xmass sorted 'world in flames' onsale now! superb its what makes Matrix good

gameleaper · November 29, 2014, 09:36:57 PM

Its based on an all time world class hex & chit game. we have vassal etc... for No A.I. so I didn't bother buying it. I was so wrong its on sale for a day or so at matrixgames.com big discount. I never thought Id find something this interesting after ASL but the computer version does the work , making it realy easy to play such a deep game, I cant stress this enough you can be playing WinF in a couple of hours after watching the videos it comes with, also has some great tutorials. its got everything you ever saw in a war film.

I just didn't think anything without A.I. was going to be more than a chit mover, the game analyse everything, then you just click on a list item to see it on the map, Im not explain it well, its been so well designed to be not just easy but quality of the Graphics User interface. I like wargames and I thought well its the sort of thing that could be interesting, and wow wow , I nearly didn't buy it but now my xmass is going to be fun. its on sale quick now buy it.

I think matrixgames are so good because of these sorts of games likw witP and real wargames .

smittyohio · November 29, 2014, 10:12:18 PM

If you don't mind playing a game completely solo, and have it littered with bugs, then it's perfect.

gameleaper · November 29, 2014, 10:22:25 PM

maybe I missed the info on bugs, but I have just got the patch World in Flames 1.2.1.5 Update Posted: 3 OCT 2014 on matrix site, the patch is only 3 weeks old so I cant believe lots of bugs have been found, but I don't know

as a game creator of sorts myself , I know you have to patch a game before its right

gameleaper · November 30, 2014, 02:10:05 AM

PS: its only the initial release with no A.I. I fully expect an update to have it, and the tutorial videos on matrix youtube have a video showing the option of an A.I. game I think chapter 7 video

Yskonyn · November 30, 2014, 03:39:11 AM

I don't have the game, but I believe there has been a long discussion about this here on the forums already, gameleaper.
No to dampen your enthousiasm, but I think many are rather sceptical about the title by now. AI is something that has been promised for a long time now...

gameleaper · November 30, 2014, 04:59:21 AM

Thx Yskonyn, I don't mind waiting for the A.I. as Im enjoying the solo for now, but Im hopeing for it.

JudgeDredd · November 30, 2014, 06:22:55 AM

Quote from: gameleaper on November 30, 2014, 02:10:05 AM
PS: its only the initial release with no A.I. I fully expect an update to have it, and the tutorial videos on matrix youtube have a video showing the option of an A.I. game I think chapter 7 video

There isn't an AI and there won't be for a looooong time. They are fixing bugs first and then netplay. Even when the AI is made, prepare to pay for it and I would hazard a guess at having to pay heavily for any AI they put out for the game. Definitely do not expect it free (which is what your post kind of implied).

gameleaper · November 30, 2014, 06:36:38 AM

Point taken JD, to be honest a game this complex would be a surprise to ever have an A.I. I am impressed by what I have already, but you never know how it will playout

GJK · November 30, 2014, 06:54:40 AM

When I watch the training videos and then open the program and fully grasp the details of the boardgame that are programmed in to this PC adaptation, I'm amazed at what I see as well. There's must be a *lot* of lines of code just to have the thing do what it currently does. So from a programmer's perspective (of which I am very much an amature), I too am impressed by what I see.

That said, with all of that of which they have done, it is still an unfinished product. I get game freezes and crashes and some times I get stuck in a screen where I know that it is wanting my input but for the life of me I can't find anything to click on in order to continue and I simply have to kill the process to exit the game. I'm sure that has something to do with me using duel displays because I don't have that issue when I keep all the windows on one screen. I digress however; I do hope that work will continue on this but from what I can tell it's basically a one man show doing all of that programming with streams of requests/bug fix issues coming at him from the playtesters. What they have here now is the shell of what could be one huge wargaming accomplishment some day (far away, in a time long long ago....)

