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 DVG News 05-07-2008 Our PREORDER Program Player Testimonials Game Reviews Down In Flames - Dogfight Rommel Rules Rommel Rules in Spanish Rommel Sample Game in Spanish Rommel Player Log Rommel Box Back - Names Rommel Sample Game... Part #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 D-Day Map Ghost Division Map Rommel Box Mock-Ups MNB-GW Plain Text Rules MNB-GW In-Progress Rules MNB-GW Scenarios & AAR About Vassal/PDF About Our Company Our Previous Games Our Awards Our Friends Company Policies Media
 | | 05-07-2008 This past week has been devoted to getting the Down In Flames art up to speed. Luckily, Martin Scott has agreed to lend an expert hand and has greatly improved the look of the fighter control panels. He has also agreed to work on the bomber and action card panels. I am very pleased with the new look he has given the cards. You can see the new aircraft cards in the Down In Flames slideshow. We’ve added the first turn of a Down In Flames sample dogfight between a US Marine F4U Corsair and an Imperial Japanese A6M5 Zero. If you haven’t played DIF before, be sure and check it out. If you’ve played the old game, you’ll want to see the newly improved game mechanics and how they work. We have also updated the pre-order numbers. All three games are making progress toward their pre-order target numbers. I’m hoping to have all three games sent to the printer in the next few months. As we did with Rommel, anyone who pre-orders a game will have the option of having his or her name printed on the box. Modern Naval Battles and Alexander continue to have their art worked on, and we’ll have updates for them next week. 04-28-2008 The past week has been devoted to moving all the games a little closer to going to the printer as their pre-order numbers increase. We’ve started layout of the Modern Naval Battles rules, and you can see the work in progress for the first five pages. I thought it would be interesting to watch the stages a rulebook goes through. At this point, the text is in good shape, but will still get another dozen or so editing passes. We have started to lay in the graphics, and have noted where game graphics and examples will be needed. I’ve added a link in the left panel in addition to the plain text rules link. For Down In Flames, we’ve updated the card slide show with more finalized card designs. We’ve also added a few more cards. We’re working on the updated campaign system now. The first thought was to use the original system, but in reviewing the rules, it was very complex and procedure heavy. I think a better, faster-playing design can be created that will make the campaigns more appealing to everyone. We’ve added a few more graphics to the Alexander slide show focusing on siege engines and siege warfare. The campaign map has also been updated. Great news for DVG! – Long-time friend and business associate Marcelo Figueroa has agreed to represent DVG to game distributors worldwide. This is a huge step for us, as it will increase our company’s exposure to gamers and retail stores all over the world. Marcelo just attended the Gama Trade Show in Las Vegas this past week and has already dramatically added to the number of distributors that will be carrying our games. We’ve also updated the launch numbers for the games on pre-order. Thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered, we’re getting close! Many thanks to Felipe Santamaria who was kind enough to translate the Rommel sample game into Spanish! I’ve added a link in the left panel. 04-17-2008 Another Busy Week! We are pleased to announce that one of our favorite designs “Down In Flames” is re-entering the gaming world and is now available for pre-order. We have updated the game to increase aircraft detail and add more player options when playing action cards. If you already own the old version, be sure to check out the “What’s New?” section of the description (otherwise known as: “I already own the old games, why should I buy the new one?”) We have updated the number of pre-orders needed for Alexander and Modern Naval Battles to go to the printer. Our home page has also undergone an upgrade with each of the 3 game types (In Production, Pre-Order, and Vassal/PDF) separated by banners. This will make it easier for visitors to see which games are in the different categories. Also, we are proud and honored that Rommel has almost sold out of its first print run. We have less than 50 copies left in stock and a second print run has already been ordered. Thank you to everyone who ordered the game and the great word of mouth it has received. We are very proud of having to reorder in only 3 weeks. The next print run of games should arrive at the end of May. A few new player testimonials have been added to the testimonials page. Thank you for your kind words! We are in the process of updating