view can be changed by using the "end" key to give a top down view. It can be tilted again by using "home" key. I confirmed it works.

[06 Maestro]

Hi Chris

I am still using the demo, which may be limited in some respects. I am hesitant to make broad statements about the game without knowing about an item for certain.

I find the eonomics of the game very interesting and well done. Research is likewise quite comprehensive. In time I'm sure I will find something that should be changed though.[;)]

I have found a strange thing in diplomacy. I do not know if it is limited to the demo or the particular scenario. When playing as Italy starting in '39 Germany does not DoW Poland or anyone. After a month or two getting the economy somewhat on track I have Italy DoW and Invade France. Both before the DoW and after the invasion I have requested an alliance with Germany (several times). The response is alway that "we see no reason to get involved with your war with France"-or something very similar. This strikes me as quite odd. It seems some nations should be predisposed to join with others upon request.

In the Same Italy game I have found the military results of my endeavorer to be somewhat plausible-after a massive surprise attack Italy advances several provinces deep and then it is promptly wiped out by superior French forces. This makes more sense than what some other well known strategic games that are available allow to happen.

My demo just installed an update, but the opening screen shows two different versions-one on the bottom left and the other on the right.

As Larry mentioned, it is always good to see a dev responding to comments about their game. Thanks for your honesty too.

[TPM]

ORIGINAL: 06 Maestro

I agree the tilted view is not the best way to view a strategic level map. It does make the cities look better though[;)]

The view can be changed by using the "end" key to give a top down view. It can be tilted again by using "home" key. I confirmed it works.

I didn't notice that you could do the top down strategic view...maybe I'll check that out. Thanks.

[New York Jets]

Awww hell. For 30 bucks I'll give it a whirl.

By the way. This is my first post using my new Droid 2. Now I can check the forums on my breaks and lunchtime at work.

[zyk0001]

Personally I like the look of the game.

It is a work in progress, however. Though, I think it has come a long way since the Gamespot review. One thing that is nice is the in-game encyclopedia that substitutes partly for the almost nonexistant manual. I would not object to expanding the encyclopedia instead of working on a traditional manual.

And If they continue to work on it, I think it could end up being a very good game.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: 06 Maestro

As a not too satisfied owner of the original Making History, I still wanted to see what was new. I downloaded the demo from M.L. and played a bit.

I have to say I preferred the predecessor slightly. I bought this when it 1st came out and can only desribe it as Mocking History. Having conquered the world as Germany by 1937 on hardest level ( took so long because I started thinking that it really was about making history) I then restarted with Poland in 1933. I disbanded my airforce immediately but by mid 1935 I had conquered the Baltic States, Austria, Germany then most of Russia before I gave up. During that time I had built only inf and artillery.

My advice (given with some regret) is to avoid like the plague. It would be nice if a passable AI etc could mean the game is worth buying in a year or so but I'm not holding my breath. A shame as it is quite pretty and some of the ideas are quite good even if implementation is utterly hopeless.

[Erik Rutins]

sillyflower,

If you haven't tried it since it came out and still have your copy, you may want to update it and give it another try, it has improved a great deal since then. With that said, most of these games can be exploited to a degree by good players. If you want less sandbox style and more guaranteed realism, you might take a look at Gary Grigsby's A World Divided, it's pretty hard to send that one completely off the historical course. Making History does have a lot of realistic elements, but it takes a tack more similar to Hearts of Iron in terms of the open gameplay.

Regards,

- Erik

[MuzzyDev]

ORIGINAL: LarryP

MuzzyDev;

It means a lot to every gamer that comes here for you to post here with us. Thank you very much for your post and information, and above all your honesty about the early version of the game and the manual.

I am one of the gamers that always got stuck in a loop with the economy. I own the original and the Gold edition, and it was always the same. Economy woes. Too much like real life to enjoy doing it too in a game. [;)] I will keep your advice in mind should I play the demo from Matrix.

One question... any hope for a future manual? [&:]

Thanks again for your post. [&o]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your kind words. We've always wrestled with the choice of depth vs. fun when it comes to the economy. It was important for us to make the economic concerns a key part of the game (it is a game developed with Niall Ferguson, so economics must play a part), but we wanted to have players be able to set some things and not have to worry about it every turn. The problem is most of your focus on the economy is towards the beginning of the game, when you are also learning how to do everything else!

