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Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: When? (11/5/2008 8:20:26 AM)
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November 4, 2008 Status Report for Matrix Games’ MWIF Forum
Accomplishments of October
Project Management
Dan was unable to find time to work on NetPlay’s technical code so I have added that task to my task list. This changes our current planned release date for MWIF product 1 to late April 2009.
Communications
I monitored all the threads in the MWIF World in Flames forum daily and uploaded version 11.03 for the beta testers.
Patrice was fairly quiet this month. A newborn child, selling and buying houses, and moving is keeping him busy.
Peter Skoglund continues to help with developing scripts for the AI Opponent.
Nothing new from Robert Nebel or Michael Andersen (convoy pipelines).
Nothing new on unit writeups.
No information from Matrix about getting a price on a printed copy of the map.
No communications with Chris Marinacci or Harry Rowland.
Hardware and Software Development Tools
I have not installed ThemeEngine July/2007 - the status on this is unchanged.
Beta Testing
I uploaded 11.02 and 11.03 for the beta testers. The changes for 11.03 primarily concerned fixing bugs in the air-to-air combat processing and interface. There are many combinations of things that can occur during air-to-air combat involving different major powers and combat results. Exploring them all so that I was certain the code worked correctly took time. The beta testers were able to punch only a few holes in version 11.03, with most of the air-to-air code working as intended.
Units, Map, and Scenarios
Nothing new on any of these items. I believe they are finished.
Optional Rules
I validated the code for both air-to-air combat and land combat, checking it against RAC. Land combat has fewer possible outcomes than air-to-air combat but it has more phases/subphases because of all the optional rules related to attacker and defender strengths and modifiers.
Player Interface
I have started revising the land combat form so it resembles the new air-to-air combat form. To achieve this result, I am merging what had previously been two forms into one. In CWIF, selecting which combat to resolve, deciding on assault versus blitz , and converting shattered results to retreats were all done using one form. Then a second form was used for choosing which units took the losses. I now have these on a single form. It is more crowded, but it is also more cohesive.
Internet - NetPlay
I will write the technical code for communicating between computers in November. In December I will integrate that fundamental code subset into the master program for playing the game.
CWIF Conversion
I am roughly halfway through rewriting the subphases for land combat resolution. In CWIF, there were separate phases for assigning losses, retreats, and advance after combat. So far I have eliminated the retreats and advance after combat phases completely (125 references in the program) and replaced them with comparable references to subphases within the land combat resolution phase. Currently I am working on getting rid of the 44 references to the Destroy Units phase. Once I am done, choosing which units to destroy as a result of land combat will all be done using the single Land Combat Resolution form.
MWIF Game Engine
I created the phase LandCombatResolution, which proceeds through the subphases:
• LCRspLandCombatSelection,
• LCRspChooseCombatType,
• LCRspLandCombatResolution, (i.e., rolling the dice)
• LCRspDestroyUnits,
• LCRspRetreats, and
• LCRspAdvanceAfterCombat.
This module puts all the code related to these subphases in a single Pascal file, rather than having it scattered about in several different ones. Conversely, I separated out the routines for calculating the combat column and placed them into their own file. The combat calculations, though complex, and fairly static. Once you get them written, they do not change. I am still refining the processing sequence so it is undergoing a lot of changes. By separating these two aspects of the land combat resolution code, I only print out 25 pages instead of 50 each time I want a fresh listing.
My short term objective here is to finish converting land combat resolution and then uploading version 11.04 to the beta testers. Then I will delve into the mysteries of the technical aspects of NetPlay communications.
Saved Games
Nothing new - it works.
Player’s Manual
Nothing was scheduled.
PBEM
Nothing was scheduled.
Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Nothing new.
Help System and Tutorials
I typed in the few changes I had make to the Rules as Coded (RAC) and uploaded it with version 11.03 to the beta testers for review.
AI Opponent
Peter Skoglund has completed the scripts for setting up all but the last couple of minor countries. I expect to write the last section of the documentation for LAIO this coming month.
Other
The Pan Pacific 2008 convention of barbershoppers in Honolulu was a great success. The buses ran smoothly, the food was both good and plentiful, the contestants appeared on stage in the order and at the time intervals desired by the judges, the attendees all had a good time (especially those who won medals), and my chorus made some money for all our hard work. We came in 7th out of 17 choruses and our single quartet entry also came in 7th (out of 25).
I spent 3 days more or less continuously on my feet conducting site visits to the theater for the competitors the day before the contests and then supervising the loading and unloading of the buses for 2 more days. We made 6 runs of getting 850 people between the convention hotel and the theater (where the 3 contests sessions and International Show were held). The longest we took to empty the theater and have everyone back in the hotel was under 60 minutes. Our best time was 44 minutes.
A lot of my time in October simply evaporated in preparing for the convention. For example, in the two months leading up to the convention I received over 750 emails about the convention (that I bothered to save) and sent out over 300 of my own in response. I did all the scheduling for: (1) the rehearsal rooms on Thursday and Friday for the 17 competing choruses, and (2) the warmup room assignments and schedules (to the minute) for both the 17 choruses and the 28 quartets for the contests. All of this involved bus scheduling as well. [Joey, there was at least one guy from Tasmania.]
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October summary: The convention is disappearing in the rear view mirror and I can now return my attention full time to MWIF.
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Tasks for November
Communications
Continue monitoring the forum threads.
Map and Units
Nada.
Beta Testing
Upload versions every 2 weeks. [est. 2 hours]
Redesign of MWIF Game Engine
Continue to work through the sequence of play giving each phase its own module. [est. 100 hours]
CWIF Conversion
Convert CWIF style internet formats to Game Record Log Formats. [est. 10 hours]
Player Interface
Finish the code for determining and displaying supply lines. [est. 10 hours]
Complete the Task Forces forms. Implement Task Forces as a new “unit type”. [est. 30 hours in Dec.]
Create hex destination lists for air missions. [est 10 hours in Dec.]
Optional Rules
Review, comment, modify, and create code for optional rules [est. 20 hours]
NetPlay
Write the technical code for communicating between multiple computers [est. 120 hours]
Implement the bidding capability using NetPlay. [est. 10 hours in December]
Incorporate the Indy10 code for the two player system into MWIF. [est. 20 hours in December]
Incorporate the multi-player (more than 2) system into MWIF. [est. 10 hours in December]
AI Opponent
Define LAIO variables with their supporting functions. Design the parser for LAIO. Create a few more rules as text and encode them for testing the parser. [est. 30 hours]
Help System and Tutorials
Nothing scheduled until March.
Player’s Manual
Nothing scheduled until March.
Historical Detail, Animations, and Sound
Nothing scheduled until April.
Other
There is the normal cleanup activity after attending a convention - trying to reestablish the rut that is my normal working day. I expect a couple of more meetings about the convention along the lines of loose ends and lessons learned. For instance, we have a meeting scheduled with 50+ barbershoppers visiting from Brisbane, where the next Pan Pacific convention will take place in 2011. They are taking a cruise of the islands this week and then coming back to Honolulu for a couple of days. What they want to do is pick our brains about how avoid problems when they are the host city.
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November summary: Get NetPlay functioning, and finishing half of the remaining revisions to the sequence of play are the main goals. Along the way I want to keep giving the beta testers new versions to work on.
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