the Rommel sample game as some of its rules were changed before the game was published. We should start having the new sections available next week. Thank you, -Dan 04-09-2008 It’s been a very busy week at DVG! All of the Field Commander Rommel pre-orders were mailed out within a few days of the games arriving here, and we are getting very positive feedback. We have added a Player Testimonials page to the site so you can see some of the kind comments we have received. If you’d like to send in a testimonial, we’d be happy to add it to the site. We also started working with a few of the industries great game distributors both in the US and in Europe. This means Rommel will be appearing in retail stores in the next few weeks. Since Rommel is our first game, I contacted retail stores with a promotional offer to introduce our company. Many of them accepted our offer and I sent them two copies of the game, one for demoing and one to sell. The great news is, stores are already re-ordering the game. We’ve updated the Alexander map and slideshow with some new artwork. I am working on a sample game to post soon. You’ll also see a new “Launch Status” added to games. This number shows how many pre-orders the game still needs before it can go to the printer. I’ll update these numbers every week or two. A few players asked for the Rommel Player Log to be made available for download. You can now download the PDF file with the link on the left panel. Many thanks to Felipe Santamaria for translating the Rommel rules into Spanish! If you would like to translate the rules, we will be happy to make them available through our website and give you name credit. Our main email: customerservice@dvg.com gets flooded with spam. If you’d like, you can also email me at: dan (at) dvg (dot) com 03-28-2008 DVG – General Rommel Blitzkriegs California! Dan Verssen Games (DVG) – Glendora, CA - is pleased to announce the arrival our Field Commander Rommel games. We have already started packing them for mailing, and all pre-orders and orders will be in the mail within 24 hours. We look forward to your comments when you receive the game and have a chance to play it. If you would like to send us a testimonial, please do! Include your name the way you’d like it listed. We will be posting them on our web site. Many thanks to everyone who helped make this possible! 03-18-2008 Alexander the Great - News! We are very pleased to announce the second game in our Field Commander series - Alexander the Great. You can see the box front, sample counters, and a map in the Alexander game section. We have also received news from the printer, and we should have Field Commander Rommel in hand at the end of this month. Once they arrive here, we'll start mailing them out. 02-08-2008 MNB-GW Scenario/AAR MNB-GW AAR Added To I've added to the MNB-GW Scenario/AAR document. The Norwegians strike back! We’ve added a few new items to the site this week… Rommel The final Rommel rules have been uploaded as well as the last turn of the sample game. I converted the rules to a lower resolution to keep the file size to a minimum. At printing resolution, they are about 25mb. Here they are less than 1mb. The graphics appear blurry, but the words are readable. MNB-GW For MNB-GW, the sample game has a new turn, and a mock-up of the box front has been posted. We will be accepting pre-order names for the box once we get closer to sending it to the printer. At this point, we are only 50 pre-orders away from going into production. We have also uploaded the revised rules. The next step will be to start the initial rules layout and get it posted. As with the Rommel rules, we appreciate any feedback you might have. We think the Rommel rules were greatly aided by your participation. Future Games We are also gathering quote from printers for the next couple games. With luck, we’ll be able to announce them in a week or two. 02-08-2008 MNB-GW Scenario/AAR MNB-GW AAR Added To I've added to the MNB-GW Scenario/AAR document. The Norwegians strike back! 02-05-2008 Latest DVG News Lots of good news here at DVG! Last week, all the sample components for Rommel were received and approved, credit cards were charged, and the game has entered production. We’re hoping to have the games arrive here in about 45 days. Once we get them, we’ll start shipping them out to everyone. We encountered a problem in our pre-order software that was not separating multiple pre-orders for different games on to different invoices. This has been corrected. Some of you might notice that Rommel appears on your credit card statement as being billed from “Front Page” which is our graphic arts company. This problem should also be resolved on future billing statements and the billing company will be “Dan Verssen Games”. If you pre-ordered with Paypal, the funds were withdrawn at the time you placed the pre-order. I’ve also had some free time