What hardware and operating system do you expect to use to play MWIF?

[panzers]

What is CWiF?

[Mziln]

ORIGINAL: panzers

What is CWiF?

CWiF ~ The Australian Design Group incomplete computer version of World in Flames.

[panzers]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: panzers

Also, Steve, Was wondering if their is going to be good graphics in the game? I know I won't have any issues with that. WiF of course is a huge data hog, so was just wondering if you guys are at all considering that.

Good graphics? Well, I like them[:D]. I guess it depends on what your eyes see.

There are 1000s of screen shots in this forum. So many, you can actually see the evolution of a lot of the graphics details.

At the top of the forum are a half dozen threads some of which give links to threads of interest. The tutorials and map screen shots probably answer your question most directly. But if you locate the MWIF Game Interface Design thread (it is on the first page as I write this) there are a lot of the other screens that will be used during play.

Wow! that's really awesome. I really did not expect that for such a data intense game like this.
It's all beginning to make much more sense now as to why this is taking so long to make.

[panzers]

Yes I have seen those, but I was thinking more along the lines of the video capacity of the game. Like, for instance, battle screens or strategic movement or the like.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: panzers

Yes I have seen those, but I was thinking more along the lines of the video capacity of the game. Like, for instance, battle screens or strategic movement or the like.

There will be some historical film clips - short in duration, and only 15 to 20 of those.

I have on my task list for MWIF product 2 (not 1) to replay turns. MWIF product 1 builds a game record log (it is used for Internet and PBEM games). The idea is to put together a small control panel so the player can replay each turn (forward and backward - what the heck). The controls would let him skip phases (e.g., just look at unit movement, or just look at production), control whether all or just a portion of the map is shown (e.g., just USSR versus Germany).

Basically, I am laying in all the fundamental data structures required for game replay but I will not be writing any supporting code in MWIF product 1.

Do not expect any animations of things blowing up or the like. It seems to me to be out of character for a strategic game with bi-month turns.

[panzers]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: panzers

Yes I have seen those, but I was thinking more along the lines of the video capacity of the game. Like, for instance, battle screens or strategic movement or the like.

There will be some historical film clips - short in duration, and only 15 to 20 of those.

I have on my task list for MWIF product 2 (not 1) to replay turns. MWIF product 1 builds a game record log (it is used for Internet and PBEM games). The idea is to put together a small control panel so the player can replay each turn (forward and backward - what the heck). The controls would let him skip phases (e.g., just look at unit movement, or just look at production), control whether all or just a portion of the map is shown (e.g., just USSR versus Germany).

Basically, I am laying in all the fundamental data structures required for game replay but I will not be writing any supporting code in MWIF product 1.

Do not expect any animations of things blowing up or the like. It seems to me to be out of character for a strategic game with bi-month turns.

Very understandable. I didn't think so.
I agree with you on such a game as this. No one really cares too much about all the bells and whistles when it comes to a game like this.

[brian brian]

I'm buying a new MacBook Pro later this week. Then picking up some flavor of Vista. Not thrilled about this, but have to buy a new copy of Windows to run on the new machine. (Long story involving using Windows on a Mac). So might as well just get it over with and experience Vista. But would be glad to offer any commentary on how MWiF will work with a Mac running Parallels or Boot Camp to use Windows. I suspect MWiF won't be pushing the video performance envelope and will work flawlessly, as long as it gets along with Vista.

[0331marine]

My PC:

MSI 650 P6N MB
Intel Core 2 Q6600 (4x2.4GHz)
Nvidia GeForce EN8800GTX
4 GiB 8500 DDR2
230 GiB HDD 7200 RPM, 476 GiB HDD 7200 RPM.
24 inch 1600x1200 monitor
SB X-Fi XtremeMusic

Runs Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit edition

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: 0331marine

My PC:

MSI 650 P6N MB
Intel Core 2 Q6600 (4x2.4GHz)
Nvidia GeForce EN8800GTX
4 GiB 8500 DDR2
230 GiB HDD 7200 RPM, 476 GiB HDD 7200 RPM.
24 inch 1600x1200 monitor
SB X-Fi XtremeMusic

Runs Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit edition

Thanks, and welcome to the forum.

I read everything posted in this forum, so feel free to let me know what you like, dislike, comments, and suggestions.

