Why can't the F4 ledger be a little more like this?

[Athens]

I've spent the better part of the last year immersing myself in WITP:AE.


But what truly makes WITP:AE so polished (if still not perfect) is the game's community. Lots and lots of passion and competence and ... arrogance . Tons of AARs and ongoing PBEMs. Many mods in development. An amazing amount of activity.

WITP communauty has flourished because the game is very good but also and mainly because it's a highly popular subject. 2by3 games are always focused on highly popular themas.

ROP was on pretty good shape when released. Commercial failure. Was on Paradox forums too. Commerical failure in spite of.

There's someone who recently bought RUS, and so at reduced price, because he has discovered the existence of the alternative history scenatrio "Drang nach Osten" ( German barbarossa in 1921). He has pointed the Russian Civil War doesn't interest him, which is fine. But he has too his pet period ( don't remember what) and is hoping Ageod will choose for a future game...That's irrational. The sad truth is exotic subjects don't sell and originality isn't rewarded. That's not the only reason of ROP, or RUS difficulties, howewer this can't be neglected.

[Amadeus]

I play this game a lot and make my first AAR at the moment. I read in this thread many times. Which way is the best I do not really know. But the UI in the F4 window has to be changed in my opinion. I wanna have the possibility to reset all, cancel orders and get an overview. That should be possible. but surely not with the tools I have at the moment.

[berto]

AGEOD could do worse than to focus just on forever iteratively releasing new-and-improved versions of ACW, NCP & WIA -- popular topics all. Some game companies, and game designers, find success specializing in a narrow range of subjects only. Does AGEOD really have the expertise to tackle obscure wars and periods of history from the 17th Century and before?

Maybe AGEOD should also specialize in WWI ... and WWII? But if you thought PON was a complicated endeavor, more so WWII. PON was -- what? -- four years in development? How much longer a credible WWII game? (World in Flames, anyone? :siffle WWII is also a very tough market. AGEOD would be a small fish in a big pond, and maybe get eaten alive.

Sticking with the tried and true, and the popular, may be less satisfying and less interesting, but -- yes -- might be AGEOD's wisest course of action going forward. I think that ACW2 & NCP2 would sell well (I'd certainly buy them!), and after that ACW3, NCP3, WIA3, ad infinitum, ...

[Amadeus]

What do you mean in case of the thread? Did I miss something? I like really this game but this F4 screen has to be changed...

[veji1]

I haven't bought PON (new baby, moving town, etc...) because I don't have enough time to immerse in a brand new complicated game.. I still play AACW from time to time, it ranks all the way up there in the best games I ever played, and I have been playing it on and off for 4 or 5 years now !

What is a bit sad about PON, ROP, RUS, etc.. Is that the development that has me most excited here at AGEOD isn't any of the things the studio itself does, it's Bohemond's mod to creat a Great Campaign for NCP...

I have to agree with Berto that overextension is a danger and that sometimes, when you are a niche market company, you have to focus on your niche, make it more profitable, work on what you do well, rather than try for something real hard...

I never understood why on earth the studio released the "failure" that NCP is, without a simple yet doable diplomatic engine allowing for a GC, at least a partial one, even quite scripted and with limited freedom. This is a game that could have worked on the masterpiece that AACW is and made a fair bit of money as it is on a popular subject.. Than based on a successful NCP engine, they could have used it with tweaks for different periods : seven years wars, thirty years wars, 1850/1870 wars etc...

Focussing on a good solid NCP, based on AACW would have given Ageod a solid platform for economic success. I think that the Phils are great guys and gamers at heart, they are not into milking a product, rather into creating great new games and with AACW success, they probably thought they could finally do the games of their dreams, PON...

Again, thinking that out of all the AGEOD news of the last 3 years, what excites me the most is Bohemond's NCP mod is a testament to the impression that there might have been a missed turn at some point in the past...

my two cents.

[Pocus]

Lot of things said in this thread, and a lot is the truth also! As grown-up, we also all know that sometime (slight euphemism) life is not exactly going in the direction we want, although I'm not implying by that, that most of the things that happened were beyond our control... we made errors, simply said, and it is normal to pay for them.

