Hello all!

In another deposit on my pledge to keep our fans abreast of the latest developments at ProSIM, I thought I would take a few moments to update everyone on our latest progress and what lies ahead.

Remember, as you read, that we are not “throwing the baby out with the bath water”. We are making a firm commitment to maintain back wards compatibility. It is taking a little extra time, but it means that when you buy the latest ATF Engine game, if you install it over previous ATF Engine games, those versions will immediately get an “upgrade” enjoying all of the features of the newest version of the engine.

It also means that all of you budding scenario builders will not see your work go to waste when a new version is released. You can load it up in the latest version of the ATF Engine and it will run perfectly, and be ready to receive the latest tools the new engine has to offer.

And this includes Air Assault Task Force. All of the ATF Engine scenarios will run in this engine, too!

Well, might as well dive in.

The Falklands War: 1982

If you’ve been keeping your ear to the ground, you have probably been hearing quite a bit of rumbling. Another ATF Engine release is just about to hit the street, and there are a lot of developments.

First, a playable demo has been released. You can download it here:

TFW Demo

This playable demo includes two scenarios: a tutorial that covers a SAS raid on Pebble Island, and a regular scenario detailing a British attack on Argentinean defensive positions. It highlights a few, but not all of the new features in this revolution of the ATF Engine.

If the demo whets your appetite, you can purchase the game in pre-orders right now. You’ll get $5.00 off of the regular price and free shipping! You can place your order here:

Buy TFW

A lot of the changes in the ATF Engine will be immediately obvious. Some of the “under the hood” changes include an overhauled graphics engine that eliminates the irritating “DirectDraw disable” problems many modern video cards had with the engine. We have also upgraded the friendly and enemy AI to reflect dismounted tactics, added vastly improved weather effects, and introduced disparate training levels that allow scenario designers (including those that designed TFW) to configure training levels in many different areas throughout a faction (to facilitate coalition warfare).

NOTE: Keep an eye out for updates to ATF and Raging Tiger that also incorporate this video engine improvements, eliminating the “DirectDraw disable” problem for good!

We plan to have the game to Shrapnel Games in just a week or two. We are just tyeing up a few loose ends in post-production. This means deliveries should start before the end of June!

The Star and the Crescent: Arab-Israeli Wars, 1956-2009

Curt Pangracs and PanClan Games are hard at work on this project. The early builds look GREAT. The scenarios are also a big departure from previous ATF Engine releases. Curt has really captured the sense of “skin of the teeth” defense that was the early hours of the October War in 1972. He has also taken me to school on several engagements earlier in the history of modern Israel.

Highlights of this release are the introduction of radars of all descriptions, including air defense and airborne radars and counter-battery radars, a really stunning visual style never seen in an ATF Engine release before, and the use of digitized, military contour maps that are period specific and 100% authentic. There are also a ton of other engine tweaks, facilitating the unique ferocity of these wars, including the presence of distinct, discrete buildings and structures, and tools that allow the player to better target close air support.

I don’t want to spoil the surprise, or steal Curt’s thunder, so I will save the rest for my next entry.

War in Afghanistan

Well, the upside of enlisting active duty military officers from the world’s best armies to lead development teams is that our products are the most current, most accurate available in the modern wargaming market. But there is a downside…

The team lead for this project has postponed work on this project due to his military responsibilities in the increased operational tempo of the global war on terror. The project is still alive. He is sneaking in work where he can, and is committed to completing the project.

Right now, we are exploring options for “redesigning” this project, so that we can get the best game possible out on the street. We will have more on this when we settle on a solution.

Thunder & Lightning: The Battles of Operation Desert Storm

This project is currently on hold. Expect to hear some news about this release soon.

Next ATF Engine Project

We are not ready to make an announcement, but we can tell you that we are assembling a new team, and are exploring some possibilities for a WWII game built on the foundation of the ATF Engine.

Stay tuned to this blog, the ATF forum at Shrapnel Games:

Shrapnel Forum

and the ATF/BCT forum at StrategyZoneOnline:

StrategyZoneOnline

for more updates on this project, as we have them.

