Slitherine

I'm bitterly disappointed in my Fog Unity purchase.
I have the original FOG and loved the game so i decided to spend money to purchase the new FOG Unity to support the Developer and Slitherine (even though i didn't have too, i could have used my old FOG serial).
So far with FOG Unity 2 of 3 multiplayer games are bugged and stalled.
I won't rehash the many problems with this game, fellow forum members have already done so.
I wish i had read the forum before purchasing (thats my mistake).
Add to this its been nearly two months since release and no update fixes and very little communication from the Developer.
I'm a big fan of Slitherine and this is my first disappointment with any of their games.

It seems that the game is abandoned. Maybe we had the fortune to be part of History. The history of the most short-lived game ever.

Well, right now the whole thing looks like a joke... on our expense!

I believe it will be fixed, eventually... But come on! -How could anyone think this was a good idea?

We're aware of the issues with the game

But the game is being worked on. It's not abandoned. Unfortunately the port to Unity was long and complex - the game's code had to be rewritten from scratch. The developers are fully focusing on fixing the bugs at the moment.

@AlbertoC out of interest, leaving the multitude of bugs aside, is there any reason why a number of game mechanisms were changed? It seems like there have been some arbitrary changes to the rules on things like evade moves, overhead fire etc, why changed something that works fine?

If I remember correctly, some of the changes were due to more closely following the miniature rules, but I must admit this has been a while and I can remember it wrong.

Dan, the developer of the Unity version has been very busy but he has not stopped working on the game of course, and we shall be able to give you a proper update on the progress with fixes soon.

Thanks for your patience!

Tamas wrote:If I remember correctly, some of the changes were due to more closely following the miniature rules, but I must admit this has been a while and I can remember it wrong.

Dan, the developer of the Unity version has been very busy but he has not stopped working on the game of course, and we shall be able to give you a proper update on the progress with fixes soon.

Thanks for your patience!

I think it might be the case that a few of the rules have been "lost in translation" during the re-write because Dan did not have enough time to play the original game and write the new code at the same time. One of the things I have offered to Dan is for us to play a couple of games together with the original version so I can point out various game behaviours that have not made it into the FOG Unity version. That offer still stands and I think it might be a very useful exercise in terms of correcting the game.

@stockwellpete yes Pete, I think so, some seemingly small differences can have a major impact on the play with certain armies, so that'd be a good way to iron them out.

All 4 multiplayer games bugged and stalled.

So, the lead programmer of a game that Slitherine is charging money for did not fully understand the design of the game?

What has happened to you, Slitherine? How far you have fallen. This update is so frustrating, and now to hear this. Very unprofessional.

FroBodine wrote:So, the lead programmer of a game that Slitherine is charging money for did not fully understand the design of the game?

What has happened to you, Slitherine? How far you have fallen. This update is so frustrating, and now to hear this. Very unprofessional.

I read the comment above as well. I wouldn't have allowed a staff member to make a confession like that on a public forum. It's some way beyond embarrassing that the bloke rebooting the game hadn't properly played it. Sheesh.

oldbear1962 wrote:I read the comment above as well. I wouldn't have allowed a staff member to make a confession like that on a public forum. It's some way beyond embarrassing that the bloke rebooting the game hadn't properly played it. Sheesh.

I am not a staff member. And I wasn't making a confession. Dan was a regular player until a few years ago. Apart from that your comment is very accurate.

oldbear1962 wrote:

FroBodine wrote:So, the lead programmer of a game that Slitherine is charging money for did not fully understand the design of the game?

What has happened to you, Slitherine? How far you have fallen. This update is so frustrating, and now to hear this. Very unprofessional.

I read the comment above as well. I wouldn't have allowed a staff member to make a confession like that on a public forum. It's some way beyond embarrassing that the bloke rebooting the game hadn't properly played it. Sheesh.

As a regular player, I'd like to thank Tamas for taking the time to update us. I'm fed up with organisations where the management prevent staff from admitting errors or weaknesses. I find the honesty from all parties refreshing and it gives me hope that the situation will be resolved in time.

Edmund_Blackadder wrote:

oldbear1962 wrote:

FroBodine wrote:So, the lead programmer of a game that Slitherine is charging money for did not fully understand the design of the game?

What has happened to you, Slitherine? How far you have fallen. This update is so frustrating, and now to hear this. Very unprofessional.

I read the comment above as well. I wouldn't have allowed a staff member to make a confession like that on a public forum. It's some way beyond embarrassing that the bloke rebooting the game hadn't properly played it. Sheesh.

As a regular player, I'd like to thank Tamas for taking the time to update us. I'm fed up with organisations where the management prevent staff from admitting errors or weaknesses. I find the honesty from all parties refreshing and it gives me hope that the situation will be resolved in time.

Here, here!

Best Wishes

Mike

FroBodine wrote:So, the lead programmer of a game that Slitherine is charging money for did not fully understand the design of the game?

