CMx2 bones a plenty (renamed)

[aka_tom_w]

yes thanks

That was it!

I did think I read somewhere on the board here a long time ago

that somebody "official" at BFC commented that the CMx2 game engine would be a comparable quality to those images shown at that preview site for Wartime Command...

They do look nice and It SURE would be GREAT to play a nice looking BFC game with GREAT game play and historical realism that will provide a tactical and strategic challenge AND look provide those kinds of stunning visual and that level of graphic detail at the same time!

I'm sure Steve and the gang realize we are ALL looking forward to such a joy!

thanks!

-tom w

Originally posted by patboy:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

I am thinking of screen shot of a European town and a stone a rock bridge over VERY nice looking water in a River below in from a competitors game currently in production I think.

Can anyone remind me of the post or the reference or link to that game, which I cannot remember the tittle off?

-tom w

May be is it Wartime command battle for Europe 1939-45 by Codemasters ? preview summer 2005. www.codemasters.de/wartimecommand/ </font>

[Stalin's Organ]

Just a quick suggestion - can CMx2 please have password entry BEFORE loading the 3D graphics??

I hate those few occasions where I load the other guy's file & have to await hte loading before I can exit it!!

[gibsonm]

Tom W,

And the best bit will be running it in Tiger!

[spartan1]

Originally posted by Battlefront:

We are still shooting for a release about this time next year with another to follow about 6-8 months later. When we announce the first title we will also announce the second, but nothing beyond that.

.............

It's amazing what can be done with a fresh slate, radically more powerful hardware, and years of experience

Steve

Great graphics combined with true - realistic simulation the game will be GREAT.

All the best for the new year 2005.

[Sivodsi]

Just a quick suggestion - can CMx2 please have password entry BEFORE loading the 3D graphics??

- Stalin's Organ

Try typing in your password straightaway -while it is still a blank screen. There is no delay then.

I used to wait for the "password" screen before I read that you don't have to wait on this forum.

You do occasionally learn something useful here ;-]

[Gpig]

Heya Steve!

I'm really excited by this news. Thanks for discussing it with us.

I have not been able to play CM for some time, due to a Mac upgrade. But I still visit this site daily in anticipation of future events/announcements about CMx2. (And of course all the other fun talk.)

I have a MAJOR interest in animation and I'm very curious about how the animations will be done for the new version. What they will look like and how they will move, etc.

Can't wait to see more!

Keep up the good work,

Gpig

[Snarker]

Originally posted by Sivodsi:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Just a quick suggestion - can CMx2 please have password entry BEFORE loading the 3D graphics??

- Stalin's Organ

Try typing in your password straightaway -while it is still a blank screen. There is no delay then.

I used to wait for the "password" screen before I read that you don't have to wait on this forum.

You do occasionally learn something useful here ;-] </font>

[kipanderson]

Hi,

Steve can clearly sense that the frenzy of anticipation for CMX2 is on the rise. In my case I have tired to put it to the back of my mind and concentrate on other aspects of my hobbies;)… but it is no good…I have cracked!!

It is a real bonus to know that when the title of the first game is released, the second will also be announced. It does greatly add to the fun to know what is coming next.

When it comes to the competition I too am stunned, that to date, there is no competition. It is all very odd… I constantly trawl the net looking for possible wargames of a quality close to CM, but there is nothing there. Five years after CM landed! I have thrown my money at a long list of wargames in the forlorn hope that one will “hit the spot”… but no.

One of the oddest things is the slowness of other developers to use the simultaneous resolution turn sequence used by CM. In my view, it is “ideal” for wargames of almost any scale and type. One example would be operational games, the standard one mile/km per hex type with manoeuvre units being battalion combat teams. John Tiller, or whatever he is called, produces his series of Panzer Campaigns games but stubbornly sticks to I-GO-YOU-GO. Strange. His games would “hugely” benefit from simultaneous resolution. Perfect for his operational scale and type of games. He and the rest of the wargames world are missing a trick.

Maybe an orders phase followed by simultaneous resolution is a lot more difficult to program than I imagine. Maybe, for some reason, real-time is quicker and easier to program. I have no idea but am very puzzled. ( Yes… I do understand why FPS use real-time but that is not the market I am thinking of.)

If BFC get the urge, fancy something different, there is a gap in the market for a quality operational game. There is nothing at the operational level to equal what CM has done for the tactical level.

Cracking under the strain of waiting for CMX2!!!

Stunning stuff,

All the best,

Kip.

PS. A Russian development team are producing a game called Alpha Team, or some such thing, which will be using a CM turn sequence. Rather too small a scale for my taste, in the perfect world, but I will be giving it a go. For competition, keep an eye on those cunning Russian chaps… if competition does ever appear… my hunch is that is where it will come from. Who knows.

[Wicky]

Gpig: I thought you'd been recruited to the Battlefront Skunkworks project for just that. How's 'Cars' coming along?

I just hope that the hardware requirements for CMX can be handled by my recently processor upgraded mac DP 1.2 and nearer the time a bit more pokier graphics card.

Originally posted by Gpig:

Heya Steve!

I'm really excited by this news. Thanks for discussing it with us.

