CM:Normany needs to be delayed!

[CogNative]

Maybe... "Allah's ak Bar, and His Favorite tea brewing animation" award?

Ken makes some valid observations about the user interface and sorting scenarios. Normandy and all future modules will be more polished products from the user experience but then you guys already know this. So does Apple with their "easy to use, flexible, powerful, slick, and graceful" approach to interface. Easy to use can = more sales.

Did I mention the bonus award for a RT replay feature... and the OS X version?

CogNative

[Smaragdadler]

...and one for different colors of the 'phases' and 'pause'-texts in WEGO...

[c3k]

Gents,

Tossing in a self-promoting bump for the following reason: I have just joined/used the repository. (Hey, I will ALWAYS use CMMODs as well!) I downloaded 4 scenarios from the repository.

I had not yet even unzipped them, let alone copied them into my scenario folder, when I'd received a series of emails from BF.C seeking my reviews! Err, you'll need to wait a bit.

Then I realized that this would be an excellent way to cull reviews from users: allow the player to rate their experience as PART OF THE AAR SCREEN! Right after the battle, while it's fresh and you're sitting there, toss up a scoring screen; up to 5 stars, and a box for comments.

That score would sit on your computer, until and unless you log onto the repository and ALLOW your reviews to be uploaded.

That would allow BF.C's repository to seamlessly rank the scenarios based on score, frequency of play, etc.

Thoughts?

Ken

[Sgt Swanson]

Oh C'mon guys!! Your asking a lot here. If you look back in the archives I'll bet you'll find a thread about this for the original CM games as well. They didn't do it then, so I'll doubt they'll do it now. It would be a whole lot easier for them to recode it in a patch for the moders to do it for us.

[bodkin]

Please, let's not have the flourescent weapon icons of CMSF it would look a bit out of place for the period.

[GSX]

With BF now holding files in their own repository a nice touch would be to have a Podcast like option in the game interface to automatically download new scenarios or Mods direct to the appropriate game folders.

[Battlefront.com]

Yup, that would be nice indeed. But I can think of a couple hundred things people would rather have before that

The really sad thing about wargame development is that if we could sell 4.5 million units, like Fallout 3 did in its first week ($300,000,000 retail value), we could afford to hire programmers to do specialized neat-o stuff like this and not break a sweat and STILL have money left over to buy a small country somewhere for our retirement The problem with wargames is that there are more good ideas on how to improve the game than there are customers to pay for them.

Steve

[ChrisND]

Yup, that would be nice indeed. But I can think of a couple hundred things people would rather have before that

The really sad thing about wargame development is that if we could sell 4.5 million units, like Fallout 3 did in its first week ($300,000,000 retail value), we could afford to hire programmers to do specialized neat-o stuff like this and not break a sweat and STILL have money left over to buy a small country somewhere for our retirement The problem with wargames is that there are more good ideas on how to improve the game than there are customers to pay for them.

Steve

Impressment seemed to work for a while. Maybe give that a whirl? (You'll have to get more than the standard QA testers though }

[Sergei]

Madmatt is a one man's press gang.

[ChrisND]

Madmatt is a one man's press gang.

My thought exactly.

[CogNative]

With the new modular business model BFC has got to have enough retirement cash stashed for maybe a very small country:D

[purpheart23]

With the new modular business model BFC has got to have enough retirement cash stashed for maybe a very small country:D

I'd say at least a small island somewhere in the south pacific right?

[c3k]

Restoring this to the active threads now that we have a bit of news about CM:Normandy.

For those who've skipped from the first, to this last post, my original post was meant to make a serious point with a bit of humor.

I would like to see the scenario interface upgraded. I think it needs improvement. The single most useful addition would be a way to mark the battles you've already played.

Enough on that...

Steve; you mentioned upstream (post #15) that improving the scenario UI was on the list to be looked at. Has it progressed beyond being on a list? Any bones you could share?

Thanks,

Ken

[Battlefront.com]

We've done a lot of discussions about various UI improvements to the scenario loading interface, yes. In fact, quite a bit of it in the last few days. However, it's not at the top of the priority list. There are some changes to the loading functionality, but it's definitely not got the oodles of bells and whistles people are looking for. All in good time!

Steve

[MeatEtr]

Restoring this to the active threads now that we have a bit of news about CM:Normandy.

For those who've skipped from the first, to this last post, my original post was meant to make a serious point with a bit of humor.

I would like to see the scenario interface upgraded. I think it needs improvement. The single most useful addition would be a way to mark the battles you've already played.

Enough on that...

Steve; you mentioned upstream (post #15) that improving the scenario UI was on the list to be looked at. Has it progressed beyond being on a list? Any bones you could share?

Thanks,

Ken

Add me to the list of wanting an upgrade to the file interface management. Well, basically everything Ken mentioned is worthy.

