Battle of the Bulge Released and Streamed!

[Daniele]

16 December 1944 - The once quiet Ardennes forest erupts with the shells of thousands artillery guns. Under the snow lie the bodies of the first American soldiers caught by a completely unexpected large-scale German offensive.

The Allies have underestimated the Reich’s ability to mobilize its resources, and now they are facing the OberkommandoWest’s charge towards the river Meuse. They race forwards, aiming to gain the banks of the Meuse before the allied air forces can react to stop the panzer march.

Who will win this race against time?

Battle of the Bulge is releasing today for Pc, Mac and iOS platforms, and is putting you in charge of the German or Allied forces during one of the toughest battle fought on the Western Front!

Directly from the product description:

“Command infantry, mechanized and armoured units in hard fights through the various phases of the offensive, taking into account the nature of the terrain and its effects on the assailants and defenders”

The game features an updated AI opponent, a new multiplayer system supporting cross platform battles, private and paired matches plus access to a new tournament system!

Grab the game now!

Do you want to see some action? Join us today on our Twitch Channel as we stream the game at 20:00 CEST / 18:00 UTC / 2:00 PM EDT!

[Fritz]

I can't use the coupon code received in the newsletter.

Error: The discount code is not activated yet!

[hoyin1972]

I'm with Fritz! My coupon from the newsletter, is also not activated yet!

[Redwing6891]

I'm very sorry guys but can I have the old Bulge back, please?

I played the game on iPhone just now and while the new version works and admittedly has some nice freebies (or maybe my previous purchases just carried over) the interface is not as good as the previous version. It seems that in the multi-platform port the iPhone 5 got a bit left behind. Some of the switches in settings only work intermittently, the intro video does not support the screen resolution (only 4:3) and for some of the in game information you need a microscope to read it. The scenario victory sound also loops oddly and I really miss that you removed the video gameplay option to review the game at the end. In addition, the game is a massive battery drain on iOS 7. I just played 40 min on the morning commute and battery went down to 50% from fully charged! This is in airplane mode with very low backlighting setting. Finally - I am not so sure about the vaunted AI improvements. I just waltzed all over Monty in the Race to the Meuse. This is a scenario which previously had me foxed for weeks. OK, I think I improved but I haven't played Bulge in nearly a year and some of the AI moves were simply stupid. Seemed as if Monty wasn't aware of my primary objective!

I was looking forward to re-discovering an old favourite (and for Shenandoah to come back strongly out of hibernation) but now I am sorry to say I wish I hadn't updated. I definitely won't update Moscow or El Alamein, if it comes to that.

I apologize guys, I really wanted to like this but I am afraid I don't. Can I have the old Bulge back, please?

[VPaulus]

@Fritz and @hoyin1972
They should be active now.

[Praeter]

Agree with @Redwing6891 about the interface - Bulge is probably the best iPhone game there is for strategy fans - a shame to ruin it with a tiny interface!

[Dittsche]

The same from my side. The Game now is terrible. Everything is slowly. When you attack, the hits looks terrible. Also the sound is now a mess. I have a ipad4 with 32gb. Before it was the best strategy game for multiplayer. Now you ruin this game!

[IainMcNeil]

We didn't get any feedback about this in testing so we're looking in to it. Not sure what the issue might be but we'll get it sorted. Thanks for the feedback.

[Browncoat]

Please put the previous version of BoB back in the App Store. The AI is not an improvement. I have played against every allied general and they were all inept. The AI seemed to be trying its best to lose by easily allowing its selfish to be cut off. The smoothness and responsiveness is gone. By all accounts the UI for iPhone version is now ruined. Game Center is gone. BoB was hailed as a text book example of what a great game for the iPad can be. From the game play to the animations and sounds it all fit together so well. That has now been ruined. All you need to do is play the original and compare it to this flawed release to see the problems. It is quite clear that no one did that. Or you of have incompetent testers. Unbelievable that you would release it in this state. Very disrespectful to the game and it's fans. This is a classic example of what happens when big developers/publishers gobble up independent developers. If you have any respect for the fans you will put the original release back in the App Store. Keep your update along side it if you must. And please do not wreck Desert Fox or Drive on Moscow.

