Greetings from Spain, from Punta de Lanza Forum,
A pleasant surprise to see what looked like a majestic corpse from the wargames blink again.
I'm using a translator, so I'll be concise with what I think might be a successful roadmap,
1) Simplify the forum. Or use a clearer broadcast channel to bring the news of this renaissance to the players. (With the announcement of Siltherine on Steam, it was shown that there is a community behind the SoW) Wherever you publish news or content, do it with a brand identity that identifies this rebirth. A logo as a watermark in the images you publish. A banner in the forum. A skin and forum icons that define the context of the game. People must feel that SoW returns and that it returns repowered.
Check this out:
http://www.grandtactician.com/thecivilwar/index.html
(It is clear that it is another league, but as a reference it serves)
2) The best asset of the game is the multiplayer. It is the beacon that keeps the community alive. Optimize it. Many have walked away or are watching from the sidelines for things that in 2022 are hardly explainable:
2.1 Unreliability when there are many human players in the game. The famous microsecond cuts. Today almost everyone has fiber optic connections. It is unjustifiable. Fix this. It is not creating anything from scratch. A patch with this novelty would multiply the active players in each community. This will generate a movement (battles, campaigns with homemade rules organized in different forums) that will attract glances from those who do not have the game. Potential buyers.
2.2 The graphic chapter. Optimize it. The PCs of today (and even those of 2015) should not resign themselves to moving the graphics engine with a low frame rate. Playing with all the sprites has to be something doable. This is applicable for multiplayer and solo play. I don't think the SoW should fight to improve graphically. Cosmetic fixes. These videos can mark a good reference: fluid development, vegetation in movement, landscape more populated with plant and physical elements. (It goes overboard with the yellow light, I think)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i90sKmFinmk
3) This
game 19th century military command simulator has loyal fans. Some of them with remarkable technical knowledge and editing expertise. Hear them. Surrender to them. Too many one-man orchestra in wargame software. Too many unfinished projects. Many of us do not want to see that with what seems like the second birth of the SoW saga.
P. S: A very cheap way in terms of time and resources to demonstrate that a substantive change is underway: put the menus in high resolution, with the Napoleonic-themed paintings in all their splendor.
Accompany this with some of the optimizations mentioned: function and form that together would not go unnoticed in the bustling Steam souk.
Saludos,
) these last two years.
