Preview pics of some units in the upcoming Bulge game: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120091-operation-tumbleweed/#entry1617226 (http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120091-operation-tumbleweed/#entry1617226)
And Battlefront is working on their first battle pack for CMBN which I think is a great idea: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120281-preview-of-the-first-battle-pack/ (http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120281-preview-of-the-first-battle-pack/)
"In just two months, between 6th June and mid August, the Allied armies in Normandy destroyed the cream of the 1944 German Army. Following this resounding defeat the Allies bounded across France in just a few days. It is during this period of stunning advance that Battlepack 1: The Great Swan is set, following the advance of the British 2nd Army from the Seine River, through Belgium, and all the way to the high water mark of the advance along the Meuse and lower Rhine."
Love the battle pack idea. SP Campaigns are worth their weight in (virtual) gold.
I dunno. I think that Battlefront has made me a vicitim of their success switching me from WW2 to their modern series CM Black Sea. Somehow WW2 just doesnt hold my interest as much now especially another Bulge setting. What I cant wait for are the battlepacks for the Marines/NATO forces (I am assuming they will do something similar as the modules in CM Shock Force). I am for the first time going to hold off on buying any of these new Battlefront WW2 CM modules/battlepacks etc. But I cant wait to give them my money for any modern stuff.
Con
That's great news. An altogether new region for the game to kick my ass in. I was getting tired of picking bocage out of my shorts anyway.
The main thing I'm looking forward to are expansions for CMBS. Any new news on the CMSF revival/update? I remember hearing something about it.
Well, here's an overview of where Battlefront says they are headed: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120172-brief-overview-of-where-cm-is-headed/ (http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120172-brief-overview-of-where-cm-is-headed/)
"In the mid-term we will switch our development efforts over to CMFI's second Module; Gothic Line. This takes CMFI through the end of the war and introduces a bunch of new forces. It's too early to spill the beans on details at this point, but for sure you'll see such things as Waffen SS and various Commonwealth forces.
We will also soon start work on the first Module for Red Thunder. The details of this are a little fuzzy at present, though it is safe to say that it will be packed full of fun. Think winter combat and the inclusion of Waffen SS and LW forces not seen in Red Thunder.
Black Sea is definitely not being neglected! After the Bulge game is released we're focused on extending the content of the existing Families instead of venturing into new ones until we get caught up on Modules. While more are planned they aren't going to be available for a while yet."
Sounds all fine and dandy to me.
Expanding the current games (save for Bulge which is going to be new) is a move I like.
I hate having to buy a new game in a series every year or so to get the newest content. I am much more an expansion pack kinda guy. With the added benefit of all themed content under one convenient executable.
For the love of everything holy, this game needs a new engine.
Still running the same engine from 2001. Needs optimization and better performance.
Quote from: Apocalypse 31 on July 26, 2015, 07:48:57 AM
Still running the same engine from 2001. Needs optimization and better performance.
im not sure version 3 is 2 years old yet
Quote from: Apocalypse 31 on July 26, 2015, 07:48:57 AM
For the love of everything holy, this game needs a new engine.
Still running the same engine from 2001. Needs optimization and better performance.
Well - sure its newer than that.
In any event - it is still the only game out there that does what it does - and it does it extremely well. I have never spent money on a game that delivers better value - I am still playing CMSF years after it was released.
Will buy everything they produce without question - no matter what it may be or cost.
Well it needs a better way to make maps.
Quote from: Apocalypse 31 on July 26, 2015, 07:48:57 AM
For the love of everything holy, this game needs a new engine.
Still running the same engine from 2001. Needs optimization and better performance.
I heard it uses one LOD for vehicles. Optimization might be difficult in that case.
Quote from: Zulu1966 on July 26, 2015, 08:23:42 AM
Will buy everything they produce without question - no matter what it may be or cost.
I'm pretty much in this camp too. I understand some of the grumblings about optimization and the fact that Bulge is not a very daring departure for the series, but at the end of the day, CMx2 draws me in in a way that no other game of this scope does, not even Graviteam Tactics.
I think the bulge should have been a module or two in CMBN. Upgrade CMBN to 4.0, add two modules, and you have CM Bulge.
^ I agree.
