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General discussionRelease: Pacific General + Fantasy General(321 posts)(321 posts)
(321 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 05, 2015
Brought to you by GOG.com

<span class="bold">Pacific General</span> and <span class="bold">Fantasy General</span>, the accessible, Panzer-like grand strategy classics, are available now DRM-free on GOG.com!

<span class="bold">Pacific General</span>, available for Windows, is a spiritual sequel from the studio behind the acclaimed Panzer General series - an improvement over the classic, but one that retains the same feel and concepts as its inspiration. Once more we return to the overhead battlefields of World War II in a series of quick-play scenarios and full-blown campaigns: everything from Pearl Harbor to hypothetical invasion scenarios is here, all packaged in a relatively newbie-friendly grand-strategy package. <span class="bold">Fantasy General</span> takes that same experience and sets it in a fantasy universe. This one's for you if you're a fan of large-scale hex-based battlefields and steampunk-infused fantasy. Fantasy General is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
<span class="bold">Pacific General</span> and <span class="bold">Fantasy General</span> are being published by GOG.com. We are happy to release these titles not on behalf of another party, but by acting as the sole publisher for the very first time!



Unleash your inner armchair general with <span class="bold">Pacific General</span> and <span class="bold">Fantasy General</span>, available now, DRM-free on GOG.com!
Posted May 06, 2015
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GabiMoro: So Valve doesn't really want to sell their games in front of as many people as they can, or they would take the necesarry measures to sell their games on more stores (removing the DRM, if needed).
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Maighstir: Well, the quote said "We think you should get your game in front of as many people as you can" not "We think we should get our game in front of as many people as we can".
True, but I thought someone could follow the advice he gives to other people, if he truely believes it's a good advice :)
Posted May 06, 2015
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Maighstir: Well, the quote said "We think you should get your game in front of as many people as you can" not "We think we should get our game in front of as many people as we can".
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GabiMoro: True, but I thought someone could follow the advice he gives to other people, if he truely believes it's a good advice :)
It was intended to be a humorous rebuttal :-P
Posted May 06, 2015
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GabiMoro: True, but I thought someone could follow the advice he gives to other people, if he truely believes it's a good advice :)
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Maighstir: It was intended to be a humorous rebuttal :-P
Oh, sorry, I thought you were serious :)
Posted May 06, 2015
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Barry_Woodward: Anvil Of Dawn
You didn't even notice that the wishlist has been completed. :P
Posted May 06, 2015
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Barry_Woodward: Anvil Of Dawn
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Grargar: You didn't even notice that the wishlist has been completed. :P
Not to mention that probably he even owns the game on GOG :D
Posted May 06, 2015
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GabiMoro: Not to mention that probably he even owns the game on GOG :D
He does. :P
Posted May 06, 2015
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Barry_Woodward:
Thanks for making this list +1 (you really like lists don't you! :D)

I'm particularly interested in seeing Steel Panthers 2 and the Ravenloft games on here.
Posted May 06, 2015
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Trilarion: Just to be sure: Do you have the source code too, or only the rights? :)
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JudasIscariot: The rights :)
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skeletonbow: It might be possible for someone to override the language a game detects by using environment variables or commandline options to the executable. I'm not sure of the details of how locale related information is passed around in Windows, but on POSIX systems like Linux you can set the LANG=xxx variable or any of the various LC_???? variables to specify overrides to the default system locale settings when starting a script or executable and the program will inherit these settings instead of the system defaults. For example in Linux one would override a system configured for German or some other language by doing:

LANG=en_CA /usr/bin/mygame --gameoptions blah blah

that causes the game to run in the Canadian English locale. I presume something similar exists in Windows which might work with games as well, but again I'm a Linux gearhead when it comes to this sort of thing so... :)
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JudasIscariot: If it's a newer game with an active developer, it's up to them, we aren't going to do their work for them :)

In the case of older games, we usually make a language selector that allows you to switch the language easily :)
Right, I intended that as a homebrew workaround that someone might want to investigate on their own twiddling with the game's shortcut or other launcher data files moreso than GOG using the hack themselves. :)
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svmariscal: Just out of curiosity, I noticed there are linux and mac versions for FG but not for the other General games, why is that? is it simply a matter of time the other games get theirs, or are there any technical reasons for not being out already?
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Grargar: All the General games on GOG, aside Fantasy General, were only released on Windows, which makes it harder to get a working version of them on other operating systems. In addition, Panzer General 2 and Panzer General 3D are published here by Ubisoft and would require a renegotiation of their deal with GOG to allow Mac and Linux versions.

