Question for Mr. Iain - New Product based on CEAW?

[StevenCarleton]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this question, but....
Have you folks considered using the CEAW "engine" for a modern warfare game?
Say, WW3 in Europe or the Mideast?
I could see shorter terms (1 wk) and smaller units (division/brigade/regiment).
It seems you have the basic game mechanics to support this.
Not sure who the "Commander"s would be!

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I think the person you should ask is FirepowerJohan. He has the rights to the CeaW engine. I don't know about his plans.

But it's certainly possible to makes games like the one you describe using a different engine. E. g. Lordz have announced that they work in CTGW. That's a WW1 kind of game. Look here:

http://www.thelordzgamesstudio.com/site/?cat=3

[StevenCarleton]

Thanks alot for your answer!

Johan did an amazing job of coding up a complex game in such a short amount of time.
But, perhaps he already had his Java game engine before the CEAW project started?
I've been re-reading the old forum posts and it's interesting to review his old designer notes.

I addressed Iain since Johan doesn't seem to contribute to our forum anymore.

I don't understand the computer gaming business and how FPJ and Slitherine work together.
I write a different type of software.
Generally, it seems some people love to play computer games, but few want to pay very much!

The CEAW community is amazing: great historical knowledge and tremendous passion for gaming and even simulation.

[kokono]

I think the person you should ask is FirepowerJohan. He has the rights to the CeaW engine. I don't know about his plans.

But it's certainly possible to makes games like the one you describe using a different engine. E. g. Lordz have announced that they work in CTGW. That's a WW1 kind of game. Look here:

http://www.thelordzgamesstudio.com/site/?cat=3

WWIII modern wars, I find a great idea.

I think it could develop a GS mod style, but based on a hypothetical WWIII. It keeps the game engine, but changing the values of the units as well as images and research laboratories.

You could add a new unit "continental missile" or "ballistic missiles" that for example if only a single use and that its radius of action to make an impact for example affecting the choice and its adjacent hex, or maybe a damage radius superior.

I do not think Mr. Johan opposes it

[IainMcNeil]

Johan had a simple hex game which we helped him develop in to CEAW which was a big success. He decided to try his own thing with World Empires Live, which was an ambitious project, but he struggled to get enough users subscribing to keep it going and has since decided to get a job rather than make games. We wish him luck and hope he decides to come back to the industry at some point. Slitherine are now working with the Lordz to make the sequel, Commander the Great War. The Commander series is a Slitherine property. Hope that clears things up. I'm not sure the engine would do a modern war setting justice because modern wars tend to be very localised and CEAW works well on a wide front with entire continents at war.

[StevenCarleton]

Thanks Iain!

I've actually played several board games at the scale of CEAW based on a modern setting, and they were rather entertaining. Of course these were NATO-Warsaw Pact simulations. I was thinking of conventional combat between major powers. It seems the CEAW "engine" is pretty close, but would probably need new unit types and an extension of some of the game mechanics. I'm a big fan of James Dunnigan's work in this area. In any case, I have no idea what the market interest would be.

Good luck to Johan!

[kokono]

Johan had a simple hex game which we helped him develop in to CEAW which was a big success. He decided to try his own thing with World Empires Live, which was an ambitious project, but he struggled to get enough users subscribing to keep it going and has since decided to get a job rather than make games. We wish him luck and hope he decides to come back to the industry at some point. Slitherine are now working with the Lordz to make the sequel, Commander the Great War. The Commander series is a Slitherine property. Hope that clears things up. I'm not sure the engine would do a modern war setting justice because modern wars tend to be very localised and CEAW works well on a wide front with entire continents at war.

Hello, I'm not totally agree with you.
As it indicates modern wars after the Second World War, have been local, but what is proposed in this thread is a hypothetical World War III, or if you prefer to put it another way, the passage of a cold war another "hot."

Have you thought about a Commander Rome Empire?

Regards

[IainMcNeil]

Yes they are interesting ideas. We haven't decided what is next after WW1.

[firepowerjohan]

Thanks alot for your answer!

Johan did an amazing job of coding up a complex game in such a short amount of time.
But, perhaps he already had his Java game engine before the CEAW project started?
I've been re-reading the old forum posts and it's interesting to review his old designer notes.

I addressed Iain since Johan doesn't seem to contribute to our forum anymore.