Progress is so slow with their dev path, I feel like they are going kill their customers with wait time like eagle dynamics is doing with dcs world 2.0.
I want that CMSF reboot. I totally skipped WW2 stuff.
Quote from: undercovergeek on July 26, 2015, 09:56:22 AM
Quote from: MinmatarCitizen on July 26, 2015, 09:36:55 AM
Well it needs a better way to make maps
How so?
Like a way to import height data and a way to lay roads and walls as line objects. As it is now you do all of that one pixel at a time, which is frankly painful to do. Maybe there is a way to do that, but I haven't seen it. I hope there is for the sake of the poor map/mission makers.
As a poor map maker the roads and walls can be done by clicking a start point and an end point so no pixel at a time
I'm really looking forward to the battle packs. I just wish they do some of the early Blitzkrieg stuff, with tanks blazing away only to have shells bounce off unless they get a lucky hit. I'm hoping they'll eventually do it, as they included the core of French tanks with their vehicle pack. If you haven't tried it, they're a lot of fun, especially the Crocodile, and the Churchill AVRE. I was surprised they missed out with the Wasp, but perhaps we'll see it in a later expansion? O0
Quote from: undercovergeek on July 27, 2015, 04:34:32 AM
As a poor map maker the roads and walls can be done by clicking a start point and an end point so no pixel at a time
Then I guess I'm a horrible map maker. Thats how I've been doing it! I'll have to look into that. In any event importing height data would be very useful.
Quote from: Skoop on July 26, 2015, 07:35:09 PM
^ I agree.
Progress is so slow with their dev path, I feel like they are going kill their customers with wait time like eagle dynamics is doing with dcs world 2.0.
Good point, but its not like niche game companies can risk expanding their work forces. I'd rather have the games come out slowly than have them blow an expansion effort and disappear. Which reminds me -- I will be getting the CM Bulge game (does it have a name? CMBulge?) -- AND I just had a blast last night flying the Mig15 in DCS world 1.0.
The CM folks know me well. I would buy a dead frog if it had the CM logo on it. :buck2:
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 28, 2015, 11:46:39 AM
The CM folks know me well. I would buy a dead frog if it had the CM logo on it. :buck2:
thats the French package
and theres a bug with the surrender option - it keeps coming on
Quote from: MengJiao on July 28, 2015, 09:40:01 AM
Quote from: Skoop on July 26, 2015, 07:35:09 PM
^ I agree.
Progress is so slow with their dev path, I feel like they are going kill their customers with wait time like eagle dynamics is doing with dcs world 2.0.
Good point, but its not like niche game companies can risk expanding their work forces. I'd rather have the games come out slowly than have them blow an expansion effort and disappear. Which reminds me -- I will be getting the CM Bulge game (does it have a name? CMBulge?) -- AND I just had a blast last night flying the Mig15 in DCS world 1.0.
Contract temp coders then lay them off at the end of the project. The Snowball development of CM Afgan I thought would be a good option for outsourcing but it seems there was no future in that.
I've always said battlefront should have followed the arma example, let everyone mod your game....then you can focus on the big ticket items. If battlefront followed the arma path, we would be at CMX5 or 6 and modders would have produced modules for every conflict known to man, and you could buy CM on steam with exposure to millions more consumers. If battlefront is always going to think small, then they will always be small. They took a bold risk in 1999 when they released CMX1 and CMBO, I feel like they haven't done anything bold since. It's just safe, slow, static cookie cutter modules. I wouldn't be as critical if we were getting new ones every quarter, but this pace is like watching paint dry.
So that's why my troops won't charge the enemy. They've been swilling wine and eating snails all day. Merde!!
I tend to agree on the pace of development. I was excited when CMSF was announced and the plan was a couple games a year and module a quarter. It's picked up a little since they added a second programmer, but the average must be a game every other year and may 1-2 modules a year.
Of course, the market might not bear that anyways. Who's to say.
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 28, 2015, 11:46:39 AM
The CM folks know me well. I would buy a dead frog if it had the CM logo on it. :buck2:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lunkerhunt.com%2Fimages%2Fcombatfrog%2F2.jpg&hash=59e590f4e008760e7e72a37ce247f462704bcccc)
Quote from: Skoop on July 28, 2015, 01:49:59 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on July 28, 2015, 09:40:01 AM
Quote from: Skoop on July 26, 2015, 07:35:09 PM
^ I agree.
