You can fly the flag in defense of using bitmaps in 2000. Not in 2021 (or 2010). Even the most basic functionality used in board games can’t be used with such obsolescence. Its like using a steam-powered automobile on a freeway.
Lotta puffery there, Wombat, for an apologia. I’d buy it in 2003. Not today.
You wound me, sir. I’m not defending bitmaps at all. I’m agreeing with you! I just segued into a digression. My point is mostly that computer wargame development has largely stagnated, and the hoped for synergy between grog and geek never happened.
Your digression swamped your point there for me, I couldn’t find it in the marsh, but I see it now. :)
Grog has actually moved past geek. I can play a two player hidden information boardgame with all sorts of bells and whistles to best replicate a ftf board experience on Vassal using Java for gods sake (I know, I designed the board game and developed it) and have a final art Vassal version that can do what Tiller’s code couldn’t for the game. And I sure ain’t a puter guy.
What does that say about the sad state of puter wargames? A lot, unfortunately.
Yes, I tend to ramble, sorry about that.
You bring up a really good point about how accessible the tools are for designers to do so many things now with wargames. Makes one wonder why those tools aren’t being deployed to create from the ground up digital wargames more often.
I actually made a little WEGO Operation Compass game for a game jam this summer, and mostly I used the first approach you described: I built hexes and counters and rules for movement and combat. But the WEGO aspect did require me to think outside the board-wargame box. It’s also the aspect that gave me the most trouble! Alas, the game suffered from a lack of time – the UI doesn’t communicate to the user how to play, for starters. lol. But it was great fun to try. I intend to work on a similar project at some point. I’m still recovering from the trauma of trying to build a game in 48 hours, heh.
@Navaronegun Even though I can say I’ve designed and built a wargame, I’m not sure what you guys mean by a “bitmap.” I’m wondering whether I committed the sin you decry. Using Photoshop and some downloaded maps, I created a map, with both a hex and non-hex version, then imported it into Gamemaker Studio 2. The file started life as a Photoshop file and ended up as a .jpeg, I think?
We’re talking about its use in a computer game, not a boardgame or vassal mod.
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I know; I was talking about a computer game too. I should have been more clear about my question.
Partly I was wondering whether you meant .bmp files specifically, or whether you were making a broader point about raster vs vector graphics, say. But mostly I’m curious what’s so bad about .bmp files. I used .png files in my wargame, as Gamemaker prefers, so it’s not an important question to me – I’m just curious. I’m guessing that .bmp files are sorta big and inefficient?
Raster images (be they BMP, PNGs, JPEG, whatever) aren’t ideal for today’s war game map. They have to be high resolution (up to 4K if you want to make everyone happy) and you always have the issue of pixelization as you “zoom in”.
Vector graphics are resolution independent, essentially looking the same regardless monitor resolution and avoid the pixelation problems. For something that is usually a lot of linework, like a map, it’s the preferred representation.
BMPs are also just pictures essentially; “dumb” and not suited to interactivity/functionality with the map in-game.
Thanks for the replies, guys. Very helpful.
No problem. I should have added the caveat that those differences are mostly important if you’re designing for the masses. You do you for personal projects.
And in a nutshell, that’s one of the biggest issues with computer wargames. Time and again designers have found that there is no mass market for computer wargames. Hell, even for board games, where there is a vibrant design and playing community in many respects, getting 500 people to commit to buying a game is an accomplishment. So more than a few computer wargame developers approach the task more as a hobbyist or the “make it for myself, see if anyone else likes it too” point of view.
There are precious few companies, as opposed to a handful of individuals working in concert, making computer wargames. Matrix/Slitherine is a publisher and delivery platform. JTS is pretty much the same. That leaves a scattering of individuals and small teams, who often do great work all things considered, but who simply do not have the depth, breadth, and resources needed to develop, deploy, and maintain sophisticated video games of any sort.
I knew this would eventually come around to the little violin playing for them.
They need to do better. Not using bitmaps would be a start upgrading the code would be a start. Basic compliance with windows and 4X monitors would be a start. They’re not doing any of that. There are plenty of other little games companies out there in the PC space out there that do a better job and aren’t aiming for a mass market. My little violin got broken int two and burned years ago.
The board game space is very vibrant! Face to face is vibrant! Virtually too! Of course only if you actually try to play with people & don’t insist on playing with yourself. :-)
Solitaire board games are board games, too!
No violins needed; I mostly agree with you. Wargame developers have done a terrible job of using what’s available to make better digital games. While I do think the idea of a mass market for serious wargames is risible, I also agree it is no excuse for not at the very least equally what VASSAL designers can do. As for the indie PC space in general, I do think wargames require a lot more non-technical work to make than many other games, which don’t have the burden of historical accuracy and all that. But I can’t believe the computer work necessary to make a good game is any harder than the work they are already doing trying to crap the square peg of traditional games into the round hole of a digital reality.
I do think though that for gamers who are not solely or primarily traditional wargamers, but who would be interested in serious computer wargames, being asked to give up much of what makes other computer games compelling in order to do so is not likely to win any friends.
As far as face to face gaming goes, even before COVID there is zero gaming scene here outside of Magic cards really. I have done a fair amount of turn-based multiplayer gaming, mostly horrid PBEM style, and I agree it can be really cool. I’ve never tried VASSAL and board games though; that does sound fun.
I mostly agree with you guys – digital wargame makers can do better. I’ve played the heck out of some digital wargames, loving their gameplay but grumbling at the UI or map or sprites or AI or whatever.
In my very limited experience trying to make a wargame for fun, I was surprised that the AI wasn’t the most urgent task. It really was the UI. After all, you can make a playable game with no AI at all, as with Vassal or Matrix’s World in Flames. (In my case, the AI was bad, but actually fun to play against anyway, as it would do oddball things that made me laugh. And it didn’t take a lot of work to take it from “atrocious” to “bad”, lol.) But you have to have a UI, and it needs to be clear and sensible and pleasant to use. And wow, that is a daunting task.
Across the board, if you are developing a piece of software that humans will use, the UI/UX is IMO one of the absolute key components. Not just for games, though game developers are often on the cutting edge of good work in this area. Cadillac is turning to people who do UI/UX work on games to handle the same stuff for their new electric vehicles, for instance.
Here’s another update on my ongoing solitaire play of “World in Flames.” It’s November/December 1942. The Germans have taken Stalingrad and one of the oilfields in the Caucasus Mountains, but they just lost a big attack against a Russian HQ near Tbilisi. If the Germans can get four corps to the Turkish border, the Turks can join the Axis. But the snow is slowing them down.
Japan has taken most of the objectives it took historically; it is now focused on taking Free-French Indochina, Burma, and perhaps invading the USSR. The Americans, however, are about to invade the Marshall Islands and perhaps Guadalcanal. The Americans have also invaded and conquered Morocco and are now completing their liberation of Algeria. The British are pushing the Italians out of Egypt.
Overall, I think the Axis is doing better than historically, and the Allies are behind schedule. It’s been an exciting game!
This is fantastic thank you for the update!!! Exciting the way your game playthrough is developing!!!
p.s. Also fwiw I agree with the above. AI is not a particularly hard development problem to solve. UI/UX is.
