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#2680608 - 02/26/09 02:44 PM CMC Canceled!  
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 7,856
Patrocles Offline
Hotshot
Patrocles  Offline
Hotshot

Joined: May 2005
Posts: 7,856
Chicagoland
bummer! But I'm not surprised because BF has been dragging this out for years!
CMBB is one of my favorite games and I was looking forward to Combat Mission campaigns!


http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=86356


the post at BF:

From the post:
I regret that I have had to cancel thedevelopment of Combat Mission Campaigns, at least in its present form,and possibly in any form.

What went wrong

CMC was a major undertaking, and I certainly underestimated how long itwould take to develop. I was probably way too ambitious. Just buildingan interface to CMBB was one thing, and a tricky one at that, giventhat CMBB had not originally been designed with that end in mind. Butas well as that there was an engine that enabled 'relative spotting'for each commander, given the reports that he would have access to fromhis subordinates, including communication delays and so on. I had neverseen this done before in a comprehensive way, for any game orsimulation, and it caused some considerable complexity.

CMC was designed to be a 'grognard's dream', with every aspect of WWIIwarfare included at some level. It has a very sophisticated supplymodel, air forces, weather and 9 different ground conditions withassociated (2D!) graphics, artillery support, tactical reserves,entrenchment, etc, etc. There is a ridiculously large code basehandling everything from medals to soldier promotions to strategic AI.

The problem is that it took too long to develop, and the core engineproved unstable and difficult to fix. I find myself in the positionthis New Year of having something that is arguably 99% done, and yet wecannot nail the key bugs which prevent release (and no one wants torelease something that is deficient). Just like the same time lastyear. And the year before that.

There have been some talented people dedicate work to the project, onlyto leave for a variety of reasons throughout (better career, familytragedy, etc). Each time this happens, on such a small team, it causesdisruption and complication in new people coming up to speed. Itgenerally takes some months for them to be at peak productivity.

Unlike most major commercial titles, but similar to CMBB, this wasdeveloped on a 'shoestring', without the support of a major backer.That means that it cost me personally the bulk of my life savings andmy earnings over the last few years. I have run out of passion forworking on it, and money to fund it. Keeping one or several programmersbusy simply from the funds I personally earn in the computer industryhas been possible, but increasingly painful.

It has been clear for some time that any proceeds from the sale of thegame would not meet the expenditure. Nevertheless, I persisted with itbecause I did not wish to see the effort go to waste, I wanted toprovide something entertaining, and I am very, very stubborn.

Work ceased over a month ago now. I already feel better, like the manwho stops hitting his head against a wall. Apologies for not releasingnews of this earlier, but there are some processes.

Apologies and Thanks

I lend my apologies to the fans who wished to see the kind of campaign system that CMC was intended to provide.

Thanks to the beta testers who helped out, creating maps, campaigns, providing feedback, testing buggy software, etc.

An even greater apology to those who volunteered time and effort tohelp with manual development or graphics. Especially so, Marco Bergmanwho personally created THOUSANDS of graphical images covering units,vehicles, interface, etc. I feel badly for someone who has worked sohard voluntarily and does not even see the title released. And therewere others.

Battlefront, through Martin and Charles, have put a lot of effort intothis game as well, while pushing forward with their other titles.

The Future

As promised, we have made the source code and other assets availablefor the community. Too much work, sweat and blood was invested by toomany people to let it simply vanish. And who knows, maybe there areskilled individuals out there who have the time and energy to take whatwe have and lead it to a conclusion.

The source code and other files have been uploaded and are available as an open source project from sourceforge.net here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmcampaigns

If you are interested to become part of the project, please feel free to join the sourceforge.net project.

There are two important things to note:
- the files are released AS IS. There is a set of documents releasedand downloadable from sourceforge. That is all the documentation you'regoing to get. There will be no further support for this project from us.
- all files are released under the GNU GPL Copyleft license. This meansthat not only are they open source, any derivates based on them have tobe open source, too, and may not be commercially exploited. We stronglysuggest that you read the GNU GPL 3.0 license text (it's availableunder the "Documentation" tab on the sourceforge project) to avoid anynasty misunderstandings about this in the future.


