Request for more cooperation in order to improve the game

[Skirmisher]

Do you really think that anything is going to happen just because spillblood has started a new campaign?

[Skirmisher]

Sorry Spillblood,I'll stay out of this from here on out.

Good luck.

[Gandalf Parker]

I have no idea. But it seems like he is trying.
And some of the comments Ive seen are more likely to turn away any help than to get any.

[JCrowe]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

You guys realize that you are shooting SpillBloods efforts here, right?
And apparently, your own.

Gandie -

Hear what you're saying, and the thought had crossed my mind, but ... this whole deal has become a major sanity-sucker. It's enraged a bunch of normally happy people, gotten them crazy angry, and sent at least one to virtual Elba. And I'm pretty sure the staff at Shrapnel have a couple others on a 'watch' list or something of the sort as a result of the vitriol that's spilled here in recent (or not so recent) months.

'Spill's a very honest and sincere guy, and I feel the pain. I have my own way of expression (as do we all), but I sympathize with him on most points. Have totally empathized in a number of past posts. But I feel that caution is advised, and that expectations ought to be moderated. I'd hate to see another enthusiast burned by his passion for this game.

Basically, as corny as it might be, all I'm saying is "know when to hold, know when to fold." At this point in the WS Saga, if Malf runs a fix and makes the world all better, Huzzah! and more power to them. WS could be one wicked cool strat game, and I'd love a chance to play "that game." I can tell you now that I would willing lose weeks of my life to "that game".

But I gotta keep grounded in reality - to the product as it currently stands, and what's it's likely to be going forward. And from what I've seen thus far, I'd put my money in Italian bonds ("Zoibie wants to buy on margin!") before I'd wager it on WS getting a meaningful upgrade.

So, as entertaining as all the electronic fire on this one has been, I rather not see it claim any more victims from the board. It's probably time to call it a lost cause and move on to other things before disappointment and lost hope turn to rage once again.

Of course, I could be wrong. I don't have as much time on the board or experience with indies as you might, Gandi - is this sort of thing typical or expected? Is there a "serious" chance that Spill or any of us could get somewhere with this? I mean, if Bob & Jill and Suzie and Phil are going to invest 120 hours of their otherwise hectic lives to build support and documentation for bug decoding and blah-blah-blah-randomassortedcomputerstuff for this effort to improve WS, are we likely to get something meaningful back in return? Or (once again), are we just chucking personal time down outhouse lane?

Personally, I'd be pretty torqued if I spent another couple months working on docs, scripts, & junk only to see 1% of it run through 12 weeks later as "v1.10! - we changed one small piece! Last upgrade it should ever need!" I wouldn't set the place on fire; I'd sit and stew in 'it', but it could be the 'last straw' for others.

Am I wrong?

If so, what is reasonable? What should the expectations be?

[spillblood]

Yeah, please, I'm absolutely aware that this game is in fact dead. But maybe we can revive it if we take the right measures and maybe can finally bring Malfador to react and to listen to our concerns. I'm not gonna repeat it, please send in customer support tickets to the support page of the game. Tim Brook's replies to my last support tickets clearly stated:
THEY DON'T ****ING BELIEVE THERE ARE ANY PROBLEMS BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T RECEIVE ENOUGH CUSTOMER SUPPORT TICKETS AFTER PATCH 1.09.
Man, you people don't need to give exceptional detail, just write you aren't satisfied with the AI and other aspects of the game. Don't try to write that HERE, because they sure as hell aren't going to listen to it.
How often do I need to repeat myself until you get that?

[spillblood]

So, you know what to do, simply do it. Posting bug reports here won't do anything because Shrapnel AND Malfador aren't paying any attention to the forums unless you press them to do so, which I have done many times in the past.
Don't you get that?

[spillblood]

People, I'm working my *** off here to rally more support from Shrapnel, from other forums, from Malfador, please simply honor that! I won't listen to any people criticizing that. You need to become fanatics to get Shrapnel and Malfador to fix this game, but you need to give constructive criticism, not only complain like ScottWAR. This will get you banned for sure!
One thing I wanna add: I think there's a simple cause for Malfador's inactivity:
He's doing the devlopment part-time, and probably he doesn't have enough time at the moment.
But this should simply mean he should get other people involved in this to not lose every support he still has. He deperately needs to act!

[spillblood]

I want to quote an outside voice from the Armada 2526 forum (which is published by for example Matrix Games). My last posts there have caused instant reactions:

Why try to support a game that the developer doesn't support? Let it go and enjoy better titles with developers that are willing to listen to their user base.

They definitely agree with your opinions, JCrowe and Skirmisher.
Hey, maybe I'm wrong, but we at least HAVE TO TRY!

Subject: World Supremacy, great new turn based strategy game

Go and edit your fisrt post and you have the option to change the title of the thread

I've changed the thread titles in these forums to "World Supremacy - light TBS in desperate need for a community"

Another thing I must add: Aaron hasn't replied to my last E-Mails yet. I've given him details about everything I've done here the last week, and requested a modding guide and further support for the game.

[spillblood]

I've extended my rallying call to the forums of an open-source turn based strategy game, Triple A.
You should check this game out if you haven't already. This way I get more support there and more people to check out their game, so a win-win situation, because they've issued a demand for good reviews, more community at the forums there last weekend.
Here's the link:
http://triplea.sourceforge.net/mywiki

Since this game is essentially developed by its community (has at least 3 or 4 main programmers, they could be of use here.
But it's, in contrast to WS, written in Java.
Just check it out, it's free and I think the AI (except the unfinished Dynamix AI) works better than in WS. And that says a lot (it's no commercial game)!

[spillblood]

My opinion: Given that enough people can be motivated to take part here again by modding (you need to see: the game is faulty, but heavily moddable), we can probably revive the game, and maybe even get Malfador to support it again. If they are not willing, they should make Shrapnel stop selling the game, release the sourcecode and make the community finish it. But if he finally joins in again, I'm absolutely sure we could do it, and receive a much better product for the money we've spent. He could even release the game under a new name (maybe World Supremacy: Reborn, World Supremacy Advanced or something like that) to get the press to re-review it.
It's simply not true that there's no possibility of reviving this game.
You have to look a bit into the history of strategy games: Many games, for example Clash of Steel and Master of Orion 3 have been released in a very buggy state, failed to get support by a community because of that, and have either been re-released (Clash of Steel) by the developers themselves or finished by the community (Master of Orion 3).
Heck, two of the games Shrapnel sell (WinSPWW2, WinSPMBT) are in fact re-released, heavily modded versions of past commercial games (Steel Panthers Series).
It simply takes effort by either us or Malfador to fix the failure of World Supremacy, and it is by no means impossible, people!