Grim.Reaper · November 30, 2014, 06:59:26 AM

Quote from: gameleaper on November 29, 2014, 10:22:25 PM
maybe I missed the info on bugs, but I have just got the patch World in Flames 1.2.1.5 Update Posted: 3 OCT 2014 on matrix site, the patch is only 3 weeks old so I cant believe lots of bugs have been found, but I don't know

as a game creator of sorts myself , I know you have to patch a game before its right

Sure games usually require patches, but this game has been constantly receiving patches since it was released a year ago just to make it playable. matrix released this as one of their premium products and it never lived up to that title. No game should ever be released that requires a year of patching, pretty good sign the game was not ready. take a look at the patch notes, each one is a very long list, mostly still correcting bugs. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever completed a large campaign, not even during testing. So who knows what kind of issues lurk in the end game. I believe some have had luck playing solitaire to a degree, so maybe you can get some fun out of that. I also agree with others that it likely will be years, if ever that an ai is released. By then they will have to rewrite the game anyway since technology likely will change by then.

Good luck with the game and hope you can find some fun in it. Who knows, maybe someday it will actually meet the original hype and expectations.

gameleaper · November 30, 2014, 07:28:43 AM

I hope the guy doing it has all the help he needs, and enough working life long enough to fix it then :) Im hopeing solo wont break.

gameleaper · November 30, 2014, 07:40:22 AM

If I had to make an A.I. for a game of this complexity, Id do it as simple as possible, and in a very short time it could be done. you use a brute force chess algo , by selecting a unit and moveing and attacking , then back up and do another for every possibility, then give each action a score , then do the best one. this can be done its so simple and no development needed. the unusual thing about this sort of A.I. is it finds strategy itself like forking to weak units etc... the A.I. would be slow it would take a few hours per turn, but it would have an A.I. then I would split the gameboard into windows of the main map overlapping and do the algo on each one instead of the whole map this would simplify the computers task and time. you never know the guy may read this and give it a try.

Grim.Reaper · November 30, 2014, 07:42:02 AM

Quote from: gameleaper on November 30, 2014, 07:28:43 AM
I hope the guy doing it has all the help he needs, and enough working life long enough to fix it then :) Im hopeing solo wont break.

I worry less about the guy doing the development (although I thought he did have past health issues, could be wrong) versus how long Matrix can continue to support it financially.....no idea on how well it sold, but I have to imagine less then expectations and judging by the lack of activity in the official forums, doesn't seem like it might have the staying power it needs. Time will tell..

Grim.Reaper · November 30, 2014, 07:45:34 AM

Quote from: gameleaper on November 30, 2014, 07:40:22 AM
If I had to make an A.I. for a game of this complexity, Id do it as simple as possible, and in a very short time it could be done. you use a brute force chess algo , by selecting a unit and moveing and attacking , then back up and do another for every possibility, then give each action a score , then do the best one. this can be done its so simple and no development needed. the unusual thing about this sort of A.I. is it finds strategy itself like forking to weak units etc... the A.I. would be slow it would take a few hours per turn, but it would have an A.I. then I would split the gameboard into windows of the main map overlapping and do the algo on each one instead of the whole map this would simplify the computers task and time. you never know the guy may read this and give it a try.

I admire your optimism:) Although I am a past software developer, never had to create anything like an AI for a game so I am no expert there. But I can only imagine the complexities of building a competent AI in any game, especially in monster war games like this where the AI has to implement global strategy based on actions taken by the user. As said before, I actually don't believe it will ever come, not because the developer can't do it, but I think they might have passed the window of opportunity and whether there is enough users to justify its cost of implementing and supporting.

gameleaper · November 30, 2014, 07:54:11 AM

cost of development would as you say have a limit, I was thinking out loud about getting the programmer out of the fire with a quick escape A.I. I know the game has a lot to think on, but I learned my most valuable lesson over a long time, think in the most simple amswers to programing nightmares :) but Im no expert on pro development either :(