I have not been able to play CM for some time, due to a Mac upgrade. But I still visit this site daily in anticipation of future events/announcements about CMx2. (And of course all the other fun talk.)

I have a MAJOR interest in animation and I'm very curious about how the animations will be done for the new version. What they will look like and how they will move, etc.

Can't wait to see more!

Keep up the good work,

Gpig

[Ant]

Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

yes thanks

That was it!

I did think I read somewhere on the board here a long time ago

that somebody "official" at BFC commented that the CMx2 game engine would be a comparable quality to those images shown at that preview site for Wartime Command...

They do look nice and It SURE would be GREAT to play a nice looking BFC game with GREAT game play and historical realism that will provide a tactical and strategic challenge AND look provide those kinds of stunning visual and that level of graphic detail at the same time!

I'm sure Steve and the gang realize we are ALL looking forward to such a joy!

thanks!

-tom w

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by patboy:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

I am thinking of screen shot of a European town and a stone a rock bridge over VERY nice looking water in a River below in from a competitors game currently in production I think.

Can anyone remind me of the post or the reference or link to that game, which I cannot remember the tittle off?

-tom w

May be is it Wartime command battle for Europe 1939-45 by Codemasters ? preview summer 2005. www.codemasters.de/wartimecommand/ </font>

[Folbec]

Originally posted by kipanderson:

One of the oddest things is the slowness of other developers to use the simultaneous resolution turn sequence used by CM. In my view, it is “ideal” for wargames of almost any scale and type. One example would be operational games, the standard one mile/km per hex type with manoeuvre units being battalion combat teams. John Tiller, or whatever he is called, produces his series of Panzer Campaigns games but stubbornly sticks to I-GO-YOU-GO. Strange.

Be happy then, even if the game has already been postponed a number of times and has changed names 2 or 3 times, it looks like there is some real potential :

(formerly named battlefields!)

Combined Arms: World War II (formerly Battlefields!)

[Gpig]

Originally posted by Wicky:

Gpig: I thought you'd been recruited to the Battlefront Skunkworks project for just that. How's 'Cars' coming along?

Heh. Nope. They've got more than enough talent to go around, I'd guess. :-D

Cars is looking GREAT, thank you very much!

I'm not expecting Pixar-level effects/animation for CMx2, as Finding Nemo takes up 12 Tetrabytes of disk space on the disk farm. That might make it difficult for your average gamer to run a SUPER animated CMx2 from home. Heh heh.

Gpig

[ASHBERY76]

Tell me BF will the tanks graphics in the new game match these? click for 3d view of each tank.

http://gunpoint-3d.com/list-tanks_german.html

[kipanderson]

Folbec,

Thanks for the link…I too have been keeping an eye on Battlefields/Combined Arms… lets hope that it does eventually land for real:)

Of course, my real dream, but I realise it is only a dream, runs like this.

A quality, but fairly conventional operational game that can be played out and resolved entirely at the operational level; if the players wish. Manoeuvre units are battalion combat teams, one mile or km per hex, but CM type turn sequence/simultaneous resolution. However, with the option for any contact battle within the operational game to be resolved at the CM level if the players agreed. The ability to halt the operational game and click down a scale to fight a given battle, say for a town, as a CM game with the results then applied to the operational game.

A program along the lines of the Quick Battle generator would take the parameters for the CM type battle from the operational game. The map type details, the forces and so on. (In fact I would always wish to import human made maps as computer generated ones just are not as good… in my view.)

For me, this is the long term ultimate goal. To fully integrate a future version of a CM scale game and a quality operational game. With the advent of broadband, multi-player programming and domestic networking such a concept could produce an unequalled gaming experience. In my very prejudiced view;)

All the best,

Kip.

PS. If BFC can just see their way to allowing Saved games to be fully edited, I and my chums can track the battalions in stand alone programs.Keeping my fingers crossed!!

[Sergei]

Okay, don't give us bones... but at least gossip about your private lifes! How is Martin faring in the aristocratic society? Does Matt need to shave his head, or is the skull infertile? Is Kwazy feeling hot down there? The public needs to know!!! :mad:

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by Sergei:

Does Matt need to shave his head, or is the skull infertile? I... feeling hot down there... :mad:

Get the fire hose, it must be Pon Farr season for the bloody Finns. Once every seven years whether you need it or not...

[Salkin]

Guys, if you need help with the animation I bet Gpig would "take one for the team" so to speak .

Gpig, I just saw Incredibles...excellent stuff !

//Salkin

[gibsonm]

Originally posted by Gpig:

Originally posted by Wicky:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> Gpig: I thought you'd been recruited to the Battlefront Skunkworks project for just that. How's 'Cars' coming along?

Heh. Nope. They've got more than enough talent to go around, I'd guess. :-D

Cars is looking GREAT, thank you very much!

I'm not expecting Pixar-level effects/animation for CMx2, as Finding Nemo takes up 12 Tetrabytes of disk space on the disk farm. That might make it difficult for your average gamer to run a SUPER animated CMx2 from home. Heh heh.

Gpig </font>

[ParaBellum]

Nice little bones here.