Air Assault Task Force

We have made a LOT of progress on our newest wargaming engine since our last post here at the blog. Several technical hurdles, that we thought would be mountains, have turned out to be mole hills!

Here is where we are at now.

We are currently building the user interface. The game runs full-screen by default, or windowed by option. It is player configurable, to allow you to “tweak” it to take best advantage of your video card, if you like. It replaces the “select an order-select the unit” paradigm with an interface that is more recognizable to novice and advanced wargamers (selecting a unit and then adjusting its paths and settings).

The idea is an interface that is more intuitive, and reveals its depth as the player explorers, rather than putting all of the complexity up front. As the player gains confidence with the game, and wants to use more advanced features, he “overrides” the default settings and artificial intelligence of the companies, platoons, and vehicles that he controls by customizing their behavior. Or, if the player prefers, he can stay “out of the weeds” and make only the high-level decisions. It is very much a fulfillment of the original concept that was Armored Task Force.

I can also tell you a little more about the concept for the scenario content, as well. We are looking at three full campaigns, and one “mini” campaign (which will also be the tutorial and demo). This is much as it is with Armored Task Force. The idea is to give the player a wide array of scenarios, spanning many different terrain types, vehicle databases, and periods of time.

Tentatively, we have “locked-in” if you can do so, this early, several of the topics for the campaigns. We are pretty sure that our demo/tutorial will be set at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, the world’s best light infantry training center. We also anticipate building a campaign in Vietnam, though we are not ready to announce a location or battle yet.

As for the rest, I can just tell you we have a lot of good ideas, and will release more as we can.

That’s a wrap…

So for now, I will leave you with our latest crack at release dates (which, as always, carries a cautionary note on the unpredictability of software development). Thanks to all of our great fans for their support, suggestions, commitment, and energy over the years. You guys really are what keeps us going!

PS: We’re pretty new at this whole Blog thing, so if I am not addressing any burning questions you have, please let me know, and I will do my best to cover them in my next installment.

Egad, I must be getting old. And how did I reach this conclusion? Perhaps it’s the fact that now if I twist my back the wrong way (and unfortunately the rules for right and wrong change every day) I end up feeling like someone took a barbed short sword and skewered my spinal column. Or maybe it’s the fact that when I’m stocking up on booze and porn the feelings of getting away with something I had as a youth are no longer there. Maybe it’s the greater feeling of responsibility—ha ha ha, just kidding!! No, I think what has me really feeling like I’m getting up there in age is my *gasp* disdain for some of the subject matter now beginning to appear in games.

And what type of game could have me disgusted? After all, this is me we’re talking about. Anyone who knows me personally or has any knowledge of my past articles on the world of gaming over the years knows that I’m a staunch believer in the fact that games are just games, not so-called “murder simulators”, nor are they responsible for the downfall of Western Civilization. Little Johnny playing “God of War”, with its dismemberments, decapitations, and titty laced gameplay won’t turn him into the next Adolf Hitler. On the flipside I have my doubts that by playing “The Political Machine” Johnny will be primed to be the next President of the United States. Games are games, not Orwellian mind control programs.

Yet personally I’m feeling rather disgusted at the “urban crime” genre. I just came across the site for a game called, well, I don’t see the point in providing them with free advertising so the game will go unmentioned. The gameplay is essentially cops versus robbers, the robbers of course being street thugs and ‘hood rats.

Now I don’t have a problem with the general idea itself. There’s nothing wrong with a game that allows you to play the bad guy (although I’m guessing a game in which you play an SS trooper smashing infant skulls with your rifle butt would cross the line, as would any game that allowed you to play as Al Gore; there are lines that man were not meant to cross after all) and when you boil it down it is nothing more than a cops versus robbers game, something kids have been playing ever since there were cops and criminals.

