MANILA - A Vietnam War game developed by a Pinoy has now been updated to include more maps and playable units in its belt.

• Pinoy game developer uses lockdown to finish Vietnam War game he shelved for 17 years

"Wider War", an expansion of Tiger Yan’s "The Nam: Vietnam Combat Operations", adds other countries affected by the war, and also expands to cover wars Vietnam fought with other countries, such as China and Cambodia.

The expansion also enhanced details in the game, which was initially a project Yan continued during the lockdown after it was shelved for some 18 years.

One notable feature in the expansion, Yan said, is its portrayal of all sides.

"It’s a nonprofit educational game for people to experience and overcome the many challenges of jungle-based guerilla warfare, from not seeing your enemies to approaching and controlling potentially hostile towns and villages. Unlike most Vietnam War games which tend to glorify Americans, all sides are portrayed as heroes fighting for their own causes,” Yan explained.

MAP EXPANSIONS

Among the featured maps include a playable unit of South Vietnam, which during the war was backed by the United States.

The map allows players to "command regular and elite Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces" in a reenactment of the "Battle of Xuân Lộc", heralded as the last key stand-off in the war.

“No side lost more than the South Vietnamese, many of whom emigrated to America and other countries after Saigon was taken by North Vietnamese forces in April 1975,” Yan, who met many former soldiers of the ARVN, explained of the historical context of the map.

Yan previously said he used field experience investigating farm communities and wildlife "to make the game as realistic as possible," and took three trips to Vietnam to complete the game.

Another featured map is Cambodia where players can command the Khmer Rouge in a somewhat reenactment of the Cambodian-Vietnamese war.

A key feature in the map includes designs of Khmer temples and Cambodian villages, as well as the "killing fields" where child soldiers set afoot.

"As the Khmer Rouge had similar weapons to Vietnam, it’s the only map in the game where Vietnamese can play against Vietnamese and still be relatively historically accurate," added Yan, who said he personally saw the killing fields.

Another map is the "Long Tan" map which allows players to train Australian and New Zealand troops.

"The new Long Tan map allows you to train ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand) troops, who famously won the 1966 Battle of Long Tan against the Vietcong. There’s a lot we did to make the maps and units better," Yan said.

Another map, titled "The Sino-Vietnamese" War, allows players to go as Chinese invaders or Vietnamese defenders in the month-long 1979 war.

The game is free to download but Yan urged players to make donations to APOPO, a nonprofit organization working to clear deadly landmines in Cambodia.