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Happy New Year's Day! 2018 look ahead


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It's time for our more-or-less traditional end/beginning of the year's "state of the state" update for Battlefront and Combat Mision.  At this point no new images to show, but I promise they won't be too long coming now that the Holidays are pretty much passed.  I didn't want to bug anybody for screenshots this past week, but I will start bugging testers quite soon :)

2017 was an interesting year for us (though every year is in its own way!).  As anybody who's followed us over the years knows, one of the things that's kept us going for two decades is our caution about the size and composition of full time staff.  There's nothing that will put a games company, in particular, out of business faster than the wrong headcount for circumstances.  Game development is a never ending cycle of "hurry up and wait" as one person has to wait for the work of another, then has to work double hard once they get what they need.  This is a really difficult process to manage for both the company and the employees, but since nobody has ever figured an alternative it is what it is.

Why mention this?  Well, because it's a way of explaining why 2017 was a bit slower in producing products for sale than we had expected.  Based on the success of both the CMBN and CMBS Battle Packs we've shifted development to rely more upon part-time paid help on a projet by project basis.  This gives us more flexibility at the expense of development speed.  In our view this shift is working pretty well, however it's taking a bit of time for us to work out the kinks.

The good news is that 2018 is set to reap the benefits of 2017's development efforts.  Right now we have three products in advanced stage of development:

  • CMFI Rome to Victory Module to bring the timeline to the end of the war
  • CMSF being thoroughly updated for its move to Engine 4 and all of its massive improvements over the original 2007/2009 code
  • CMRT Module 1 (no name announced yet) bringing the war's end timeframe for the Eastern Front

The order of release isn't nailed down as we're working on all three at once with our usual "when it's done, it's done" mindset.  And because the three don't have a lot of interest overlap, we're not going to artificially hold any of these back for marketing/sales reasons.  Knowing where each of these are in development, I predict they will come out pretty much right on top of each other.  Relatively speaking ;)

As stated up top, there's no screenshots to show you today.  However, the mountains of artwork ready, or nearly ready, to show you definitely means screenshots are not far away.  Yes, that means seeing winterized IS-2s in the bleak plains of Germany, Free French Forces moving up through Italy, and shots of the fully updated Shock Force soldier models battling it out with similarly improved NATO soldiers.

We'll keep you updated on how things are going as time progress, but as usual the first indication you'll have that something is nearing release is when preorders for it are opened up.  That usually means 4-8 weeks until release.  We're also not going to talk about anything else we're working on until at least 2 of the 3 are in your hands.  And yes, we're always working on more than we talk about publicly :D

Looking forward to 2018 with you all!

Steve

P.S.  I did not mention the New Zealand contract.  We are nearing completion on that as well, but it's not available for sale to the public and so no point teasing you with shots of Kiwis running around with Pinzgauers.

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19 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

It's time for our more-or-less traditional end/beginning of the year's "state of the state" update for Battlefront and Combat Mision.  At this point no new images to show, but I promise they won't be too long coming now that the Holidays are pretty much passed.  I didn't want to bug anybody for screenshots this past week, but I will start bugging testers quite soon :)

2017 was an interesting year for us (though every year is in its own way!).  As anybody who's followed us over the years knows, one of the things that's kept us going for two decades is our caution about the size and composition of full time staff.  There's nothing that will put a games company, in particular, out of business faster than the wrong headcount for circumstances.  Game development is a never ending cycle of "hurry up and wait" as one person has to wait for the work of another, then has to work double hard once they get what they need.  This is a really difficult process to manage for both the company and the employees, but since nobody has ever figured an alternative it is what it is.

Why mention this?  Well, because it's a way of explaining why 2017 was a bit slower in producing products for sale than we had expected.  Based on the success of both the CMBN and CMBS Battle Packs we've shifted development to rely more upon part-time paid help on a projet by project basis.  This gives us more flexibility at the expense of development speed.  In our view this shift is working pretty well, however it's taking a bit of time for us to work out the kinks.

