It's a Frank Hunter game and the screenshot reminds me of Guns of August.
http://matrixgames.com/products/467/details/Piercing.Fortress.Europa
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmatrixgames.com%2Ffiles%2Fgames%2F467%2F20130424020901.jpg&hash=d967b81654a2c680306725dec636388813e081cf)
Man, I wish I had even a passing interest in WW2...so many good turn based games for it. I would buy them all if a developer agreed -in exchange- to make one good turn based mid 19th century game (age of rifles stuff) anyway, looks good
Well I hope he put some time in actually creating a usable interface. Guns of August was a giant PITA to play. I hated the UI setup to the point I stopped attempting to learn the game.
I'm usually a sucker for games like these but I think I'll have to wait for some previews/reviews. I like the Italian peninsula campaign idea.
Quote from: Bison on April 24, 2013, 07:36:21 PM
Well I hope he put some time in actually creating a usable interface. Guns of August was a giant PITA to play. I hated the UI setup to the point I stopped attempting to learn the game.
+1
I was so excited to play GoA, but the UI was just so bad that it was impossible to get past the first few turns. The worst in memory, for me, was Empires in Arms. Now THAT was a UI mess to end all UI. To call it a UI would be kind.
Leaked screenshots! :)
I'm the graphic artist for PFE and also on the beta test team. I can assure you that this interface is much, much easier than what GOA has. I'm under the NDA so can't say too much about it at this point but the games are vastly different in that you obviously don't have all the diplomacy and technology builds and all the other elements that a game that covered the entire WWI had and thus there's a lot less "distraction" and more just pure maneuver and fight. If you're at all interested in the Italian campaign (both Sicily and Italy), then I think you'll find that Frank is making a really solid game here.
Edit: NOT leaked screnshots....and they did put out the presser on my birthday as I requested! LOL
^ Best be k9ind about the graphics gents - we have someone of note in da house ;)
Quote from: Al on April 24, 2013, 07:52:48 PM
I'm usually a sucker for games like these but I think I'll have to wait for some previews/reviews. I like the Italian peninsula campaign idea.
You could always get the demo and try it ou.....oh...wait...demo's don't work ;D
Quote from: son_of_montfort on April 25, 2013, 01:00:44 AM
I was so excited to play GoA, but the UI was just so bad that it was impossible to get past the first few turns. The worst in memory, for me, was Empires in Arms. Now THAT was a UI mess to end all UI. To call it a UI would be kind.
+1
I'd also like to chip in Campaigns on the Danube as another UI monstrosity.
A lot of exciting and groovey gaming ideas and a lot of very poor implementations. Its a shame the youthful game coders nowadays don't seem to gravitate towards PC wargaming... unless Tomislav from the Unity of Command lot is a youngster!
Quote from: JudgeDredd on April 25, 2013, 02:09:33 AM
^ Best be k9ind about the graphics gents - we have someone of note in da house ;)
No - talk about it. I want to evolve as a graphic artist for wargame companies so I'll take any criticism, suggestions, nods, or what have you's. I'm working on another print project now and then Mr. Hunter has another game on the horizon that he indicated that he'd like me to work on graphically for him. Do understand however that many times we're a bit at the mercy of what the developer/designer wants as far as certain aspects or aesthetics go. Mr. Hunter was really easy to work with however; he made one recommendation but otherwise it was up to my artistic freedom. So you guys chat as if I wasn't here, m'kay? :)
Quote from: GJK on April 25, 2013, 05:58:20 AM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on April 25, 2013, 02:09:33 AM
^ Best be k9ind about the graphics gents - we have someone of note in da house ;)
No - talk about it. I want to evolve as a graphic artist for wargame companies so I'll take any criticism, suggestions, nods, or what have you's. I'm working on another print project now and then Mr. Hunter has another game on the horizon that he indicated that he'd like me to work on graphically for him. Do understand however that many times we're a bit at the mercy of what the developer/designer wants as far as certain aspects or aesthetics go. Mr. Hunter was really easy to work with however; he made one recommendation but otherwise it was up to my artistic freedom. So you guys chat as if I wasn't here, m'kay? :)
Gary, I like the look so far, very crisp and clear, and I'm very interested in this game.
2 questions if you can answer them...
1) Roads over rivers don't seem to have bridges... these are not destroyable?
2) The counters seem shifted "up" in the hexes... is that for a reason?
