Map editor and Future NSD releases

[Von_Clausewitz]

First I want to congratulate everybody in the NSD team on their wonderful work and I cannot wait for War3DII is released.

I think it is painfully clear now that the game will not have a released map editor for a long time. If the game ships with a 50+ map registry it might be ok but for the multiplayer community and the modding community to thrive a map editor is needed.
I understand that the engine is versatile and holding on to the map editor makes people buy future releases but is that necessarily so?

After Gettysburg the modding community could continue releasing ACW maps while NSD could concentrate on a different Era. Although Gettysburg could be modded into Napoleonics, a lot of improvements can be made to the engine to better fit the tactics of the Era, like incorporation of squares and different cavalry and infantry tactics that would make it more authentic etc... The improvements that would be made in the future to the actual engine is more of an incentive to buy future releases than maps. I would pay for all of them to support the team.

Other eras could be done also: medieval, Romans etc... Each of them requiring changes in the engine and also so changes to the map editor.

Another thing also would be to charge for the map editor seperately. Modders can buy it, and it would be protected like the game so people cannot share it.

All these are just suggestions I do not presume to know or tell where NSD's future directions lie.

Best regards,
VC

[estabu2]

Squares are possible with the new engine.

[norb]

You've got some good points. I'm not gonna assume anything past the first release. That's all I have time to think about and there won't be a map editor in there. But we may change course after that.

[Von_Clausewitz]

I know what you mean, priority number one is to get that first release finished. My point was really something to consider for the future, I did not expect a map editor to be part of Gettysburg.
Thank you for listening.

We are lucky you guys know your history and are trying hard to give us the best simulation possible. Other companies' products would not sell at all if gamers did not hope that modders would actually make a playable game out of the released debacle.
Most notable of which is the total war series who's last title Empire is full of buggs, completely unhistorical and unbalanced released with only 5-6 MP maps. The game us already back on the shelve and I went back to playing TC2M.
If it was not for a map editor and modders there would be no MP total war community.
In your case, it is different as the engine ad he historical research is there and although the game iself will entertain most, modds will help bring in the few that are interested in something slightly different.

Good job, and hopefully in some months wargamers will have the best simulation engine to date.

VC

[BOSTON]

Empire- Total War is getting trashed on the web hard.

[JC Edwards]

hoistingman4 wrote:

Empire- Total War is getting trashed on the web hard.

[BdColonel]

norb wrote:

You've got some good points. I'm not gonna assume anything past the first release. That's all I have time to think about and there won't be a map editor in there.

That's certainly disappointing Is there any particular reason why? I at least had the impression that by supporting modding developers would get a much more loyal fanbase. A map and unit editor could result in mods which would attract even more gamers. And it wouldn't keep the company from releasing it's own expansion packs either: modders just don't have the resources to "compete" with a developer.




norb wrote:

But we may change course after that.

Here's to hoping for that.



p.s. and I won't even bother speaking about Creative Assembly, and their market policies. Charging 20$ for 6-7 units in their "special units edition", as if they paid their modeler in gold bullion or something. Shameful.

[norb]

Main Reason: no time, the same reason we give as to why we don't do everything mentioned here. It's just time, we want to finish someday

2nd is business and there are reasons both ways and we'll figure out what works best for us when we get there.

[Hancock the Superb]

It would be a shame for War 3D 2 to not only sell their modding utilities, but also focus on different time periods. I don't know if anyone noticed, but almost everyone on the team, and on the website, has something to do with the Civil War... maybe a line to go for Civil War productions? I believe that you could get away with a game covering each aspect of American involvement in different wars, for example, Mexican-American, Spanish-American, Revolution, maybe even a WWII, but that is for the future.

If I want to mod, I will find a way to mod - usually by taking a scenario, pulling it apart, creating my own out of the pieces I find, and putting it up. Now, I understand that is a little hard to do with maps, but I'm sure that I can find my way around making OOB's and Scenarios just fine!

I have nothing against you Napoleonic fans, but us Civil War people would greatly prefer to keep this game Civil War-ish, maybe. But I can't speak for Norb.

Sorry if I got on someones nerves.

[louie raider]

Von_Clausewitz wrote:

If it was not for a map editor and modders there would be no MP total war community.

if it wasn't for modders creating Europa Barbarorum there wouldn't be anything worth playing at all in RTW, IMO.