Btw, Steve mentioned not having the ability to hire new programmers to make these interface tweaks/changes. But there does seem to be much more people working with CMx2 (Brit devs, Afghanistan devs, maybe more?). So wouldn't this kind of an update be possible?

[Redwolf]

A simpler thing I would like in the scenario loader is in addition to the built-in one that knows how to parse basic parameters etc. I would like (and would have liked during CMx1) a simple Windoze file dialog box that allows me to pick the file I want quicker if I happen to know the filename (don't need the parsed parameters).

CMx1 had that for the PBEM file load.

[Battlefront.com]

MeatEtr,

Btw, Steve mentioned not having the ability to hire new programmers to make these interface tweaks/changes. But there does seem to be much more people working with CMx2 (Brit devs, Afghanistan devs, maybe more?). So wouldn't this kind of an update be possible?

There is still only one programmer There has been no expansion of Battlefront staff at all, in fact. What we've done is expanded the potential audience through CMx2's ability to simulate more than one thing at one time. There isn't enough audience, however, to warrant expanding things much beyond this.

Also know that this is how developers go out of business. A good game, any good game, will have more customer ideas (good ones even!) than is commercially viable to deliver. Successful developers are those who know how to balance unlimited customer requests with practical considerations.

Or put another way... if we hire someone to do something we have to pay for that. If that something isn't going to increase sales, it then decreases net income. If net income is decreased then the incentive for us to put it in also decreases.

Simple economics

Steve

[MeatEtr]

MeatEtr,

There is still only one programmer There has been no expansion of Battlefront staff at all, in fact. What we've done is expanded the potential audience through CMx2's ability to simulate more than one thing at one time. There isn't enough audience, however, to warrant expanding things much beyond this.

Also know that this is how developers go out of business. A good game, any good game, will have more customer ideas (good ones even!) than is commercially viable to deliver. Successful developers are those who know how to balance unlimited customer requests with practical considerations.

Or put another way... if we hire someone to do something we have to pay for that. If that something isn't going to increase sales, it then decreases net income. If net income is decreased then the incentive for us to put it in also decreases.

Simple economics

Steve

I had a feeling that kind of response was coming, Economics 101, Business 101, and good old fashioned common sense. Hate it when they get in the way.

You know, if I ever won the lottery I'd invest in BF in an effort for world domination.

[Pvt. Ryan]

Don't forget Airborne 101.

[theFightingSeabee]

Well, I put a very cursory solution to saved games management in z-Bee 1.3. Here you can see the date/time of the saves and you can rename them too. It's not much, but if you're already using z-Bee, then it's there to use.

[Battlefront.com]

MeatEtr,

I had a feeling that kind of response was coming, Economics 101, Business 101, and good old fashioned common sense. Hate it when they get in the way.

Nobody hates it more than us, trust me on that! You have no idea what sorts of cool stuff we could be putting out in addition to Combat Mission (not to mention CM itself) if we could figure out a way not going under trying. For better or worse, wargaming is a niche and as such we need to be scaled correctly or *poof* another long time wargaming company goes under.

Steve

[WineCape]

MeatEtr,

Nobody hates it more than us, trust me on that! You have no idea what sorts of cool stuff we could be putting out in addition to Combat Mission (not to mention CM itself) if we could figure out a way not going under trying. For better or worse, wargaming is a niche and as such we need to be scaled correctly or *poof* another long time wargaming company goes under.

Steve

Agreed. If I ever win a lottery (well, playing one in the 1st place will help!) Charles will get more quality vino and Steve a certain Shiraz. I know those jars need more anti-oxidants!

[General Jack Ripper]

I have a fantastic idea on how to fix the scenario selection screen:

Make it bigger.

Now did that blow your mind, or what?

Sure, being able to sort things, and having a delete button with all sorts of other functions is all well and good, but on my monitor, the scenario select screen is only about the size of a postage stamp Why not have it fill up the whole screen like in CMx1?

[c3k]

This thread has lain dormant, like a limpet mine, waiting to burst forth at an opportune time. The time is now! This is when we MUST delay CM:N until the scenario interface is improved! BF.C's weak excuse, "we only have one programmer", is no longer valid! The thin tatters of that refrain cannot cloak them now that they've hired a SECOND programmer!

Here's a for anyone who's really uptight...

Seriously, though, has any improvement in the scenario interface been considered? I won't repost everything, just check some of the ideas that've been posted here...2 years ago!

If only I could tell which battles I have not played yet...

Thanks,

Ken

[Michael Emrys]

Here's a for anyone who's really uptight...

My dear man, the mere fact that I want to tear a kitten, any kitten, limb from limb does not imply that I am really uptight. Please make a note. Thank you.

Michael