Scourge of War Gettysburg

[Jarhead0331]

For those of you bubbas who have been waiting, it's here.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3142400/Scourge_Of_War__Gettysburg/

[Rayfer]

Saw this is now available on Steam for $44.99.  Hard pill to swallow considering I have it on Matrix with all the DLC's but appears no Steam key will be had through them. I enjoy this game and would love to have it on Steam for convenience and future upgrades. With a limited gaming budget I suspect I'll await a future sale. A bit of Saturday morning disappointment.  Ps. JH posted a thread on this that I didn't see.

[Grim.Reaper]

Kind of odd pricing compared to Waterloo remastered, title doesn't even include "remaster" in it.  Although I want GB remastered stuff for future, at this pricing it will have to wait.

[Grim.Reaper]

And Norb's rationale...I guess if I read into this, they somehow deemed converting to Steam (waterloo was on steam before) to be worth the price being double.  Also read somewhere else that not considered remaster since maps/graphics weren't improved, although did convert to x64 and other performance improvements.  At the moment, not enough to justify me reinvesting back into this game at this price, not to mention the other DLC will be extra someday.  Too bad...


The price is higher because GB has never been offered on Steam before. The sales will spike and then die down as they do with niche games. The price offered pays not only for the game, but also for continued fixes and upgrades after the sales have diminished significantly. I have found the costs and accounting of just having this business have significantly increased and will continue to increase. So although I completely understand and support waiting for sales in order to purchase, the amount and time and effort and costs in releasing the games is not insignificant. We also partition all the royalties out to all the content creators over the years. I was convinced over a year ago that people would appreciate the effort to release the games on Steam with all the supported features rather than retiring the company into obscurity due to increased financial burden. These games never supported full time staff, not once, but we refuse to ask people to work on the games for charity. Time and effort deserve to be rewarded and we are not going to release any product without support. So the price not only covers what you receive today, but also continued planned upgrades and also the road that was paved to arrive at this point.

So we certainly respect any decision that the cost is beyond your means, please also respect ours.

[Tripoli]

Yeah, I have to think about this one.  I have the game, with all the DLCs and it works.  I would have thrown them a $20 to support them, but $44 for something I already own that works is a bit of a stretch.  I'll wait for now.

[Grim.Reaper]

And now Norb posted the plan forward, which actually is thoroughly confusing me:)  Seems like there will be two versions of GB, a stand alone version (one just released) and all the GB content created as DLC for the Rematsered version.  If that is true, I guess best to wait for the DLC for the remastered, not really sure why I would want this stand alone version.  Totally confused on this approach....

GB Plan Forward
Moving forward we will be working on the GB DLC for Scourge of War Remastered. Once that is complete, both games will be updated and will be using the same game executable.

For people that just own one game or the other, it does not matter. For people that own both games, you can buy the content twice if that's easier, or you can do a little copy and paste (unless that's against some standard in which I only wrote this under duress), and end up with the same conclusion. It's going to be crazy getting all this working properly because in the end we'll have a bunch of stuff that works with both games. We'll do our best with continued support to sort out any issues that arrive.

[ArizonaTank]

I appreciate the work they are doing as well. But frankly, I am not feeling that big of a difference in versions.

[Grim.Reaper]

I appreciate the work they are doing as well. But frankly, I am not feeling that big of a difference in versions.

Yep that too...they are asking a price where they want us to believe in the future there will be a lot more.  When there is a lot more then I'll reconsider.

[JasonPratt]

Purchased from loyalty; depurchased almost immediately, after coming here to check on the thread. 

[Old TImer]

"Yeah, I have to think about this one.  I have the game, with all the DLCs and it works.  I would have thrown them a $20 to support them, but $44 for something I already own that works is a bit of a stretch.  I'll wait for now. "

My sentiments exactly.

[Tanaka]

Seems like they should offer a discount if you already own the games...

[Grim.Reaper]

Talking about this game got me thinking about the history of this series...starting with Take Command back in 2005, transitioning to Scourge of War in 2010, then moving over to Matrix in 2012, and now Steam in 2024.  Going back through my stuff, think I have bought this stuff a number of times:)

- Bought the (2) Take Command versions
- Bought the direct version of Scourge from Norb's Site
- Re-Bought Scourge series at Matrix
- Bought the 150th Anniversary version, which was basically just buying the Matrix version again

Not too mention buying all the Waterloo content....

