Introducing Wargame Design Studios

Strela · August 20, 2016, 08:53:52 AM

Introducing Wargame Design Studios.

We would like to officially announce the formation of Wargame Design Studio (WDS).

WDS is composed of industry veterans with experience in building games for the grognard war gamer.

WDS will be initially focused on the John Tiller Panzer Battles game system and has the right to build and modify the game code as required. This is the first time that John has licenced his game code for external commercial use. Any resulting titles will be published by John Tiller Software. To drive change in the game code, Robert Osterlund (Berto) is joining WDS as lead programmer and architect. Berto has been working with the Campaign Series Legion to update the Campaign Series games published by Matrix Games. Berto will continue to work with both design studios.

The team at WDS have previously published Panzer Battles – Kursk the Southern Flank, Panzer Battles – Normandy, Panzer Campaigns – Kharkov '43 and Panzer Campaigns – Moscow '42.

We are working on a number of projects currently. The third Panzer Battles title is set in the Desert and the official campaign covered will be announced soon.

We are also working on a Demo that will be available for free. The initial scenarios to be released with the Demo will include actions from the Eastern & Western Fronts, Desert and Pacific theatres. We expect to make more content available for the Demo over time. We're committed to bringing both new players and new designers into our hobby and the Demo will be a perfect way to promote that.

With access to the source code we will be enhancing and adding a range of new features in the game. We are currently testing a beta patch for both Panzer Battles Normandy and Kursk. This beta patch will be released soon for broader testing within the community and will include a number of enhancements;

Firstly, Panzer Battles – Kursk will be bought up to the same standard as Panzer Battles – Normandy v1.01.

In addition, we are adding completely new short-cut keys for nearly every in game function;

With the advent of high resolution monitors, we are providing double sized Classic and Standard (new) toolbars. All have tool tips including the applicable short-cut key. There are 70 icons now available in either a single or double row;

Below is an example of the new standard icons at the 'small' size. The 70 icons fit across a 1920-pixel screen width. Lesser screen resolutions will be supported;

We have also included double sized 'classic' icons;

Finally, there are a lot of additional informational filters – below is one example showing height elevations;

These are just a couple of examples of the changes that will be coming in the Beta release. There are a lot of data and scenario updates being worked on currently and once the new Beta has been reviewed we will release the next official patch with all the changes included.

We have quite a long list of enhancements to be considered including everything from victory points to supply, through artillery & artillery spotting. We also hope to enhance reporting and other player aids. All of these are yet to be committed to but with access to the code there is a lot we can do.

Finally, we have quite a number of other projects underway and look forward to sharing those at an appropriate time in the future.

Thanks,

The team at WDS

Staggerwing · August 20, 2016, 09:07:32 AM

Looking good!

Sir Slash · August 20, 2016, 09:12:21 AM

Great news! :D Will be following regularly.

Cyrano · August 20, 2016, 09:22:27 AM

We will have to introduce PanzerDe to this post slowly.

His heart may not be able to take it in its entirety.

The hi-rez toolbars in particular are wonderful.

Crossroads · August 20, 2016, 09:39:09 AM

Great news, Godspeed!

Platoon sized tactical games are my sweetspot, both with computers and with boardgames. Looking forward to the new titles!

bbmike · August 20, 2016, 09:59:26 AM

Can't wait for the Pacific stuff! 8)

berto · August 20, 2016, 10:11:22 AM

+1

FlickJax · August 20, 2016, 10:45:23 AM

Nice, I think I will return an old friend touched up ;)

-budd- · August 20, 2016, 10:50:30 AM

Sounds great. Where will the information hub be? Here, new web site, somewhere else?. Looking forward to the changes.

Strela · August 20, 2016, 10:57:13 AM

Quote from: -budd- on August 20, 2016, 10:50:30 AM
Sounds great. Where will the information hub be? Here, new web site, somewhere else?. Looking forward to the changes.

We got asked the same thing at the Blitz.

We have the domain name registered but really don't have much to show currently. We will be using sites like Grogheads, Dogs of War & the Blitz to get all updates/teases/notifications out.

We can't see any point hosting our own forums as we prefer to go where people already are.

All actual game releases will go through John Tiller's site. He is now essentially a publisher for all the content we generate, so we will continue to use his site for launch and distribution of any future games.

David

savatee · August 20, 2016, 12:08:13 PM

Excellent news. Looking forward to this.

Barthheart · August 20, 2016, 12:32:03 PM

Wow! Congrats and good luck. I'll be watching with interest. O0

Zulu1966 · August 20, 2016, 03:43:54 PM

Quote from: bbmike on August 20, 2016, 09:59:26 AM
Can't wait for the Pacific stuff! 8)

Second this. With Bells on.

spelk · August 20, 2016, 04:31:02 PM

I thought this might be an elaborate hoax to begin with...

Without an official web presence it's hard to take such things seriously... hopefully WDS will have an official presence and we can all refer to it, and make it part of our surfing rotation in the future.

If the future is to bring Tiller games kicking and screaming into the future (present) then I'm all for it, and am right behind you.

Here's hoping every success to you!

Get an official site, and the relevant communities will be 100% behind you.

Cyrano · August 20, 2016, 04:53:45 PM

With a niche as small as ours, I'm hard pressed to see how a site matters. The proof will be in the pudding and these folks have already done a good amount to haul my beloved Tiller engine nearer the end of the 20th Century...not to speak of the 21st.

What's particularly exciting for me is that Dr. T. has allowed someone else to have the code. He will live many more years but not forever and his approach to gaming is unique and uniquely suited to the way I like to play games. I had earnestly hoped he'd trust another group or two to walk his efforts forward. Perhaps, perhaps, someday my much-word Napoleonic battles will be graced with divisional morale and a host of other changes we in La Fraternite des Boutons Carres have been clamoring for.