Weewar has come a long way. A big part of that is thanks to the excellent community which we are very happy to be part of! We are especially thankful to our Pro Players who have opted to support us with their subscriptions.
Bert and I have committed a lot of time and money towards making this happen and we are very pleased with where Weewar is and where it is going. We do however fall short of covering our ever growing expenses (this really is the cost of success) and it makes it hard to move things forward as fast as we’d like too. So we are about to introduce a few changes that will impact free play but will also make it a lot easier for new players to get into Weewar:
- Pro players will now be able to start up to 15 games and accept as many invites as they like while we limit regular headquarters to a maximum of 4 games at a time
- A new simplified game set up form with only three maps to choose from (pro players will still have access to the feature rich current version and the 1000s of maps on the system). Please note: Pro players can still invite anybody to their pro games
- Newly signed up players get to play an intro game against a computer player to learn the ropes (this is already live)
- We will introduce a new map tile: Bridges (Ships go under, ground units go over). This should make the map universe ever so much more exciting.
While we are introducing these changes we would like to offer you a special deal: From today till May 15th the price of the one year subscription is reduced by 50% to only $12. Everybody is entitled to this offer. If you already have a subscription this will simply extend it for another year at the reduced rate.
This is a big step. We count on your support so we can keep maintaining and improving Weewar!
ps> There is a new (still secret) unit in the making which we will reveal soon…
63 Comments
The bridge tile looks AWESOME.
So let me get this straight – you’re giving pro players MORE games, regular players get MORE games, there’s an intro bot for new players, and you’re giving everyone a discount on subscriptions?
Yeah, I’d say that’s way, way more than fair.
Sounds great, happy to see Weewar moving forward!
This one goes out to my friend CaptainCupcake…
Hope you bridge the financial gap! (sorry, I couldn’t resist!)
excellent, exciting news!
I’m extremely pleased. I may have to take advantage of the new offer.
Wow, red is really screwed in that game. You should never leave a DFA exposed like that.
I predict this will convert a lot of free users into Pro members. A small percentage will feel slighted and never come back, but they probably weren’t really into it that much.
If you even remotely enjoy the game, $12 a year for such a leap in functionality is a steal!
It’s great news and the deal is more than fair, but it would be nice if there were some more options in terms of paid accounts. How about 7 or 8 games at a time at a price point to match?
Some of us don’t have the willpower to play less than 15 games. (Weewar is that addictive!) Staying with the basic account free’s up a lot of my time and to be honest is a big part of the reason I let my pro account lapse.
Keep up the great work!!
Awesome! Thank you for increasing the game limit to 15, great idea.
I simply love this, great news indeed :)
Even less map choices now for free-players. The only reason you could want to do this is to force more people to start paying. I understand there are expenses to cover, but they cant be that much. I don’t think I’ll be playing here still in another month. Some of us don’t have the option to pay.
Is it because you don’t have twelve dollars, or you don’t have access to either PayPal or a credit card?
I should point out, btw, that you can still play any maps if you are invited.
i don’t know why he can’t get pro but i actually don’t have access to PayPal or a credit card without going through parents who don’t really want to.
Look. Do you even own a website. Sure at the moment I use free hosting. (Currently switching from MobileMe to 000webhost so if my sites down, sorry), but the sheer size of WeeWar can’t fit on a free server. WeeWar has 59,574 players (yes, almost 60,000) which takes up alot of space. a 60,000 people use ALOT of bandwidth. No to mention that work on their TIME which, we all know time cost money. Plus they have to store all the maps, players info, games, API (which takes up even more precious bandwidth), units, ALL THAT CODE. With all of that I’m assume they have at least one dedicated server probably more (here’s a link to a dedicate server plan: http://www.hostgator.com/dedicated.shtml ). They also need machines to code this stuff on.
I get that you don’t want to pay money for WeeWar, that’s fine, but getting upset that you’re upset that WeeWar needs money and tries to make money is crazy. Nothing is free! Nothing.
How about we start deleting many of the players who haven’t logged in for months. That’s sure to free up some space!
As for Weewar taking up their time; time is not money. Contrary to the popular saying.
Also, I’m not getting upset about myself getting upset that something costs money. I’m getting upset that instead of just increasing the number of bells and whistles that paid players receive, they are actually further limiting free players ability to play as well.