Certainly have "invested" in this developer over the years.  Got me thinking a bit, how much has the game engine truly evolved since the initial 2005 version of Take Command?  I know the typical buzzwords happened--optimized, enhanced, bug fixes, etc., but what truly new features were added with the evolution of this game?  Still roughly looks and feels the same so I am kind of thinking there really hasn't been a ton but I could be misremembering, which is the main reason it gives me pause to pay $45 to invest in the future of the game (and that doesn't even include buying all the DLC again)....what will happen in the next couple of years that hasn't happened in the past 20 years?

[Tripoli]

Certainly have "invested" in this developer over the years.  Got me thinking a bit, how much has the game engine truly evolved since the initial 2005 version of Take Command?  I know the typical buzzwords happened--optimized, enhanced, bug fixes, etc., but what truly new features were added with the evolution of this game?  Still roughly looks and feels the same so I am kind of thinking there really hasn't been a ton but I could be misremembering, which is the main reason it gives me pause to pay $45 to invest in the future of the game (and that doesn't even include buying all the DLC again)....what will happen in the next couple of years that hasn't happened in the past 20 years?

The SoW system is the ultimate USCW and Napoleonic tactical game system.  IMHO, () it hasn't been equaled in 20 years. Much to my surprise, I don't think that anyone has tried to do something similar in the past twenty years. Because of that, I am willing to support the project.  I'm just not willing to pay top dollar for essentially buying what I already own.  For those gamers who missed out on buying Gettysburg before it was removed from the Matrix games catalogue it might make sense.  I am willing to pay full price for the remastered Gettysburg, when it is available.  But $44 and no discount for this is too much.  In fairness, the developer openly acknowledges that prior owners may come to this conclusion.  I think it was a bad decision on their part not to give a 50% discount to prior owners who, like me, want to support their effort.
 

[Grim.Reaper]

Certainly have "invested" in this developer over the years.  Got me thinking a bit, how much has the game engine truly evolved since the initial 2005 version of Take Command?  I know the typical buzzwords happened--optimized, enhanced, bug fixes, etc., but what truly new features were added with the evolution of this game?  Still roughly looks and feels the same so I am kind of thinking there really hasn't been a ton but I could be misremembering, which is the main reason it gives me pause to pay $45 to invest in the future of the game (and that doesn't even include buying all the DLC again)....what will happen in the next couple of years that hasn't happened in the past 20 years?

The SoW system is the ultimate USCW and Napoleonic tactical game system.  IMHO, () it hasn't been equaled in 20 years. Much to my surprise, I don't think that anyone has tried to do something similar in the past twenty years. Because of that, I am willing to support the project.  I'm just not willing to pay top dollar for essentially buying what I already own.  For those gamers who missed out on buying Gettysburg before it was removed from the Matrix games catalogue it might make sense.  I am willing to pay full price for the remastered Gettysburg, when it is available.  But $44 and no discount for this is too much.  In fairness, the developer openly acknowledges that prior owners may come to this conclusion.  I think it was a bad decision on their part not to give a 50% discount to prior owners who, like me, want to support their effort.
 

I don't question it being one of the top games, even if dated.  I am just trying to remember what truly has "evolved" since 2005 and I can only mostly come up with bug fixes, optimization, and tuning.  And no fix to the congo line in 20 years:)  They are asking us to invest with our $45 (plus additional DLC) into their future, but not sure if the history of the game supports major new things coming.  If I thought they would truly add some new features or major enhancements in a decent amount of time, maybe I can wrap my head around it eventually, but just not sure that will happen.  Being on steam, switching to x64, and better MP lobby isn't enough for me at the moment.

They could have also shown a little good will by even just having a launch discount for a limited amount of time.  To be fair to them, not sure how they would know who their prior customers were as I don't suspect Matrix gave them customer records, nor do they probably remember when Norb sold it directly or when with Madminute games.

As I said too, I am willing to support and have shown that over the years, but at this time they need to add some meaningful content before I would consider it at this price (for $20, I would have bought it).

[Gusington]

Is there a roadmap out for the future of this series?