Need any playtesters?

[PoorOldSpike]

Hey developers, if I can help playtest PC2, let me kow and I'll be glad to help for free, I'm over 60 and retired and can put in 8 hours a day testing 24/7,
check out my credentials in this thread..

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4387678

[PoorOldSpike]

No takers?
Has the PzCps 2 project gone dead in the water or what?

[IainMcNeil]

Very much alive but not ready for testers yet thanks.

[PoorOldSpike]

Very much alive but not ready for testers yet thanks.

Thanks mate, I like you, it's good that you're the sort of friendly boss who actually talks to us game-buyers..

[lhi1964]

Very much alive but not ready for testers yet thanks.

Darn, what a shame...Had great fun testing PC 1 and then play the whole thing all over, once released... looking very much forward to the actual game

[PoorOldSpike]

It's now 20 months since PC2 was announced but it's still not released, so my offer to help playtest still stands..

[Rudankort]

It's now 20 months since PC2 was announced but it's still not released, so my offer to help playtest still stands..

Yes, and we really appreciate your willingness to help. The development is taking forever, but we are much closer to the beta now than we were 20 months ago. Just a little bit more to wait.

[PoorOldSpike]

As a matter of interest what exactly is holding things up? My guess is that the Campaign development is taking forever to do, so why not just abandon the campaign and release PC2 without it? It can be added as a 'Campaign DLC' later costing peanuts.
Personally I rarely play campaigns in any game anyway because I like playing short sharp standalone scenarios in the same way as I make love- quickly, mercilessly, decisively.
PS- The Armoured Brigade guys recently released AB without a campaign and it's selling well, but if they'd incorporated a campaign it'd have delayed the release date for months.

[PeteMitchell]

I am just curious, so how can you actually become a playtester, do you need to apply? Are there any criteria?

[Rudankort]

I am just curious, so how can you actually become a playtester, do you need to apply? Are there any criteria?

When the beta is announced, there will be a link to registration page, and you can apply from there. There are no specific criteria, because we will need both veteran players and newcomers to test the game, and will need to cover a wide spectrum of hardware configurations with the beta. Unless we get some unexpectedly huge number of applications, there is a good chance to get into the beta.

As a matter of interest what exactly is holding things up? My guess is that the Campaign development is taking forever to do, so why not just abandon the campaign and release PC2 without it? It can be added as a 'Campaign DLC' later costing peanuts.
Personally I rarely play campaigns in any game anyway because I like playing short sharp standalone scenarios in the same way as I make love- quickly, mercilessly, decisively.
PS- The Armoured Brigade guys recently released AB without a campaign and it's selling well, but if they'd incorporated a campaign it'd have delayed the release date for months.

You have guessed correctly that campaign is the main problematic area, because we could only set to creating it when the game itself was in a fairly advanced state. But there are still a few other missing things as well. In particular, I'm not fully satisfied with AI yet, so that's what I'm working on right now.

Campaign mode was always the most popular and iconic play mode in this game series, so releasing the game without a proper campaign would be a very risky step indeed. A game like this is time-consuming and expensive to create, so we will try to avoid as many risks as possible and release a complete and well-rounded product.

[PoorOldSpike]

...You have guessed correctly that campaign is the main problematic area...
Campaign mode was always the most popular and iconic play mode in this game series, so releasing the game without a proper campaign would be a very risky step indeed..

Perhaps a poll is needed to find out if the majority of people want a campaign?
I personally prefer individual standalone scenarios and never play campaigns in any game.
As a compromise you could release PC2 without a campaign, then release a campaign DLC at a later date for those who want it.
Armoured Brigade was successfully released recently and it doesn't have a campaign..

[Rudankort]

Perhaps a poll is needed to find out if the majority of people want a campaign?

From talking to players and following their discussions on various forums over the years, I know that pretty much 90% of our users play campaign mode exclusively. I'm confident about this and don't need any polls to confirm it.