The problem I have is games are meant to be escapist by nature. Just as you watch movies, listen to MP3s, read books, or go to the art museum, you play games to escape from your mundane ordinary life. Why are action movies, fantasy novels, and sci-fi so popular? Because they give people a chance to “participate” in a world that they will probably never, ever know.

Hmm, I already hear those wheels turning out there in ‘Netland. “Okay Scott, can’t you say the same thing about the urban crime games? After all, these pasty white corpulent gamers will never go gangbanging in Compton, so what’s wrong with a little 187 fantasy play?”

The problem? Why in God’s name is anyone looking to escape by becoming a modern day criminal? That’s what I don’t get, and that’s what ticks me off about the whole affair. I can understand your typical gamer wanting to become a Rambo like soldier kicking Taliban ass for a couple of hours. I can understand them wanting to be a WWII fighter pilot over the Pacific, or even a barbaric orc looking to smash a few dwarven skulls open. But a contemporary criminal?

I remember one time being arrested and sitting in a holding cell while being processed. The cell was full, it was summer, there was no AC, and the one toilet was a maggot infested breeding pit. You had a couple of drunks who were busy redecorating the floor in semi-solid chunks. As you can imagine it wasn’t a heck of a lot of fun. And don’t even get me started on what a syphilis test is like! And people want to experience this kind of life? Hunh?

So what is it? Is it the typical case of glamorizing the lifestyle without thinking about the low points? Or is it that today’s youth are so bored and unchallenged with suburban life that playing a street gangster who answers to no one is somehow more appealing than playing Gandalf or Chuck Yeager? Me, I’m happy to continue to escape to worlds of intergalactic starships, deep dwarven halls, and the battlefields of the Eastern Front. You can keep your real-world criminal games, I can’t see any reason to have the least amount of interest.

Guess I’m old now, eh?

-Scott

Eagerly Awaiting: A Feast for Crows. C’mon Martin, hurry up!!!

Sorta Awaiting: Star Wars Episode III. Please don’t let it suck.

Not Awaiting: Summer. No folks, it’s both the heat and the humidity.

I received this joke via email yesterday and thought I’d share it with you. Forgive me if it’s already been widely circulated. I’d love to give credit to the author if I knew…

“You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to REALLY understand computers, to fully appreciate this. For those of us who sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on …

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, “Who’s on first?” might have turned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: Thanks. I’m setting up an office in my den and I’m thinking about buying a computer.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: No, the name’s Lou.

ABBOTT: Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don’t own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name’s Lou.

ABBOTT: What about Windows?

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO: I don’t know. What will I see when I look at the windows?

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT: Software for Windows?

COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT: I just did.

COSTELLO: You just did what?

ABBOTT: Recommend something.

COSTELLO: You recommended something?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: For my office?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let’s just say I’m sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?

ABBOTT: Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: Word in Office.

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?

ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue “W”.

COSTELLO: I’m going to click your blue “w” if you don’t start with some straight answers, OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet?

ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One.

COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your business. Just tell me what I need!

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: If it’s a long movie, I also want to watch reels 2, 3 and 4. Can I watch them?

ABBOTT: Of course.

COSTELLO: Great! With what?

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: OK, I’m at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do?

ABBOTT: You click the blue “1″.

COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?

ABBOTT: The blue “1″.

COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue “w”?

ABBOTT: The blue “1″ is Real One and the blue “W” is Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: But there are three words in “office for windows”!

ABBOTT: No, just one. But it’s the most popular Word in the world.

COSTELLO: It is?

ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren’t many other Words left. It pretty much wiped out all the other Words out there.

COSTELLO: And that word is real one?

ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn’t even part of Office.

COSTELLO: STOP! Don’t start that again. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: That’s right. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO: What’s bundled with my computer?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT: One copy.

COSTELLO: Isn’t it illegal to copy money?

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(A few days later)

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. May I help you?

COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?

ABBOTT: Click on “START”…”

I’d love to see a version written for Dominions II. It would start like this:

COSTELLO: I want to play God.

ABBOTT: Pretender.

Happy Gaming!
Annette