to devote to Modern Naval Battles – Global Warfare. You’ll notice a new banner and Scenario/AAR on the site. The game is only about 50 pre-orders away from going into production! In working on the AAR, I was surprised at how well the system lends itself to building hypothetical and historical scenarios. The first AAR is a fictional 1980 WWIII battle between small Soviet and Norwegian fleets. Once the game is published, I hope you send in your own scenarios, and I will add them to the page. We have received overwhelming approval on the idea of giving pre-order people the option to have their name printed on the Rommel box. We will be doing the same for MNB-GW pre-orders. We’ve asked for quotations from the printer on the next wave of games to go up for pre-order. Once we have them back, we’ll announce the next couple games. I’m hoping to be able to announce them next week. 01-30-2008 Great News! I have received pre-production samples for all the Rommel components, and they look awesome! I have given the printer the go ahead to begin production and we will be charging credit cards for Rommel pre-orders in 24 hours. If you’d like to pre-order Rommel, this is your last chance. Once the credit cards are charged, the price will be changed to retail, $39.99. We will also be raising the postage and handling fees. We had to estimate those, and we came in a little low. I will be announcing the new games to go on the pre-order list in a week on the www.dvg.com website. 01-17-2008 Rommel Update! The printer has confirmed the Rommel files look good for printing and they are proceeding with a printed sample. I should receive the sample late next week, if it looks good, the printing will start. Once I give final approval of the sample, we’ll start charging credit cards and the game will be moved from “Pre-Order” status to “Produced” status, and the pre-order price will no longer be available. If you have pre-ordered the game, thank you! Please check your mailing address and credit card information on our website to make sure it is up to date. If you haven’t pre-ordered, this is your last chance to take advantage of the pre-order discount. 01-08-2008 Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed a great holiday season! The design work on Rommel has been completed, and we are talking with the printer to make sure our files are properly formated for their printing process. I will post a notification here in the News section as well as in our Newsletter when we send the files. At that time we'll begin charging credit cards. If you think your credit card or mailing address information might be out of date, please visit your account and make any needed updates. Once Rommel is safely in production, we'll announce our next set of pre-order games. Thank you all for a great 2007, and we look forward to an even better 2008! 12-05-2007 The Better, the Bad, and the Good… Last Tuesday, I was running through each of the 3 Rommel campaigns one last time to check for any last minute issues. I completed Ghost Division and had taken a break before playing North Africa when an idea occurred. The Allied Resupply die roll plays a major roll in a campaign’s difficult, yet the player has little control over it. If the rolls bring in few Allies, the campaign gets easier even though the player did nothing to shift the balance of the game. On the other hand, if the rolls bring in many Allies, the campaign gets harder even though the player did nothing wrong. So I decided to even out the new forces and supplies so there is variety, but not a difference in quantity. Holly also came up with an easier way to handle Allied movement. By the way, such last second changes are very common in my design phases. This leads to some stress, but I think it’s worth it overall. It would be great if ideas like this that make the games better happened earlier in the cycle, but they appear when they appear. Although sometimes it does get a bit carried away. Years ago when we were working on Flagship, we actually have photos of me at the printer, editing the card files the day they were put on press. I went back to the computer to update the Ghost map to start a new play test cycle. When the Rommel folder opened, it was empty. My stomach lurched. I closed the folder, and re-opened it. Still empty. I started to panic when I realized my last backup of the folder was 6 months ago. A lot has changed in 6 months. I restarted the computer. Still empty. At the time, I had no idea if it was a virus slowly eating my drive, a one-time hardware failure, or a growing hardware failure. I quickly opened a few other folders. Some folders were healthy and some were empty. A pattern quickly developed. Folders with files that I had used recently were empty. Very bad news. I started a backup of the drive, thinking I needed to save everything I could. Normally, a backup takes 1.5 hours. This