VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (Full Version)

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ericbabe -> VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/7/2006 10:47:45 PM)


We have wondered whether there'd be any interest to do brief general biographies as a fan-project, to be included in a later patch. I didn't write any of the biographical text, and I rather enjoy popping up the text and reading about a governor or one of the legendary units. So I personally think the game would be improved by having interesting short biographies of each of our 1,000 or so generals. We'd have to set up a wiki or similar thing. Another possibility would be to find a book with a short biography of every general already written and simply license some of the text.

We have about 1,000 generals altogether. If we had 20 people each volunteer to do 50 biographies each we might get it done. Our other biographies are typically only a few sentences long, one or two sentences to give the basic facts and one or two sentences to give an interesting anecdote or unusual bit of information. If anybody's interested, just reply on this thread. If we get 20 interested people then I'll try to organize something.




ericbabe -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/7/2006 10:51:30 PM)

Here's the link to the discussion thus far on the other thread:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1212053

If you please, let's move the remainder of the discussion to this thread, which has a more appropriate title.




marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/7/2006 11:23:49 PM)

I am in. Give me my 50 generals.



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/8/2006 1:09:28 AM)

People who are interested should announce their interest here or e-mail me separately. (Eric has enough to handle, what with the programming and all.) But make sure to look over the other thread, which will give you an idea of what's involved.

Before beginning to divide up the generals we'd like to have more volunteers, so this might take a few days (or longer?) before we're up and running with this.



Sarge -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/8/2006 1:51:34 AM)

Would the volunteers be able to see a beta build [&:]



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/8/2006 2:05:17 AM)

Betas are only for play-testers, unfortunately. However, anyone who comes to GenCon in Indianapolis this week will get to see the most recent beta in all its glory. (Chicago's not too far away from Indianapolis...)



Sarge -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/8/2006 2:53:39 AM)

Figured I would give it a shot [:'(]

the answer is ALWAYS no till you ask. [;)]




marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/8/2006 11:44:21 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

Betas are only for play-testers, unfortunately. However, anyone who comes to GenCon in Indianapolis this week will get to see the most recent beta in all its glory. (Chicago's not too far away from Indianapolis...)


Indianapolis! Alright! Thousand or two of American dollars is not too much to see The Game!!! See you there[:D]
Any chance you show it in Europe? Or better yet (and cheaper [;)]) can you please post some graphics?
The thing that drives me is graphics and screen shots and I am running low [:D].
Post few pics, please.

Thank you,





marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/8/2006 11:47:07 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

People who are interested should announce their interest here or e-mail me separately. (Eric has enough to handle, what with the programming and all.) But make sure to look over the other thread, which will give you an idea of what's involved.

Before beginning to divide up the generals we'd like to have more volunteers, so this might take a few days (or longer?) before we're up and running with this.



Gil,

I tried to e-mail you but it failed [&:]. Can you e-mail me so I can get your adress.

Godspeed,



diesel7013 -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/9/2006 3:28:03 AM)

Tried to email you Gil - but would not take - I'm in, please send me my list ( Grant, Sherman, Lee - the obscure one's like them! )



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/9/2006 11:00:23 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: diesel7013

Tried to email you Gil - but would not take - I'm in, please send me my list ( Grant, Sherman, Lee - the obscure one's like them! )


Nice to see that there is more interest in doing bios.
Just a remark: It would not be fair if you get all the best generals and left us with Allens and such [:(]
The ration should be 45 bad and unknown generals and 5 great ones as a bonus, or something like that.
Just a suggestion, though


Godspeed,



captskillet -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/9/2006 2:14:07 PM)

marecone.............nice to see another Forrest fan!



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/9/2006 3:24:41 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: captskillet

marecone.............nice to see another Forrest fan!


Hi. I thought that I saw this picture somewhere on this forum. [;)]
And, I am definitely a Forrest fan. Big time!

Godspeed,



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/9/2006 3:37:51 PM)

I did advertise you a bit on yahoo groups. Civil war history2 and Lee and Jackson civil war club. They have like 1000 members. So, I hope this will help with bios and sales.

