Computer Wargames Computer WargamesThe early 1990s will be best known for an enormous jump in computing power for the average PC user. But its not just raw computing power that will change dramatically what computer wargames are, but all the things you do with that power.
Among the new wargame features possible are:
Where is all this going?
The next technical marvel on the horizon is CDs (Compact Disk). This is basically your audio CD hooked up to a PC (playing images as well as sound). However, the CD player for the computer is more expensive because computer access requires a sturdier and more precise device. Some of the PC CDs are available for under $500. The advantage of these items is that each computer CD disc can hold about 680 million characters of information. Sound and graphics take up nearly all this space. Ten seconds of sound can take up over a million characters of space and one detailed graphic screen can consume half a million characters. The computerized role playing games (RPGs) are thought to be the biggest market for CD games, and RPGs use a lot of graphics and sound. Wargames, even simulators, use a lot less, so wargames will be able to do a lot more with the enormous resources available in the upcoming CD type games. Basically, you will see a lot more information in computer wargames using CD games. It was the desire for more information that caused wargames to be created in the first place and the use of CD capacity will bring that aspect to undreamed of heights.
How Many, Where Are They, What Are They and Who Buys Them
This brave new world of computer wargames can be a little disorienting. Take, for example, the changing definition of "what is a wargame?" With paper wargames, there was little ambiguity. With computer wargames, the definition has been stretched a bit. This can best be seen in the product mix of stores and direct mail vendors of wargames. Both of these operations present a list of products that they know, from experience, sells to the "wargame market." Not all of their products are wargames. In early 1992, for example, there were over 300 computer programs classified in the "wargames" category. However, nearly half the titles are simulators, most of them being aircraft simulators. The aircraft simulators alone account for the majority of the wargame sales. About half the titles available are what most wargamers would consider wargames. But the retailers know better, and the retailers know that wargamers will also heavily buy science fiction and fantasy titles that were, basically, still wargames. There are no Role Playing Games (RPGs) included here, although many of them are more wargame than anything else. But fantasy games set up as conventional wargames do have heavy cross over sales. Especially when set in the medieval period, when many people did believe in magic, these games are bought, if not highly respected, by many wargamers. Science fiction titles are another matter, as these games deal with a future that could be true as opposed to fantasy realms that are neither past, present or future reality to anyone except their most devoted practitioners.
Ironically, most computer wargame titles are being sold by mail.
The software, electronics and toy stores that provide most of the retail exposure can only carry so many games and the additional wargames in print can still be profitably be sold by the many direct mail vendors. The major advantage of direct mail, aside from a much wider selection, is low prices. The average wargame cost $30 (in early 1992), with prices being 20% to 50% higher in stores.
Among the 45% of titles that are simulators there are some curious subjects covered that are more a matter of wargaming branching out than non-wargaming moving in. These include titles like SimCity, SimEarth, SimAnt, Powermonger and Populous. All of these simulate their subjects in great detail. Simulator products such as these have their origins in the complexity heretofore demanded (and tolerated) only by wargamers. While these games sell extremely well, wargamers make up a substantial proportion of their buyers.
Second Editions and Add Ons
Computer wargames have spawned some unique publishing angles because of the technology used. PCs become obsolete, and thus so do the games that run on them. The obsolescence is a result of continuing rapid developments in computer technology. The computers keep getting more powerful and cheaper. A minimal game system (48K RAM, 1 floppy disk, TV type monitor) in 1980 cost $1,500. Adjusting for inflation, it costs only $1,000 1980 dollars to get a 2,000K RAM, floppy and hard disk and high resolution color monitor in 1991. For the last ten years, basic computer game technology has been turning over completely once every three or four years. While popular paper games could be kept in print for decades (I'm still collecting royalties on PanzerBlitz, a manual wargame published in 1970), no computer game outlives the hardware it was designed to run on. Actually, most computer wargames last only a few months in the stores, although they hang on longer from mail order vendors. But many of the computer wargame best sellers are being redone for each new generation of hardware. Since the late 1980s, more than half of the best selling wargames have been redone to work on the latest hardware. This has been most common with the simulators, which are the most hardware intensive computer games.
And then there are the add ons. Because computer games are basically huge computational engines, if you load new data into most games you have, in effect, a new game. It was the aircraft simulators that first discovered this angle. Microsofts Flight Simulator had scenery for the player to fly around in and after a few generations of this mid-1980s design, the scenery was realistic enough to be based on actual places. Soon players began clamoring for scenery from their part of the country and eventually additional "scenery disks" were published to accommodate this demand. Most flight simulators involve fighting other aircraft or ground targets, so it became common to publish additional disks with new battle information (enemy aircraft or target areas). This was particularly the case during the 1991 Iraq war, where several combat flight simulators quickly came out with Iraq war scenario disks.
The publishers were quick to realize that these add on disks were much cheaper to create than the original game (10%-20% of the original cost) yet could be sold for about half the cost of the original game. Nothing like a little financial incentive to spur things on. The gamers were quite happy with this arrangement, as the new material extended the play value of a favorite game. Moreover, a common add on was a "scenario editor" that allowed gamers to build their own additional features for the game. Still, most gamers preferred to let the publisher develop the new information. Another aspect of this is that the prospect of more profitable add disk sales makes it possible to risk more money in more elaborate games. The add on kits are a growing trend, with over five percent of the items currently (in early 1992) found in a typical software store being add ons.
Remainder sets are another development of the 1990s. Because stores can return unsold games to the publisher ("return privileges"), there is a lot of old computer wargames inventory laying about. In the last two years, many publishers have sold off this old inventory ("remaindering," before that a lot used to be destroyed) to "remaindering" outfits that now box three of the old games in one box and sell the set at a low price. The publishers often get ten percent or less (of the original price )per game when they remainder. The idea seems to be working, as you see more and more of these "remainder sets" in the stores. Apparently, the publishers don't think this cannibalizes the sales of their newer games. Looks like this may become a permanent feature of the computer games market. It's great for people with older (less powerful) PCs, as the newer games often demand a lot of computing power. This probably has a lot to do with publishers not minding competing with their older, much lower priced, games.
Genealogy
of Computer Wargame Technology
Chapter 7 - Designing Computer Wargames
