A.E.B Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 While we all realise that the hardworking and dedicated team at BFC is spending every hour of every day - except for those few hours that they need to spend eating, sleeping, re-enacting the final scene from “The Deer hunter”, doing deals with the Russian mafia and ex KGB for secret documents that will finally reveal what really happened in 1942, hunting for M29C Weasels and Ugandan military uniforms on eBay, cavorting with their mistresses, posing for “ Computer Game Industry Hunks In The Raw ” magazine, policing the BFC forum and just having fun rolling on the huge pile of money that the success of Combat Mission has brought them – to get the new engine for “ Combat Missions III: Chase the Italians from Eritrea ” ready, a serious crises is looming. Die-hard CM fans will have to wait TWO YEARS for the next game! The danger in such a delay is that addicted CM players, denied a regular CM fix - will drift away over time to find solace in playing comparable games like “ Microsoft Train Simulator II ”; “ The Sims: Dysfunctional Societies Online ”; “ Trailer Park Tycoon IV: Tornado Alley ”, or even the all time classic “ Britney Spear’s Dance Machine ”. Just look at suffering caused to various forum members by the small delay in the release v1.02 patch! This cannot be allowed to happen. There is, however, a solution. There’s a computer game industry standard response for getting past such difficulties. That’s right; I’m talking about the ADD ON PACK . Add on packs are simply a way of extending a current game’s life by providing a number of improvements and game play tweaks packaged as sort of a new game. After all, Blizzard does it, Sierra does it, EA Games does it, CDV (shudder) does it, even Microsoft (holds up cross: “Back! In the name of God back!”) does it, so why not BFC? This could be an easy way for BFC to slip in all those improvements that everyone on this forum keeps badgering about. A very useful feature that could be included in any CM add on pack would be a BFC online Personals website, so that those forum members – you know who I’m taking about – who spend their entire lives posting on this forum could finally have a chance at finding love. A typical ad could be Good Looking SS Panzer Commander, Gemini, 28, seeks svelte Russian partisan comrade with a jack boot fetish for fun, romance, and the chance of engaging in a brutal four year struggle for ideological, racial and territorial supremacy that will leave me utterly defeated and cost me half of everything I own plus reparations! Please send photo of self in appropriate crutchless uniform. I can see no downside for either BFC or the CM gamer in this! For the diehard CM gamer there’d be the pleasure in playing an improved version of their favourite game that would last them until CMIII is released, with the added bonus of having a whole new group of models and features to moan about on this forum. For BFC there’s the advantage of making more money from an existing product, and an add on pack would be more effective than BFC's current plan of pouring molten lead down from the battlements of the BFC fortress to stop crazed CM gamers who are tired of waiting for CMIII from breaking down the gates. So how about it BFC, give us an add on pack please! I've just worked a 60 hour week. What's your excuse? Regards A.E.B 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CombinedArms Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 With an ongoing stream of Mods and Scenarios produced by we, the users, I'm not sure I see the need for an add on pack. Two more years of exploring the Ostfront doesn't seem like too long to me.... Anyway, you can ask a way, but it aint gonna happen. Not with a five man company at CM vs. thousands of users who can and will make their own stuff to keep the game going.... I'll just take CM3 when it comes and meanwhile keep on playing CMBB. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefly Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 We've already had an excellent add-on pack in the form of the Stalingrad pack from Boots and Tracks and Der Kessel. IIRC all of the scenario designers who worked on this also designed scenarios for the published game. Also nobody tried charging me £19.99 for it . 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 We are still in the process of sorting out our billing. Maybe it was a mistake to outsource it to British Gas Centrica . 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 Yeh, the option to swap your old 50 scenarios for 50 entirely new scenarios is plenty of add-on pack for me. Rumor has it that the new engine will be more 'modular' making for faster turn-around of titles. But I think they mean more modular for THEM, not more modular for US. I don't expect anything that could be remotely described as an expansion pack from BFC... ever. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pad152 Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 I would like to see an add-on for CMBB. Quote ------------------------------------------------- With an ongoing stream of Mods and Scenarios produced by we, the users, I'm not sure I see the need for an add on pack. ----------------------------------------------- Sorry, but some re-painted panzer with pink skirts is not the same a new model. There were a bunch of models (new vehicles) that never made it in CMBB and never will without an expansion pack. Just look at the early screen shots of CMBB, and where are those trucks with guns? An Expansion pack would do three things. 