[0331marine]

Thank you for the warm welcome Steve. For now I am just looking around, trying to get an overview of what changes will be implemented from the board game to the computer version. Besides that I have a lot if ideas on WIF but they are more structural changes to the game mechanics and such so they are not really relevent here at this moment.

Only question I do have is in relationship with 64-bit OS and compatibility. As I hope this game will be around for a long time I hope you are considering this aspect, as in the near future more and more people will start using 64-bit systems due to the 4 GiB limit on RAM in a 32-bit OS.

S/F

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: 0331marine

Thank you for the warm welcome Steve. For now I am just looking around, trying to get an overview of what changes will be implemented from the board game to the computer version. Besides that I have a lot if ideas on WIF but they are more structural changes to the game mechanics and such so they are not really relevent here at this moment.

Only question I do have is in relationship with 64-bit OS and compatibility. As I hope this game will be around for a long time I hope you are considering this aspect, as in the near future more and more people will start using 64-bit systems due to the 4 GiB limit on RAM in a 32-bit OS.

S/F

In the mid-1970's there was a big controversy in the computer industry as to whether hardware or software would make computers successful. The hardware guys won. They have consistently reduced the cost of the hardware while simultaneously improving the performance. The impact of that is that the software guys continually have to make changes to accommodate the changes in hardware - not the other way around. Can you imagine someone inventing a new application and then the hardware guys designing new platforms just to run that application? The closest we have come to that fantasy (software guys' view)/nightmare (hardware guys' view) is in computer graphics, where the mathematical algorithms for 3D graphics (2 and 1/2 D actually) has driven the design of graphics cards.

The 64 bit OS systems exist because the hardware guys created 64 bit hardware systems. The application programs are then suppose to make changes to be compatible with the 64 bit OS.

At any point in time there is a broad range of systems in use, both hardware and software. The age of those systems range from ancient (in computer terms) to prototype systems, not yet available commercially, being used by designers working at the cutting edge.

The best we can do for MWIF is to design for the existing marketplace, hoping to span somewhat backwards in time and up to the current. Designing for the newest released systems is not feasible - the market is too small. And there is always the very nasty catch-22: take the time to design and code for what is the newest and by the time you have accomplished that task, there will be a new 'newest'.

This is a struggle for all software companies. And the smaller their customer base the more difficult it is to afford to make those changes.

[0331marine]

This is of course understandble, I only hope that MWIF will be able to run under an 64 bit OS. My experiance is that most contemporary software have few issues, but there are some older games that I have not been able to run. In short I only wish that MWIF can run with an acceptble level of reliblity on an 64-bit OS. That the gane will be coded in 32-bit I take for granted, and this game almost if not rival Duke Nukem Forever when it comes to develompent time, only reason why MWIF isnt makeing the same headlines is of course this is a niche product.

S/F

PS if you need playtesting for 64-bit issues I will am game, have nothing pressing besides a new WIF game starting tomorrow.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: 0331marine

This is of course understandble, I only hope that MWIF will be able to run under an 64 bit OS. My experiance is that most contemporary software have few issues, but there are some older games that I have not been able to run. In short I only wish that MWIF can run with an acceptble level of reliblity on an 64-bit OS. That the gane will be coded in 32-bit I take for granted, and this game almost if not rival Duke Nukem Forever when it comes to develompent time, only reason why MWIF isnt makeing the same headlines is of course this is a niche product.

S/F

PS if you need playtesting for 64-bit issues I will am game, have nothing pressing besides a new WIF game starting tomorrow.

Thanks for the offer.

Keep checking in once a week and when we need more beta testers I will post a request for same. That is when you will need to volunteer (again).

[Tac2i]

WinXP SP2 (home built)
3GB RAM
Intel 2.8GHz
19in Monitor
512MB MSI Nvidia NX8600GS PCI Express videocard
HD - loads of space

WinVista SP1 Home Premium (Toshiba laptop)
2GB RAM
15in Wide Screen/128MB Intel Integrated Video
Dual 100GB Sata HDs

Internet Connection: High Speed wireless via Alltel

[hakon]

About HD:

As sales of HD TV's are very high, now, I expect that quite many people will want to connect their computer to a HD TV, which is often only going to be only the 720p (1280x720 pixels) variant. For this reason, i think that using 1024x768 as minimum screen resolution when designing user interface forms may be shooting yourself in the foot a bit. (720p TV's screens are excellent for many other kinds of games, as they are large but still fairly cheap, many computer doesn't have to power to drive 3D intensive games at much greater resolution than this anyway, and because they easily double as a TV/monitor, while the computer can triple as a games platform/office platform/VCR. Also, WIF is probably going to look quite nice on such a big screen, even if the resolution is a bit low (1080p full HD will of course be much better).

