Annual look at the year to come - 2023

[Suchy]

@Battlefront.com

We are not arrogant and insolent. We are CM addict junkies and BF is a dealer of our beloved drug. We badly need another fix.... And there is no hope in sight....
We just expect clear information about the status of the game....

That's it, that's it and that's it....

[AlexUK]

It is pretty frustrating. Looking back at the 2023 plan and seeing how little of new things were actually introduced, with no real updates in the interim. I’m crying out for the Engine 5 update as I can’t really play CMCW at the moment. 
Also the promised patches didn’t fix some big issues with the games (my particular bugbear is the TOW Stryker). Underpromise and overdeliver would be preferred. But also more regular updates.  

[markus544]

Can we people out in cyberspace the world over get a 2024 update. I really don't think it's too much to ask, but having said that perhaps it is. Well, I'm asking non the less.

Thanks,

Mark Cerull

[Raskol]

Hey  guys, any news bones post this year. It does feel like the community is getting bigger with the new addition of the discord channels and youtube content creators. 

They hype is real. 

[CarlXII]

8 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

Responding to your pointless wining blather has never been useful in my view

That might very well be the case...The problem though is that you are not responding to ANYONES...

"pointless wining blather"...are you ?

 

[Battlefront.com]

9 hours ago, chuckdyke said:

The customer is king they used to say in the old country. Sad to say BF is stagnating and pointless to say computer games are a very competitive industry. Without doubt you are completely aware of it.

We are, of course.  As I keep pointing out to people we've been doing this for almost 25 years.  Very few can say the same.  We didn't get this way by being stupid or "arrogant", but rather doing things our own way in our own time.

9 hours ago, chuckdyke said:

I see less and less comments of the game designers here. The last game I bought I have not touched it in the last six months, it screams for up-to-date battle packs, but the never-ending talkfest about it is more important. 

I've got eyes and ears everywhere on these Forums who can speak with varying degrees of authority.  When there's something that one of them can't answer it is brought to my attention.

Steve

[Battlefront.com]

8 hours ago, Suchy said:

@Battlefront.com

We are not arrogant and insolent. We are CM addict junkies and BF is a dealer of our beloved drug. We badly need another fix.... And there is no hope in sight....
We just expect clear information about the status of the game....

That's it, that's it and that's it....

As long as this Forum doesn't permanently resolve to a dead DNS, there's always hope

5 hours ago, AlexUK said:

It is pretty frustrating. Looking back at the 2023 plan and seeing how little of new things were actually introduced, with no real updates in the interim.

See, that's the problem we've always had.  People badger us into making predictions, we often don't hit them exactly right, and then people complain we missed the mark.  Giving interim updates doesn't help, it just highlights that we really don't know when things will come about.  I'd rather be wrong 1 time than 10.  I'd also rather people complain they aren't getting updates than complaining that our updates are always wrong.

5 hours ago, markus544 said:

Can we people out in cyberspace the world over get a 2024 update. I really don't think it's too much to ask, but having said that perhaps it is. Well, I'm asking non the less.

For sure the annual update is in the works.  Soon.  And by that I don't mean "BFC's usual version of soon"

Steve

[Bearstronaut]

I've been playing CM games pretty consistently since I discovered them in 2017. There is more than enough content for everything that has already been released. BF was even kind enough to give us an editor in the games so if you want new content then why not make it yourselves?

[kohlenklau]

14 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

For sure the annual update is in the works. 

Thanks Steve. Happy New Year.

 

[Vacillator]

53 minutes ago, Bearstronaut said:

BF was even kind enough to give us an editor in the games so if you want new content then why not make it yourselves?

I mean this as no criticism to anyone, but I think a lot of folks want 'expansion content', by which I mean new time periods on certain fronts and new factions on those fronts (a good example would be the talked-about CMFB expansion to the end of the war, including Commonwealth forces).  These are not things most people can create with the editor, although I'm sure Phil @kohlenklau could give it a try with his 'fake lobster' approach .

Of course a lot of folks also want early war etc. but we've had those questions answered before.

[Battlefront.com]

5 hours ago, Vacillator said:

I mean this as no criticism to anyone, but I think a lot of folks want 'expansion content', by which I mean new time periods on certain fronts and new factions on those fronts (a good example would be the talked-about CMFB expansion to the end of the war, including Commonwealth forces).  These are not things most people can create with the editor, although I'm sure Phil @kohlenklau could give it a try with his 'fake lobster' approach .

