android tablets

[monstru]

hello,

any plans to make the games available also on android tablets?

[IainMcNeil]

Yes we have a number of games coming for Android or already out.

Already released
Conquest
Great Battles Medieval

In Development
Buzz Aldrins Space Program Manager
Field of Glory
More games to be announced soon!

[MrsWargamer]

At one time, I was 'oh I will just wait till Windows makes the matter moot'.

From what I have heard, Windows 8 has been a commercial sale fizzle in that it is simply not getting much attention.

I don't mind using 8 and it has not been a problem using it with my software either. But I guess there was just too many too disinclined to want it. Might be too many just too happy to use Apple or the Android option. And not that I think Android is awesome, it's no better than Windows in that it works.

With the exception of monsters like War in the East (and I don't think anyone ever expects to see programs like this run on a tablet soon), I see no reason a tablet can't run 90% of the wargame hobby's wargames. But the program is like all the versions of Windows, how do you make a game for it knowing the version won't sit still long.

And just as I don't expect wargamers to stop with the moronic notion a wargame can only be played on a PC with a large monitor (that is such a self evident idiocy supported by people that just know nothing), it is understandable that wargame makers are not having an easy time adjusting to the idea of making wargames intentionally made for a hand held touch screen where the price tag is assumed to be high the second it passes 5 bucks. The solution of course, is to stop making games all inclusive the entire war every nation simulated every piece of gear represented time consuming and research intensive in design.

I'd gladly play a Steel Panthers looking title, made to be a handful of small battles, with greatly reduced gear, and more focus on keeping the size and scope in check. I'd gladly line up to pay for a succession of add ons to the game. The developer could be easily churning out new content and in the end likely make a lot more money a lot easier from a much wider base of established consumers.

Ya know, I don't really give a damn if the old grogs don't get their regular fix of Grigsby sized monster games. I spend almost EVERY day in a Tim Horton's with a hot chocolate for 30 minutes, staring at a tablet. I COULD be looking at competition for Victor's Small General program, but there isn't many out there that have come to realize it's an option. His game is quite good by the way, and the AI is no push over.

[shunwick]

DSWargamer,

While I understand and appreciate your position, I do not understand why it must be an either/or thing. Why must the old grogs suffer to allow tablet war gaming to flourish? I would like to see everyone provided with what they enjoy - you, me, old grogs, new grogs, and the people who like 3d shiny clicky things. Let us all have the war games we want in the format we enjoy the most.

Best wishes,
Steve

[MrsWargamer]

DSWargamer,

While I understand and appreciate your position, I do not understand why it must be an either/or thing. Why must the old grogs suffer to allow tablet war gaming to flourish? I would like to see everyone provided with what they enjoy - you, me, old grogs, new grogs, and the people who like 3d shiny clicky things. Let us all have the war games we want in the format we enjoy the most.

Best wishes,
Steve

It's not actually me making it an all or prospect actually shunwick.

There's a lot of 'dying' dialogue out there and most of it by people simply uninterested in change.
Fact, my age group invented the wargaming hobby. Yes my age group is the reason it exists.
I am not responsible for the sales of real time strategy, even if it is my age group in front of the computers designing them.
My age group is not the driving force behind MMOs and Shooters either. But it is my age group that holds the reigns.
Proof, just look at the people in charge, they all look like me.

Fact, the only people really and truly interested in wargames that look like War in the East, are people in my age group.
I don't need any damned links to know that is a fact. And a few persons loudly screaming I have no numbers to back up the statement, are just a few deniers and there are always a few deniers.

Fact, I will either be continuing to age, or I will be dead.
But I don't expect any new comers to the playing field where old school wargaming is concerned.
My son, 19, is NOT interested in ANY manner of wargame. Not on PC or any other means of playing it. Unless the games adapt to look more like they did when I was a teen as well.