Progress is so slow with their dev path, I feel like they are going kill their customers with wait time like eagle dynamics is doing with dcs world 2.0.
Good point, but its not like niche game companies can risk expanding their work forces. I'd rather have the games come out slowly than have them blow an expansion effort and disappear. Which reminds me -- I will be getting the CM Bulge game (does it have a name? CMBulge?) -- AND I just had a blast last night flying the Mig15 in DCS world 1.0.
Contract temp coders then lay them off at the end of the project. The Snowball development of CM Afgan I thought would be a good option for outsourcing but it seems there was no future in that.
I've always said battlefront should have followed the arma example, let everyone mod your game....then you can focus on the big ticket items. If battlefront followed the arma path, we would be at CMX5 or 6 and modders would have produced modules for every conflict known to man, and you could buy CM on steam with exposure to millions more consumers. If battlefront is always going to think small, then they will always be small. They took a bold risk in 1999 when they released CMX1 and CMBO, I feel like they haven't done anything bold since. It's just safe, slow, static cookie cutter modules. I wouldn't be as critical if we were getting new ones every quarter, but this pace is like watching paint dry.
I don't find the results of the safe option to be all that bad. For example, I went way into the mods for all the ARMAs except arma3 and what I found was a lot of unworkable and unfinished stuff that was mostly pretty bad. Plus BI had other sources of income with its earlier simulators and they are based in eastern Europe where costs are presumably lower and even so their development history has not been all that easy.
Also, the battlefront focus on getting realistic and representative results from their simulations is different from most other game companies. I find it very refreshing in itself and if they shifted their development model or allowed for more mod expansions, I suspect the emphasis on realistic results would begin to fade.
Quote from: Skoop on July 28, 2015, 01:49:59 PM
I've always said battlefront should have followed the arma example, let everyone mod your game....then you can focus on the big ticket items. If battlefront followed the arma path, we would be at CMX5 or 6 and modders would have produced modules for every conflict known to man, and you could buy CM on steam with exposure to millions more consumers. If battlefront is always going to think small, then they will always be small. They took a bold risk in 1999 when they released CMX1 and CMBO, I feel like they haven't done anything bold since. It's just safe, slow, static cookie cutter modules. I wouldn't be as critical if we were getting new ones every quarter, but this pace is like watching paint dry.
If Battlefront made boardgames, they'd be one of the few companies that wouldn't allow Vassal mods of their games. And I wouldn't touch their products, just like I don't for those companies.
Probably common knowledge to most of you guys but I remember thinking that this (what we have now in production cycles) would be the outcome when one of the big wigs on the BFC forums was talking about CMx2 and how they "weren't going to give away the kitchen sink like they did with CMx1 titles" (paraphrasing) meaning no single game was going to cover an entire front; they were going to nickel and dime (more like $20 and $50) it out in pieces. That really squashed my enthusiasm for the (then) new series at the time. That of course is their marketing choice obviously though.
I never understood the game vs module approach. Why does CMBN have to be completely separate from CMBulge. I don't mind paying more for the Bulge's initial module, but I can't stand having to have two games and two of BFC's crappy DRM systems operating on my PC.
Do folks really feel "nickle and dimed" by BFC? I sure don't. They're a small outfit serving a niche gaming community, and it would make sense for them to charge more than what big studios charge -- and yet they don't. I think it's hard to argue that they're not providing sufficient content for what they're asking you to pay.
I agree the modules system is inconsistent and the whole engine upgrade thing needlessly confusing. They really need to consolidate that. Ideally it would be nice if there was just a single "Combat Mission" launcher on your desktop that you'd open and then pick whatever modules you have installed to play. Keep it nice and tidy.
I also think the complaints about BFC's DRM are overblown. I avoided Combat Mission for a long time because I didn't like their DRM policy -- and I was missing out because of it. I've never had a single issue downloading, installing, and playing CMx2 on my desktop and laptop.
Quote from: sandman2575 on July 29, 2015, 02:06:59 PM
I agree the modules system is inconsistent and the whole engine upgrade thing needlessly confusing. They really need to consolidate that. Ideally it would be nice if there was just a single "Combat Mission" launcher on your desktop that you'd open and then pick whatever modules you have installed to play. Keep it nice and tidy.