Of course a lot of folks also want early war etc. but we've had those questions answered before.

For sure, and if it were possible to crank that stuff out faster we definitely would.  The downside of all the detail that makes Combat Mission the game you all love is... well... the details.  In the world of software development, details = time.  As with everything time = money.  Because of that some of the things you guys are looking for simply aren't commercially viable for use.  The rest have to wait in line, unfortunately.

Steve

[Centurian52]

5 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

For sure the annual update is in the works.  Soon.  And by that I don't mean "BFC's usual version of soon"

Looking forward to it!

For everyone else, I really think it's best if we interpret the 2024 look at the year to come as "this is what they're working on this year", rather than as "this is what will be released this year". As was pointed out a couple pages back, Battlefront has committed to quality, and that means time needs to be flexible

On 11/2/2023 at 10:22 AM, Lethaface said:

With BFC committing to quality (this is not necessarily mainly about bugs, but rather realism and authenticity of the game engine and depicted period/battles), them having a sort of fixed budget, the result is that time needs to be 'subject to change'.

Companies that commit to releasing their products by a promised date often end up being rather flexible on quality. 

In any case, I suspect it takes two or three years to develop a base game or module (I haven't payed much attention to how long it normally takes to develop Battle Packs). So it's probably reasonable for us to hope for some of the things that were announced at the beginning of 2023 (with work presumably starting sometime in 2022) to be finished in 2024 or 2025. If they announce that they're working on anything new in 2024, that doesn't mean it will be released in 2024. The better interpretation is probably that work started in 2023, and a release might be expected in 2025 or 2026. A two or three year development cycle actually isn't that long for something as complicated as a video game.

[Ultradave]

I had a section chief who, after a phone call with Naval Reactors told us, "10 years from now he won't remember you were late, but he WILL remember if you were wrong, forever." 

My favorite boss I had in 38 years at EB. Of course we always tried our best to hit the deadlines, but not at the expense of being correct. It was nuclear submarine reactor plant design, after all. Incorrect is not an option.

Dave

Edited January 4 by Ultradave

[kohlenklau]

Steve should try something different this year and do the briefing like Jeopardy. 

"This down under module should be released by June 6, 2024..."

Ding ding ding ding

Uhhh...what is Ithikial's CMBN Battle Pack?

Edit: I am thinking of the fan made. cmrt battle pack. 

Edited January 4 by kohlenklau

[Ghost of Charlemagne]

6 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

For sure, and if it were possible to crank that stuff out faster we definitely would.  The downside of all the detail that makes Combat Mission the game you all love is... well... the details.  In the world of software development, details = time.  As with everything time = money.  Because of that some of the things you guys are looking for simply aren't commercially viable for use.  The rest have to wait in line, unfortunately.

Steve

Understandable. 

However, the lack of bug fixing is not. 
For example, the ammo bug for the Canadian C15 (TAC-50) has still not been fixed. 

[Battlefront.com]

33 minutes ago, Ghost of Charlemagne said:

Understandable. 

However, the lack of bug fixing is not.

Well, see there is the age old problem I see on this Forum.  Your statement is not accurate.  We fix LOTS of bugs and we do that on a regular basis.  We just released a patch in the past week, made while most people were still on Christmas vacation.  Was it this fix for this game?  Obviously not.  But not fixing something you want fixed and not fixing things at all are two entirely different things.

You are also under some sort of misunderstanding of how the economics of time work.  The more stuff we release adds to the cumulative time required to maintain old products instead of putting out new ones.  That time comes at the expense of putting out new stuff.

Effectively what customer are saying is that they want us to speed up the release of new products while also increasing our attention to fixing very small details in the stuff we already released.  And to do both according to a magical standard that doesn't exist in the real world while at the same time complaining that other game companies aren't even trying to deliver this sort of product.

We're in an impossible position.  No matter what we do someone is going to have a ready reason to complain that we're not doing enough.  Good thing we're OK with that or you'd be complaining about no support and no new games.  I don't know about your country, but in mine there is an acute labor shortage for people with our skill sets.  We could quit Battlefront tomorrow for a job in a different industry and probably get paid far more to do far less work.