Oh and yer counters aren't clipped! ;)
Quote from: Barthheart on April 25, 2013, 06:53:37 AM
Oh and yer counters aren't clipped! ;)
I was just going to point that out! ;)
Argh, no clipped counters! I'll mod that up and test it and then if it works I'll propose the idea to Mr. Hunter. It depends on if his program will hide or show transparency (they use .BMP's which normally don't translate transparency but he may have a certain color coded to hide the pixels). I'll check on that.
As for the bridges, I don't know to be honest. I can test it later tonight. I know that ports are destructable so I would imagine that bridges are as well.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on April 25, 2013, 01:00:44 AM
Quote from: Bison on April 24, 2013, 07:36:21 PM
Well I hope he put some time in actually creating a usable interface. Guns of August was a giant PITA to play. I hated the UI setup to the point I stopped attempting to learn the game.
+1
I was so excited to play GoA, but the UI was just so bad that it was impossible to get past the first few turns. The worst in memory, for me, was Empires in Arms. Now THAT was a UI mess to end all UI. To call it a UI would be kind.
+2. The GOA UI was awful. I bought it and literally couldn't play it.
Sadly I think the Italian campaign is fairly boring - slow going over rough terrain with limited front and manuever options available. However, I guess if this is a series it has to start somewhere. :)
I wish that he would overhaul the GUI and release a strategic WW2 game rather than an operational game - we have lots of those but it's tough to find a good strategic level game of WW2 ETO or WW2 Global.
Anyway, I'm still happy to see any turn based strategy game released and it's probably on my buy list no matter what topic it covers as long as the GUI is use-able.
Ui horrors aside, GOA is the only WW1 strategic game that I finished. ;)
This is a version of the map that I worked on last night. The mountains/hills/elevations are more in line with the original Anzio boardgame. I've sent this screenshot to Mr. Hunter to see what he thinks. I suspect that he will not want to change the map for the release, but this could be a map that I release as a mod - or he may include it and give the players the choice of which map to use. What are your thoughts?
Wow! That's great... but I'm also an old timer from the AH days and have a warm soft spot for those style of graphics.
Either version is great... as long as you don't go to the ugly "steel" mountians that are currently used for WiF! :P
Oh man, I know what you mean. I just signed the NDA to become a beta tester for WiF and was looking at the screenshots. The one big complaint from WiF Final (boardgame) was those steel mountains. Why on earth they kept them in the PC version is beyond me. Hopefully those graphics can be modded though the mountmakes it ains and some of the other terrain features certainly look to be tiled (repeated) which makes it difficult to get a natural look.
I reckon I must be one of the few people that loves the retro look of WiF :)
I believe that WiF 1-4 were without the steel mountains. It was more of a "traditional" wargame look. It was in WiF Final that they went off the walls with those steel mountains. I have WiF Final (boardgame) but have been shopping for a copy of WiF 4 to play it on. To each their own though. :)
Quote from: GJK on April 26, 2013, 07:31:15 AM
I believe that WiF 1-4 were without the steel mountains. It was more of a "traditional" wargame look. It was in WiF Final that they went off the walls with those steel mountains. I have WiF Final (boardgame) but have been shopping for a copy of WiF 4 to play it on. To each their own though. :)
I think my copy is 4... you can have it cheap. Let me check when I get home. I just couldn't get into the game as it was then and couldn't be bothered to get the later versions or expansions.
Looking forward to try out the PC game though.. ;)
Cool! Yes, let me know what you find and how much you want for it!
Quote from: GJK on April 26, 2013, 05:53:39 AM
This is a version of the map that I worked on last night. The mountains/hills/elevations are more in line with the original Anzio boardgame. I've sent this screenshot to Mr. Hunter to see what he thinks. I suspect that he will not want to change the map for the release, but this could be a map that I release as a mod - or he may include it and give the players the choice of which map to use. What are your thoughts?
I'll tell you I don't like this look. Here's why. The absolute number 1 priority for any graphics should be to clearly inform the user. These graphics don't clearly inform me - they leave me wondering. The graphics at the top of the thread are clear. These new ones are not. The reason is that there are "hill lines" randomly scattered across and through hexes. Are these completely irrelevant or do they have a game effect? If they have an effect exactly which hexes and hex sides get the effect? It's almost impossible to tell easily. There are hills on top of hills and hill lines barely touching some hexes, along some hexsides, contained within some hexes - it's very confusing and distracting. To me this is the worst mistake any strategy game graphic artist can make. Don't focus on pretty first, focus on utility and functionality first - then within those constraints work on pretty. I'm asking - please don't make these graphics the default. I think your artistic side is trumping your common-sense side....not uncommon for great artists I'm sure haha. ;-)
There are also 2 other minor concerns with those new graphics you are proposing.
