Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord

In January 1997, Avalon Hill contracted Big Time Software to create a computer version of the publisher's board wargame Advanced Squad Leader. Earlier collaborations between the two included Flight Commander 2 and Over the Reich.[6] Avalon Hill had considered a computer adaptation of Squad Leader for several years, as its board incarnations had sold over 1 million copies by 1997, but the company was initially hesitant to pursue this idea because of the series' complexity. While it ultimately attempted the project with Atomic Games, this version fell through and became the unrelated Close Combat in 1996. Terry Coleman of Computer Gaming World called the decision to try again with Big Time "a breath of fresh air".[7] Discussing the new effort in early 1997, Bill Levay of Avalon forecast a release date of late 1998 or potentially 1999 for Big Time's version, as the developer was slated to create Achtung Spitfire! and an unannounced title for Avalon beforehand.[6] The game was set primarily to adapt Advanced Squad Leader, rather than the original Squad Leader,[8] and Levay remarked that it would stay closer to its board roots than had Atomic's project. However, it was not planned to be a one-to-one translation of the board version.[6] Coleman noted at the time, "The only thing for sure is that the ASL design will be turn-based".[9]

Combat Mission began development as an adaptation of a board wargame known for its complexity.

Later in 1997, the title of Big Time Software's game was revealed as Computer Squad Leader. The developer's Charles Moylan explained that the project would automate many of the board version's numerical calculations, and would offer scaling levels of complexity to accommodate novices and veterans. Support for online and play-by-email multiplayer modes was planned.[7] Moylan described Computer Squad Leader as an effort to merge Advanced Squad Leader with "new material" from Big Time. It began production in mid-1997.[10] However, Moylan "suspected problems with Avalon Hill [...] and acted accordingly" as the year progressed, Tom Chick of CNET Gamecenter later wrote.[11] To safeguard his project, he avoided the inclusion of features specific to Advanced Squad Leader until the end of development; early production was focused entirely on material whose copyright was owned by Big Time, rather than Avalon Hill.[11][12] As a result, the project had "maximum flexibility" in its response to changing circumstances, Moylan said.[11]

Computer Squad Leader was canceled in July 1998 when Big Time parted ways with Avalon Hill,[12] a decision that Moylan attributed to "boring business stuff".[11] The following month, Hasbro purchased Avalon Hill and laid off its entire staff.[13] Despite the shakeup, Computer Squad Leader's lack of copyrighted material allowed Big Time to continue development independently and without any delays, under the new title Combat Mission.[12][14][11] A tentative release date was set for spring 1999.[12] By the time of Computer Squad Leader's cancellation, Big Time had implemented the WeGo structure, and a 3D graphics engine had been created that rendered both the environments and characters as polygonal models.[10] The inspiration for the WeGo system came from the wargame TacOps,[15] and was an attempt to merge the strategic depth of turn-based gameplay with the intensity and realism of real-time gameplay.[1]

Following the split from Avalon Hill, Moylan continued work on Combat Mission as Big Time Software's sole employee. He began meeting with Impressions Games' Steve Grammont—who had worked on Robert E. Lee: Civil War General and Lords of the Realm 2—to complete Combat Mission's core design. In a few weeks, the pair devised the game's WeGo system as a compromise between turn-based and real-time strategy mechanics, both of which Moylan and Grammont considered to be flawed approaches.[1]

Moylan later said that his core goal with Combat Mission was to create "the first strategy/war game to combine serious simulation with compelling 3D graphics and sound", and to match the technological advances of first-person shooters and flight simulators that he believed had outpaced wargames.[1]

Battlefront.com was established in May 1999.[16] Combat Mission was released on May 31, 2000.[1] The Special Edition of the game was released three years later.[2]

According to Moylan, Combat Mission was a hit for Big Time Software, and accrued "good sales" in its first two months. Its simultaneous launch for Mac OS brought a 20% increase in purchases.[1] The game's initial print run was intended to last for one year,[17] but unexpectedly high demand exhausted Big Time's supplies by June 26,[18] following the game's release on May 31. Moylan wrote that the team "drastically underestimated" the game's sales potential, which left them unprepared for and "overwhelmed" by its popularity.[1] The second run was put up for sale on June 29.[19]

Writer T. Liam McDonald highlighted Combat Mission's online distribution model as an element of its success, since word of mouth would allow its audience to grow indefinitely, while wargames sold at brick and mortar retailers had limited shelf lives.[17] By February 2001, the lack of publisher and retailer fees allowed Big Time's revenues on the game to equal roughly "200,000 to 250,000 sales in retail", according to Moylan. A writer for Computer Gaming World considered this proof "that a developer can sell its games exclusively over the Internet and make money", after the relative failure of Sid Meier's Antietam! to break into this market.[20] McDonald similarly called Battlefront.com and Combat Mission positive signs for the future of computer wargames, after mainstream publishers had lost interest in the genre.[17] However, GameSpot proceeded to nominate Combat Mission for its 2000 "Best Game No One Played" award. The website's editors wrote, "[A]lthough sales have exceeded the publisher's initial expectations, they are much lower than typical retail releases."[21]

Combat Mission received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings;[22] McDonald noted in 2000 that it received "the most positive reviews of any wargame in recent memory".[17] GameSpot named it an "Editor's Choice" and noted that "It's sure to appeal to anyone interested in serious military simulations, but even those just looking for a good World War II computer game should find that it has a lot to offer."[24]

The editors of Computer Gaming World named Combat Mission the best wargame of 2000. They argued that the game "altered the basic idea of what a wargame can be", and revolutionized wargames "the way Doom changed first-person shooters."[31] PC Gamer US named it the best turn-based strategy game of 2000,[32] The Electric Playground named it 2000's "Best Independent PC Game" and the editors of Computer Games Magazine nominated it for their 2000 "Wargame of the Year" award.[34][33] Combat Mission was also a nominee for GameSpot's "Strategy Game of the Year" and Electric Playground's "Best Strategy Game for PC" awards, which went to Shogun: Total War and Sacrifice, respectively.[21][34]