Hmm... now there's a thought

Steve

[chuckdyke]

Right now a 1st class manual of how to play this game properly. From Battle for Normandy to Black Sea. Manuals with doctrines for the time frame. With references which YouTube videos are recommended. Example Red Thunder change name of a scenario with the purpose getting more TRP to plan on Map Barrage near the end of the game for example. 

Edited January 4 by chuckdyke

[Aragorn2002]

41 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

We're in an impossible position.  No matter what we do someone is going to have a ready reason to complain that we're not doing enough.  Good thing we're OK with that or you'd be complaining about no support and no new games.  I don't know about your country, but in mine there is an acute labor shortage for people with our skill sets.  We could quit Battlefront tomorrow for a job in a different industry and probably get paid far more to do far less work.

Hmm... now there's a thought

Steve

Oh, no, you don't!

[PIATpunk]

What will happen to licensing when you shut down?

[chuckdyke]

6 minutes ago, PIATpunk said:

What will happen to licensing when you shut down?

Same as my CM1 games. Overtime they become useless. 

[kohlenklau]

5 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

We could quit Battlefront tomorrow for a job in a different industry and probably get paid far more to do far less work.

I had always thought you guys had other jobs and BFC was just a side hustle due to my perception of a slow production rate. Especially Charles. I had asked you respectfully (in my patented corny humor way) if he was just part-time for BFC and was a mastermind programmer making his big bucks elsewhere. I had thought (always dangerous) he is the bottleneck because he can barely spare you a few man-hours every weekend? You did answer me and said "No, he is full-time for BFC about 60 hours per week". I gotta find those posts. 

Can you make money off of advertising in the BFC forums?

I think you should quit. Fold it up and move on. Get the residuals or whatever. Go get the bucks you deserve elsewhere.

It is Freudian. You brought it up.

 

 

 

 

[BornGinger]

On 1/3/2024 at 7:39 AM, chuckdyke said:

The last game I bought I have not touched it in the last six months, it screams for up-to-date battle packs, but the never-ending talkfest about it is more important. 

Instead of complaining about having to wait for updates to your Combat Mission game, why not spend some time to learn the Graviteam Tactics Mius-Front game you bought but didn't have the patience to get into thoroughly? I'm sure you'll have loads of fun and good battles with that game. It's on sale now too, so you can get yourself a DLC for a good price. Mius-Front is well worth the time and effort to learn how to play it.

Edited January 4 by BornGinger

[chuckdyke]

11 minutes ago, BornGinger said:

he Graviteam Tactics Mius-Front game you bought but didn't have the patience to get into thoroughly?

Looked at it and uninstalled it. Factors it is not the WeGo system I enjoy with Combat Mission. I think I buy Fortress Italy modern warfare is not for me I am afraid. SF2 I need to be in the mood. I definitely I am a WW2 player, happy gaming. I won't do much for the next few months as I am relocating. Looks like I need to invest in Starlink for internet. 

Edited January 4 by chuckdyke

[JM Stuff]

2 hours ago, BornGinger said:

Instead of complaining about having to wait for updates to your Combat Mission game, why not spend some time to learn the Graviteam Tactics Mius-Front game you bought but didn't have the patience to get into thoroughly? I'm sure you'll have loads of fun and good battles with that game. It's on sale now too, so you can get yourself a DLC for a good price. Mius-Front is well worth the time and effort to learn how to play it.

@BornGinger Graviteam makes beautiful games that I like but, we are far away of the BFC system and level that we took the habit from CM, personly, I remain in front of all these countless icons available,...probably I have to take more time to study and watching more videos about the way to do correctly, if you have some finesses about It I am all ears, ...the only game that I can control almost very good from them is for the moment, "Tunisia 1943" the others are a headache for the moment, but for the time I foccussed to the Flavor Objects of CMCW, waiting impatiently to the new expected module, and hope to see more about BFC Ideas all around theirs creations and added, and because Steve personly was and stay couple of time on the forum (distancing a short time from another thread) but is understanding we will have perhaps a new module for it ?  , I guess we will have soon, perhaps very soon the contain that we are waiting, that, his whole Staff include Steve himself  hidding us, ...crossing fingers, Steve.

Edited January 4 by JM Stuff

[A Canadian Cat]

8 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

And to do both according to a magical standard that doesn't exist in the real world while at the same time complaining that other game companies aren't even trying to deliver this sort of product.

You forgot "and update the community regularly about all things that are going on".