Armoured Brigade was successfully released recently and it doesn't have a campaign..

Experience of other games cannot be extended to Panzer Corps 2 directly, and especially when you create a sequel to an existing popular game, this creates a lot of upfront expectations. As an example, Heroes of Might and Magic 6 released without beautiful town screens, and lots of fans were really pissed off by this, even though it's a purely cosmetic feature. In Panzer Corps world, a good campaign is much more important than that. It's a must have.

As a compromise you could release PC2 without a campaign, then release a campaign DLC at a later date for those who want it.

I have already explained that this would be a very risky move. In the modern competitive world, you have only one chance to make a good first impression. If your game does not fulfill expectations of its target audience and gets bad reviews upon release, you may never recover from this later. I know that you guys want the game asap, but we simply cannot release until it is ready. Sorry!

[rajatgupta124]

Perhaps a poll is needed to find out if the majority of people want a campaign?

From talking to players and following their discussions on various forums over the years, I know that pretty much 90% of our users play campaign mode exclusively. I'm confident about this and don't need any polls to confirm it.

Armoured Brigade was successfully released recently and it doesn't have a campaign..

Experience of other games cannot be extended to Panzer Corps 2 directly, and especially when you create a sequel to an existing popular game, this creates a lot of upfront expectations. As an example, Heroes of Might and Magic 6 released without beautiful town screens, and lots of fans were really pissed off by this, even though it's a purely cosmetic feature. In Panzer Corps world, a good campaign is much more important than that. It's a must have.

As a compromise you could release PC2 without a campaign, then release a campaign DLC at a later date for those who want it.

I have already explained that this would be a very risky move. In the modern competitive world, you have only one chance to make a good first impression. If your game does not fulfill expectations of its target audience and gets bad reviews upon release, you may never recover from this later. I know that you guys want the game asap, but we simply cannot release until it is ready. Sorry!

I agree, by the look of the dev diaries, its looking good, how much left is something u guys would know but any info on that won't suffice the hunger of wanting this game. take ur time (not too much) but give us the best !

[PeteMitchell]

Although it’s slightly off topic by now... but I (personally) would definitely agree on the importance of a good campaign to start with…

[ClaireRedfieldU]

Hey developers, if I can help playtest PC2, let me kow and I'll be glad to help for free, I'm over 60 and retired and can put in 8 hours a day testing 24/7,
check out my credentials in this thread..

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4387678

Father calm down! dedicate time to grandchildren, take care of the garden, cut the lawn. Leave the games for the younger generation.

[PoorOldSpike]

Father calm down! dedicate time to grandchildren, take care of the garden, cut the lawn. Leave the games for the younger generation.

You could be right mate, I had 4 Kingtigers shot out from under me yesterday in Armed Assault III KOTH multiplayer because my gunners were inexperienced kids swinging the gun around in all directions like crackheads instead of watching their front..

[Pmanuk]

I agree - for me I only play the campaign. I'd willing wait for the campaign over single scenarios

[PoorOldSpike]

I agree - for me I only play the campaign. I'd willing wait for the campaign over single scenarios

The only problem with devs spending their valuable time working on including campaigns is that it delays the release for many months, for example they've been working on PC2 for 22 months now, maybe they're trying for the Guinness Book of Records for the longest game under development...
Meanwhile other games are being released, so people are spending their cash on them instead.
As I've said before, if PC2 was released tomorrow without a campaign I'd immediately buy it and so would everybody else, then we'd also buy a campaign DLC when it was released later.

[hs1611]

As I've said before, if PC2 was released tomorrow without a campaign I'd immediately buy it and so would everybody else, then we'd also buy a campaign DLC when it was released later.

I wouldn't. I would wait until the campaign was available before spending my money...

[Ballacraine]

For me, single player campaign play is what it is all about.

I loved the Grand campaign DLcs for PC 1 and was involved in the beta testing.

I'm champing at the bit for the beta to be announced to get involved with testing again.