This is, so you don't say I am always asking questions.[:'(]
Now I gave something in return. [;)]

Godspeed,




Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/11/2006 12:12:13 AM)

I'm at GenCon in Indianapolis until Sunday, so I might not have time to start assigning generals. If you tried to e-mail me and failed, please try again, or just put a posting here that you tried and I'll get in touch soon.

FYI, Eric is also here, so his time on this forum will also be quite limited until Sunday.



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/11/2006 8:57:14 AM)

Have fun there and hurry back. We are waiting with questions [:D]

Godspeed,



Murat -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/11/2006 9:36:29 AM)

Being a proud Carolinian, I would love to do this.  Please try to avoid TOO many invader generals. As for Forrest, do not forget that he ran from Grant at his first fight. [:D]

And just for asking for Grant Sherman Lee, Diesel should get Pillow.



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/12/2006 11:14:39 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Murat

Being a proud Carolinian, I would love to do this.  Please try to avoid TOO many invader generals. As for Forrest, do not forget that he ran from Grant at his first fight. [:D]

And just for asking for Grant Sherman Lee, Diesel should get Pillow.


Dear sir,

Forrest didn't run away sir. Back then he was just a Colonel under command of General Pillow, Floyd and Buckner.
You are referring to Fort Donelson battle, I asume. Well he had a choice either to stay and surrender with rest of the 15000 rebs or he could take his cavalry and relocate to safer position.
He didn't have the menpower or rank to fight this battle and he did what he had to do.
He actually was hero of that battle as well. He SAVED 2000 men from certain prison p north.
So, I still stay firm at my coviction that he was one of the greatest generals of American Civil War.

Godspeed,



Murat -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/12/2006 11:33:05 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: marecone


quote:

ORIGINAL: Murat

Being a proud Carolinian, I would love to do this.  Please try to avoid TOO many invader generals. As for Forrest, do not forget that he ran from Grant at his first fight. [:D]

And just for asking for Grant Sherman Lee, Diesel should get Pillow.


Dear sir,

Forrest didn't run away sir. Back then he was just a Colonel under command of General Pillow, Floyd and Buckner.
You are referring to Fort Donelson battle, I asume. Well he had a choice either to stay and surrender with rest of the 15000 rebs or he could take his cavalry and relocate to safer position.
He didn't have the menpower or rank to fight this battle and he did what he had to do.
He actually was hero of that battle as well. He SAVED 2000 men from certain prison p north.
So, I still stay firm at my coviction that he was one of the greatest generals of American Civil War.

Godspeed,



Right battle, but you forgot that he ran TO Donnelson and then ran away FROM Donnelson. He got better but not a great start. He ran a lot more too at the end of the war, but admittedly the numbers were against him then. As for greatest general, tough to say since he refused to lead a major army when it was offered to him. I love cav, but to be one of the greatest you really need to command a major field army.



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/12/2006 1:30:44 PM)

Dear sir,

I said one of the greates genenerals. Not the greatest.
Your knowledge of history probably supreses mine. I own just one book about ACW [:(]
Maybe greatnest could be meassured by his decline of higher position. It is important to know your limits.
Maybe he would be a terrible general if he would lead great many of men. So it was better to decline higher position.
Plus, I don't agree that a general needs to be in command of an army to be a greates general. High positions were usually occupied with generals that had political conections and such. Not including such as Lee and Grant[;)]

Godspeed,



captskillet -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/12/2006 2:17:07 PM)

His contributions to the overall war effort were way out of proportion to the size of his command (and others like him such as Morgan and Mosby). Grant, Sherman, etc. were constantly having to shift forces to secure supply routes etc. because of his actions, based on that alone he would qualify as one of the best commanders of the War......as for his disdain of higher command maybe he realized (unlike Hood) that he wasn't cut out for the job?!?!?!?!?!