one took 10.5 hours due to the slow downs from the bad disk sectors. It was able to save the healthy folders, but none of the empty ones. I then ran GetBackData, which took 5 hours. In the end, it was able to recover maybe 95% of the files from the empty folders, including all the Rommel files. So after a week of terror, DVG is once again underway and hoping to send the Rommel files to the printer in about a week. 11-13-2007 General News I've uploaded the latest Rommel rules. Both layout and content are almost finished! I'm going to give it one more playtest pass to make sure all the campaigns look good, and that should about do it. Thank you for all the feedback! I've also uploaded the back of box graphic that includes all the names sent in to date. 10-31-2007 General News You can take a look at the revised Rommel rules by clicking the link on the left panel of the DVG site, or this link... http://images.dvg.com/www.dvg.com/RommelRules.pdf Layout for the rules is underway, but not yet finished. I still need to add a few things and move some stuff around. If you see any sections that need improved wording or more explanation, send me your comments in the next day or two. Also, another reminder about emailing me if you've pre-ordered Rommel and would like your name on the box. I've uploaded an updated box bottom showing the back cover and flaps with the names so far. 10-26-2007 Rommel Rules v2 You can take a look at the revised Rommel rules by clicking the link to the left. Layout is underway, but not yet finished. I still need to add a few things and move some stuff around. If you see any sections that need improved wording or more explanation, send me your comments in the next day or two. 10-21-2007 Rommel Rules v1 I just uploaded the first version of the Rommel rules (see the link below). This version is just the text with headers. If you'd like, please read through them and email me with any problems you find. This includes grammatical errors, missing rules, and rules that are not clearly stated. Once this version of the rules is looking good, I'll add in the examples. 10-15-2007 Hornet Leader PC Launches! It's been a big week. Hornet Leader PC has launched, and is getting great feedback from the players. If you'd like to take a look, the website is: www.matrixgames.com Sorry about sending out the wrong URL for Matrix Games in the last newsletter. But for those of you who were looking for quality hair care products, it probably worked out okay. :-) Work on Rommel is moving forward. I hope to post the first complete draft of the rules in a coupel days. My plan is to post the rules in 3 waves to give everyone as much feedback time as possible. Wave #1 will be the bare bones rules, just text. Wave #2 will include examples and other add-ons. Wave #3 will include art and the final layout. I have also posted a revised set of rules for MNB-GW. Thank you James for going through them! 10-06-2007 Rommel Box Mock-Ups I just added the mocked-up graphics for the front cover and back cover of the Rommel box. See the link on the left. 10-04-2007 Rommel Pre-Order Names... I thought it would be cool to list the names of everyone who pre-ordered the game on the 4 box sides of the box bottom as a special "Thank You" for supporting our company. These sides will only be seen when the box is opened. To do this though, I need you to give your permission. If you've pre-ordered, or are pre-ordering, Rommel. please send me an email stating it is okay to use your name, and your name as you would like it to appear. As an example, your email would read... "Yes, it is okay to print my name, 'Fred Smith', on the Rommel box." 9-24-2007 General DVG News... Good news to report! Several games are now moving forward. Hornet Leader-PC is pretty much done and we'll be turning in the final build this week. This has given me some free time to move Rommel forward. There are new links on the main page with the D-Day and Ghost Division maps. These are not final, but they are pretty close. Marine Air launched without a hitch and the emails I have received have all been very favorable. Thank you for the kind words! 8-17-2007 Marine Air I just received the Vassal build from Jerry Tresman for the Hornet Leader Expansion - Marine Air and it looks great! I will do some testing and then it should be released soon. 8-1-2007 Hornet Leader - PC! It is with great excitement that we announce Hornet Leader-PC! This new computer game is based on our popular HLII game system and features fast and smooth game play. We are proud to be working with Matrix Games who is publishing the game, and Derek DiBenedetto who did all the programming. Here is a link with more details... www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=4472 7-27-2007 Update Sorry to everyone about the lack of DVG updates or progress reports in July. I have been playtesting a new computer game that is based on one of my tabletop designs and it has required a lot of time. Once the publisher announces the game, I'll be free to post information. 