I’ve gotten bored of the free maps, and was considering upgrading my account. But after being shown what the people who run this would do for more $$$, I’ve abandoned that idea.
I also upgraded back in the day (2 yrs. ago) when normal people could play real maps for free, because it was an honor to donate money to good games for the masses. Now it’s no different than WoW or any other corporate entity.
And nothing is free??? Really???
May sure you pay the meter when you walk out side. Once for the sunshine/
Twice for the oxygen in the air.
And a third time for the right to be so smug about trying to turn a profit.
It’s a shame you feel that way, “A weewar player.”
If you work for a living, time IS money. Any time spent on one thing is time not spent on another, and you can’t live without working. This is what Alex and Bert do for a living.
You sound like you want everything to be free, just because it’s online.
If you honestly enjoyed Weewar that much, twelve bucks is hardly anything to pay. That’s one cab ride anywhere in New York. Half a book at Barnes & Noble. One-fourth of a Wii game.
These guys have made something great here, that tens of thousands of people love. If you read the rest of the comments here, everyone is happy about these changes.
When I was a kid, we’d spend twelve bucks in quarters in one afternoon at the arcade. I don’t see why this is any different.
If you were going to upgrade before, now you’re getting more for the money, and at half the price. I really don’t think you were ever planning to, though – after all, you just said that you “don’t have the option to pay.” I think you’re just mad about not getting other people’s work for free.
I agree with Bonchon, your just upset that you have to pay for something. Time is money, money that could be making doing something else.
Also, because you want something free we should start deleting other people’s accounts just for you. That isn’t fair to them, and depending on how the WeeWar TOS is worded, probably also illegal. Next time you find a console/computer game for $12 that is actually fun and full featured, let me know. I doubt you could even find one for $25. Personally I think is a good move on WeeWar’s part. I don’t mind paying for a good service. Also, I’m not just paying for the extra features, also I’m also paying to support the site. $12/$24 is a great price for a great service. Sure they’re free accounts are limited, who’s aren’t. Plus you get the great community of people. I say pay and don’t complain, or don’t pay and don’t complain about the price, but sense your complaints are free to return the fave, maybe I should give you unrestricted access to everything on the internet, Umm, it just doesn’t work that way. Deal with it.
I wish I could, but I can’t pay for these things. Free accounts are truly “trial” accounts now. We can’t do anything.
Nice to see the bridges, but I was secretly hoping for engineering units that could use turns to build things like walls and bridges. Then other units could blow them up, too.
Maybe that is what the secret unit is!
Nah, I don’t think so. I’m thinking probably a sea unit as suggested by certian people. Either a transport or repair boat..
Awesome! =)
screw you guys, i’m going pro!
I think that overall this is a step in a great direction. Really looking forward to the new unit.
Great news! :-)
Erg, now I have to decide between getting pro or staying free with less stuff.
woohoo.. I hope the new unit is a missile.. That’s the only thing weewar is missing I think..
I’d love a sniper unit… Range of 5, only works on light and heavy troopers. Cost = 200 or 250, and deals (and receives) similar damage to a light trooper.
I’m already a pro, but, in the interest of supporting Alex and Bert, I’d like to buy a committed non-pro player a 12 month pro account. Here’s an easy contest and it’s not a trick question or anything. To respond, you must (1) be a non-pro and (2) you must show at least 120 bases captured in your profile. Post your answer here with your Wee War profile name. First correct answer wins.
What famous general is quoted as saying, “This army stays here until the last wounded man is removed. Before I will leave them to the enemy, I will lose many more men.”
My account name is Daphron and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson said that.
You got it, Daphron. I’ll subscribe you now. Post a follow-up comment if you don’t see it soon.
Crud. I think that no one ever purchases gift subscriptions. The links for the 3 month and 12 month are the same. I’ll get you the three month tonight and will buy the rest when they get that fixed.
Thanks for the account!
You’re welcome. I sent Alex an e-mail about the 12 month option not working. Please remind me to buy you the rest when it’s fixed. Good hunting.
Ok, not sure how to contact you though cause people stop reading these blogs rather fast.
Thank you for your support Joel! The gift subscription link must have broken during the most recent update. We’ll fix asap. I have sent you a link to achieve the same result. Let me know if you need anything else.