Murat -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/12/2006 9:25:25 PM)

[:D] Well he was certainly the best at what he did. Morgan (and Mosby, although not quite as well as Morgan) were really guerrilla units. Stuart and Hampton were a bit more "traditional" cavalry uses. Forrest and Jackson were the first truly mobile assault units, I think in the world. I know Stuart fans (and Hampton, we love Wade in SC) will argue that they were mobile but they were still acting in conjunction with the Army of Northern Virginia, where Forrest and Jackson has individual campaigns structured solely around their commands.



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/13/2006 11:12:47 PM)

Nice talk we have about Forrest. [8D]
There is something nobody can deny:
He was for sure the bravest general in the American Civil War.

quote:

General Dick Taylor has well said: "I doubt if any commander, since the days of lion hearted Richard, has killed as many enemies with his own hand as Forrest." This exposed him also to constant danger, and he had twenty seven horses killed and wounded under him in battle and was twice severely wounded himself.


27 horses!!! Man, I own 11 horses and I call myself a rancher and he had 27 horses killed and wounded under him!!!
[&o][&o][&o]



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/14/2006 8:31:17 AM)

Okay, I'm back from GenCon, and have time to parcel out generals. Right now, I know of only marecone, diesel7013, murat, and fmonster expressing interest in writing generals' biographies. Is there anyone else?

As previously stated (but it's been a while), for starters I am hoping to assign the most important generals' bios, and these would appear in the game's initial release. Once that's taken care of (or perhaps once the game is released), there would be the second wave of the remaining 985 or so generals.

I should also restate that I reserve the right to rewrite or change a biography as much as needed (or, worst-case scenario, reject it outright) -- after all, I have no way of judging in advance the quality of anyone's writing, so I can't guarantee that what is submitted will be included essentially unchanged. Basically, if something is good enough to make it into the game, it will make it in. (I say this, of course, to minimize potential hard feelings if things don't work out.)

So, last chance to volunteer to write up Lee, Grant, Sherman, and such star players in Forge of Freedom...



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/14/2006 3:08:08 PM)

Welcome back boys.

Give us some news. How was it? Screenshots? Visitors? Feedback?
I am hungry for fresh info [;)]



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/15/2006 11:24:19 PM)

No new screenshots just yet, but trust me, as new graphics get implemented we'll definitely be posting more. Right now, there are still a few too many "Crown of Glory" filler graphics present.

As for GenCon, it went quite well. We demonstrated our beta version to several dozen people, and received favorable reactions, as well as some very useful feedback. Sadly, none of them were visitors to this forum... [&:]



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/16/2006 12:16:51 AM)

As I said Gil, I wanted to visit it but 10 hours of flight with Al quaida in England and 1000 or so of $ for the ticket... Well, I like ACW but not so much [:D]



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/16/2006 12:35:11 AM)

Ok, bios question.
What about quotes? Do we post it in text or below the main body? I belive that we should shorten general info like born, died and such and increse info about a generals with quotes and some special events from their military career. I belive it will make bios more interesting.

Just a suggestion



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/16/2006 12:55:07 AM)

You are absolutely right that quotes (along with anecdotes) are the sort of thing to make the bios interesting. But, since we are very limited in terms of space there wouldn't be room for more than, say, two significant quotes.

With that said, we are collecting good, mood-setting ACW flavor quotes for the game's opening screen. (Those of you who have played "Crown of Glory" have seen that we randomly select one of Napoleon's maxims for the loading screen. For "Forge of Freedom" we're instead using such quotes from a very broad range of sources, including politicians, generals, soldiers, poets, etc.) If you happen upon an especially good quote that's too long to fit in the bio please pass it along to me and I might use it there if I think it's suitable.



jimwinsor -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/16/2006 1:20:18 AM)

I think it would be most helpful when writing bios to focus heavily on their actual civil war generalship.  Famous quotes, Mexican War service history, etc. are nice but one purpose of these bios may be to help players make game play decisions.

Hor example, a bio that tells how a general led the cavalry to take a hill at such and such a battle tells the player "Aha! This guy should be a good cavalry commander!"  And so forth.

Telling about how a general finished 8th in his class at West Point and minored in Spanish Lit. would be less helpful to players, IMO.



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