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Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: When? (8/1/2009 4:35:00 AM)
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August 1, 2009 Status Report for Matrix Games’ MWIF Forum
I. Project Management
We are looking at the first week of November, 2009 for product release.
Communications
Nothing new from Mike (Players Manual), Jim (sound effects), and Dave (music). All three of these guys have been working on the summer releases of other Matrix Games products but should get back to MWIF in August.
Andy Johnson (Texas) had to stop working on the MWIF fan site because his new job has a “do not compete” clause. We are looking for someone else who might be interested in taking on that responsiblity.
I monitored all the threads in the MWIF World in Flames forum daily and uploaded versions 1.01.04, 1.01.05, 1.01.06, 1.01.07, 2.00.00, and 2.00.01 for the beta testers. Version 2.00.00 was short-lived since I needed to make a single line correction to enable all saved games to be restored (that patch was 2.00.01). Orm continues to add posts as quasi after-action-reports on Barbarossa. Lars completed his on the War in China, and Peter has started one on the European theater of Global War.
I put out a request for additional beta testers, which will remain open until August 3rd. At that time I expect to add ~10 more beta testers.
Patrice continues to help keep the various map and unit data files up-to-date. Alain has been going over them with a fine tooth comb using the file definitions in the Player Manual section 11 (Appendices). Patrice also converted all the existing text from Section 8 (Player Interface) into context sensitive help for each form. In his spare time he has been sending me screen shots of forms for Section 8 of the Players Manual.
Paul and Nils sent me their final report for transforming the finite chit pool for US Entry into an infinite distribution. Without getting into the technical details, they have used both a theoretical statistical analysis and a Monte Carlo simulation to affirm that their proposed changes will better model the way the finite chit pool works in WIF FE. I implemented their recommendations into the program code. We will include their formal report (an MSWord file) as part of the MWIF product, since it describes that part of the simulation in more detail that I want to put into the Players Manual. They have both given us permission to do that.
Rob Jenkins continues to do an enormous number of naval unit writeups every week.
Alain (Caquineur) sent me a partially edited version of the Land Unit writeups. I have put Adam and Christo in contact with him with the hope that they will author some of the missing writeups on land units.
Peter Skoglund continues to make progress on the setup scripts for numerous countries, mostly minor countries, but also France.
Michael sent me revisions to the default scrap lists he had created last winter. Sadly, I haven’t found the time to put them into an upload yet.
No communications with Harry Rowland or Chris Marinacci.
Hardware and Software Development Tools
I have not installed ThemeEngine July/2007.
II. Sequence of Play
Beta Testing
I uploaded six new versions for the beta testers, which met my goal of one a week.
I uploaded version 1.01.04 in the first week of July. It corrected a handful of problems with saved games and saved setups. The latter bugs were a consequence of my changes in the positioning of sea area section boxes. Messing with the data files always runs the risk of generating bugs, which is why I am such a nay-sayer when it comes to inconsequential changes to the data.
Version 1.01.05 fixed some problems with invasions, paradrops, and ground support. All of those phases are 100% correct now - to the best of my knowledge.
Version 1.01.06 corrected various small problems. Its main improvements were in the PBEM forms and parsing LAIO scripts. Neither of those are complete yet, but progress is being made on them both.
Version 1.01.07 fixed all the remaining problems with Declaring War, including the ability for a series of major powers to decide whether they want to align an attacked minor country up to the point that one of them says Yes or they all say No. In the area of game play, I fixed bugs with USSR Claims on Eastern Poland and the Baltic States and US Entry chit draws that occur due to moving land units.
Yesterday I uploaded 2.00.00 for the beta testers and this morning I uploaded 2.00.01 to fix a new bug the previous version had created with restoring saved games. So it goes. Version 2.00.00 contained the capability of NetPlay communication tests which is why I increased the minor version number from 1 to 2. The major version number is still 0 and will remain so until the product is released.
Test Script/Plan
Nothing new.
Game Engine Redesign
Nothing new on rewriting the supply routines.
Units, Map, and Scenarios
Rob continues his weekly updates of the naval unit write ups. Alain edited many of the land unit writeups. He also found a number of small errors in the data files, the only crucial one being that Bergen had been listed as an Objective city.
Optional Rules
Nothing new.
Saved Games
This is stable though I have to be careful when I make changes (e.g., I omitted a pair of parentheses when I inserted a test for version 2.00.00 which meant I needed to quickly release version 2.00.01).
III. Player Interface
I completed the Replacements form revisions, so that is now fully functional. I implemented the special victory conditions for the two short scenarios: Barbarossa and Guadalcanal, and at the same time, fixed a bug in restoring saved games that messed up which major power owned which victory cities. While I was working on this I spiffed up the Victory form.