I don't understand the computer gaming business and how FPJ and Slitherine work together.
I write a different type of software.
Generally, it seems some people love to play computer games, but few want to pay very much!

The CEAW community is amazing: great historical knowledge and tremendous passion for gaming and even simulation.

Hi!
I have been away for a long time now and yes I have started working in the Software Development industry. For the future, I cannot say whether I will take up game development again if not full time then maybe in addition to normal work.

Thanks, but the code was not built as quick as you may think. I had been building a ww2 code base from 2004 after inspiration from other wargames out there.

The Commander brand and the CEAW+CNAW code bases are different stories. The code base is my intellectual property while the Commander brand is Slitherines.

I allowed code editing of the original CEAW by the fans in order to make the GS mod happen but with a restriction of it being only intended for WW2 European theatre.

So, both me and Iain are right. A Commander game of WW3 or other new eras must be made with Slitherines permit, but it has to be done with a different code engine than CEAW/CNAW unless I am involved.

[LOGAN5]

It would be nice to see a WW3 commander game, maybe one of the scenarios could be a top down polar Strategic map, strategic bombers/ interceptors, and ICBM, subs, and ABM systems, whoever has most population left wins.

[StevenCarleton]

So, both me and Iain are right. A Commander game of WW3 or other new eras must be made with Slitherines permit, but it has to be done with a different code engine than CEAW/CNAW unless I am involved.

Firstly, thanks for a tremendous effort!

I'm sure an excellent Java guy like yourself will have no problem finding interesting work. Too bad game development is so much different than business software development (web, databases, etc.).

Not sure what you consider to be the "engine". Is it the whole collection of .class files?
I think you have an excellent core which could be made even better!
It could handle strategic, operational, and tactical scenarios from many historical eras.
It would be nice if it supported additional unit types, expanded mechanics, higher-res graphics, etc.

Since this is now a side project for you, would you consider allowing others to contribute to the development effort?
Of course, you would retain all rights, but the engine could be enhanced so much more quickly.
Not sure how object-oriented your code is since we aren't allowed to decompile it, but I'm sure you've developed a very modular solution.

[firepowerjohan]

So, both me and Iain are right. A Commander game of WW3 or other new eras must be made with Slitherines permit, but it has to be done with a different code engine than CEAW/CNAW unless I am involved.

Firstly, thanks for a tremendous effort!

I'm sure an excellent Java guy like yourself will have no problem finding interesting work. Too bad game development is so much different than business software development (web, databases, etc.).

Not sure what you consider to be the "engine". Is it the whole collection of .class files?
I think you have an excellent core which could be made even better!
It could handle strategic, operational, and tactical scenarios from many historical eras.
It would be nice if it supported additional unit types, expanded mechanics, higher-res graphics, etc.

Since this is now a side project for you, would you consider allowing others to contribute to the development effort?
Of course, you would retain all rights, but the engine could be enhanced so much more quickly.
Not sure how object-oriented your code is since we aren't allowed to decompile it, but I'm sure you've developed a very modular solution.

The engine are the implementations of the design, contained in the class files yes. Typically an engine is the rules of the game in code plus the mechanics like graphical model and drawing, UI layout handling, real time systems, file handlings, AI etc.

The sequel to Commander Europe at War was Commander Napoleon at War but that game did not sell well enough so I decided to make World Empires Live. Napoleon was built from the same (CEAW) but enhanced engine which shows how much different a game can appear using roughly the same code. For Napoleon I think only about 20% of the code was added or changed from CEAW but the rest core engine was same. World Empires Live was built using this code base from CEAW+CNAW as well but the game focuses on multiplayer action which makes it hard to get going for this types of game. It is currently for free so anyone can DL and give it a go.

[StevenCarleton]

I asked about the engine since some implementations are compiled binaries for a particular platform, to make it difficult to reverse engineer I guess, and perhaps to run somewhat faster.

I remember you posted years ago that you use the Swing API.
Have you explored 3D?
It seems all the popular games these days are massively multiplayer First Person Shooter types.
I only know OpenGL.

Hope you'll keep us posted if you select another project and I'll be sure to give CNAW & WEL live a try!

[firepowerjohan]

I cannot keep you posted on ANY game I make (on this forum) since not all games I make are decided beforehand who will publish it. You would have to continue this discussion with me on my own forum since this is a forum only intended for Slitherine products in general and (this one) CEAW in particular.