Keyword: Panzer

One of the nicest things when you're developing your own game is that you call the shots on so many matters related to that project. This includes the freedom to choose the name that the game will have. Of course, the name should also be available, that is, not being trademarked or already used as an internet domain.

So, Rares and I started brainstorming in search of the perfect name for our game. We soon came to the conclusion that it should contain the word panzer. One reason for this is that any strategy gamer looking for a Panzer General-type of game would surely search for either of these words, but more likely for Panzer than for General.

If one thinks about it, panzer it's just more than the German word for armor. It has become a symbol of the formidable German tanks that dominated the battlefield, at the beginning of the war through brilliant tactics and later by virtue of their superior power.

How would the title of the classic "Achtung Panzer!" be translated to English?

The panzer term has been in widespread use, that even the English translation of Heinz Guderian's treatise on mechanized warfare bears the original (German) name: Achtung - Panzer!

The Panzer General series definitely rooted the term in computer gamers' minds, and there are lot of games, either strategy or simulation-oriented, that include this word in their names.

Our brainstorming process resulted in the following names we could use for our game:

• Hex General
• Panzer Blitz
• iPanzer
• Panzer Army, Panzer Armies
• Panzer Division, Panzer Divisions
• Panzer Regiment
• Panzer Battalion
• Panzer Battlegroup
• Panzer Warfare

From the list above, we've chosen Panzer Division, which we later changed to The Panzer Division, to match the internet domain name we bought to host this site.

How to become a game design master

Machinarium game concept

You think you can design games? You think you know why is a game fun or not? Maybe not now but you will as soon as you read Game Design Concepts - An experiment in game design and teaching

Game Design Concepts was started as an experiment by Ian Schreiber - one of the authors of Challenges for Game Designers book. It is an online course in game design. Unlike most of the stuff out there that is mostly theoretical, this course is very practical.

So what will you find there?

By the end of this course, you will be familiar with the (relatively small) body of work that is accepted in the game industry as the theoretical foundation of game design. You will also be comfortable enough in processes to start designing your own games, as well as critically analyzing other people’s games.

Each lesson ends with a homeplay (a.k.a homework) and links to related articles or books. Those links alone are gems, believe me you'll find what to read there.

We found some nifty strategy ideas for Panzer Division there, I'm sure you'll find too as soon as you start designing a game.

In case you are hungry for more, in 2010, the experiment continued as Game Balance Concepts - A continued experiment in game design and teaching.

Breaking News : We have Gareth Hector's artwork

Great news, we acquired the rights for great artwork from one of the best artist that modeled Tigers and Focke-Wulfs.

Here they are:

Target!

Normandy Bound

Bad Omen

Desperate Days

Bottleneck

OK, I lied, this is just wishful thinking.
Sometimes I wish we could hire a great artist like Gareth Hector to so some great artwork for Panzer Division. Sadly that won't happen. Huge budgets never happens with small indie games.

Still, you are a great artist Gareth!

The beginning

I remember that more than an year ago, I was talking with Rares about the games he has played on his iPad. He told me that he was looking for a strategy game similar to Panzer General, be he hadn't found any on AppStore. It seemed that one couldn't find any WW2 strategy game published for iPad at that time.

I suggested to him that we should try to make such a game. We are both software developers and creating games is certainly a interesting challenge for people like us. But besides being interesting, making games is also hard, especially bringing them to completion. Anyway, developing a turn-based strategy game was something we thought we could accomplish, so we started working.

The main idea was to create a Panzer General remake that could run on iPad. We decided that a 2D look, similar to the first Panzer General game, was more likely for us to get done. From this first PG game we would also use the strategic feeling of its campaigns, something that the second Panzer game kind of missed. But anyway, the PG2 was better from other perspectives, such as control and leader abilities, so this meant that our remake would be a mix of the best elements of the two Panzer General games.

More than a gadget

A couple of years ago, Apple launched a new device which looked like an oversized iPhone. This new tablet computer proved very successful, more than 50 millions iPads being sold in the first two years. Other manufacturers started producing tablet PCs, using Google's Android operating system. Also, the incoming Microsoft's Windows 8 OS has been designed to run of both PC computers as well as on tablet devices. The conclusion is obvious, this kind of device will be the future of consumer computing.

The iPad owns a lot of its success to the multitude of applications that were developed to run on it. A great deal of those application are games. But many of those games are the ones designed for smartphones, where the general use case is to play for short periods of time. The iPad, however, seems to be suitable for other kind of games, as well. This is mainly due to its big screen size compared to a smartphone.

A lot of people are passionate about strategy games, but there are few titles available that cover this genre on iPad. I am not aware of any that focuses on the same gameplay and WWII setting as the Panzer General series and I think many strategy gamers would like to play such a game on their tablets.

If one thinks about it, turn based strategy games are quite a good fit to be played on a tablet device. There's no need for real-time 3D flashy graphics and the touch interface can easily provide the required level of control. The game can be played for a while, suspended and then later the player can continue from where he left off.

Multiplayer is also a viable option, in some derivative form of the old play by e-mail (PBEM) system. Such an option would be an online server which could provide both a game lobby to find opponents and storage for the between-turn saved games.