If you begin in the 1933 scenario, you will tend to have more of an economic hole to dig out of than one of the later scenarios, as was the case historically. Don't sweat being in debt fort a while, just try to minimize it. A common mistake is to build too much too fast, and end up so deep in debt your stability starts to fall. Different countries do this in different ways, but in general I find you can makes some real cash by "playing the market", buying resources low, then selling off when the price rises. If you build some arms you can often sell them for big money, especially once war has started somewhere. Always be updating a few cities, building a university or two, and upgrading one or two resource producers (coal and metals are the best early on).

AFA a manual and more documentation in general, it's always been a priority, but only now has the game settled to the point where it's worth investing time in it. We plan to enhance the in-game encyclopedia (as zyk001 suggested) and also update the manual itself.

Chris--

[MuzzyDev]

ORIGINAL: 06 Maestro

I have found a strange thing in diplomacy. I do not know if it is limited to the demo or the particular scenario. When playing as Italy starting in '39 Germany does not DoW Poland or anyone. After a month or two getting the economy somewhat on track I have Italy DoW and Invade France. Both before the DoW and after the invasion I have requested an alliance with Germany (several times). The response is alway that "we see no reason to get involved with your war with France"-or something very similar. This strikes me as quite odd. It seems some nations should be predisposed to join with others upon request.

In the Same Italy game I have found the military results of my endeavorer to be somewhat plausible-after a massive surprise attack Italy advances several provinces deep and then it is promptly wiped out by superior French forces. This makes more sense than what some other well known strategic games that are available allow to happen.

Hi Maestro,

We are currently tweaking the AI to have it be less suspicious of some countries over others, this may reduce the strange messages of this type. Our goal is to have nations behave "in character" so while Germany won't specifically invade Poland in 1939, it WILL be trying to expand, and, hey, Poland is right next door...

By the same token, some countries will tend to want to ally more, but only if they think it's in their interest. So while Germany may invade France, it will be wary about joining a country already at war (your Italy-France scenario). It may prefer to wait until you invade and then attack the now-weakened victor.

My demo just installed an update, but the opening screen shows two different versions-one on the bottom left and the other on the right.

One number is the game version, the other is the launcher version. This is connected to our soon to be released multiplayer service, which will let your game be saved in the cloud on our servers, so you and friends can go and take a turn whenever you want.

As Larry mentioned, it is always good to see a dev responding to comments about their game. Thanks for your honesty too.

[Kubel]

Chris Thanks for the info; downloading the Demo Now, looking forward to giving it a whirl.

Cheers

[06 Maestro]

ORIGINAL: MuzzyDev
One number is the game version, the other is the launcher version. This is connected to our soon to be released multiplayer service, which will let your game be saved in the cloud on our servers, so you and friends can go and take a turn whenever you want.

Thanks for the clarifications. The new multi-player systems sounds good-I will keep an eye on that development.

[sabre1]

So what is the state of the game? Anything new coming down the pike?

[bairdlander2]

Judging by the low volume of posts I doubt it

[MuzzyDev]

Sorry, we've been moving our offices so the last couple of weeks have been kind of insane. 

I've been playing the new multiplayer system with our CEO off of our alpha site, and it's a blast.  I take my turn and leave, and when everyone has taken a turn I get an email message on my phone that the next turn is ready.  If all goes as planned, the MP service should be officially live within the next couple weeks.

We are also working on a Mac version.  The really cool thing about the multiplayer service is that because it's web-based, even if you have the PC version and I have the Mac version, we can still play a multiplayer game together.

Chris--

[sabre1]

Thanks Chris for the update

[Twotribes]

GREAT Game. I love it. Little light in the rules section but easily figured out.

[Chris Bisson]

ORIGINAL: Twotribes

GREAT Game. I love it. Little light in the rules section but easily figured out.

Agreed! I don't know about the older versions, but the current version is a lot of fun to play. I took the 50% off plunge and am glad I did. This game is worth full price. I bouht MH 1 and never got into it. I tried it again after playing this one and I am convinced I like MH II much better. Thanks or a great game!