I made this point a few posts ago. You're already marketing to a niche audience to begin with. The difference between $10 and $20 isn't going to generate enough purchases to make a substantial difference. I was wondering whether you might be able to chime in about some of the questions about the game itself? "Werechihuahua" has been doing a good job answering questions, but I'd love to hear from you as well. I think a lite/demo version for iOS would help people like me decide whether to "pull the trigger" or not. That said, I am playing the demo on my Mac right now, but that's no substitute for playing in situ. Thanks for visiting these humble forums! --DotComCTO P.S. What kind of response/sales figures would you need to see to be encouraged to put games like Panzer Corps and/or Commander Europe at War on iOS? Just wondering because iOS has plenty of room for games like these.
Iain beat me to it . I'll answer a few game questions happily. With regard to the AI, the mission structures are scripted (e.g. reinforcements, the general thrust of where the enemy wants to go and what they want to do). The AI itself then acts to both fulfill these goals, and also will deal with your units as they come across them. Sometimes holding ground, sometimes seek and destroy. As an example of gameplay, units can sometimes fire and remain hidden from view - when this happens the AI will remember roughly where the fire came from, and attempt to suppress tiles in the hope of pinning you down so they can move in. This is bad if you stay put, but can be good if you sneak away, leaving the AI beating the bushes behind you Hope that helps! Cheers Pip The Slitherine Matrix Group
A real honest to goodness war game on the iOS... I bought this yesterday and promised a review and my first and most resounding thought is above. I can go in to detail and describe the game play, but that has been done already, but the point that I want to get across is the details that this game includes. During a battle your units level up based on actions on the battlefield. There are a diverse range of units as well, from the Brits, Americans, and I believe Canadians. I was able to download user generated maps in under a minute, and the PBEM is integrated wonderfully. I do not regret the $20 in the very least. This company has put a PC level war game on the iPad, for a reduced price vs. there desktop offering. If you consider yourself a true gaming grognard, then this no-brainer will not leave you questioning why you hit the buy button. I know I sound like a fanboy, but I only looked in to this product yesterday, and I am ecstatic that there isn't a hidden gotcha with this game. Well done Slitherine, you have now made my iPad complete. Munkie!
Thanks Slitherine for bring this to the IOS platform, without having to simply (or dumb down) the game. I hope your successful enough to bring other great titles in your library over to IOS as well.
Just promise me you'll not slash the price of this within the first month to 'boost sales' and I'm in...
OK, I'm in, I'm a software developer myself (20 years of it ...) and I appreciate the effort to get this kind of thing out there, take my money but don't you dare ... This A discount on the PC version for the iOS adopters would be nice too
The gameplay What I should have said is, the MISSIONS are scripted, the AI is only average. What I mean by that is, the enemy forces are NOT random and ever changing. Their behaviour, though is based on their objectives and they do react intelligently to your forces. Bear in mind that this is a WARGAME. When I say "average" I mean by the standards of games like those published on PC by SSG (RIP Ian Trout), Battlefront, Matrix (mixed bag here) et al. Not by the laughable standards of the iOS games. Also, remember that this game has a full morale model. The tanks are not crewed by cyborg terminators. They take a penetrating hit that doesn't kill them all, they aren't likely to stick around and see if the next shot does. Also, since limited intelligence (wrongly referred to as 'Fog of war' by many) is present, the workings of the enemy plan (script) and commander (AI) is partially masked and only revealed by what your forces see. Eventually a sharp gamer WILL master the missions. He is then ready to swim with the sharks and play against humans in PBEM battles. That is why we play against humans, until we can all have an IBM Watson on our desk we will play against humans for the real challenge. Finally, on price point this from the Slitherine website JD McNeil, Director of the Slitherine and Matrix Games group of companies said: We knew we would come in for some flak when we released at a premium price point, but simply put we figure we know more about our audience than many of the so called experts. The received wisdom is that iPad games should be free and then milk the audience for all its worth with micro sales. We know this is a broken business concept..." And I couldn't agree more.
Thanks to the gents from Slitherine for popping on here. To echo the above, as long as the price is consistent I have no problems shelling out as much as you ask for games and expansions like this. It was tough to see my account take that kind of hit from a single game, but the game seems worth it so far. Played a couple more missions today, and finally found the speed adjustment. This makes the game much more enjoyable for me, as the lightning quick moves just didn't feel right. Also noticed a couple of AI items as mentioned above, and chucked a bit as he/it pounded a position I had already vacated. Looking forward to more to come from Slitherine.
OK! OK! OK! You've all convinced me (and I tried the Mac demo earlier today), so I just clicked the "buy" button! The game is downloading as I type this. Just please, please, PLEASE don't drop the price of this game in the next couple of days. Otherwise steam will be billowing out of my ears. I'll be seeing my (USNA grad, war gaming) brother this weekend, so I'm going to show him, too. So, this could end up adding yet another sale for Slitherine. Thanks to Werechihuahua, djflippy, Slitherine and the other folks in the thread for convincing me. Once I get the hang of this one, I plan to bother you guys for some PBEM! --DotComCTO P.S. OK Slitherine...go get to work on Unity of Command, Panzer Corp, Commander Europe at War and throw in some Close Combat for good measure! Make it happen!!
Amazing game!! Great work, Devs and thank you for bringing this awesome game to iOS! Sets a new standard for TBS and iOS gaming overall.
I don't think so, unless he is also a shill for Great little Wargame (which is great) and Ikaro air Racing (which is ok) and Namco/Bandai's games he also posted about. Why would you say something so hostile about a total stranger? -james gerbino WereChihuahua
My understanding is user content is only available as in-game downloads, so what content is currently available?
Battle academy is Amazing just played the pc demo, makes me want to pull out all my old advanced squad leader books and play the tabletop games again.
Funny that you mention it, the new Budapest historical module just showed up on my doorstep the other day and I'm clipping the 80 gajillion counters right now.
User content Everything that is available for the PC/Mac is available on iPad right now and they are small, fast downloads too. I recommend especially the Long Range Desert Group, and Hell's Highway missions as very good. I haven't played the WW I or Pacific modules since they are so far outside the regular scope of the game as to require engine changes to do right IMO. Just tap the Folder icon on the main menu and it lists everything that is available, the multi-player only scenarios have no AI scripts and won't work single player, but are balanced for competitive play.
Second that. Well, I play all 3 CM for how long? Humm, 10+ years PBEM so far. Classic wargaming is lacking on this platform seriously. Will keep an eye on this one. (If you wanna a game of CMAK, drop me a line )
Question mark or not it was a pretty dickish thing to say. I hope this game succeeds so that they bring it over to Android!