Thanks again – and thank you all for the great feedback!
Congratulations on the new product developments. I love the careful, incremental enhancements to a brilliantly simple architecture, and I appreciate the open, frank, communication with your community.
I consider you guys to be a leader in the realm of web-based software — a lot of companies could learn a thing or two from the way you do business.
Oh, and you make a really fun game, too.
Thanks,
- Rowan
ps> There is a new (still secret) unit in the making which we will reveal soon…
Sounds fun. :P
However, I don’t see anything that’s been implemented yet… ??
No maps with bridges are out yet – and you can’t even put bridges in when using the map editor.
Also, are you going to have many different bridge tiles (one for each direction?) In map editor, will it automatically pick the directions?
How are plans to come up with other tiles going? Such as city tiles (income, but no building of units). Surely, you can just take a base and remove it’s building abilities and then change the picture. Or is it harder than that?
They are upcoming and not live yet. It is only fair to let people know in advance :) We’ll roll them out at same point next week. And yes: bridges can go on more then one directions.
All in due time :)
Just a quick request/comment.
Could you maybe add another amphibious unit?
Can we get the $12 price in buying pro accounts for others? I play with a group of family members and would like to extend one of their pro accounts as a gift.
You should still be able to buy “gift” accounts for other people. I can still see the icon when I look at other players’ profiles.
Right now a problem with the link appears to only be letting me purchase 3 month gift subscriptions. For year subscriptions (if the link was working), it appears the cost would still be $24.
Since the players in question are family members, I suppose, at worst, you could always ask for their log in information, and then buy them pro subscriptions directly with their accounts.
Crude, but it gets the job done.
Cool :)
Weewar and Darkbee: “paved with good intentions” ;)
Great to see that you continue to develop weewar. I was about to program own …
I might as well recreate my account.
The bridge option is an important step, however many concepts are still missing, like transport units and advanced ways to handle money.
r.
Great thing. I’m looking to get an one year pro-account, the special offer really is an opportunity…
Sounds great, can’t wait for all the new stuff. I’m in on a 1 year Pro Extension!
Ooh nice bridge.
Yes, I’ll try to scrape up the $12 in support. Last time I went pro I carelessly used paypal, which had insufficient funds, which automatically drew from and old bank account with insufficient funds…and wham – a $30 overdraft penalty! lol (or more like col).
My dream feature is removing zone of control for ‘allies’. This would COMPLETELY make team matches more ‘realistic’. Like pikel troop battles is realistic anyway ;-)
Oh yeah, and audible screams as troops die. With a little blood. For accuracy.
I’ll second removing zoc for allied play as the top of my WeeWar wish list.
I’ll third(?) it!
Fourth!
Fifth?
sixth
seventh :)
eight!
I say ‘ditto’ with a caveat:
I hope people realize that allied play is rather complicated to implement, (not trivial) and these guys are dedicated to quality game play, so they’re not going to roll out some hacked, half-baked allied play option. (or so I’m led to believe by the quality of the game overall and careful roll out of new features)
some shameless new unit lobbying ;-)
http://casaubon.lima-city.de/Weewar/weewar_units_animation.htm
It’s gotta be a SCUBA unit!
I can’t wait until the new improvements start. I heard that the new unit is going to be a Navy Seal Unit. If so, it would be an interesting unit. It would be nice to put Weewar on CD in order to avoid Windows Browser drag. It would be nice.
Just seconding (or thirding, or forthing), my support of the increased game limit with a price break.
I bought immediately.
Also, the new unit is totally going to be: Infected Infantry. They will attack by hugging other units and giving them the flu. This won’t effect their health at all, just make them a little sluggish for a turn or two. It’s about as dangerous as the real swine flu
It is too bad that you’ve removed the free 6player multiplayer maps. I respect any decisions made; however, i have four friends that are new to these types of games that likely won’t pay for play the first time or two around.
I’m just coming back from an absence of about 2 years because a good friend of mine has moved cross country and I thought this would be a great way for us to stay connected.
Alas you have gone corporate and instead of using ads and other sponsorship to increase the # of players with less income per player you went with a fee to reduce the # of player but collect more per player.
This saddens me and I think i’ll just buy a copy of risk or axis and allies for the computer and send my friend a copy for what it would cost us for this.
Sincerely, Disappointed. Will
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