Back to the OP suggestion, the screen is very interesting, focusing on a single resource each time, but with handy tools and visual cues. Good thinking I say

PON is still very young. We may have overextended ourselves, but lets meet again in some months, or in a year, and I'm sure a lot of water will have flown under the PON bridge.

[Athens]

(Tried very hard to stay out of these discussions ... some people dislike my input ... but finally can't resist the temptation. )

. You know, in Ancient Greece, those who delivered as messengers the bad news were killed. And Cassandra could foreseen the future to the price no one will believe her. People prefers genrally both the sycophant or the uncompetent, because they are so much confortable to manage But we're very very off way of the F4 ledger so I'm closing here about Ancient Greece evocation. Doing what you're thinking best and huzzah

[rezaf]

Lot of things said in this thread, and a lot is the truth also! As grown-up, we also all know that sometime (slight euphemism) life is not exactly going in the direction we want, although I'm not implying by that, that most of the things that happened were beyond our control... we made errors, simply said, and it is normal to pay for them.

Back to the OP suggestion, the screen is very interesting, focusing on a single resource each time, but with handy tools and visual cues. Good thinking I say

PON is still very young. We may have overextended ourselves, but lets meet again in some months, or in a year, and I'm sure a lot of water will have flown under the PON bridge.

Lol, you totally nailed the "listen child, mommy and daddy need to tell you that ..." tone in that reply.

I can totally relate to that - the thread strayed far off topic in the last posts, and nobody here has info about the specifics of everything that was truly going on.

Anyway, thanks for replying and especially for noticing the original posts basic idea. If merely a few of the basic concepts inspire you to provide something more like it in a future patch or even a future game, it's mission accomplished for this thread.
_____
rezaf

[marcusjm]

Well, if you think obscure topics can't succeed then take a look at Norm Koger, he always went for the less popular subjects. Still, as far as I know he still sells games based on such obscure topics as Russian Japanese naval operations.

It is all about the game quality in the end and some good marketing plus track record. The more games AGEOD makes the more they will gather loyal followers.

[Athens]

Well, if you think obscure topics can't succeed then take a look at Norm Koger, he always went for the less popular subjects. Still, as far as I know he still sells games based on such obscure topics as Russian Japanese naval operations.

It is all about the game quality in the end and some good marketing plus track record. The more games AGEOD makes the more they will gather loyal followers.

As far I know, it isnt a stellar business success ( of course, there's too the Rose's factor and the DRM question). But I wouldn't be as surprised even without the game would remain confidential at best.

Age of Rifles had all the ACW battles included. Operational Art of War had WW2. Wargme Construction Set 2 covered 1917 to 1990 period......Not really obscure topics.

F4 ledger must be improved whatever.

[veji1]

Lot of things said in this thread, and a lot is the truth also! As grown-up, we also all know that sometime (slight euphemism) life is not exactly going in the direction we want, although I'm not implying by that, that most of the things that happened were beyond our control... we made errors, simply said, and it is normal to pay for them.

Back to the OP suggestion, the screen is very interesting, focusing on a single resource each time, but with handy tools and visual cues. Good thinking I say

PON is still very young. We may have overextended ourselves, but lets meet again in some months, or in a year, and I'm sure a lot of water will have flown under the PON bridge.

Man I am sorry, I didn't want to be such a downer... Anyway keep up the good work !

[berto]

PON is still very young ... but lets meet again in some months, or in a year, and I'm sure a lot of water will have flown under the PON bridge.

In light of recent speculations/concerns, Pocus' remark here is very reassuring. Read between the lines, and think about it.

[jimwinsor]

In light of recent speculations/concerns, Pocus' remark here is very reassuring. Read between the lines, and think about it.

Yeah reading between the lines, it looks like they are now planning a major overhaul of the CG over the next few months? That's how I (optimistically) look at it. Perhaps my yearly-econony idea for slowing growth + speeding the game up is actually on the table.

In the meantime, we got these scenarios to play. And perhaps some modders can come up with some more. I'd love to see and ACW scenario, perhaps even a Mexican revolution scenario. The scale of the map is big enough to make these quite interesting, IMO.