So, I think the minimum resolution should 1024x720 pixels, unless shaving off those 48 pixels from the bottom will hurt the usability too much.

Hakon

EDIT: Also, having the capability to play the game with a projector (or LARGE, 60"+ TV), could be an interesting option in a LAN game, and could possibly even replace the board game variant, in time, at least for some groups. Of course, the 1080p projectors are still quite expensive, so this would often require 720p compatibility.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: hakon

About HD:

As sales of HD TV's are very high, now, I expect that quite many people will want to connect their computer to a HD TV, which is often only going to be only the 720p (1280x720 pixels) variant. For this reason, i think that using 1024x768 as minimum screen resolution when designing user interface forms may be shooting yourself in the foot a bit. (720p TV's screens are excellent for many other kinds of games, as they are large but still fairly cheap, many computer doesn't have to power to drive 3D intensive games at much greater resolution than this anyway, and because they easily double as a TV/monitor, while the computer can triple as a games platform/office platform/VCR. Also, WIF is probably going to look quite nice on such a big screen, even if the resolution is a bit low (1080p full HD will of course be much better).

So, I think the minimum resolution should 1024x720 pixels, unless shaving off those 48 pixels from the bottom will hurt the usability too much.

Hakon

EDIT: Also, having the capability to play the game with a projector (or LARGE, 60"+ TV), could be an interesting option in a LAN game, and could possibly even replace the board game variant, in time, at least for some groups. Of course, the 1080p projectors are still quite expensive, so this would often require 720p compatibility.

I struggle all the time with both the 1024 and the 768 limitations. Of the two, the 768 limit is the much more difficult for me to deal with. When using 720, It is not that the game will be unplayable, it is just that many forms will have to be scrolled to see the bottom 48 pixels.

While accommodating a wider audience is clearly a wonderful thing to do, adversely affecting all the other players who use a larger screen is even less desireable.

[hakon]

I did a bit of checking. 720p Tv's seems to usually support 768 vertical pixels, while projectors don't. (My old projector is 720p, but it's being replaced very soon anyway.) So this problem may not be so bad after all.

But in general, widescreen screens is becoming the norm now, at least in the high end (even my laptop has a widescreen), so horisontal real estate IS going to be a lot more plentiful than vertikal one.

Btw, will the game support using 2 or more windows, so that they can be placed on different screens? For instance, if I could have the map on one screen, and information pop ups (like the naval information screens, etc), on a different window, it would certainly speed up play.

If not, will the game stay in windowed mode, so that I can use Excel, rules documents, charts, etc on the separate screen? (I tend to have my build plan in Excel, and it would be nice to be able to work on it while the opponent is moving, etc.)

Cheers
Hakon

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: hakon

I did a bit of checking. 720p Tv's seems to usually support 768 vertical pixels, while projectors don't. (My old projector is 720p, but it's being replaced very soon anyway.) So this problem may not be so bad after all.

But in general, widescreen screens is becoming the norm now, at least in the high end (even my laptop has a widescreen), so horisontal real estate IS going to be a lot more plentiful than vertikal one.

Btw, will the game support using 2 or more windows, so that they can be placed on different screens? For instance, if I could have the map on one screen, and information pop ups (like the naval information screens, etc), on a different window, it would certainly speed up play.

If not, will the game stay in windowed mode, so that I can use Excel, rules documents, charts, etc on the separate screen? (I tend to have my build plan in Excel, and it would be nice to be able to work on it while the opponent is moving, etc.)

Cheers
Hakon

That's good news about the 720 pixel TVs. Thanks.

Yes, MWIF already supports multiple monitors. The screen layouts feature lets you arrange things however you like on your monitor "real estate". And you can have different screen layouts defined so you can switch between them for different phases in the sequence of play. I keep meaning to show a screen shot where a dozen different detailed maps are on screen at the same time. Maybe today?

You can also run other Windows applications concurrently - at least in theory. Since I know nothing about the code in other applications, blanket statements like "yeah, sure" would be foolish for me to make.

[Terminus]

Just have to say I'm really looking forward to this game... [:)]

[hakon]

Yeah, me too.

Good to hear about the multipe screen support, btw.