What is really needed here is a new form that presents who holds which victory cities throughout the game. That would serve as a nice summary page for when the game ends. But I haven’t even added this to my task list, since I do not expect to have time to create it for the game’s initial release. The second new form I would dearly love to add (but I don’t have the time) is for US Entry Actions - listing all of them, which ones have occurred, and whether they caused US Entry chits to be drawn.
I revised the Start New Game form to improve selecting which players control which major power groups. I had previously tried to use a ‘sexy’ new component capability, but it was unreliable and caused a lot of screen flickering. In retrospect, this reinforces my rampant bias to use the simplest tools when writing code. Incorporating “New and Improved” features is rarely a good decision. Also motivating me to make these changes was the need to enable bidding for major power groups over the internet (NetPlay).
I started converting the last old style form, Bidding, to using a JV component for its grid/table. Actually, I already did this as part of the revisions to the Start New Game form, so the task is simply to clone code.
I made the form for the first 3 PBEM Standing Orders fully operational. The fourth SO has data structures and default values, though I haven’t put in the code so the player can modify those values. I’ve also done work on a few more of the SOs, but many remain to be done.
IV. NetPlay
I got the test program to work as a stand alone for communicating over the internet. Basically you can run TestNetPlayCom on separate computers and send messages between them. After I got that working, I integrated it into MWIF proper as a “test communications” capability. TestNetPlayCom will ship as a stand alone program as part of the released MWIF product, so you can test setting up IP Addresses and port numbers without having to fire up the larger MWIF program.
Next up is to establish a little editing form for player names, passwords, IP Addresses, port number, and email addresses. This will let you set up this information from within MWIF. Of course, you can also edit these files offline using a text editor (e.g., NotePad). Then I’ll be ready to put bidding for major power groups in for NetPlay. The same file will be used for PBEM games.
V. PBEM
Besides creating the missing PBEM forms, I need to define more data structures for the Standing Orders. This is going slow but I am making steady progress.
VI. AI Opponent
I am continually adding to the number of data structures for the LAIO parser. As Peter and I work through various setup scripts, we identify new variable types that we hadn’t thought of previously. Each variable type requires it own data structure. This is not surprising to me and I expect the number of data structures to continue to grow over the next month or two. I thought about trying to create a definitive list, but if I did, more than half of them would never be needed. Therefore, I just add data structures as I come across new variable types.
I wrote the code for the fifth step for the parser. There were some serious bugs in the fourth step that took me some time to correct.
I haven’t been able to get enough time to work with Peter on the setup scripts. He keeps sending me stuff but at best I can only give him cursory feedback. After I get the parser done, he should be able to make faster progress and not need my assistance as much (e.g., the parser will point out syntax problems and the like).
VII. Documentation
I moved all the forms for PBEM and NetPlay out of Section 8 (Player Interface) and into Section 6 (Modes of Play). There are 22 Standing Orders, most of which have their own personal form. Altogether there are 21 forms exclusively for PBEM. 2 of them are completely done and another 7 are in various stages of development. Once the code is written for the PBEM forms, doing the documentation will take very little time.
As a result of moving so many forms into Section 6, Section 8, Player Interface, is much closer to being finished. Mostly screen shots are missing (34) but there are 14 sections for which I need to write a few lines of text. 9 of the forms are not quite ready to have their picture taken yet - I need to tweak the code a bit.
I put all the sections of the Players Manual together for the beta testers as a PDF. It is only a draft and many of the screen shots are missing (because I pulled them out of most sections for the editor Mike, who likes his text without embedded figures). Nonetheless the PDF came in at 354 pages (8.5 by 11 with narrow margins and 11 point font).
I believe very little progress has been made on Ignacio’s offer to do the translation into Spanish. Mike’s participation is essential and Matrix has had him working on summer releases the entire month of July.
VIII. Learning Aids (tutorials, training video, embedded help text)
Patrice took the text descriptions for forms from the Players Manual Section 8 and converted them for inclusion in the context sensitive help file. These look really great. If at any time during the game you have a question about a form, clicking on the form’s Help button brings up the text from the Players Manual on that form. Included is relevant text from Rules as Coded, a description of each component in the form, and how to use the form to make your decision. I am very happy with how this has turned out.
