Here's a wild idea...
Perhaps Sonalysts should speak to EA about doing a ww2 subsim, they may be interested in doing it based on how successful SH3 has been for Ubisoft. This would perhaps mean Sonalysts could get access to a better 3D engine from EA and the higher sales/profit of a ww2 game could provide the funding for the development of DW extensions/sequel. Based on the DW model with surface and undersea platforms and multi station multiplayer, something even SH4 may not have.

"Nah" you say EA, would never do another sim not in a million years, well actually, if you think that, you are wrong... they are doing one right now! in an even more niche market than naval sims?... EA/Kuju Rail Simulator. So who knows what they might be open to...

Some competition for Ubisoft might be a good thing and encourage a rebirth for sims. And I for one would love to see what Jamie & crew could with WWII.

No need to do another wwII sub simulation, the Silent Hunter brand is already out there.
What we need as a figure of speach is a friggin' modern naval simulation based on a graphics engine that goes beyond SH III and SH IV.
Perphaps a game with a dynamic campaign also.
All the + of DW and a next generation graphics engine (UE3 perhaps :hmm: ) combined for the ultimate in modern naval warfare.
Now that would be absolutely kickass. :|\\
Having Ubisoft as publisher could be a good thing, EA I'm not so sure....:shifty:

Ok here's another wild idea... Sonalysts could contact Ubisoft & AGS and discuss the restart/rewriting of the aborted Harpoon 4 project in full 3D. With their naval knowledge and the skills acquired in the development of DW and FC they above all others have the know how to pull it off. As we know the Harpoon brand has a huge following and has been used in the past as a naval training tool. Thus Sonalysts would become well known the mass market place and be able to offer an adapted version to the navies of the world for training.

There is no DEMON/narrowband issue!

You know... one of the things I like about Harpoon is that the graphics aren't what it's about. The databases, to me, are the real draw, and the demand for model ships from almost every nation in the world would make the DB expansions a lot more difficult. Hence a graphics intensive Harpoon strikes me as kind of lame.

Besides, I thought that was the idea behind Fleet Command?

:damn::damn::damn::damn::damn:
Don't'cha just love it when they pass judgment without even R'ing TFM?

Already tried... Contacted Larry Bond directly, even (since he is still the owner of the IP, I believe). :cry:

Hi Jamie,
It's nice to know you have the odd "wild idea" too!... Perhaps Firaxis would be interested in outsourcing an update of Red Storm Rising or Silent Service. I believe Sid Meier has recently acquired the rights from Atari It's a shame they have all those great combat sim franchises and have not yet made any move on them. Perhaps they would be interested in teaming up with a developer with sim experience...

Despite Silent Service coming above Railroad Tycoon in Firaxis own "what should we remake next poll." they made "Railroads!" instead. "Silent Service- the cold war" has a nice ring to it dont you think...


Stephen

This seems like a lot of overthinking going on, here.

[overly blunt]

You are exactly correct - this is 'very specific, niche market' product. Not to be rude, but...why did you price it as a 'general interest' product, then? For $60, most users would expect a Joe Gamer-friendly graphically-intense action game.

If you know you are only going to sell 100 copies, or 500, or 1000...charge appropriately!

The 'hardcore' wargame crowd has been dealing with this demand problem for years. I assume you are familiar with GMT? How about what they are doing with their "GMT 500"? Each year, new games keep getting published that are, at launch, already paid into a profit margin.

What needs to happen is you need to pitch a realistic set of goals for a DW add-on. What ships will be added, missions, etc. Just ballpark figures that are realistic. Mock up a screenshot or two. And start taking pre-orders. When you hit the number you need to make publishing it worthwhile (and it MAY take years), THEN make the move to publish.

Do this for 3 or 4 different products, and let which gets made be determined by who DOES buy into it. And certainly - CERTAINLY - price it accordingly! Avalanche Press took pre-orders on their "Leyte Gulf" game...at $200 a pop!...and got enough pre-orders at that price to make a run on publishing it.

Making a niche game for a niche-within-a-niche market and then pricing it to only able to be successful with mainstream appeal...seems a recipe for failure.

[/overly blunt]

Hey Jamie,here's a thought. How bout doing a surface combat game covering the years 1898 to perhaps around 1930 (to allow the use of the ships that were either scrapped,used for target practice or converted to carriers due to the Washington Treaty.).

The "Big Gun" era was to me one of the more interesting phases of naval warfare. And there hasn't been a good game on that subject in years...at least not one that would easily play on XP or Vista.

It wouldn't need great graphics...just high realism,a very large selection of ships,(Hence the low graphics),a good selection of pre-made scenarios (Refighting Jutland would be a dream for me...*lol*) and a good scenario builder tool.

I know no one will ever make that kind of a game...but I can dream can't I? :D

It's called Distant Guns, so that one is already taken.

Yes, you could update the classic dos game Action Stations based on the US Naval war college fire effect system. The game was written by Commander Alan D Zimm and still has many admirers today.

The guys at Navalwarfare.net I believe tried at one stage I beleive to contact Cdr Zimm but apparently he could not release the source as it was thought to contain "sensitive" material in the same way as DW perhaps with Sonalysts naval connections and budget Commander Zimm would be more willing to see his baby grow up!

Besides Distant Guns, Fighting Steel fits this description...especially in the graphics department.:rotfl::rotfl:

Apparently Fighting Steel no longer works with the latest nVidia drivers and they do not plan on fixing it, so much so that navalwarfare.net who have supported the game with the FS project for years have decided to give up on it. If you want to make sure you can still play FS grab some of the old nvidia drivers for your system.

In the meantime is the J3D exporter for 3DSMax 6/7/8 available or only the one for 3.x?

Perhaps the source of the exporter can also help to port it to newer versions of 3DSMax.