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Interview with Martin van Balkom at Armchair General


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"we still have a few games in development which we’re (very loosely) planning to release towards the end of the year – among them HistWar, the Combat Mission Campaigns add-on to CMBB, and our own new Combat Mission game, Shockforce". So CMC is still miles away from completion.Wasn't this supposed to be a first quater release for 2006?

Why can't they have told us that?Or was the initial anouncement just to generate interest?Well if CMC is "very loosely" end of this year,maybe we'll "very loosely" see shock force by end of 2007.So When we hear the " one of these will be BIG news" news.We can all get excited about how excited we will be in another few years time when we actually see it.

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You know I remember the day when one and myself used to just buy whatever I saw on the shelves at the local gaming store. Never had forums back then and never had we are making this and that comments. Even as I looked thru my old computer gaming magazines you only got information on what was new and released. Maybe we need to go back to that time and there will be less frustrations and headaches. But, that also was a time when new games and wargames were coming out every other month as well. Now, they seem so far apart, too many years to develop. 2-5 years to make ONE game is just silly. We need those 2-5 month games again. ;)

Course the bad thing for Battlefront and other online only type purchasing game companies is they lose business by not being on store shelves. I forget how long Combat Mission had been out before I even heard of it. Same for the Total War series games of Shogun and Medieval and their offspring. By the time I really noticed them they were already bargain bin priced at Software Etc. But, those were another story, they had the horrible background of RTS game on them and you couldn't get me to buy an RTS game for a retail price if you gave me the money and still gave me a choice. ;)

But, now since they broadcast on these webpages what are in the works. Days seem like weeks and weeks seem like months and months seem like years and years seem like decades and then after years and years and then the release and the game is a complete flop one really feels let down and used and abused for the almighty $$.

I'm not interested in "Shock Wave" (hehe) by any means. I won't be buying it and only CMC has my attention from Battlefront atm. I find that other companies are getting too far away from their "roots", things that made them what they are, forgetting the customers who supported them year after year game after game and turning aside those devoted to make something "out of this world (space lobsters or whatever). Triumph Studios makers of the Age of Wonders Series is now turning to some crappy real time cartoon fest of an rpg/RTS/wargame "think Titans or Myth" more or less instead of sticking with what got them their money in the first place.

Developers are like children, you FEED them, CLOTHE them, give them SHELTER and then they go and turn on you eventually as they get older (with more money in their pockets). They shoot the finger at mom and pop and storm out the door to "do their own thang". haha Yah know what's funny about this normal social standard? When they get their BUTT's in a crack who do they usually coma a runnin to? ;)

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Games releases seem to have become more cyclical too. A few years ago I'd buy one game a month, and there was always something around to buy that I'd like. Now I can go months without buying a single game, because nothing interests me....then about four good games will all be released at the same time.

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Originally posted by Hunter:

I belive it follows 'Hofstadter's Law', which says that software development takes twice as long as what you plan it to...even when you take Hofstadter's law into account tongue.gif

Ah yes... a former boss of mine told me he wanted to have a project in 3 month cause somebody (aka his ex-XO aka his girl-friend) planned it to take 3 month. A colleague told me he would not have accepted it if he hadn't been allowed 6 month. I considered it to be a suicide mission. Wherever I analyzed the existing programs I found trouble resulting in additional resources. Got myself another job after 8 months when the bigger part was almost done. The guy who had to finish it left the company a little bit later.

Perfect example of Hofstadter's law applied to the remaining time of a project. It is interesting to note that if you plan too often, the project will never end as the sequence does not converge: If you plan again before more than half of the estimated time has elapsed, you're screwed.

Gruß

Joachim

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Originally posted by Kellysheroes:

You know I remember the day when one and myself used to just buy whatever I saw on the shelves at the local gaming store. Never had forums back then and never had we are making this and that comments. Even as I looked thru my old computer gaming magazines you only got information on what was new and released. Maybe we need to go back to that time and there will be less frustrations and headaches. But, that also was a time when new games and wargames were coming out every other month as well. Now, they seem so far apart, too many years to develop. 2-5 years to make ONE game is just silly. We need those 2-5 month games again. ;)

Course the bad thing for Battlefront and other online only type purchasing game companies is they lose business by not being on store shelves. I forget how long Combat Mission had been out before I even heard of it. Same for the Total War series games of Shogun and Medieval and their offspring. By the time I really noticed them they were already bargain bin priced at Software Etc. But, those were another story, they had the horrible background of RTS game on them and you couldn't get me to buy an RTS game for a retail price if you gave me the money and still gave me a choice. ;)

But, now since they broadcast on these webpages what are in the works. Days seem like weeks and weeks seem like months and months seem like years and years seem like decades and then after years and years and then the release and the game is a complete flop one really feels let down and used and abused for the almighty $$.

I'm not interested in "Shock Wave" (hehe) by any means. I won't be buying it and only CMC has my attention from Battlefront atm. I find that other companies are getting too far away from their "roots", things that made them what they are, forgetting the customers who supported them year after year game after game and turning aside those devoted to make something "out of this world (space lobsters or whatever). Triumph Studios makers of the Age of Wonders Series is now turning to some crappy real time cartoon fest of an rpg/RTS/wargame "think Titans or Myth" more or less instead of sticking with what got them their money in the first place.

Developers are like children, you FEED them, CLOTHE them, give them SHELTER and then they go and turn on you eventually as they get older (with more money in their pockets). They shoot the finger at mom and pop and storm out the door to "do their own thang". haha Yah know what's funny about this normal social standard? When they get their BUTT's in a crack who do they usually coma a runnin to? ;)

That's my feelings towards the gaming industry today in a nutshell ! BRAVO !!
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