I spent a bunch of time in the first half of July on the Training Video. I have completed 9 of the 11 chapters:
Chapter 1 Introduction (4 minutes :10 seconds)
Chapter 2 Map Basics (20:27)
Chapter 3 Unit Basics (28:27)
Chapter 4 Sequence of Play (33:56)
Chapter 5 Turns, Impulses, Weather, & Supply (25:28)
Chapter 6 Main Form, Screen Layouts, & Map Views (46:31)
Chapter 7 Starting a New Game & Setting Up Units (55:40)
Chapter 8 Air Movement & Combat (23:43)
Chapter 9 Land Movement & Combat (43:46)
Chapter 10 Naval Movement & Combat (TBD)
Chapter 11 Production & Politics (TBD)
If you add up the time, you will get 4 hours and 42 minutes, with 2 chapters yet to go. Wow, is that way over what I estimated! I don’t think they can be trimmed very much. As it is, I see dozens of places where I barely skimmed the surface. There are entire phases of the game that never get so much as a mention. Furthermore, of the optional rules, I probably only lightly covered 4 or 5 of the 80 in the game.
My goal for the Training Video is for new players to learn the game without having to read the rules first. If we decide to use these as a Marketing tool, then it will likely be the last 4 chapters. They presuppose that the viewer has seen the previous 7, but not very much. Moving the units and engaging in combat is usually the exciting stuff from the beginner’s point of view. Since the last chapter is on building new units and declaring war, that is likely to be of interest to the neophyte too.
IX. Glitz (historical video, sound effects, music, historical unit write-ups)
I have Robert on the naval unit writeups with Alain/Adam/Christo working on the same for land units. I am waiting on the sound effects from Jim and the music from Dave. There is no real hurry on the last two, though I would like to have them in hand before mid-August.
X. Marketing
Other than Andy having to drop out of working on the fan site, nothing new here.
Remaining Tasks
I Tasks requiring a small number of hours
1. Historical video
Integrate these into the program (randomizing when they are shown).
2. Sound effects
Awaiting Jim’s complete set of sound effects, after which I will integrate them into the program.
3. Music
Awaiting Dave’s complete set of music, after which I will integrate them into the program.
4. Unit writeups
Rob continues to generate more naval unit writeups and Alain is editing the land unit writeups. I simply replace the old files with the new when they send me updates.
5. Players Manual
9 of 11 sections are done. I am unsure how much of these Mike has edited. Of the 2 remaining, Section 6, Modes of Play is 90% done and Section 8, Player Interface, is 95% done.
6. Context sensitive help
Once Sections 6 and 8 of the Players Manual are done, Patrice will transfer each form’s description into a TXT file for display by MWIF as context sensitive help. He completed about 70% of that task this past month.
7. Auxiliary files
These are starter sets for new players so they can jump right into playing the game without having to make a lot of preparatory decisions. The beta testers provide these and I have accumulated a bunch. I just need to round out my collection.
8. Tutorials and training video
The Training Video is 80% done. I stopped working on this in the middle of July but will probably finish it up in the first half of August. Then I will take that work and use it to create the Interactive tutorials.
9. Player Interface
With the exception of the Standing Order forms for PBEM, I have finished the forms (~110). Over the past month I put some time and effort into cleaning up the bugs reported related to the player interface. I made enough progress for me to move this task for requiring a medium number of hours to requiring a small number of hours.
II Tasks requiring a medium number of hours
10. Optional Rules
For the optional rules that I want to finish, I need to fix bugs and bring them up-to-date with rules changes since circa 2003.
11. PBEM
I’ve done a lot of work on this, but more is needed. The technical task of sending and receiving emails from within the program hasn’t been coded. Work on the standalone program (running on a third party computer) to generate random numbers hasn’t begun. The large task here concerns the Standing Orders: defining and instantiating internal variables, then displaying them in the forms so players can review and revise them.
III Tasks requiring a large number of hours
12. Sequence of Play
There are a slew of bugs related to the sequence of play. Because of the high level of redundancy in bug reports (i.e., multiple reports of the same bug), I estimate less than an hour per item reported.
13. NetPlay
There isn’t a lot to do directly related to NetPlay, but the underlying performance of the program in generating Game Record Log Entries has to be perfect. That’s because the GRLs are sent to each computer in a networked game to keep them up-to-date with the decisions of all players. I have over 530 types of GRLs defined, with their supporting code for encoding them prior to transmission and decoding them upon receipt. Regrettably, I haven’t gone through them rigorously to make sure each one executes at the proper point in the sequence of play. Additionally, I need to instantiate, with actual data, the form used to monitor internet communications while a game is in progress. But the vast majority of this task is getting the GRLs perfect.
14. AI Opponent
Test scripts await testing, which requires me to finish writing the parser. I have the vast majority of the AIO decision making written out in plain text. Taking that plain text and rendering it into rules will require a lot of time. Which leaves the task of calibrating the rules’ performance so the AIO plays well.
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