6-15-2007 Marine Air Update The design work on the next Hornet Leader II expansion, Marine Air, is complete. The work to convert it to a Vassal module is underway and it should be ready for release in a week or two. 6-02-2007 Rommel Part #6 The 5th game turn for Rommel has been added to the website. The pre-orders for both Rommel and MNB-GW are going well. Both games are a couple dozen pre-orders away from being able to go to the printer. We are working on the next Vassal/PDF Hornet Leader expansion "Marine Air". It features AV-8s, more pilots, and campaigns. I am putting together our wholesale information now. I should have it ready later this month. 5-05-2007 Rommel Part #5 The 4th game turn for Rommel has been added to the website. This turn includes the updated full color counter images. If you have signed-up for the weekly email newsletter, but it is not being delivered, it might be due to your internet provider blocking it before it reaches you. I also have an AOL email account, and I don't receive them through that email. 4-29-2007 Rommel D-Day Map Here is a first look at the Rommel D-Day map... Rommel D-Day Map 4-23-2007 Rommel Turn #3 Turn #3 for Rommel has been added to the site. This turn, we assault Fortress Tobruk! 4-21-2007 DVG Newsletter A few people have asked me about the DVG Newsletter. You can sign up for it on the left side of this window. I usually send out one each week with the latest news. We do not give out email addresses, so you don't need to worry about getting spam if you sign-up. 4-19-2007 DVG News! Paypal now Accepted! Many people asked for our new website to accept both credit card and PayPal payments. All the custom coding is in place and the site now accepts both forms of payment! - - - - - Rommel Sample Game Updated! The new turn for the Rommel sample game is active. I also updated the first two turns with the new counter graphics that make the unit values much easier to read. Thank you for all the feedback from the people at www.consimworld.com - - - - - Limited Time Special Offer – From now until April 30, we would like to introduce you to both our pre-order games and Vassal/PDF games. We think a great way of doing this is to offer you a free Vassal or PDF game with every Modern Naval Battles or Rommel game you pre-order. When you place a pre-order, send me an email noting which Vassal or PDF game you would like and I will run a complimentary registration for you. What if you’ve already pre-ordered one or more games? No problem! Send me an email with the Vassal or PDF game you would like for each of your pre-orders and I’ll email you their registration information. This offer does not include Down With The Empire. 4-17-2007 Interview Antonio Marcelo over at Portal dos Wargames was nice enough to ask me to do an interview about the wargaming industry. Here is the link... Interview Link Field Commander Rommel - Sample Turn #3 I just uploaded the 3rd installment of the Rommel sample game. Link to Rommel Sample Turn #3 4-5-2007 Field Commander Rommel - Sample Turn #2 I just uploaded the 2nd installment of the Rommel sample game. In this segment, the Allies begin their build-up! Link to Rommel Sample Turn #2 4-1-2007 Field Commander Rommel - Sample Turn #1 Here is the first turn of a Rommel game. Please take a look to see how the game plays. We will post regular updates to the game every few days. Link to Rommel Sample Turn #1 3-31-2007 Modern Naval Battles - Global Warfare Rules! We've uploaded the first draft of the MNB-GW rules for everyone to look at. This version does not include examples, graphics, or final edits. We've posted these rules to show everyone the design and to get your feedback. Please leave feedback through our Feedback email account on this site, or the DVG forum on www.consimworld.com Link to MNB-GW Rules 3-30-2007 We have received many requests for the new site to accept PayPal as well as credit cards. I have looked into it and it will take some custom coding to make it work. The good news is, it will be ready in about a week. Thank you for the feedback! 3-24-2007 Wow, where to begin! 2007 is the year of expansion and improvement here at DVG. Not only have we launched our new store, but we have also started publishing our own games! We have wanted to self-publish for many years and we are finally in a position to do so because of the loyal support of the wargaming community. Thank you! Like many companies in the strategy gaming industry, we are using a pre-order system to gauge interest for a game before printing it. You can find all the details in the Pre-Order section. We welcome you to our new site and hope you like what you see. -Dan and Holly Verssen | |||||||||
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