It's easy to create working Mac/Linux versions of Fantasy General, since the game was only released on DOS.
There may have not been Mac versions originally but the announcement says that they bought the rights to these games outright including the source code for them. We don't have the detailed legal agreements to peruse of course but it's reasonable speculation that if they chose to do so they could make ports to other platforms. Personally I'd consider such an effort to be unlikely as porting ancient MSDOS C+assembly language code in 16 bit segmented memory architecture (most likely situation) to run on modern Mac and/or Linux natively would be a lot more than a simple recompile of the source code but more of a complete rewrite of the source.

So while they may have the rights and the code, the effort involved in porting such titles to other modern operating systems natively compared to just getting the existing binaries working with DOSBox on them would be significant developer resource commitment. In order to spend the finite resources to do that compared to having those developers work on something else, they'd have to see doing such as better use of their time and effort compared to other projects they could be working on. I'm not saying it wont happen or that it couldn't happen, but it seems rather unlikely for a very old game that has source code that is probably extremely non-portable which is the case for every ancient MSDOS type video game I've ever looked at the source code of. :)

So if there are no existing source code ports of the games in GOG's possession, I would not set hopes too high on seeing native ports of these games to Mac or Linux. Having said that, their developers are sometimes known to do interesting fun things on their own time too, so anything is possible. :)
Post edited May 06, 2015 by skeletonbow
Posted May 06, 2015
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skeletonbow: There may have not been Mac versions originally but the announcement says that they bought the rights to these games outright including the source code for them. We don't have the detailed legal agreements to peruse of course but it's reasonable speculation that if they chose to do so they could make ports to other platforms. Personally I'd consider such an effort to be unlikely as porting ancient MSDOS C+assembly language code in 16 bit segmented memory architecture (most likely situation) to run on modern Mac and/or Linux natively would be a lot more than a simple recompile of the source code but more of a complete rewrite of the source.

So while they may have the rights and the code, the effort involved in porting such titles to other modern operating systems natively compared to just getting the existing binaries working with DOSBox on them would be significant developer resource commitment. In order to spend the finite resources to do that compared to having those developers work on something else, they'd have to see doing such as better use of their time and effort compared to other projects they could be working on. I'm not saying it wont happen or that it couldn't happen, but it seems rather unlikely for a very old game that has source code that is probably extremely non-portable which is the case for every ancient MSDOS type video game I've ever looked at the source code of. :)

So if there are no existing source code ports of the games in GOG's possession, I would not set hopes too high on seeing native ports of these games to Mac or Linux. Having said that, their developers are sometimes known to do interesting fun things on their own time too, so anything is possible. :)
Umm, I never mentioned legal problems for Fantasy General and Pacific General, as those are games owned by GOG themselves. I mentioned legal issues for Panzer General II and Panzer General 3D Assault, games that are published here by Ubisoft.
Posted May 06, 2015
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Donners1: If Star Trek: Judgment Rites gets put up, I'll buy ten copies (dead serious - I'll do a giveaway).
I'll do something similar with the Eye Of The Beholder series. Would love to have those on GOG.
Posted May 06, 2015
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Donners1: If Star Trek: Judgment Rites gets put up, I'll buy ten copies (dead serious - I'll do a giveaway).
Since that's an Interplay game I'd give it more hope than the Activision games, though obviously trying to re-negotiate could be hell. Maybe the fact that a new Star Trek movie is coming could be used as a "swaying" point.
Posted May 06, 2015
Hey GOG guys, I might be a horrible skimmer and a pedant, but in the description of Fantasy General it says,

"Fantasy General is the second installment in Strategic Simulations’ Five Star General Series..."

That's actually not true. It's the third installment. The second was Allied General. The order of the original five, I believe is:

Panzer General
Allied General
Fantasy General
Star General
Pacific General

Just wanted to let y'all know. :)
Posted May 06, 2015
Great to see Fantasy General here finally at GOG. Recommended and possibly one of the best turn based strategy games for the PC.
Posted May 06, 2015
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Grargar: Umm, I never mentioned legal problems for Fantasy General and Pacific General, as those are games owned by GOG themselves. I mentioned legal issues for Panzer General II and Panzer General 3D Assault, games that are published here by Ubisoft.
I've not mentioned any legal problems either. If you re-read what I wrote, read it with out the assumption of a problem in your mind. :)
Posted May 06, 2015
Stell Pantherrs is already owned by Matrix Games.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRelease: Pacific General + Fantasy General(321 posts)(321 posts)
(321 posts)