Will iOS 64 Bit Support come for iOS 11?

[MesaDon]

While I enjoy the multi-player, I would be happy just to be able to play it solo (mostly do so now) so is it possible to just make it a 64 bit solo game? My biggest irritation is I bought this for PC and also some of the expansions rebought the expansions for my iPad and all the others. Switched playing the games from the PC to the iPad and purchased all the other iPad games you brought out ... had I known I would have bought less but put the money in PC versions. Considering that my wife hated when I vanished to the back room with the PC as compared with staying in the same room with the iPad, you and (to be fair) Apple have decided to make my gaming life a living hell at home!
I deserve better (lol)

[pipfromslitherine]

It would still require a ton of work sadly. And I'd just be answering angry threads on why the MP functionality had gone...

Cheers

Pip

[Mythbuster]

+1! I would be glad to play Solo on my iPad!

[jhkrischel]

Another out of the box idea to go along with open sourcing - Kickstarter maybe?

I totally get and respect that this is a bottom line thing for you guys as a company that needs to turn a profit, but if you have a bottom line "this will cost us $200,000", maybe some sort of crowdfunding opportunity might work?

Of course, running a good kickstarter *also* costs time and effort...

Anyway, just another idea, would love to see the iOS games last beyond any decisions by Apple.

[Natus]

All I'm seeing from Slitherine here is a TON of blame on Apple. But we've all known almost for a year (if not longer) that this was coming. Not so long ago, I stupidly spent money buying Hell, P&S, BA + expansions, and CotGW, only to find they will be obsolete in months. There are other game companies--Sage/Codito and Playdek, for example--that are expending their capital to keep their games relevant under the new iOS.

AT VERY LEAST, you should be giving Steam keys to those of us losing the relevant games, so at least we might have the ability to play the games we paid for.

What is truly unconscionable is that you are still selling these games knowing that within three months they will be unplayable. And you wonder at all the ill-will! Instead, you could have had a sale specifically to raise money to update these games. Imagine how your fan base would have responded! Instead, they'll be extremely wary of buying anything of yours in the future. This was handled very badly, not by Apple, but by you.

[Mythbuster]

By the way: In the German AppStore is still no warning at all that the games will stop working with iOS 11 ... shame on you!

[baconcow]

Developers have known about Apple's 64-bit requirements since September 2013. In October 2014, Apple sent all developers a message that on February 1, 2015 all new app submissions would require to be 64-bit and by June 1, 2015 all app updates would require being 64-bit. If Apple discussed the requirement of 64-bit to developers, four years ago, it shouldn't be a complete surprise to them that they are discontinuing support for 64-bit, eventually. For customers, however, unless you followed Apple's developer updates or read all the articles on tech news sites, you probably wouldn't have found much of this information out until early 2015, at best. Otherwise, like most of us, we're finding out about the ending 32-bit support quite recently. It has been all a secretive thing for customers, hidden well by both developers and Apple. To put all of the blame on Apple is not only unprofessional, but disrespectful to us customers.

There is a company, named Codito Development Inc., that brought several popular board games for iOS (including Tigris and Euphrates, Le Havre, Tikal, Ra, and some others). They stopped making these games, around 2013 or so, and none of them received 64-bit updates. Recently, they went on Facebook and stated that would be update their old games to be 64-bit, while thanking their loyal fan base for their support. If this old developer can update a handful of their games, long after they've left the scene, it only seems viable that a company like Slitherine could update some of theirs.

No one is going to force Slitherine to support their old games, but lashing out at Apple just looks bad and makes customers angry. The negative effect can be seen in the discussions on several other websites. Just my two cents.

[IainMcNeil]

You would not expect us to update a game that ran on Win 98 to Windows XP for free. Its a different OS. Just because Apple pretend it isn't doesn't change things.

We've explained the position and have nothing else to say.

[Darrell999]

As much as I am intrigued with this game, why would I ever buy a Slitherine IOS product again when they refuse to update and support their apps prior to IOS 11?
I've never been so disappointed in a game company. All my Slitherine IOS apps that I paid for will be useless, and I see so many other developers updating their apps so that their customers can continue to use them.

[eugenemcardle]

You have a nerve still releasing stuff on iOS after the way you treated your customers. And still expecting people to pay top dollar! In Australia, for your information, that’s $31! You should go away until you show some empathy for your customer base. I have spent literally hundreds of dollars on your stuff, both for PC and iOS. Thankfully there are many other great developers who are prepared to take care of their long standing customers. Good riddance.

[eugenemcardle]

Im reposting this here, at the risk of having my hand slapped. I posted it this morning and it seems to have disappeared. Strange things happen all the time.

You have a nerve still releasing stuff on iOS after the way you treated your customers. And still expecting people to pay top dollar! In Australia, for your information, that’s $31! You should go away until you show some empathy for your customer base. I have spent literally hundreds of dollars on your stuff, both for PC and iOS. Thankfully there are many other great developers who are prepared to take care of their long standing customers. Good riddance.

[dejvid2]

Well that's just not true

This message is posted on all our 32 bit apps in the promotional text section:

"This is a 32 bit app. You will always be able to play this app on iOS 10.3 or older but Apple may remove support for 32 bit apps in future iOS updates."