Fact, I became a wargamer thanks to games Like Tactics II and Squad Leader and Third Reich, all games with essentially limited complexity in components, but considerable skill level required to win. I would NEVER have wanted to play War in the East in my teens. They call Third Reich a 10 on the complexity scale. Back in the 70s War in the East would have been called something akin to a 30. And it would not be any more successful than Fire in the East was. I have known lots that praise the design, but, I have never played it. Even though my main wargaming friend owned it. Never enough time, never enough space. I have no idea how often I played Axis and Allies, and we often played it against non wargamers.

The android tablet, it's just a device. It's really just a Nintendo DS made for an adult. Bigger screen, able to web browse in a logical fashion (which a DS sure can't), able to do programs an adult would be interested in. Enough power to actually DO things.
It's not an Apple product though, and the Apple OS seems more approachable not as many versions variations.
But Small General and the Small General Easter Front design, THAT is where I want to see wargaming going.
Some call it 'dumbed down', I see it smartening up. Smart because THAT game can grab a teen's interest the way Tactics II did to me.

I don't give a damn that War in the East can't be played on a tablet. I wouldn't likely want to play it on one if it could run it.
The old complaint, needs more computer muscle, needs a larger screen aka bigger monitor. That's a WEAKNESS, not a strength.
I also wish they had just made lots and lots of counter sets for Squad Leader, and never gone past Squad Leader to be honest. Yes the game was not as hyper accurate as ASL is, but, I played Squad Leader a great deal more than I ever will ASL.
Look up the word 'sophisticated' and the original meaning, it is enlightening
Both ASL and War in the East are very 'sophisticated' games. That's not actually always a compliment as the dictionary will illustrate.

I don't really think Slitherine Group needs to make any new wargames, they really just need to take their already designed catalogue, port portions of the designs/settings into the tablet scene, attract new meat to the hobby, and leave the grogs to play the very long list of wargames that already exist out there.

I don't need a successor to War in the East and likely never will. Sure they can use the already designed engine to release new expansions, but, that's all I need from Gary.

I realize they are doing a Battle Academy 2 and likely will in time ponder an Panzer Corps 2 unless they just disguise the process with designs like Allied Corps that incorporate the evolution of the code. But the thing is, all we need is for them to reach as many new wargamers as possible.

I, me, this individual here, I don't really need 'more' wargame designs. And while that will suck for any developer lining up for a slice of the pie, the thing is, there are no more chairs, and the ones out there are already competing to see who gets to stand up for a while
I'd rather anyone wanting to get in on the developer action, join Victor and his Small General, and start making new games for new markets and stop pretending I will always be here.

That's it eh, wargaming isn't dying, wargamers, they will eventually die though. I'm 51, I might live to 80 like my father. I might not. You get no guarantees.
If the hobby loses enough of me, and produces nothing in the way of replacements, it won't 'die' per se, it will just grind to a halt out of gas.

[shunwick]

DSWargamer,

I do not see any reason to be concerned. Change is inevitable and a necessary fact of life. War games are being produced for iPad, Android, and Windows Tablets - they are being produced for PCs, Macs, and Unix installations.

There has always been a huge diversity of tastes within the war gaming community. Just within the TOAW community there are those who like small scenarios, those who like medium sized scenarios, those who like the monsters. And it does not stop there. There are those who only play WW II scenarios, those who only play WW I scenarios and so on. Diversity is as fundamental as change. As far as I can tell the Slitherine Group/Matrix have always attempted to support the war gaming community by providing games to match a multitude of tastes. Some people like War in the East. Some people do not. Some people will always be attracted to games like War in the East. And some will not. That is not a problem. It has always been so.

I do not accept the idea that there are no new war gamers being attracted to the hobby. Slitherine's own data would seem to disprove that.

Finally, I have to say at 51 you are still a spring chicken. And when I was 19 (I can still remember that far back) I also had no interest in war games. None. I never discovered war games until I had reached 42!

Best wishes,
Steve