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#2680690 - 02/26/09 04:24 PM Re: CMC Canceled! [Re: Patrocles]  
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 28,506
Magnum Offline
Lifer
Magnum  Offline
Lifer

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 28,506
Naples, Florida
that is sad news... but a good business decision I think, Battlefront was a great company IMO when they just had a few games, their kind of getting a little too big and starting to act and release products like a major publisher would, bugs and all.

#2682538 - 03/01/09 11:14 AM Re: CMC Canceled! [Re: Magnum]  
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,771
Para_Bellum Offline
Oberkriegkaboomführer
Para_Bellum  Offline
Oberkriegkaboomführer
Hotshot

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,771
Germany
Disappointing. But not unexpected.


"...late afternoon the Air Tasking Order came in [and] we found the A-10 part and we said, "We are going where!? We are doing what!?"

Capt. Todd Sheehy, Hog pilot, on receiving orders during Operation Desert Storm

#2683319 - 03/02/09 04:58 PM Re: CMC Canceled! [Re: Magnum]  
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 4,429
enigma6584 Offline
Senior Member
enigma6584  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 4,429
Wisconsin, USA
Originally Posted By: Magnum
that is sad news... but a good business decision I think, Battlefront was a great company IMO when they just had a few games, their kind of getting a little too big and starting to act and release products like a major publisher would, bugs and all.


I think that their CMSF module is now starting to shine with the new addon and patches. It is actually starting to get the depth in it that the original CM games are known for. A few more modules, patches adding features and they will do good with the tactical gaming crowd...provided they stay on course. IMHO of course.

#2683325 - 03/02/09 05:02 PM Re: CMC Canceled! [Re: enigma6584]  
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 28,506
Magnum Offline
Lifer
Magnum  Offline
Lifer

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 28,506
Naples, Florida
I agree enigma... I was really referring more to the outside games they started publishing, then not supporting... T-72 for example...lost a lot of respect for them after that game. ;0 but i'm hopeful.

#2683647 - 03/03/09 12:53 AM Re: CMC Canceled! [Re: Patrocles]  
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,969
Hentzau Offline
Member
Hentzau  Offline
Member

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,969
Tampa, Florida USA
Well, at least this way it won't have server based copy protection if it ever becomes viable. You'll be able to play long after Battlefront has become purely a military contractor. wink

#2684061 - 03/03/09 04:17 PM Re: CMC Canceled! [Re: Magnum]  
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 4,429
enigma6584 Offline
Senior Member
enigma6584  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 4,429
Wisconsin, USA
Originally Posted By: Magnum
I agree enigma... I was really referring more to the outside games they started publishing, then not supporting... T-72 for example...lost a lot of respect for them after that game. ;0 but i'm hopeful.


Yeah, I hear you. Tried the demo of T-72 back then and was surprised Battlefront would be involved in that junk. Then was looking at the demo of "Theater of War" and became really disenfranchised with them. All along playing the hell out of CMx1 series. Tried demo of initial release of CMSF and figured I'd never do business with them again. Now, having gotten CMSF with the Marines module and up to date patch (with new and improved features) I am paying attention to them again. I hope they keep going with the good. The computer gaming industry needs a hero and I hope Battlefront steps right up.

If they continue the improvements with CMSF, add new modules including the version which is supposed to be based around WW2, they will do well I think. As mentioned before, they got my attention.

#2687171 - 03/08/09 04:41 PM Re: CMC Canceled! [Re: enigma6584]  
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 666
Hammer* Offline
Member
Hammer*  Offline
Member

Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 666
Norwich, CT
That's too bad. The CM series is in my top five all time list for several reasons.
I'm glad to hear the source code is available to the public. To bad I clueless in that arena.


Yep, I don't post allot. But I still love you.

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