Like Kip already wrote I'm also really hoping for a much improved campaign/data interface that would make it easier to track units' casualties/ammo/etc... during a series of engagements. Together with the arty modelling this is my major problem with CM.

Funny fact is that I'm STILL not tired of CMBB, and have hardly scratched the surface of CMAK yet. Both will keep me happy until CMX is released.

And you can add me to the "space lobsters of DOOOM" fan club.

[Panzer76]

Originally posted by gibsonm:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Gpig:

Originally posted by Wicky:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> Gpig: I thought you'd been recruited to the Battlefront Skunkworks project for just that. How's 'Cars' coming along?

Heh. Nope. They've got more than enough talent to go around, I'd guess. :-D

Cars is looking GREAT, thank you very much!

I'm not expecting Pixar-level effects/animation for CMx2, as Finding Nemo takes up 12 Tetrabytes of disk space on the disk farm. That might make it difficult for your average gamer to run a SUPER animated CMx2 from home. Heh heh.

Gpig </font>

[Battlefront]

Some more quick thoughts...

I'm not surprised nobody has risen to the challenge of toppling CM's standing. The teams that have more resources and good talent are run by big companies that have long ago written off our niche. The others tend to be focused on easier things to do. No slight on those guys, just a reflection that we're a hard act to follow.

Kip, there will be a much more involved campaign system. I won't say more than that, but the focus of the game is far more campaign oriented than Quick Battle or stand alone scenario (those options are of course still available). This is part of the evolution aspect of CM. We spent so much time getting the battle stuff right in CMx1 that we had to economize the campaign design. This time 'round we don't have to.

ASHBERY76 , those models are WAY more detailed than they need to be for a game. Having said that, CMx2's models will look far closer to those than to CMx1 models. In theory we COULD put in something that huge, but I don't think anybody would be too happy with the results.

GPIG, hehe... Finding Nemo 3 - Nemo Goes To War! I love it Seriously, the graphics capabilities of CMx2's engine are on a par with the best we've seen from games in development these days. We feel it beats games already released. So yeah, it will be pretty darn good. And when we start to expand our titles post CMx2's first release, perhaps we'll need to talk. I mean, if you aren't too busy making the underware renders for The Incredibles 2, perhaps we can use your services

We are also mindful of hardware demands. Current systems should be able to handle it OK. Stuff from before might have problems. Anything as old as my creaky G4 400GH or a 1GH Pentium will likely be in trouble. The good news is that with Game #2 following Game #1 so quickly one system upgrade should be good for at least 2 games, if not 3, since the core game technology won't be changing within that timeframe.

Steve

[HawkerT]

Originally posted by Battlefront:

... Kip, there will be a much more involved campaign system. I won't say more than that, but the focus of the game is far more campaign oriented than Quick Battle or stand alone scenario (those options are of course still available). This is part of the evolution aspect of CM. We spent so much time getting the battle stuff right in CMx1 that we had to economize the campaign design. This time 'round we don't have to. ...

Steve

Hot dang Steve!

Now that is what I call GOOD NEWS ... or rather bloody marvelous news! I am currently umpiring a CMAK campaign where I also act as human interface between our strategical level (HTTR) and our tactical level (CMAK) catering for wounded and supplies etc. My eyes are turning red and my hands turning crooked from updating spreadsheets and doing workarounds with the CMAK battle and map editors trying to make the ends meet. So your statement is nothing short of being wonderful music for the ears.

I simply can't wait to see what else you have in store for us. Thank you Steve for the updates and this little gem of a bone.

All the best whishes for a 2005 without to many troubles in the development of the next revolution in wargaming.

All the best

Frans

[ January 06, 2005, 12:00 AM: Message edited by: HawkerT ]

[Caesar]

Steve,

Is there any chance of your doing ancients with your new engine i.e. pre-firearms? Ancients were always my preference in my wargaming days.

[Panzer76]

Originally posted by Battlefront:

Seriously, the graphics capabilities of CMx2's engine are on a par with the best we've seen from games in development these days. We feel it beats games already released.

Compared to what games? Wargames, RTS, FPS? Can you give a example of a current game which is on par with the CMx2 engine?

[Tarkus]

Originally posted by Battlefront:

[...] 6 years of CMx2 should yield about 8 games with no boundaries on subject matter and fewer limitations on improving the visual/audio elements. The new engine will allow us to do WWII, sci-fi, current, fantasy, Civil War, whatever... and do it without it taking years to release.

Originally posted by Battlefront:

[...] Kip, there will be a much more involved campaign system. I won't say more than that, but the focus of the game is far more campaign oriented than Quick Battle or stand alone scenario (those options are of course still available). This is part of the evolution aspect of CM. We spent so much time getting the battle stuff right in CMx1 that we had to economize the campaign design. This time 'round we don't have to. [...] Anything as old as my creaky G4 400GH or a 1GH Pentium will likely be in trouble. [...]

*Gasp* *drool* and such. I see what Moon meant by "totally new engine" when we were forking all those suggestions out. The game is apparently leaping foward on a grand scale. Can't wait to see it. Or THEM .

Cheers, and a very, very good year to all.