I have been so busy I forgot to put up a new developer diary. I have bene working 6 to 7 days a week correcting bugs and adding improvements to the game. Here are the current developments going on.

The demo will be a bit delayed as I have not seriously started working on the computer opponent. The base code is complete but it needs work.

The manual is complete and on the Steam page. It took me much longer to write this than expected. The individual mechanisms are mostly simpler than WarPlan like the naval spotting system. Other systems are more robust like the economic system.

The game trailer coming this month. This took me much shorter than expected to make it, unlike the rule book.

Playtesters are enjoying the new game and the feedback has been tremendous. There have been a lot of improvements and bug fixes so players don’t have to find them after release. I am very pleased with my team of core beta testers. There should only be minor bugs that are hard to spot after release as with all games.

Here are 3 systems in Total Victory so I can give everyone a little taste.

Operations – Players get to pick from a set of common actions they can take during the game. Action points are accumulated over time to activate these functions. Each nation will have up to 10 unique actions they can take as well as the common ones. More will get added as the game is released. Intelligence was combined into this category. These are not binary choices as there is a cost. Players can’t do all of them. Some operations you can do more than once, others only once. It adds a dynamic layer to the game.

Production – Players must ship ore to industry. Industry produces production points that feed factories. Factories are modified by the industrial modifier and create pools of weapons, guns, steel, aircraft, and vehicles. Players can refit factories to a different type. Oil impacts armor movement points and air unit experience. Manpower impacts land unit experience.

Commanders – Land commanders come out at their specified date when they historically became an army commander, or army group for Russia and China. They have 3 abilities: combat, mobility, and tenacity. Combat is how well you inflict damage and reduce it, mobility about retreating the enemy, and tenacity about the intensity of the combat. High tenacity allows units to resist surrendering.

Until next time fellow wargamers.

The game is slowly moving along. At first I thought the game might be released in the fall or winter, but now it seems I am back on track for mid to late summer.

Adds since November…

Beta testers are reporting bugs and asking for features to make the game easier to play. A new on/off toggle for ground support during a land attack was added.

Special attributes added for certain hexes on the maps like the crossing in Netherlands, Russian Ice Road, and Crossing Arrow locations giving defense bonuses

A simpler entry system was employed for countries that are Neutral (USA and USSR)

Overlay continent map is now smoother for a better look. Testing map augmentations for better map aesthetics.

Map orders for the computer opponent, or CO, added. This helps it know where defense lines are, allows scripts to force garrisons and “hold at all costs” locations. his will take a long time to get correct including post release. This helps it at the tactical level. T

Computer opponent scripting code added. This will take the longest time to get correct including post release. This tells it what to do at the strategic level.

Event scripting code is complete. Many events have been added. I simplified it from my WarPlan series

Some new units were added to the game for different nations including the proper 3d graphics.

Thank the testers for helping me push this game along. If it was just me doing all this testing we would be looking at a 12 month delay.

Some have been asking about PBEM. This will use the same PBEM system from Kingdom, Dungeon, and Hero. It allows an alliance to have more than one player playing the Axis, Allies, and of course a single player for the Comintern.

The toughest part of coding and designing the game is the units within stacks and stacks on top of each other in a single hex. Having the computer opponent combine all this has been a challenge. I didn’t want to mimic other games where you have piles of counters on the map you have to click through. I wanted players to move divisions into corps/army counters with names for simplicity and flavor. It also keeps the headquarters at army/army group levels instead of managing a hundred HQ counters at the corps level.

Currently some CO vs CO are being tested for basic functionality.