What future for Steel Panthers?

[DRG]

I started this project in 1998 because the original designers went down a path I didn't care to follow ( SP3 ) and they showed no interest in updating the more popular versions (SP and to a lessor extent SP2) so we adapted SP2 to WW2 game play which opened up a number of new features that were included in SP2 but missing from the original.The original intent was a one time mod then get on with life. 17 years later we're still at it. And I have NO DOUBT we were provided the code in the expectation we would fail .......what could two guys really do?........ SURPRISE.

Point by point

1/ Nothing lasts forever.That's inevitable but we are already into a second generation of players and the numbers we see for free DL's and sales show interest in the game has NOT lessen even when we look back half a decade or more and it's not showing any signs of dropping off yet. Maybe we don't have as vibrant a PBEM section as we used to but I'm a game developer and have little interest or talent for cheerleading the game. Not really a "people person" but that should be obvious


2/ We don't have Call of Dutys numbers and I never expected to.The market for a wargame where people are required to actually think is really very small . The "Golden Age" for games like this peaked in the 90's ( though there are new titles released every year ) when the "serious" game companies learned there is no serious money in it and when there is no money in it the investment in time and talent does not get made. It's a niche market and always will be


3/ 'A community of passionate voluntary developers rewrite completely the program and redo all the graphics of the game" I know this was written seriously and please don't take this the wrong way but .............HA ! --------If there actually was "A community of passionate voluntary developers" we'd all know about it by now..............they DON'T EXIST. All the real talent is scooped up and are producing as Suhiir says " FPS-MMOs or.......rude and crude slaughter-fests". If you could actually find lets say 3 or 4 actual SP fan programmers willing to put in the kind of hours Andy and I have to re-write SP into a "modern" game what you would have is 4 or 5 people who all have different ideas on what would make the "perfect" "SP revisted" it would soon devolve into chaos unless you had a strong willed team leader with a wide skill set ( and infinite reserves of patience and tact ) then you'd need 3D graphics artists and once again if there was an abundace of those they would have stepped up by now . What's left are people looking for other people to step up and re-do all the work while complaining how dated the game looks now or that an Icon is a few pixels out. I like it just fine but there are things I would do differently if we didn't still support 640x480 or if we were just trying to make the game pretty for widescreen users.......but we support the old formats and there are people who appreciate that we do . I would be interest to hear how the interface is "impractical and badly adapted to the current screen resolutions" the games play just fine on my 1920 x 1080 screen and that was just a dream resolution in 1998
.

4/ see 2/ and 3/. NOBODY is going to invest the kind of money required to create a new and improved SP that MIGHT sell at best half the sales in a year that call of duty does on the first hour of the first morning of its first day of release and the ONLY way you get "volunteers" to work like rented mules for someone elses vision is if they share it and as I have already said if they existed we'd all know about it by now but if you'd like to get the ball rolling be my guest but NOBODY gets our code. If you want a new Steel Panthers from the ground up you get to start the old fashioned way....with an idea and a blank screen.....thats the only way to "start fresh" but the learning curve is Matterhorn steep.




Don

[Dion]

From what I understand there will be a new version of Steel Panthers by Gary Grigsby (the same guy that did the original DOS SSI version). It was posted here, on these forums in 2015 or 2014. Since no one mentioned it since then, it could be just a rumor.

[DRG]

Well if he does it'll be the first game I've bought since buying SP3 but the list of things he wants to do that come before that is quite long ( if as you say this isn't just a rumour )

• War in the East 2.0 - a remake of War in the East using the War in the West engine and new map system (another building block foe the mega game).
• War in the West 1940 (France/Norway/Med)
• War in the West 1941-43 (Mediterranean)
• War in Europe - the largest game ever conceived!
• World at War: A World Divided – iPad
• Tactical WWII game ala Steel Panthers - Gary mentioned Steel Panthers was the game he most enjoyed creating in his career.

and I think that "ala Steel Panthers " is significant and there is nothing about it at the 2by3 games website that I can find

[DRG]

....................or forget the "team approach" and big game companies and find one highly motivated and skilled programmer with a couple years to spare who's ideas on the "perfect tactical wargame " matches everybodys expectations


Don

[Paderborn]

I don't know where we are on maintaining a steady or growing Steel Panthers population or if, in fact, there's a slow steady decline in participation. My interest remains stronger than ever since Don and Andy got involved and created what the game is today compared to the frustrating, highly-flawed DOS version of yore.
As long as winSPMBT and winSPWW2 continue to "evolve" I will purchase each improved box edition. This is my small way of supporting the game and the people who are part of the Steel Panthers worldwide family. Thanks, all!

[gila]

Well,one the most popular turn based games online and PBEM is one that has stood the test of time is the age old game of "Chess"
I like to think Steel Panthers will also, my son has found a interest in the game and we PBEM.

[Wiking]

The only other series that ever came within an inch of capturing the same feeling for me was the Close Combat series. But that series has always suffered from too many different design visions and an inconsistancy across the board, while WINSPWW2 and WINSPMBT have had a consistant design team ever since the Windows version was launched. We might fret about the OOB's and TOE's and this and that, at this point the game has been functionally complete for years and years. We're just inventing new reasons to annoy Don and Andy by now, like they need it.

But something this series has always done for me that nothing else has allowed is to capture the entire picture of the war, from the individual man to Regimental level and allow you to explore it in any shape, size or dimension you see fit. Whether its a daring airlanding on Crete in 1941 or Japanese tankers desperately trying to break through in Burma in 1944 or even the Spanish Civil War, you can at least make some attempt to model every concievable conflict in the alloted time span. Virtually every other tactical WW2 wargame I've played, including my beloved Close Combat, only allows for a snapshot. Whether its just of one front or even a single month out of a year.

Nothing else comes close to SP, and until Gary Grigsby himself steps up, Don and Andy will keep my attention for the forseeable future.

[Paderborn]

Like gila and his son, my son and I play winSPMBT even though he is now in his twenties and played first Steel Panthers WW2 in it's original format and all of the subsequent versions including winSPMBT and winSPWW2. Steel Panthers with all of the improvements that have been made continues to "have legs," I think-and will be with us evolving for years to come. When winSPMBT and winSPWW2 reach a point where improvements are no longer made I'll have the CD version available to play many, many years going forward. So those of you who download the free versions rather than buy the CD versions I would encourage you to buy the game(s)! Do this to support Steel Panthers overall and do it for your own peace-of-mind should development ever end, as it inevitably will.

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Gila,
We've had our "times" out here, but, I agree with everything Wiking, Paderborn and you've said. And besides I'm a sucker for family. The CD point made is a very good one and I would highly recommend it as well. I got them only for the "playable" options you get in the patches, though I've never used any of the editing type functions except maybe twice to change a "battle map", I'm just not that person. But isn't that the beauty of this game in the first place? It's not perfect but, then, no game or platform is, but this game(s) allows more then most, to let it be what you want it to be and use as such. And can you ask for more than that in anything you do or want?

See what happens when you get some sleep!?!

Regards,
Pat

[DRG]

Thanks guys