Steel Panthers' 10th Anniversary

[embis]

Uncle_Joe said:
Does anyone know if there ever any plans to revisit the SP3 scale with the SP series?
Thanks!

I have a feeling that I have read somewhere that the quick answer is "No". I think Matrix have the rights to sp3 (which, I believe is what SPWAW is based on, someone will correct me if I am wrong)

I would love to be wrong because that was one of my faves from the series.

[Artur]

I would be very happy if the SP3 scale would be implemented in WinSPMBT.

Artur.

[Alby]

embis said:

I have a feeling that I have read somewhere that the quick answer is "No". I think Matrix have the rights to sp3 (which, I believe is what SPWAW is based on, someone will correct me if I am wrong)

I would love to be wrong because that was one of my faves from the series.

Matrix does not own the rights to sp3 as far as I know..
Matrix used the SP3 engine to create SPWAW, where as the camo group used the SP2 engine...
Since SSI is no more.. I have no clue who owns the rights to these 2 engines..
I beieve both entities have some rights to the engines but cannot sell them or some such thing.

[Mobhack]

embis said:

I have a feeling that I have read somewhere that the quick answer is "No". I think Matrix have the rights to sp3 (which, I believe is what SPWAW is based on, someone will correct me if I am wrong)

I would love to be wrong because that was one of my faves from the series.

Nope, because the scale never appealed, and SP3 was a flawed product. (I got bored of killing M1 tanks with 81mm mortar strikes, as any track hit was a "kill" ). And the black dialogue box that insisted on popping up smack in the middle of the screen was another annoyance.

I have the SP3 code here on my machine. TGN/Matrix used the SP3 code as the base for thier product. We used the Sp2 code base. There is no "exclusive".

Cheers
Andy

[Artur]

Well the flawed code is one thing, BUT what do you say about implementing the briagde level on YOUR codebase?

Artur.

[DRG]

Artur said:
Well the flawed code is one thing, BUT what do you say about implementing the briagde level on YOUR codebase?

Artur.

We're not interested.

I have, as well as Andy, **Zero** interest in the scale of that game. I bought SP3 when it came out and it lasted 2 weeks on my HD. I dislike the scale and the interface.

Don

[Mobhack]

DRG said:

We're not interested.

I have, as well as Andy, **Zero** interest in the scale of that game. I bought SP3 when it came out and it lasted 2 weeks on my HD. I dislike the scale and the interface.

Don

It would need more than a code change - the main change in SP3 is the graphics to make 250 yard hexes. So all the tiles would need re-doing (a decidedly non-trivial task).

Another major change in SP3 is the vehicle graphics, where you can choose full size unit icons (which look too large for the scale0, or to use micro-dots of say 4 tigers in the platoon, and these micro-dot miniaturised icons will likely lose all the graphical detail of the full-sized ones.

Then you would need to figure out some major combat detail alterations, as in SP3 at the moment, it kills any vehicle which gets a track or mobility hit. That was a MAJOR annoyance with the game that I had - you only needed to blast even an M1 platoon with light mortars, eventually getting a track hit, which then deleted 1 micro-dot vehicle from that platoon. You would need to figure out some system which detached individual tanks from the platoon when they had track hits - and then figure out some system to re-combine these "orphans" at battle end back into the correct platoon that owned them (and some system to "carry" orphans through future battles if the user had not the repair points to fix them).

All in all - a nightmare. And SP3 did not sell well - very few people were interested in the scale.

So, it is not really going to happen.

If you are interested - then ProSim here at shrapnel have a modern brigade level game which you may well want to check out (BCT) - I have been meaning to have a look at the demo whenever I get some time to do so !

Cheers
Andy

[Artur]

Well guys it is sad to hear this however You know the best what your future plans are.
I am a software engineer so I can imagine the problems listed, however they do not seem unsolvable but they surely mean a lot of work.

Regarding the selling success of SP3, IMHO the over-all enviroment was very different in 98 than in 95. In 95 SP1 was a top of the calss program regarding graphichs and sound effects besides it's tactical depth. In 98 a lot of Windows based programs came out like CivilizationII and one of my favorites, the People's General.
Nowdays the SP cammo group aims for a very special group of players. a poll wuld reflect better whether it would sell well or not.

At last but surely not least let me express my acknowledgements for your hard and successful work creating this wonderful game.

Artur.

[troopie]

I played SP3. I liked it well enough, save that the units were so weak that I gave it up and went back to SP1 and 2. I still have it, and a lot of the mods made for it.

Last year i reinstalled SP1 and played it. I realised through the first scenario, how much the SP series has evolved in ten years. We have surpassed SP1, but we must remember that SP1 was the seed from which the might oak grew.

troopie

[Alby]

Mobhack said:

Nope, because the scale never appealed, and SP3 was a flawed product. (I got bored of killing M1 tanks with 81mm mortar strikes, as any track hit was a "kill" ). And the black dialogue box that insisted on popping up smack in the middle of the screen was another annoyance.



Cheers
Andy

Well said...

I used to miss SP3, until SPMBT came out...although I do sometimes miss the online battles.
And Andy's KOBS...LOL