The good news is that 2018 is set to reap the benefits of 2017's development efforts.  Right now we have three products in advanced stage of development:

  • CMFI Rome to Victory Module to bring the timeline to the end of the war
  • CMSF being thoroughly updated for its move to Engine 4 and all of its massive improvements over the original 2007/2009 code
  • CMRT Module 1 (no name announced yet) bringing the war's end timeframe for the Eastern Front

The order of release isn't nailed down as we're working on all three at once with our usual "when it's done, it's done" mindset.  And because the three don't have a lot of interest overlap, we're not going to artificially hold any of these back for marketing/sales reasons.  Knowing where each of these are in development, I predict they will come out pretty much right on top of each other.  Relatively speaking ;)

As stated up top, there's no screenshots to show you today.  However, the mountains of artwork ready, or nearly ready, to show you definitely means screenshots are not far away.  Yes, that means seeing winterized IS-2s in the bleak plains of Germany, Free French Forces moving up through Italy, and shots of the fully updated Shock Force soldier models battling it out with similarly improved NATO soldiers.

We'll keep you updated on how things are going as time progress, but as usual the first indication you'll have that something is nearing release is when preorders for it are opened up.  That usually means 4-8 weeks until release.  We're also not going to talk about anything else we're working on until at least 2 of the 3 are in your hands.  And yes, we're always working on more than we talk about publicly :D

Looking forward to 2018 with you all!

Steve

P.S.  I did not mention the New Zealand contract.  We are nearing completion on that as well, but it's not available for sale to the public and so no point teasing you with shots of Kiwis running around with Pinzgauers.

Well, I can't believe it's not Butter !

On a less serious note (Ok, JK'ing aside)...Great News, Steve & Co, for this New Years Resolution :-)

Edited by JoMc67
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5 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

We'll keep you updated on how things are going as time progress, but as usual the first indication you'll have that something is nearing release is when preorders for it are opened up.

Preorders? BF does preorders? The last few releases I've only noticed via this forum on release day and had to scrabble around unlisted parts of the store page to figure out where it can be bought. If you're doing preorders then JustTakeMyMoney.gif :P

Happy New Year guys.

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39 minutes ago, Michael Emrys said:

Thanks for that. Phenomenally hot chick. Who is she and where can I get ahold of her (double entendre intended)?

:):):)

Michael

Forget it, even if you could you’d be stuck with the whole family of knuckleheads. This is one of those moments where you just back away slowly and hope no one notices you. 

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14 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

It's time for our more-or-less traditional end/beginning of the year's "state of the state" update for Battlefront and Combat Mision.  At this point no new images to show, but I promise they won't be too long coming now that the Holidays are pretty much passed.  I didn't want to bug anybody for screenshots this past week, but I will start bugging testers quite soon :)

2017 was an interesting year for us (though every year is in its own way!).  As anybody who's followed us over the years knows, one of the things that's kept us going for two decades is our caution about the size and composition of full time staff.  There's nothing that will put a games company, in particular, out of business faster than the wrong headcount for circumstances.  Game development is a never ending cycle of "hurry up and wait" as one person has to wait for the work of another, then has to work double hard once they get what they need.  This is a really difficult process to manage for both the company and the employees, but since nobody has ever figured an alternative it is what it is.

Why mention this?  Well, because it's a way of explaining why 2017 was a bit slower in producing products for sale than we had expected.  Based on the success of both the CMBN and CMBS Battle Packs we've shifted development to rely more upon part-time paid help on a projet by project basis.  This gives us more flexibility at the expense of development speed.  In our view this shift is working pretty well, however it's taking a bit of time for us to work out the kinks.

The good news is that 2018 is set to reap the benefits of 2017's development efforts.  Right now we have three products in advanced stage of development:

  • CMFI Rome to Victory Module to bring the timeline to the end of the war
  • CMSF being thoroughly updated for its move to Engine 4 and all of its massive improvements over the original 2007/2009 code
  • CMRT Module 1 (no name announced yet) bringing the war's end timeframe for the Eastern Front

The order of release isn't nailed down as we're working on all three at once with our usual "when it's done, it's done" mindset.  And because the three don't have a lot of interest overlap, we're not going to artificially hold any of these back for marketing/sales reasons.  Knowing where each of these are in development, I predict they will come out pretty much right on top of each other.  Relatively speaking ;)

As stated up top, there's no screenshots to show you today.  However, the mountains of artwork ready, or nearly ready, to show you definitely means screenshots are not far away.  Yes, that means seeing winterized IS-2s in the bleak plains of Germany, Free French Forces moving up through Italy, and shots of the fully updated Shock Force soldier models battling it out with similarly improved NATO soldiers.

We'll keep you updated on how things are going as time progress, but as usual the first indication you'll have that something is nearing release is when preorders for it are opened up.  That usually means 4-8 weeks until release.  We're also not going to talk about anything else we're working on until at least 2 of the 3 are in your hands.  And yes, we're always working on more than we talk about publicly :D

Looking forward to 2018 with you all!

