The GS alpha team has decided that we will now wrap up what we have so we can keep the promised Easter release date. Ronnie will contact Iain at Slitherine later today to inform that he can prepare for making the installer for the PC version of GS v2.00.
Timothy and Paul will work together to make the necessary files so Slitherine can make a MAC version of GS v2.00.
Slitherine will be responsible for informing the public that GS v2.00 is set to release. They will also set the release date because it's when they have time to make the scheduler that will decide when we can deliver.
What work remains:
1. message_*.txt language files
I've used translators to create the added text, but I need help from you for the different languages so please volunteer to look at a specific language file if you know one of the languages. I'm sure Victor will do the Spanish version. I hope some can help with the German and Russian versions. I'm not sure if we have anyone speaking fluently Italian, French or Polish.
2. Fix bugs that will be reported
Until the installer is ready to be made by Slitherine we will continue to fix bugs so please report anyone you find. I believe there aren't many bugs left,but there might be some in the newly added functionality
Important message: GS v2.00 scheduled for release on Easter
Moderators: firepowerjohan, rkr1958, Happycat, Slitherine Core
-
Peter Stauffenberg
- General - Carrier
- Posts: 4745
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:13 pm
- Location: Oslo, Norway
-
Peter Stauffenberg
- General - Carrier
- Posts: 4745
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:13 pm
- Location: Oslo, Norway
3. Update the manual making a newsletter
Alec is responsible for finalizing the user manual for GS v2.0 and completing the newsletter, but he needs help to make it as good as possible. We especially need strategy articles. The newsletter is almost completed and will be posted on the Slitherine page very soon
Since we have set a release date we will NOT add any more functionality. We feel we've done a lot to enhance the replayability of GS with the latest changes. Those changes haven't altered game balance much, but given players more options to select other strategies than the historical ones. Some historical strategies have become more interesting after the latest changes. E. g. Norway is now more important since the Swedish iron ore can be interdicted. Torch is also an option worth considering since Italy will surrender more easily and Germany won't get full production from southern France anymore.
Some of you might ask what do we do about game balance? Our answer is that all beta testing since November has shown that it's very hard to set a game balance with so few games that beta testing can generate. We've fixed the most obvious issues and right now we feel the balance is good enough to be tried out. Altering the game balance is probably better to do after GS v2.00 has been released and we get end game reports indicating that one side is favored
Alec is responsible for finalizing the user manual for GS v2.0 and completing the newsletter, but he needs help to make it as good as possible. We especially need strategy articles. The newsletter is almost completed and will be posted on the Slitherine page very soon
Since we have set a release date we will NOT add any more functionality. We feel we've done a lot to enhance the replayability of GS with the latest changes. Those changes haven't altered game balance much, but given players more options to select other strategies than the historical ones. Some historical strategies have become more interesting after the latest changes. E. g. Norway is now more important since the Swedish iron ore can be interdicted. Torch is also an option worth considering since Italy will surrender more easily and Germany won't get full production from southern France anymore.
Some of you might ask what do we do about game balance? Our answer is that all beta testing since November has shown that it's very hard to set a game balance with so few games that beta testing can generate. We've fixed the most obvious issues and right now we feel the balance is good enough to be tried out. Altering the game balance is probably better to do after GS v2.00 has been released and we get end game reports indicating that one side is favored
-
Peter Stauffenberg
- General - Carrier
- Posts: 4745
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:13 pm
- Location: Oslo, Norway
Beta testing can continue as normal and the games you play are expected to last till the end.
Our experience with earlier releases indicate that GSv 2.00am is balanced enough to be released and give players a lot of fun. We might have to release a minor patch after release, but we won't do that often. It's important to let players after release get games to the end with the current version so we can collect data.
The truth is that the difference in player quality is much more important that e. g. adding an extra unit to a side or giving a side one tech higher in one area. So analyzing game results must be done by looking at who played each side.
If e. g. an experienced played like Neil should be easily beaten as the Axis by a less than elite player THEN we have an issue, but I don't expect this to happen. What we've seen from some GS v2.00 games is that the Axis player has won convincingly, more than what was possible in GS v1.0. I'm confident that the Allies now have a much bigger challenge ahead and must play very well to get the upper hand. Even that might not be enough.
The many political changes we've added opens for new strategies that can give players advantages we can't foresee at the moment. That's fine because it means GS v2.00 will be more fun for the players. They can be rewarded for being creative. Players like Supermax love such possibilities. From prior versions we've always seen that players have a remarkable ability to counter strategies that seem to be the winning one. So we can expect "winning" strategies for each side to change with time.
Our experience with earlier releases indicate that GSv 2.00am is balanced enough to be released and give players a lot of fun. We might have to release a minor patch after release, but we won't do that often. It's important to let players after release get games to the end with the current version so we can collect data.
The truth is that the difference in player quality is much more important that e. g. adding an extra unit to a side or giving a side one tech higher in one area. So analyzing game results must be done by looking at who played each side.
If e. g. an experienced played like Neil should be easily beaten as the Axis by a less than elite player THEN we have an issue, but I don't expect this to happen. What we've seen from some GS v2.00 games is that the Axis player has won convincingly, more than what was possible in GS v1.0. I'm confident that the Allies now have a much bigger challenge ahead and must play very well to get the upper hand. Even that might not be enough.
The many political changes we've added opens for new strategies that can give players advantages we can't foresee at the moment. That's fine because it means GS v2.00 will be more fun for the players. They can be rewarded for being creative. Players like Supermax love such possibilities. From prior versions we've always seen that players have a remarkable ability to counter strategies that seem to be the winning one. So we can expect "winning" strategies for each side to change with time.
-
Peter Stauffenberg
- General - Carrier
- Posts: 4745
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:13 pm
- Location: Oslo, Norway
So you can all continue playing GS v2.00am (that will be released later today) and expect to get your games to the end. Soon you can start playing anyone in the public forum. Just have a little patience and let Slitherine be the first to give the public the good news that we expect GS v2.00 to be out by Easter. 
Some of you might wonder why we haven't released GS v2.00 before. I can't go into details, but one important reason we had to wait is that we had to make sure all legal issues were resolved regarding copyright etc. What will happen is that Slitherine will take ownership of GS v2.00 and they will be officially responsible for GS. Slitherine has been very cooperative with us so all the time so they have not been the cause of the problems. The problems we've had were elsewhere, without going into details. Now it seems we won't have any problems. Therefore we can give the go-ahead to release. Please keep that information within the beta group.
Because we knew earlier this year we hadn't resolved all legal issues we decided to spend the time testing to enhance GS v2.00 as much as possible until the issues were solved.
Some of you might wonder why we haven't released GS v2.00 before. I can't go into details, but one important reason we had to wait is that we had to make sure all legal issues were resolved regarding copyright etc. What will happen is that Slitherine will take ownership of GS v2.00 and they will be officially responsible for GS. Slitherine has been very cooperative with us so all the time so they have not been the cause of the problems. The problems we've had were elsewhere, without going into details. Now it seems we won't have any problems. Therefore we can give the go-ahead to release. Please keep that information within the beta group.
Because we knew earlier this year we hadn't resolved all legal issues we decided to spend the time testing to enhance GS v2.00 as much as possible until the issues were solved.