I like this idea. At the same time, I remember the angst when LnL/Panther announced essentially the same approach for their game. No, it's not a strictly apples to apples comparison and the messaging around the approach wasn't the greatest. Still, a lot of people looked at it askance. I'll admit to being guilty of that myself, at first. Given the suspicion some people seem to have around Battlefront, I bet we'd hear as much complaining about that approach as the current approach.
The bottom line for me is that I get a lot of entertainment out of their games. There isn't a time in the past few years that I haven't had a game of something CM in progress. My job can be pretty stressful and I play these games to get away from that, clear my head, and relax. Battlefront have given me countless hours of that while also helping me learn a lot about history and the tactics of the wars covered. What they charge for that is cheap compared to what I'd have to pay for all of the booze to get a similar effect.
John Tiller games. All titles in a series (Squad Battles, Panzer Campaigns, etc.) use the same engine and they're all sold as separate games.
Good point. Guess I got spoiled with the CMx1 releases of the game.
Quote from: Skoop on July 28, 2015, 01:49:59 PM
I've always said battlefront should have followed the arma example, let everyone mod your game....then you can focus on the big ticket items. If battlefront followed the arma path, we would be at CMX5 or 6 and modders would have produced modules for every conflict known to man, and you could buy CM on steam with exposure to millions more consumers. If battlefront is always going to think small, then they will always be small. They took a bold risk in 1999 when they released CMX1 and CMBO, I feel like they haven't done anything bold since. It's just safe, slow, static cookie cutter modules. I wouldn't be as critical if we were getting new ones every quarter, but this pace is like watching paint dry.
This
I don't mind paying Battlefront, they are one of the few professional wargame developer shops left, I don't begrudge them a dime for the enjoyment I've gotten out of most of their games. But I agree, they could probably thrive spending all their time on a new engine every year and let modders create the scenarios and campaigns.
I understand why they don't, it's their business and livelihood after all, so safe is probably what I would tend to do too, but I would love to see them become more successful.
It's funny, I think Creative Assembly released their first product a couple of years before CM1. Who would have bet that the company with a game about feudal Japan would be what they are today, and that the company producing games based on the most well known battles in Transatlantic culture would be pretty much the same size.
I think been bought by sega may have helped creatives cause some what
If your next big cash injection is going to come from another theatre in ww2 there's no way they'll let modders at the game - if they had there would have been a bulge and eastern front out within days of cmbn being released and they would have lost all that revenue, and a warhammer mod and a blah blah blah
While I agree with that thought...and I have no issue paying what they ask because I want them to keep making games...it falls a little flat when it takes to two years finally release CMRT and then what another two years for CM Bulge?
I do agree with their strategy, but I really want them to step up the pace of releases. The long time between just lets the marginal players fade away.
Quote from: RyanE on July 30, 2015, 05:17:30 AM
While I agree with that thought...and I have no issue paying what they ask because I want them to keep making games...it falls a little flat when it takes to two years finally release CMRT and then what another two years for CM Bulge?
I do agree with their strategy, but I really want them to step up the pace of releases. The long time between just lets the marginal players fade away.
That's a result of their studio size. There's only one main coder as far as I know. Also, I don't know if you've ever tried making a scenario in one of the CM games. It is a time consuming black art. :)
There are two coders now.
I have all the CM1 & CM2 titles (except CMBS) and enjoy them. I don't play them a lot and really suck at them, but I still enjoy the titles.
Quote from: RyanE on July 29, 2015, 11:55:03 AM
I never understood the game vs module approach. Why does CMBN have to be completely separate from CMBulge. I don't mind paying more for the Bulge's initial module, but I can't stand having to have two games and two of BFC's crappy DRM systems operating on my PC.
I think they try and address this here...
http://community.battlefront.com/topic/120386-bulgewhy-a-new-game/
They 'break' with the whole Upgrade scheme though (which they admit), since they have already stated that 'Bulge' won't be "Feature Rich". That is, it won't introduce things that will cascade backwards to CMBN/CMFI/CMRT and therefore, they save themselves that wake trailing behind.