I managed to contact Ron and steal some time from him to talk about Wargames 2.0 (beta-testing beginning soon). He was forthcoming with information and even dropped us a few spoilers and sneak peeks into his creation.  

1) How do you personally define a "text-based, multiplayer strategy game, played on the web?"
Ron: Not much to say here, the game is quite similar to available games online such as GangWar, Gindis - Army Commander etc. in the fact that no downloads are required; both IE and Mozilla based browsers are supported; and in that there are no graphics except the GUI (graphic user interface).

Ron: Every new player is given a virtual country; and within each country there are certain aspects to manage (Tech, army, budget, etc). In order to keep the game simple, we give players the ability to log in once a day and play in order to keep the balance between someone that has a few hours a day to play and someone who has only 20 minutes every day – The game is turn based. Each player receives 2 turns every 30 minutes (According to the server time, of course), which is pretty standard for these games.

2) What makes Wargames 2.0 different from other games online like GangWar, Utopia, Blacknova Traders etc?
Ron: The first, main difference which will be very noticeable is the amazing GUI graphic design, which I don't believe anyone has ever seen before in this type of game. I have been a web programmer for many years now, and I have both aesthetic and user-friendly at the top of my priorities.

Starting out:
Ron: Every new player is presented with the option of playing for a certain amount of time just to "see how the game works", and only then enters the real game with a new country.
Help:
Ron: One of the main problems I've encountered while trying different games on the web, is the lack-of help or very long and cumbersome help files. To try and improve our game by learning from the mistakes of those games, I've developed a very easy to use, and simple help system, which allows players to learn the game quite easily without having to read a 20 page help file.
League System:
Ron: In order to keep balance, the game is divided into leagues, which are recalculated every few days according to each player's score (Which is calculated according to his different country achievements); keeping players within their powers all the time.
Personality Ally:
Ron: Another thing which I did not like in other games is the fact that you don't really know anyone there, so deciding who to ally with, is a difficult choice, especially when the leagues are recalculated every few days. So, each new player has to fill out a short personality questionnaire, and he will receive some sort of "personality score". Each time the player moves a league, he will be teamed up automatically with a country that has the most similar "personality score" as he, which gives the player a better chance of teaming up with a player with similar game strategy as his own.
Player Feedback:
Ron: Probably the biggest difference between Wargames 2.0 and other games out there is that there is a part of the game dedicated to user feedback on the game. If a player finds a bug or typo, has a suggestion or just thinks of something he would like, he can send it to me, and I will personally look at every single feedback. Players who find bugs will receive game bonuses such as extra turns or money.

3) Why did you decide on this specific format and genre for the game?
Ron: I have always loved playing these kinds of games for a few reasons:
* It allows you to play the game whether you are in your home, office or on vacation. * You don't have to download anything to your computer. * These games are very competitive and fun. * The game's basic graphic design allows you to imagine everything in your country. * I just love the fact that you can run a country in only 15 minutes every day! And besides that, I can't really think of a retail game which allows you to run a country versus other countries.

4) Will there be a 'winner' in the game or a ranking system of some sort? How will people know they have been successful in the game?
Ron: Yes. As I said, the game is divided into many leagues, and each league contains players with similar scores. Each player's score is calculated by adding different aspects of his country like army, technology, money, land, and more. The object of the game is to rise in rank, while conquering land from other countries; and the ultimate goal, is reaching the top league.

5) Will there be periodic resets of the universe like in other online strategy games?
Ron: Yes there will be periodic resets every few weeks or so, and when we will have enough players, even run a couple of games side by side.

In part 2 tomorrow we'll find out more about Ron and his design crew.

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