1) The color of the elevation/terrain doesn't fully fill the hex so might not be clearly visible if a counter is in the hex. The first set of graphics completely fill the hex with color so even if a counter is in the hex I can see the graphic color and know what terrain my unit is in.
2) There are some hexes with multiple colors (even aside from the hill lines) which adds to the confusion and with counters in the hexes I might see a color and think it's the hex terrain color when in fact it's not the main hex color.
If you want to do a mod that's fine, but leave the regular users unmolested by confusing graphics. :)
Quote from: GJK on April 26, 2013, 07:18:58 AM
Oh man, I know what you mean. I just signed the NDA to become a beta tester for WiF and was looking at the screenshots. The one big complaint from WiF Final (boardgame) was those steel mountains. Why on earth they kept them in the PC version is beyond me. Hopefully those graphics can be modded though the mountmakes it ains and some of the other terrain features certainly look to be tiled (repeated) which makes it difficult to get a natural look.
I don't care if it looks natural or un-natural - I only care if I can clearly and without question know what the terrain is in hexes and along hexsides, and also that if there is a counter in the hex I can see the terrain without moving the counter. So I like clipped counters, and colors that fully fill a hex and terrain that runs exactly and boldly along a hexside so I can see the hexside effect. It's annoying in WIF that some of the rivers (light blue and thin) run along the same hexsides as weather lines (also light blue and thin) so that for example north of Chang-Sha in China it's difficult to tell if there is a river or not. But at least the terrain in WIF fully and clearly fills the hex so that I know the base terrain easily and clearly and without moving counters. The one exception to this is that on some islands in the Pacific it's tough to tell if the terrain is clear or jungle. I wish they would use a darker shade of green for jungle or maybe something like yellow so that I can tell immediately if the island is jungle or clear.
See some examples here take as screenshots from an ongoing early 1943 Cyberboard game of WIF:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi868.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fab245%2Fjjdenver%2FWIF-China-Rivers_zps73510621.jpg&hash=5a70cc114343220639d7f3d8f5ea00e01c0d2e0c)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi868.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fab245%2Fjjdenver%2FWIF-PacificIslands_zpsf86d4461.jpg&hash=069eb866bb1f429a356e9b19bf1dc55078b8aa91)
I'm an old-timer too, I remember playing the old AH boardgame Anzio so I am inclined to be positive in looking forward to this game. I a few of the posts before this one some of you mention a game WiF...what game is that?
Quote from: Rayfer on April 26, 2013, 09:42:04 AM
I'm an old-timer too, I remember playing the old AH boardgame Anzio so I am inclined to be positive in looking forward to this game. I a few of the posts before this one some of you mention a game WiF...what game is that?
World in Flames - without doubt the best strategic level WW2 game ever created (imo). :)
I play it using Cyberboard and Vassal but there is a PC version being developed by Matrix. I'm in a game now with a bunch of guys from France, Spain and Switzerland. It's great fun.
jjdenver - excellent post re: suggested new map graphics for PFE. All very valid points! Frank Hunter likes the terrain to fill the entire hex as well so I'm sure that he's going to want to stick with what we have now. So, I'll make this map as a mod and offer it for those that want to use it. You are correct in that the hill graphics are randomly dispersed and have no meaning other than aesthetics; for whatever reason that's how the original game was. See http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1064090/anzio?size=original
^my god! did people actually play games that size? :o
Quote from: JudgeDredd on April 26, 2013, 10:40:00 AM
^my god! did people actually play games that size? :o
Oh they still do. I know 3 guys here in Denver who have a huge monster game set up. For the life of me I can't recall the series name but it's 3 different games put together into 1 that spans a huge game area - bigger than a ping pong table. They've been going at it for a year now and are in 44 I think. It's funny because the guy running the Germans had a few panzer divisions in Africa doing nothing. I asked him why and he said his brain wasn't big enough to worry about Africa due to his worries in Russia so he shipped the panzers to Africa and then just had them sitting around haha. :)
Quote from: JudgeDredd on April 26, 2013, 10:40:00 AM
^my god! did people actually play games that size? :o
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4815/the-campaign-for-north-africa
Check that bad boy out, JD.
QuotePlaying time with 10 players is listed at 1200 hours.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on April 26, 2013, 04:35:29 PM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on April 26, 2013, 10:40:00 AM
^my god! did people actually play games that size? :o
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4815/the-campaign-for-north-africa
Check that bad boy out, JD.
QuotePlaying time with 10 players is listed at 1200 hours.
LOL....I took a look....the map is ten feet long!!
Ye Gads! Does the game come with paid vacations and health benefits? Company car?