News From the Front

The latest news we’ve run across looks like we’re in for a promising batch of wargaming titles. Let’s get right to it.

HPS

HPS is known to be especially quiet about the games it has in production. Taking the view that announcing games before the code is ready can artificially raise expectations only to see them dashed if a game isn’t delivered on time, HPS prefers simply to remain silent until a game is completed. From time to time we may hear rumors of things in the works, but for now we’ve heard precious little and all we can do is await word from them that their next game is ready. Should they choose to speak, we’ll eagerly await their word.

Matrix Games

Matrix Games has a whole line of titles on the launching pad, with few and far between displaying even vague release dates:

First announced back on April 13th, Black Powder Wars: Battles of Napoleon has been under development for quite some time and has apparently entered a beta testing stage. The developer, Double Shot Design, penciled in a Summer 2005 release as an electronic download on their website, but clearly this information is a bit stale. Matrix still places the tentative release time for Black Powder Wars as “Coming soon.” However, I spoke with lead designer Tim Coakley who offered some encouraging words: “The game is moving forward but never at the pace I like.” He continued on to comment that there was no release date set as of yet and that the operation, while exciting, is also quite small and so “progress comes in spurts.” Look for some new screenshots on Black Powder Wars by the end of the month.

Secondly, Matrix Games has one of their in-house developed titles on the “Coming Soon” chart. This one is a tactical World War II turn-based title called Combat Leader. Hexagonally based and crafted with considerable visual detail, progress on this title is still somewhat shaky. Last month David Heath did answer the always-burning “release date?” question with some less than exciting news: “The game will not be released at all this year. There is still much to do. We are also considering other options and we keep you informed as we go.”

We also have two titles from Australian Design Group, one in Napoleonics and the other is everyone’s favorite period, World War II. The Napoleonic title, Empires In Arms is of the grand strategy top down flavor where players will take turns battling it out over large chunks of the Mediterranean world. (screenshot feature) Currently beta testers should be wrapping up their work on PBEM while the developers tweak a couple of AI aspects. The August update on the game’s progress had lead software engineer, Marshall Ellis, hoping that testing and finishing touches on the game will wrap up by the end of the month. Empires In Arms’ release date should be drawing near since progress on the game tentatively has been “wrapping up” at the end of last month but no official word is out yet. I did get a bit of inside gossip from the Matrix Games folks, however, and according to the source, the game is “really really close, unless some big bug comes up we’re looking at a release before the end of the year.”

Australian Design Group’s other title is the World War II-based World in Flames which, like Empires In Arms, is the official licensed PC version of a classic board game. This board game port to PC was announced by us back October of 2003. I spoke with lead programmer for World in Flames, Steven Hokanson, who had some interesting input as to his experiences designing the game: “At this point I am in the very unusual position of having over 100,000 lines of Pascal code I inherited from the previous work of Chris Marinacci on programming WIF, and simultaneously developing design documents for portions that have had zero work done on their development (e.g., sound, animations, PBEM, AI). This means that I spend time learning about the existing code and making cautious changes lest my ignorance create bugs. Meanwhile I am in daily communication with MWIF forum members designing the newer aspects of the game. It is not the usual way to create a game, to say the least.” Gamers interested in getting involved with the design process by offering feedback to Mr. Hokanson are encouraged to head over to the Matrix Games forums. I can personally attest to Mr. Hokanson’s enthusiasm about his work and his receptiveness to not only questions regarding game mechanics, but useful suggestions and criticisms as well. Anyone interested in this title would most certainly benefit from cruising the World in Flames forum.

This next title is a slight tangent from the classic military strategy games I’ve been covering but it’s on the launch pad for Matrix so it’s worth a mention. PureSim Baseball 2005 is a unique look on Major League Baseball that, while still including the ability to play each at-bat in every game, focuses on the management and business side of things. For gamers who love to follow management drama, trades, and financial or statistical aspects this title will breathe fresh gameplay into an otherwise old genre of gaming. According to Shaun Sullivan, lead developer of the PureSim Baseball, “the game is complete and we are just pulling together final production details.” He continued on to say that the game will mostly likely be ready for release in late September. Shaun also filled me in on an interesting feature expected to accompany the game, a new mode called “sandbox mode” lets the player import teams and players from any era in history and create fantasy leagues. To give a little teaser as to this mode’s potential, Shaun told me about a fantasy league involving the 2004 Red Sox, 1927 Yankees, 1975 Reds and 1986 Mets. New Yorkers can now snicker: the Yankees won it all.

This next piece of Matrix Games gossip is strictly unconfirmed, but an inside source has reported that Matrix Games will be publishing the next incarnation of Star Chamber. Star Chamber was enormously successful both critically and publicly. Facts about an official contract and the stipulations therein are few and far between, stay tuned.

Finally, I’ve heard plenty of murmurs about some other games deals that have sprung up in the post-GenCon days. Matrix Games has been hard at work recruiting developers. More details are on the way.