I'd rather think this comment as being a "little bit" unfair.

I'm a long player of FoG(RB), right from the beginning. and I've played a lot of it, both in singleplayer and multiplayer. I have also won a multiplayer tournament and wrote a well known series of AARs.

And FoG(RB) was far of being my start in the world of ancient tactical computer wargames. I don't know how many of you are aware of, not to say played, iMagic's the Great Battles (Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar and Collector's Edition 1997/1998) games. And I've not only player those, but also reverse engineered the code to make a famous patch for them. And that was only the start. After them, I've played all ancient tactical computer wargames made from then on, and when I couldn't find more, I've started learning the TTs (DBMM, DBA, WAB, HC and so on). Forgive me if I dare to say there are very few players which can claim so much experience playing ancient tactical computer wargames. And I've also read an immense quantity of ancient military history materials (including most of the ancient and medieval primary sources), and of those, there are even fewer.

Back to FoG(U) now. What stockwellpete was trying to say is that in the last 4 years (ie from the moment the development of FoG(U) has started) I haven't played FoG(RB) (almost) at all. And while the FoG(RB) wasn't changed in the mean time, my personal memory of what and how exactly there are certain things implemented in FoG(RB) might have faded away. And keep in mind that FoG(RB) doesn't have the exact TT FoG's rules implemented in it, but rather an approximate implementation of them, not to mention a lot of other side interpretations of and extra additions to them.

Also, due to out-of-my-control realities, I could not continue to work on FoG(U) after the launch, and I've only got back on fixing the launch build's problems 10 days ago (please read the Update thread, if you haven't yet). I'm slowly catching up with the code (the FoG(U)'s codebase is huge and immensely complex) but even so, the next patch build shouldn't be later than 2nd of October, followed by weekly patch builds until everything's working as it should be.

Cheers,
dan

Hi,

I have been playing FOG for a while, and did just revert to the pre-version after things were not working.

My current issues: a) I cannot zoom having no mouse wheel, b) the game freezing after on unit sits on top of another.

Still,

I am very happy to hear that an update is coming. The most important thing is not getting everything perfect and done, but the periodic communication so we know there is forward movement.

Mead Walker

Well...the basic stuff in Unity is working, and I see a lot of potential. I hope more people support Dan rather than try to tear him down. What we're experiencing is the norm for most game releases these days...it takes the whole community to push the elephant up the hill.

My wish list, still?
Scenario design, campaign design...battles to the "bitter end"...and give me the option to get rid of the big color (red/green) base that obscures the unit. Rather have no indicators of who's unit is whose...more realistic.

Hope to see some patches soon...hope that someday we can build and play extended campaigns...

FroBodine wrote:So, the lead programmer of a game that Slitherine is charging money for did not fully understand the design of the game?

What has happened to you, Slitherine? How far you have fallen. This update is so frustrating, and now to hear this. Very unprofessional.

Newrosoft is another company, not part of Slitherine. We paid them to update the game. Dan was a big fan and seemed like the ideal fit for the project. We are charging for old version combined with the new version and clearly explain what you are getting on the product page. We've lost a lot of money on this project and there is no way we can ever get it back. Not to mention the time invested. Nobody is as disappointed about this as us. We're at a point where we cant justify spending any more on it as every penny spent is guaranteed to be lost so we are not funding Newrosoft. The only other option which we carefully considered was to kill the Unity version. We didn't really have many options here.

IainMcNeil wrote:

FroBodine wrote:So, the lead programmer of a game that Slitherine is charging money for did not fully understand the design of the game?

What has happened to you, Slitherine? How far you have fallen. This update is so frustrating, and now to hear this. Very unprofessional.

Newrosoft is another company, not part of Slitherine. We paid them to update the game. Dan was a big fan and seemed like the ideal fit for the project. We are charging for old version combined with the new version and clearly explain what you are getting on the product page. We've lost a lot of money on this project and there is no way we can ever get it back. Not to mention the time invested. Nobody is as disappointed about this as us. We're at a point where we cant justify spending any more on it as every penny spent is guaranteed to be lost so we are not funding Newrosoft. The only other option which we carefully considered was to kill the Unity version. We didn't really have many options here.

That's really sad to hear, Ian, and I am sorry it's turned out like this. But, as a big fan of FoG, I am grateful for your efforts and do understand the commercial realities.


Best Wishes

Mike

stockwellpete wrote:

oldbear1962 wrote:I read the comment above as well. I wouldn't have allowed a staff member to make a confession like that on a public forum. It's some way beyond embarrassing that the bloke rebooting the game hadn't properly played it. Sheesh.

I am not a staff member. And I wasn't making a confession. Dan was a regular player until a few years ago. Apart from that your comment is very accurate.

LOL. Can't argue with any of that! I still wouldn't have said it though.