[IainMcNeil]

I've responded in other threads but the engine was dead and the only way to bring it forwards was to write it from scratch. We tried to replicate everything but clearly missed some things. I understand your frustration and we're working to resolve all the issues. We had lots of feedback from the PC testers but very few people joined the iPad beta and very little feedback. Now we have a lot of feedback we'll be improving the game until the fans are happy. Please work with us as we want to take the engine forwards and support you guys but we can't without getting through this first hurdle. It will be worth it in the end. Thanks for your patience.

[Redwing6891]

What we see now happening is exactly why I think this multi-platform concept is flawed. The old Shenandoah Studio concentrated on one objective (making great games for iOS) and they did that really well. Try and do one game for three very different platforms and you end up with something mediocre at best. The adages covering this are legion: from The Book's 'No one can serve two masters' (and here we have three!), over Frederick the Great's 'He who defends everything defends nothing' to Clausewitz's 'Schwerpunkt'. Ironically, even BotB itself makes this point!

But we are where we are now.

Iain, I understand that your beta testing on iOS was insufficient, so this is what is in essence happening now. I think from the volume and energy of the response to the BotB release you gather there is a vibrant community out here who cares about the game and is actually very willing to help you with feedback. All of the arguments you make about taking the series forward equally apply when declaring this 'new' BotB II as item 4 of the CiC series, and leaving the originals as they are. By all means, call them 'Classic' from now on. Old games still have appeal to many - GoG is a good example, and there are many programmes from ages ago still live on the App Store.

As a show of good faith - why don't you put the old version back for those who already own it, with the new version next to it declared as open beta until the two versions converge? I'm very happy to help. But I really want my old Bulge back!

[IainMcNeil]

You have to remember one thing. They went bankrupt. The games cost orders of magnitude more to make than they sold.

The old model can't work.

We're looking for a new model that delivers that quality and is sustainable. We've not quite reached that yet but we are heading in the right direction.

[Redwing6891]

Point taken. I wasn't aware of this.

However, that still doesn't address why we can't have the old version back until the new one is truly equivalent.

I don't think the negative publicity that you are getting now is helping the sustainability model.

[Mathias257]

I'm not sure I understand "We're looking for a new model that delivers that quality and is sustainable." It sounds like you have released the game before it was finished. Please explain if I have some how misinterpreted what you meant.

I'm pretty sure I signed up for the iOS beta but I didn't get asked to join. Maybe I signed up after the deadline. No worries, I've signed up for betas and not been picked.

I hope that you can get things worked out soon as I see there are a lot of people who really care about this game and the games that you have produced. Good luck!

[IainMcNeil]

My point was just that things could not be done the way they were before. We are going to deliver the same quality but it will be in a different way that is sustainable. We invited everyone who applied to join the iOS beta but very few did for some reason. It was almost entirely PC.

[KeinGeneral]

I see it right that I play when I want to play it on PC and iPad, has 2 x buy?

[IainMcNeil]

You get the PC and Mac versions together but Apple forbid any kind of cross promotion incentive and provide me mechanic for doing it so unfortunately we can't help there and you must buy PC/Mac separate to iOS

[KeinGeneral]

Yes, Apple prohibits much ... and in Europe.

But Slitherine may determine as a seller, what is allowed and what is not. But that is I do not think gwollt ... you can earn even more !!

[Redwing6891]

Any news on getting version 2.0 back? Version 2.14 is clearly not a universal app, while 2.0 was.

One of the previous game developers even posted a 'how to' design the iPhone interface: http://www.colourandnoise.com/work/batt ... ge-iphone/
I struggle to see how Slitherine could have missed that. Where is Patrick Ward now? Maybe he could help!

Could we at least have BotB 2.0 back for the iPhone in the interim, please?

[Praeter]

My point was just that things could not be done the way they were before. We are going to deliver the same quality but it will be in a different way that is sustainable. We invited everyone who applied to join the iOS beta but very few did for some reason. It was almost entirely PC.

I think I tried to but there seemed to be a technical error on the beta sign-up form?