Supreme Ruler 2020: WW3

[Ruges]

Supreme Ruler 2020: World War 3. Could be the tittle of your next exspansion.

When you guys are talking about SRCW you mention how you have figured out ways to make the engine do new things. Have you guys thought about porting these new features over to 2020? Infact you guys have a double marketing opourtunity here. Set it up so people who pre purchase SRCW recieve a copy of SR2020 Gold. (or maybe even be greedy and just give out the original 2020, So they buy GC after). So that way once you release SRCW. a bit after that you can release anouther exspansion for 2020. So both previous 2020 owners and CW owners will buy the expsansion for 2020. Followed up by an exspansion for CW.

If you guys do consider an expsansion for 2020, please bring some of the AIREQUEST commands to the front side so they can be modable. And stuff like tech level increase modable.

[Balthagor]

The code for SR2020 has been basically "closed off". We can in some cases push back a fix we find but it's a lot of work. New features aren't going to appear, the "evolving code" is what is creating the Cold War game. We are however tracking how the data files evolve for possible reuse later. But that's some fairly big conjecture...

[Asjo]

That's really a shame. I have no interest in a "cold war" game now that I have played the modern warfare game, but I would greatly appreciate any improvements to Supreme Ruler 2020 GC, especially if those improvements included making the AI better at warfare. I would think a modern war scenario is more popular than a "cold war" one. I did play a lot of WWII in Civilization II, but it just seems a bit limited compared to the modern counter-parts, although I can see how it's a chance to do things a bit differently.

Will definitely be recommending SR 2020 GC to a few people, though. With update 7 and Ruges mod, the AI is worthwhile, and as such, it's a great game, replacing what I got from my countless hours Civilization VI (unfortunately Civ V didn't have a durable gameplay).

[Balthagor]

Well at this point SR2020 is three years old. Development actually stopped around 6 months ago I think? When did we release 6.7.63?

Anyway, we're a development studio, that sort of means we need to keep developing. We're very proud of what we accomplished with SR2020 but we'd like to make more games. Perhaps we'll revisit that time frame again some day. Who knows...

[Asjo]

Yes, of course, I understand the need not to get stuck with this. A friend just introduced the game to me a few weeks ago, so from my perspective it's very new.

When I saw that you guys were making the Cold War game, my initial thought was that it was aimed at continuing the franchise, but simply giving it a new "feel". Akin to Sports Interactive, who have been developing Football Manager, a football management simulation game (a gameplay with a lot of staying power, as well as a big, advanced and vastly comprehensive game). They release a new game every year; FM 2010, FM 2011, and so on. From the early stages, they were always in good contact with the hard core players of their game on the forums, just as you guys seem to be, and they still do that to a certain extent. While realizing that their game will never be perfect, they want to keep improving it, and realize that balancing the game play and making it even more worthwhile and durable is the greatest interest of the long-time fans of the game as well. However, at the same time, they have to keep adding new features to attract new players, even if this detracts from the development of the game, sometimes too much so. However, by working on the same game since 1992, they have been able to make what can only been the most advanced game among all games on the markets, with the depth of the game making the gameplay alsmost unexhaustable, with a dedicated fanbase very loyal to the game.

Too often, games don't get the chance to get to that stage, only lasting a few years, with too many "flashy" changes to the core game to ever support a "near perfect" version. They always lack something for staying power, and some very good titles can often be wasted a bit that way.

[Ruges]

I am always a bit suprized when game developers stop working on somthing that works.

I realized this when I was playing the last Hitman game. It was a really enjoyable game to me. And when I finished playing it I wondered why they did not build on what they had. To me it seemed like they had a solid platform to build on. All the core work was complete. So that to make a sequal to it, all that would need to be done is write a new storyline for it and put in a few new levels. (and to me to do this it seemed like half maybe even three quarters of the work was already done). So the secound game could be developed at a fraction of the price.

Bohemia with its ARMA series has seemed to follow this method. How old is the core code to this game? its been what 10 years and they are still building onto it. It just seemed to me if you had a good foundation, build on it.

Now if you guys have realized that your engine is at its lifes end and its time to build a new one. Say somthing that that has the min specs of a quad core 64bit 4gig ram minimum. Then by all means stop development. (as that is really what this genre needs to really get into its greatness). And build the next best thing. Of course I dont think there is a huge market out there for such a thing yet (which is a shame).

[Balthagor]

We're doing precisely what you describe. We're taking a new storyline built on a new map and adding some new features to the existing engine.

Development projects are just that; projects. They have a start, middle and end. There is no resources for work beyond the end.

If we don't continue making new projects, then we might as well close the studio and find new jobs. We need to provide for our families you know.

[Asjo]

Balthagor, I will venture that his response was aimed at the fact that the improvements made in the "Cold War" games would likely not be used for future, improved, versions of the more modern "Supreme Ruler" series. If you do indeed plan to keep everything in the existing game-engine and building on it for the future with more games, then you're doing exactly what we're talking about. And a good franchise, continually improved, will not just end up being a better game, but will most likely have a very loyal following. Thus, keeping your jobs wouldn't be a problem.

Of course, that's always the issue; what will sell? As I mentioned about Sports Interactive, they do try hard to keep a balance between new features and improving the game, even though some times it's imbalanced towards the new features, decreasing the quality of the game somewhat. Yet, because they have worked on it so long, the game is still so solid and has a great depth to draw on. I disagree with the "Hitman" example, since I think the game is not sufficiently unique or has the depth in gameplay to keep the same people buying new versions without having to reinvent itself - it's simply a different kind of game than Supreme Ruler is. However, like Ruges says, if you indeed are just progressing the gerne and intend to build upon the awesome work you guys have done so far, I'm very enthusiastic. There's a good chance I won't build the "Cold War" game, but any future titles improving on "Supreme Ruler" I would very likely buy.

Then again, you probably have a better idea of the extent to which you can add new features to keep loyal fans interested and attract new ones, so you would know better than me whether you guys can actually keep going with "Supreme Ruler". Maybe Football Manager is easier to add new features for, not to mention the fact that each new game in the franchise has a data-update, making sure all the football players and in the right clubs, clubs in the right leagues with the right stats, etc. And while football might have an appeal equal to wargames, the competition that Sports Interactive face within this genre is comparatively much lower than what you face. So, maybe my example is bad as well, but I just had to put it out there. The way I see it, "Supreme Ruler" is one of its kind, and has the possibility of reaching the same level of gameplay as games such as Civilization-series. For now, it doesn't have durability because with the limited AI it will too quickly become one-sided, so while Ruges mod and Update 7 has given new life to the game, this won't last for too long. A continual development of the game, adding new features and improving on the existing ones, seems viable in my eyes, though. Of course, I'm being egoistic

[Lea]

We're doing precisely what you describe. We're taking a new storyline built on a new map and adding some new features to the existing engine.

Development projects are just that; projects. They have a start, middle and end. There is no resources for work beyond the end.

If we don't continue making new projects, then we might as well close the studio and find new jobs. We need to provide for our families you know.

It seems to me that commercial developer can pass the baton to the free developers. Maybe under licensing restrictions (for non-commercial use or something else). E.g. BG can publish docs and some code sources for SR2010, and upon that inspect issues of external code reviews and game optimizations for some usable ideas.