The internal games listed here are in custom engines, which is required to make the kind of wargames we do. We also worked hard to allow modding and this is why the engine is so tied to 32 bit. If we did not support modding and used off the shelf engines to make more generic games then it would be easier to update. We don't and while I understand your frustration it is not through lack of effort or bad choices on our part. The games would not have been possible if we took the easier route to update. When we made these games updating to 64 bit was not an issue. It didn't exist. As I say I understand your frustration but it is simply not something we can do anything about and is absolutely not our fault. .

The option for modding is one of the key things that keep old games fresh and playable so IMO Slitherine has made the right choice. I keep an old computer to play these games but that is a great hardship.

[immped]

My personal hope is that Slitherine will make the decision to work towards making games for the Ipad at IOS 11.

I have only purchased Battle Academy 1 and 2. These games have a niche entirely to themselves and it fits absolutely wonderfully with the ipad.

I personally have searched extensively for turn based tactical war games. I really don’t need anything with 3D graphics. This should be a perfect match for the ipad as those type of games wouldn’t require massive amounts of graphic capabilities. The ipad is great because you can take it anywhere with you. You don’t have to be fixed to a specific spot to play a game. I can envision games like Panzer Blitz, Panzer Leader, Squad Leader and the newly made Tigers On The Hunt as great matches for the ipad.

Personally I would pay the purchase price of Battle Academy 1 and 2 over again if it was reprogrammed for 64 bit.

I am just disappointed that the above mentioned gaming niche is under utilized for a great matching platform.

I even look at games such as Combat Mission and see opportunities in the 2d world using the ipad’s Interface.

Please consider moving forwards in developing new and old games to run on the 64 bit ipad.

[JagdTiger700]

Well since most of us did not have this game for too long a refund should be issued so another game can be purchased.

[andyw712uk]

I must admit I hadn’t realised this issue existed until I came to try and play Battle Academy after many months away from it. I have both BA and BA2 with all the extension packs and am a tad disappointed that I can’t play it on my new iPad. What a let down.

[JagdTiger700]

Well that's just not true

This message is posted on all our 32 bit apps in the promotional text section:

"This is a 32 bit app. You will always be able to play this app on iOS 10.3 or older but Apple may remove support for 32 bit apps in future iOS updates."

The internal games listed here are in custom engines, which is required to make the kind of wargames we do. We also worked hard to allow modding and this is why the engine is so tied to 32 bit. If we did not support modding and used off the shelf engines to make more generic games then it would be easier to update. We don't and while I understand your frustration it is not through lack of effort or bad choices on our part. The games would not have been possible if we took the easier route to update. When we made these games updating to 64 bit was not an issue. It didn't exist. As I say I understand your frustration but it is simply not something we can do anything about and is absolutely not our fault.

The games developed by 3rd parties (GBM, Quadriga tec) are in a range of engines but the developers have said they don't have the time and money to update them. Even if we thought it made sense (which we don't!) we don't have access to any source code/materials to actually find a team to update the software to 64 bit so its a total impossibility.

There is just nothing we can do. Only Apple can change the outcome here and the reason you don't complain to them is because you know they would not even acknowledge your complaint so you choose to try and persuade us, as we listen to our customers. We're being punished for having a dialogue with you guys

If enough people complain maybe Apple will take out the block on 32 bit apps, which is a conscious decision and not a technical requirement in any way.

How about a refund for owners which have the 64-bit upgrade?, they can then purchase another game.

[JagdTiger700]

Ian wrote: "This is a 32 bit app. You will always be able to play this app on iOS 10.3 or older but Apple may remove support for 32 bit apps in future iOS updates."

This is not in the description for the games in Apple's App Store. I still can find no warning about possible games not working with an iOS update. Checked three of the 32 bit games.

Thought you'd like to know.

It says developer needs to upgrade to iOS 11.

[JagdTiger700]

While I enjoy the multi-player, I would be happy just to be able to play it solo (mostly do so now) so is it possible to just make it a 64 bit solo game? My biggest irritation is I bought this for PC and also some of the expansions rebought the expansions for my iPad and all the others. Switched playing the games from the PC to the iPad and purchased all the other iPad games you brought out ... had I known I would have bought less but put the money in PC versions. Considering that my wife hated when I vanished to the back room with the PC as compared with staying in the same room with the iPad, you and (to be fair) Apple have decided to make my gaming life a living hell at home!
I deserve better (lol)

The future is portable systems which are not tethered and don’t need a specific monitor/television to use like desktops/video game systems and can be used while not plugged in using up electricity unless recharging...they just need controller attachments and the iPad has one but can’t be used while a case is on, they could possibly design one.

[CarlVS]

The future is portable systems which are not tethered and don’t need a specific monitor/television to use like desktops/video game systems and can be used while not plugged in using up electricity unless recharging...they just need controller attachments and the iPad has one but can’t be used while a case is on, they could possibly design one.

As soon as you can do something of the complexity level of War in the East / West / Pacific on an iPad, then we can talk about how it is the "future" of computer war-gaming...

[triari]

Hello Mockingbird,

Sorry, but for both of these games the engines themselves which the games are built on are only 32-bit engines and the engine cannot be updated to 64-bit, so if Apple stop 32-bit apps from working on the iOS then this will unfortunately end the games as well, as these cannot be updated to 64-bit without completely rebuilding the games in a new engine. At the moment there is no confirmed date when Apple will stop 32-bit apps from running, but there is talk that this may happen with iOS11 so if you still wish to play the games then you will not be able to update to this iOS. I'm sorry for this.

Does the same go for Commander The Great War?