So, it seems that the stage is set. It's time for The Panzer Division to show up.

Is there a site that list all the computer wargames ever?

©Will Merydith(Creative Commons)

Guess what! There are at least two sites that list all the computer wargames ever.
Now, don't panic when you see them, they are old, as wargaming itself.

Web-Grognards
Connoisseurs say that if a wargame is not on Grognard, chances are no one considers it a wargame as well. They define themselves like this:

'Grognard' is slang for someone who likes playing wargames. 'Web-Grognards' therefore has a unique collection of various conflict simulation game (i.e. wargame) information, including (but not limited to) rules errata and variants, game reviews and links to relevant web sites. The emphasis is on board wargames, but miniatures, computer and card-based wargames are also covered. Many hundreds of games are covered here.

M. EVAN BROOKS HOME PAGE
Mr. Brooks stopped in 2002 but who can beat the quote on his site:

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it." -- GEN Robert E. Lee to LTG James Longstreet at the Battle of Fredericksburg (1862); obviously Lee never played PANZER GENERAL.

In case you still have doubts Mr. Brooks is a Panzer General fan, this is what he writes about it:

Initially marketed as a non-wargame, this has become one of the classics of wargaming, and spun off an entire series (ALLIED GENERAL, PACIFIC GENERAL, etc.). Start in 1939 and trying to win enough operational battles in order to successfully win the assault on Washington, D.C. (Ty Bomba would be proud!) But a plethora of scenarios, entertaining graphics and a user-friendly interface combine to form a winning combination. While I both admire and enjoy it, the military lessons of combined arms are not taught overly well, and often gaming logic supersedes military logic (for example, in order to win a decisive victory at Moscow, one must air assault north of the city; then, in following turns, one can recruit armored units in this isolated area and pincer Moscow from two sides until it falls).

A little bit of history..

In 1994, Panzer General, a PC turn-based strategy game was launched. Set in World War II, the player had the chance of taking the role of a German general leading his elite fighting units to victory. The longest campaign started in ’39 with the invasion of Poland and ended in ’45. The player’s performance as a strategist determined whether the last battle in 1945 was defending Berlin against allied onslaught or storming Washington for the ultimate victory.

Probably Panzer General wasn’t the first computer strategy game with a WW2 background, but for me and many others it was *the* game. I played it many times, in order to try its various scenarios (yeah, it was fun to purposely lose some key battles in order to go with your super-army into the defense, an easy one at that).

Then, a few years later, Panzer General II, came out. Like its predecessor, it was a turn-based strategy game. It had improved graphics (isometric perspective), some new concepts appeared (like the use of leaders that would add benefits to the unit they commanded) but it lost the grand-strategy feeling. The battles were confined to small tactical situation in a greater campaign context. Nevertheless, PG2 was a very nice game, indeed and I guess even more people played and liked it (that is, has a greater fan base than PG1)

PG2 had also an scenario editor (it was becoming the norm for real-time and turn-based strategy games to ship with an editor). I used it to start working on a campaign for the Romanian army, but I think I was the only one playing it ;-)

Panzer General 3 jumped in the 3D madness bandwagon. It also brought in some interesting features, like relying more on the unit commander concept. I didn’t play PG3 too much, and I could say this was true for other PG fans I know. It was the last game in the Panzer General series.

Before Panzer General

"I can honestly say that if we hadn't played Daisen Raiku (sic), Panzer General would never have happened, period."
Kroegel says in Retro Gamer magazine, Load 43

Who is Chuck Kroegel? Is the scenario designer of Panzer General.

Here is a video in which Kroegel talks among other things about Panzer General:

What is "Daisen Raiku"? According to MobyGames, SystemSoft had a long-running war strategy series, starting with Gendai Daisenryaku in 1985. Sega started their own derivated series Advanced Daisenryaku in 1991, using a World War II scenario instead of the fictional battles involving modern weaponry that SystemSoft's games usually simulate. (Seams that Daisenryaku means Grand Strategy)

Hmm, according to Wikipedia and others, Panzer General was designed by SSI Special Projects Group. I wonder who was part of that group.

1994, SSI Presents

...succeeded in bringing wargames to the masses (including yours truly, who can proudly claim to *never* having finished any wargame until PG came along ;))
Home of the Underdogs

The irony is that it brought almost nothing really new to the world of round played strategies, but it was so well made and became so famous, that if someone mentions the genre, most people will answer ...
Abandonia

The first game of long "General" series developed by SSI put the player in shoes of German commander during WWII and offered 38 different missions, including fictional full scale invasion of Great Britain and attack on Washington, D.C.
Giant Bomb

In addition to reasonably accurate WWII units and missions, one of the best things about ... is the ingenious use of RPG elements - the first historical wargame in history to do so. Similar to RPG games, units under your command gain experience points over time, the more battles they survive. Veteran units have better stats than raw recruits. Therefore, one of the keys to winning the game is to keep enough veteran units alive until the last few battles.
Old-Games

... is an addicting game and many of the smaller, individual battles, seem almost a complete game in their own, taking several hours to complete. With the AI turned all the way up, it is a difficult game indeed.
allgame

What could it be?