Steve

P.S.  I did not mention the New Zealand contract.  We are nearing completion on that as well, but it's not available for sale to the public and so no point teasing you with shots of Kiwis running around with Pinzgauers.

Thanks Steve, it was  great gift for begin 2018. I hope to see these screenshots really soon.
Now my doubt: will we have any of these games,or pre-order at least, in next two/three months? Any if them, really I'm interesting in all of them.
P.D. Happy new year for you, BF team and all this community.

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15 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

And because the three don't have a lot of interest overlap, we're not going to artificially hold any of these back for marketing/sales reasons.

Wat? The interest overlap is that it's a Combat Mission title by Battlefront. You release all the things and I buy all the things.

 

I SAID ALL OF THEM.

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4 hours ago, sburke said:

Forget it, even if you could you’d be stuck with the whole family of knuckleheads. This is one of those moments where you just back away slowly and hope no one notices you. 

Emrys, run, not walk, away from further research so as to maintain the highest degree of ignorance possible.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss. 

1 hour ago, Jumpete said:

Thanks Steve, it was  great gift for begin 2018. I hope to see these screenshots really soon.
Now my doubt: will we have any of these games,or pre-order at least, in next two/three months? Any if them, really I'm interesting in all of them.
P.D. Happy new year for you, BF team and all this community.

Within the next 2-3 months?  Yes, preorders for at least one should be open for preorders by then.  My money is not on the Red Thunder Module as that's got a bit more on the campaign/scenario side to go than the others.

1 hour ago, Mannschaft said:

Wat? The interest overlap is that it's a Combat Mission title by Battlefront. You release all the things and I buy all the things.

 

I SAID ALL OF THEM.

Who am I to argue? :D  Yeah, we are familiar with the "I want all of 'em" customer base and we're quite thankful for it.  So, thank you for being one!

Steve

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1 hour ago, Battlefront.com said:

Within the next 2-3 months?  Yes, preorders for at least one should be open for preorders by then.  My money is not on the Red Thunder Module as that's got a bit more on the campaign/scenario side to go than the others.

Glad to hear that! I don't know which one will be the first but for sure that I'll buy it, and the second,.... and... (better take my wallet Steve) :D
Assuming that Red Thunder module will be the last, will it be available along 2018 for sure?

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17 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

 

The good news is that 2018 is set to reap the benefits of 2017's development efforts.  Right now we have three products in advanced stage of development:

  • CMFI Rome to Victory Module to bring the timeline to the end of the war
  • CMSF being thoroughly updated for its move to Engine 4 and all of its massive improvements over the original 2007/2009 code
  • CMRT Module 1 (no name announced yet) bringing the war's end timeframe for the Eastern Front

 

This is great Steve but when can we expect some kind of a patch to correct the problem that was introduced with version 4.0? I am referring of course to the fleeing of troops from buildings and fortifications when a HE round lands anywhere near them! We have been waiting over a year now and many of us have had to revert all our games back to version 3.0 to get a decent game. 

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1 hour ago, Hilts said:

This is great Steve but when can we expect some kind of a patch to correct the problem that was introduced with version 4.0? I am referring of course to the fleeing of troops from buildings and fortifications when a HE round lands anywhere near them! We have been waiting over a year now and many of us have had to revert all our games back to version 3.0 to get a decent game.

I havn't gone backwards to 3.0 but I fully agree with Hilts on "the fleeing of troops from buildings and fortifications when a HE round lands anywhere near them!".Please correct that in 2018.Other than that I love 4.0.

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19 hours ago, weapon2010 said:

its ok , go ahead and bug them

:D

Indeed, Steve, you had time enough to let them prepare some screenshots and stuff before last week. This is no bone, it is just old news. You will always get some excited reactions from people who missed the old news, but don't expect us to jump everytime we hear the same. Over and over again. :)

 

 

Edited by Aragorn2002
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4 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

Who am I to argue? :D  Yeah, we are familiar with the "I want all of 'em" customer base and we're quite thankful for it.  So, thank you for being one!

Go ahead and add me to that list. All of this sounds fantastic. I'm very surprised that the CMRT module is as far along as it is. Very excited for winter conditions on the Eastern Front, as well as expanded German forces.

27 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

Oh yes!  The Engine 4 patch.  That should be out fairly soon.  Testers have indicated the running away problem is probably fixed so we're just making sure of it.  I'd like to have the patch out much sooner than later.

Steve

This is excellent news! 2018 is looking like a great year for CM.

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