How does CM:SF stack up against CMx1?

[Battlefront.com]

Leto,

Do you have a plan for releasing information on Cm2 Normandy ex ante, and if so, at what stage or stages and at what level of detail?

Sure we'll talk about the features ahead of time. We always do, otherwise there's not much to talk about before a game comes out The timing and level of detail is always subjective. The general rule of thumb is that I avoid getting too detailed until the feature in question is actually implemented. This is because the designs I come up with are often modified during implementation or, as is sadly the case quite often, shelved due to lack of time. There's no point discussing things that aren't going to be in the game because it sets up false expectations.

A sub question of the above: will you be opening a new forum section to deal with the questions that will obviously start flowing now that you have posted the infamous Tiger shot heralding CM2 Normandy?

Yes, there will be a dedicated new forum for Normandy. Our plan is to have a dedicated Forum for each "family" of games. CM:SF gets one, CM: Normandy gets another, the next game family gets another, etc. This mirrors what we've done in the past with CMx1 games.

What market or demographic are you aiming at with the new game (do you have some research data that you may be basing some of your design principles on) or are you just building it and hoping they will come? I ask this because you've stated in the past that you have greatly expanded your sights with respect to target markets, moving from your past customers of your old products to new customers who may be already playing in new genres (you mentioned real time gaming forums once).

There is no such thing as "research data" (at least as I interpret your use of "data") to base our decisions on. Or more accurately, there is no useful data to draw from. We are one of the only wargame companies left in existence and we've been doing this longer than most any wargame company that ever existed. We have more information within our own experiences than can be got from the outside world. Plus, the outside world data clearly indicates that we are absolute morons for making wargames, so it's best not to look outside of our nice little niche

What is true is that the wargaming niche is not as neatly defined as the ultra hardcore wargamers would like to think. They constitute an important minority, but a minority so small that no wargame company could ever stay in business based just on the sales from that group alone. I learned this lesson long before starting Battlefront, and so did Charles from different experiences, so nothing we've ever done has been solely aimed at the hardcore wargamer player type. Let me repeat that... never.

We are far more interested in the acceptance of our games by the less hardcore wargamers, casual wargamers, and tactical/strategy gamers who don't know yet that wargames can be fun to play. We've had a lot of the latter, believe it or not, which has not always gone over well with the super hardcore. There is a myth that if anybody other than a hardcore wargamer shows interest in a wargame then it must suck. Despite proving that notion to be false over many years, old habits of thought are very hard to break for some.

What is the process for beta tester selection? Do you have to know or trust the person, or are you looking for a specific skill or characteristic, or even demographic to strategically link your betatesting squad to the markets to which you will be selling?

Knowing and trusting are very important, but we look for complimentary skills. We've had some guys on the testing team that don't even play the game itself, rather they are there for technical expertise. Others are there because they have shown a particular interest in something that perhaps the other testers aren't as interested in. We also add testers who have shown dedication to advancing the game through skills such as artwork, scenario creation, etc. There's no single factor that I look for in a tester other than a basic level of maturity and ability to be constructively critical. The worst sort of tester is one that doesn't say anything, the second worst is the type that can't articulate problems he's found.

Is the emphasis going to be on campaigns (a narrative, or storyline as you will) so that a player will need to complete missions, or are you looking to build in scenario based, full editing and QB based flexibilities to allow for the development of a user based community? (almost like open source products, but of course the code is not disseminated, so not really)

Same strategy as in the past. We give the player a good experience out of the box and then let it expand from there. Even if there were no QBs and no Editor all of our games, including CM:SF, offer more hours of playtime out of the box than most games out there. We're one of the few game companies that can say their games are played beyond the 1-2 year marks, not to mention 10 years down the road.

I ask these questions in a forthright and respectful tone.

And as always, I give back a forthright and respectful answer. It's a simple equation that some fail to understand, for whatever reason

Steve

[[hirr]Leto]

Thanks for the response Steve,

I think the answers will be beneficial and valuable to a lot of the people poking around in here. I know it was for me.

I think I can successfully resume lurking mode again for awhile.

Cheers!

Leto

[McIvan]

McIvan,

[stuff about perspective and history of the forums snipped]

As for your previous post... you said some things I agreed with and some things I disagreed with. If you didn't want to see a response from me (or someone else) then you shouldn't have posted. If you did want to see a response, then I don't see what the problem is.

Steve

I missed the CMBO period and a fair bit of the CMBB period, coming on board around the time CMAK was released.

I don't mind people disagreeing with what I say. I find it odd when they disagree with things I didn't say.

Anyway, that's enough of all that.

Look forward to more details on CM Normandy.