Developer Diary #6

The game is slowly moving along. At first I thought the game might be released in the fall or winter, but now it seems I am back on track for mid to late summer.

Adds since November…

Beta testers are reporting bugs and asking for features to make the game easier to play. A new on/off toggle for ground support during a land attack was added.

Special attributes added for certain hexes on the maps like the crossing in Netherlands, Russian Ice Road, and Crossing Arrow locations giving defense bonuses

A simpler entry system was employed for countries that are Neutral (USA and USSR)

Overlay continent map is now smoother for a better look. Testing map augmentations for better map aesthetics.

Map orders for the computer opponent, or CO, added. This helps it know where defense lines are, allows scripts to force garrisons and “hold at all costs” locations. his will take a long time to get correct including post release. This helps it at the tactical level. T

Computer opponent scripting code added. This will take the longest time to get correct including post release. This tells it what to do at the strategic level.

Event scripting code is complete. Many events have been added. I simplified it from my WarPlan series

Some new units were added to the game for different nations including the proper 3d graphics.

Thank the testers for helping me push this game along. If it was just me doing all this testing we would be looking at a 12 month delay.

Some have been asking about PBEM. This will use the same PBEM system from Kingdom, Dungeon, and Hero. It allows an alliance to have more than one player playing the Axis, Allies, and of course a single player for the Comintern.

The toughest part of coding and designing the game is the units within stacks and stacks on top of each other in a single hex. Having the computer opponent combine all this has been a challenge. I didn’t want to mimic other games where you have piles of counters on the map you have to click through. I wanted players to move divisions into corps/army counters with names for simplicity and flavor. It also keeps the headquarters at army/army group levels instead of managing a hundred HQ counters at the corps level.

Currently some CO vs CO are being tested for basic functionality.