Wargames

Hi everyone, Its been... 3 1/2 years...

Since the last public mention of a update. I have occasional bouts of energy which I consider developing further bits and bobs.

The main theme of any update to games is longevity. That is, if this was the final update, would there be interesting things for people to play this in the future, enough open features, enough things to create what you want in it.

Most of my games fit into this well, as a lot of them are building games.

v2.0.6 was the next intended version. At some point in 2018, I started upgrading this work as I was conscious of the centenary of the Great War coming up, and that has always been a breakthrough period in both the old and new formats of wargames 1. Well, although I did develop some more stuff (some more US tanks, a trench based infantry upgrade, updates to trading) - I don't seem to have even mentioned it publicly, which is probably a good thing, given we are now in 2021 and it never surfaced.

I got the bug recently and updated Wargames 2 which I will likely update again to ensure compatibility with the Scenario editor long term. I've also done a call out for voice actors here: in this post which I've had a couple of people contact me so far (thank you!) and will likely be the next project after this update is out.

I find I do better with a public 'this is what I'm committing to doing' and then releasing when it gets close to 80% (or 50%) done.

So far in the next update, including above I have in:

More prototype tanks as stepping stones
More trading ships to increase funds
Early oil research now produces oil in non-oilfield tiles to ensure oil can be produced
Peace Treaty between players - wow this was long requested by users, but I was always against it. You see, with fixed blocking of attacks, I feel it drags the game out, however...
... For scenarios against AI players, its a necessity to force an "endgame" without necessarily pummelling the enemy all the way to 0 land and 0 resources. The War of the Spanish Succession Scenario can now be finished, because the AI will beg for a peace treaty. This is hard coded to give you an endgame screen. Yay! The sense of a real single player experience in Wargames 1!
The beginning of a second scenario the War of the Austrian Succession. Yes, inventive I know. This is what spurred the peace treaty stuff actually, as I intend to have multiple AI players in this scenario. Also, I've started working on a "scenario editor" for WG1 in a similar vein to WG2 scenario editor.

My todo list so far before I release now is:

1) Polish up the Spanish Succession Scenario, and finish the Austrian Succession one.
2) Consider going ahead with the WW1 theme from 2018 and do a WW1 scenario as well.
3) Consider whether I stretch the unit types out to include Artillery, as I possibly planned to also do Self Propelled Artillery for the late 19th, early 20th century.
4) Clean up some more of the HUD because its always been ugly and unfit for purpose.
5) Consider if my editor should be releasable, and if so, ensure a proper ability to make something cool with it.
6) Ensure any points system from BYOND's points payment system is useful in the current game.
7) Rejig / Re-release something regarding price for subscription features, and ensure everyone knows what they are getting when they pay into it.

After that, I don't know, but I would like an update out soonish, before Ramadan this year. Did you know, Wargames will be 16 years old this year?