1. Give us new models, new weapons, map titles, and help continue support for CMBB. 2. Allow BattleFront to develop someone else to learn how to code models for both CMBB and future CM products. 3. Generate revenue until the next CM product. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 Sorry, but some re-painted panzer with pink skirts is not the same a new model. If all you care about is sweet looking models then go buy WWII RTS when it comes out. An Expansion pack would do three things. 1. Give us new models, new weapons, map titles, and help continue support for CMBB. OK this sounds like a request from a Counterstrike llama who can't wait for the next version to come out so that they can try whoring some new rifles. 2. Allow BattleFront to develop someone else to learn how to code models for both CMBB and future CM products. I'm sure that Battlefront would just LOVE to give away the game coding. 3. Generate revenue until the next CM product. Call me cynical but at 80$ Cdn a pop with almost no overhead/retail costs, I think the boys at BTS will be able to do just fine until CM 3 comes out. And for God sakes stop trying to convince them that we should be paying for stuff that we can already get off the internet for free!! One of them might actually get smart and listen 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterGoodale Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 Yeah I have to agree the community (including myself) puts out enough scenarios to keep me happy for years to come. If they made an Add On Pack I wouldn't buy it to tell you the truth. CMIII. . .mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. . .the day that hits the shelves there will be one very, very, very happy man in the world in he's sitting right here in the same chair I'm sitting in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScouseJedi Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 Shouldn't you keep an empty chair between yourself and this man just to be safe? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pad152 Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 I'm surprised, no one wants new models and weapons added to CMBB or willing to pay to get the all of stuff that didn't make it in CMBB? Remember CMIII is still 3 years away. Quote ----------------------------------------------- And for God sakes stop trying to convince them that we should be paying for stuff that we can already get off the internet for free!! ------------------------------------- No one can create new models and weapons, these are not available on the net, re-colored doesn't count. ---------------------------------------------- Someone paid 80$ Cnd for CMBB --------------------------------- Gee maybe you stop using monopoly money. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Canuck Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Originally posted by pad152: Gee maybe you stop using monopoly money. [/QB]We wish we could. KC 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Originally posted by MasterGoodale: Yeah I have to agree the community (including myself) puts out enough scenarios to keep me happy for years to come. If they made an Add On Pack I wouldn't buy it to tell you the truth. CMIII. . .mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. . .the day that hits the shelves there will be one very, very, very happy man in the world in he's sitting right here in the same chair I'm sitting in. Shelves???? This is the USA, we don't need no damn shelves... Go back to Europe! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Originally posted by pad152: No one can create new models and weapons, these are not available on the net, re-colored doesn't count. Who cares? Why in God's name are you demanding that you pay extra for something that should have been included in the first place? Isnt that what we hate about these big companies? They don't give a **** about the customer, they send out a half finished game and then expect us to pay almost the same amount of money for the "add on" which is what the original game should be in the first place. Rarely do I ever see anyone complain about "not enough models, not enough guns". That's the great thing about CMBB. It's basically as complete a game as you can get. Which is why if I do decide to purchase it, I will purchase it, instead of "aqcuiring" it via online newsgroups, where I've gotten all my other games (complete with their worthless addons) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Good Lord, what new models would you even begin to add? I'm at view 5 most of the time anyway so all I see are the bases. An infinite number of maps, dozens if not hundreds of unreviewed scenarios at the Depot, and people still complain they don't have enough? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pad152 Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Quote --------------------------------------------- Who cares? Why in God's name are you demanding that you pay extra for something that should have been included in the first place? --------------------------------------------- CMBB is a complete game, but not everything made in the final version it never does. I'm not complaining about a lack of models. CMBB is a good value for the money but, I want more and I'm willing to pay for it. Let's face it the next version of CM is still three years away, and I'll bet they haven't even made a computer yet that will run a new CM type game three years from now. Better start saving your monopoly money! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red-Armor Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 I for one vote to skip the add-on pak and get on with CM2. An add-on pak would just make the wait for CM2 longer. There are enough new scenarios to keep us busy. Rather than a few new tweaks and a few more models I prefer to see a better graphics engine in the game which CM2 could possibly support: I am more interested in seeing: - better looking infantry units (no more block heads) - Dust, dust and more dust! When arty shells land I want to see dust kick up in the air and last for a few minutes, It would give the battlefield so much more life! - damged trees and other objects. I want to watch the forests get blown up when shells land, not just a little crater marker left after the explosion - more variation in buildings and city objects: statues, city halls, train stations, opera houses, etc... and not just square shaped buildings - no flat 2D doodads. I want to see a 3d wheat fields not lines of 2D doodads when I zoom out (same goes for fires and rubble) - more variation of damaged looking tanks - some blown off turrets would look cool so would some thrown tracks - 3D foxholes and trenches - how bout round barbwire instead of triangular - hedges are too flat also - they look more like green walls than hedges too me - full movie playback would be high on my list also The list could go on and on. I vote for CM2. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefly Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Originally posted by Andreas: We are still in the process of sorting out our billing. Maybe it was a mistake to outsource it to British Gas Centrica . Always nice to see a company I have shares in doing such a good job. It could be worse though, I could have paid for the shares. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.E.B Posted February 8, 2003 Author Share Posted February 8, 2003 Um...Guys, this was an attempt at Humour???!!! Gez, next time I'll have to include a laugh track! Regards A.E.B 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 OK, nobody should be getting testy about this topic. Not unless someone is suggesting that we have somehow cheaped out on the Eastern Front and more is needed. Haven't seen that so far I think we all need to get a grasp on what is an "expansion pack". The way I see it there are two different types: 1. Sceanrio/Graphics Pack 2. Module The first one is something that a certain wargame company, which is now basically defunct, used to do to the nth degree. Basically, they did very little work to produce some new scenarios, maps, and textures. Nothing new game wise. This is all well and fine, but IMHO it isn't enough to charge money for. Modules, for lack of a better term, might do the above BUT mostly are designed to extend the functionality of the core game within its current timeframe/front. For example, the initial CMBB might have not included the Axis Minors, so an expansion Module would include them. Or perhaps the initial CMBB only covered between 1943 and 1945, where an expansion could cover 1941-1942. There is a fine line between this being too little (something that should have been included from the beginning) or too much (enough to warrent totally new game). Customers tend to think the former more than the latter. Ungreatful bastards that you all are Currently #1 is available in spades for FREE!! So there is absolutely no reason we would go forward with some sort of Scenario/Graphics pack. As for #2... it isn't really applicable to us. We covered pretty much everything, less some oddball units that most people would never play with even if they had the option. That means we basically have nothing to offer in this department. Now... there is, of course, the possibility of taking the existing code and generating a totally new product from it like Med Theater, Poland, 1940 invasion of the West, etc. This is not what I would call an expansion pack, any more than I would call CMBB an expansion of CMBO. The reason is that so much work is needed to do each theater that it is really a seperate product which grows from the same code. As MikeyD said... the new engine will be quite adaptable to different applications, unlike the existing code. It will allow us to make more ground up new games (oh, like a space game or Middle Earth kind of thing) much quicker than if we wrote new code for each. But we have no plans beyond the first release which is projected to be 2 years not 3. Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 Your humour is too subtle for us. Don't worry, you'll soon learn that if you want to give us humour, you'll have to hit us over the head with it 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeauCoupDinkyDau Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 Steve, If I don't get my god$%&* power-ups so I can research duel cannon M1A1's to tank rush my opponent's fort with, I'm throwing CMBB in the trash!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where's my expansion pack GOD%&*#%!!!! :mad: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren J Pierson Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 Originally posted by Vader's Jester: Steve, If I don't get my god$%&* power-ups so I can research duel cannon M1A1's to tank rush my opponent's fort with, I'm throwing CMBB in the trash!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where's my expansion pack GOD%&*#%!!!! :mad: It's in the drawer by the TV. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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