We got our beta 4 milestone done a bit early so the team got Tuesday off to recuperate.
So tomorrow, with any luck, we should have beta 4 released. After that, the beta is closed to new users and we move towards release next month.
We’ve really had a blast working on Elemental. I was talking to some friends today on how Elemental is different (in terms of development) from other games and the big difference is, on a sequel or when using an established engine, if something isn’t done, you an always rely on what’s already there. By contrast, in Elemental, nothing is there.
The team is trying to get in the built in uploading and downloading system in Beta 4. I've told them it isn’t a requirement for beta 4 but they’re obsessed in letting people be able share their stuff. The campaign for Elemental was done entirely via modding tools so players will definitely be able to create their own cool stuff.
Some of my friends have been wanting to try the beta but I keep warning them off that beta 3C will cause them immense pain and agony. It’s just that bad. Really though, anyone who wants to “play the game early” should just wait until release. The beta program, as you guys have seen, is a real beta program. Utter pain right to the end. It’s been great though. To me, this is what it’s all about. How often do brand new games get made these days? And here, we’ve been able to interact with like minded gamers to put something really special together.
…
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll try to put together a bit of a mod tutuorial. The modding tools are reasonable solid but we don’t really have any documentation put together. So if you’re the type that needs docs to get going, you’re probably going to want to wait.
The big things modders should be able to do right away that could make a big difference to gameplay will be:
There’s so many good experiences in this beta to take to heart. If I had to name two things I would do differently I would have made stability and performance as two things we would have addressed earlier. Beta 4’s performance is close to release level. Stability is much better but we really need a couple more days to look at memory management.
I have to say, we’ve had so much fun on this project. Elemental is something we’ll be working on for years to come and we’re excited to watch it grow with the community.
Beta 4 will be cool .
Mainly because of better stability and performance... I share Brads opinion that this could have been addressed earlier. Some of the beta builds were performing so poorly I couldn't play/test them for longer periods.
That's a pretty good idea and I think it would be a Massive PR move on Stardock's part. Imagine if they did that and it got a mention on Gamespot in the Elemental Review when it hits. If the potential customer base knew that Stardock was literally giving away $25 a month to the "Best" modder every month for the first 6 months after release you might actually bring in a lot of customers who just want to "Win" the "Contest" and get their name out in the modding community.
Being a highly known modder today can be a great way to "get your foot in the door" when you're looking for work as well. Granted a lot of companies don't outsource too much stuff like this anymore, but there are still some that do on occasion or who will make an exception for a qualified perspective employee. The main obstacle is that more and more companies today are realizing that they don't really need to pay people to beta test things anymore. Most games usually build enough of a fan base that people will line up months in advanced (or even pay) to be part of the beta process. So much so, in fact, that with some games "In House Beta Testing" isn't even needed aside from quality assurance.
Hm...giving $25 to the "modder of the month"? It sounds weird to be honest...not to mention that the best mods will be created by modding teams, like FFH2 for Civ4 or the Third Age mod for M2:TW...but hell knows, maybe it's a good idea afterall.
eh ... maybe once a year? Or every 6 months
I dislike this. A lot in fact.
This would discourage sharing of work and ideas amongst people, and would lead to some drama because some one did X and Y, then some else added Z to it and got something out of it, but the X Y guy got nothing. The best way for Stardock to show appreciation for the modders is to support them technically, not reward them materially.
Nyyaaarrgh..!
Give me the faction editor already!
No no, not at all. No one's saying change the system so people have to pay for modded content. The system would stay the way it is. Everything would be available for download for free through Impulse and Elemental's modding servers. The only difference would be that Stardock would pick or people would vote on "Winners". The Mods would have to be out in the public being played for anyone to know enough to want to vote on it or for Stardock to see such a community reaction that it would be worth giving a prize for.
In the case of a "Modding Team" being chosen, well, the "make believe prize" at this point is only a "$25 off card" for buying something on Impulse right? The more of those they give out the more chance someone's going to buy something on Impulse and thus furthering their revenue.
No one's saying people should have to pay to download mods or for modders not to share them (at least I'm not saying that).
where did I say anything about that?
I think you're misunderstanding what he was saying slightly. A lot of modding communities will thrive based on the sharing of ideas. There are many mods that will include features thought up by other players or even contain mods by other players in their entirety. This is possible because there is nothing to gain from keeping things to yourself, if you start being able to turn a profit from your mods you'll find that there will be less sharing on the development side of the modding community because they all want to "win"
Yea there might be a few modders that will not care about the monetary rewards of modding, but that kind of altruistic behavior isn't particularly common. While I'm all for making ways to keep the modding community healthy, I don't think paying individuals is the way to go.
Basic human sociology experiments have proven that, whilst initially offering a reward encourages performance of a behaviour, once that reward has been offered the human mind ceases to think of an activity as enjoyable, and begins on some level to think of it as "work".
As a result, when a behaviour is being practised with the promise of reward, experimentation also demonstrated the products of such behaviour to be of a lower quality than those who engaged in the behaviour without the promise of reward - for enjoyment. Furthermore, when those who had been receiving rewards were no longer offered a reward, they ceased engage in the behaviour, however those who had never been offered such rewards in the first place continued.
In conclusion - Offering rewards for modders is more likely to inspire mediocrity and brevity in modding activities than it is innovation and long-lasting investment.
Second conclusion - Never offer your child a reward to be good. This will actually cause worse behaviour in general!
Exactly. This is one of a 100 different scenarios I thought of on how contest, and rewards could go wrong:
Wintersong releases a bunch of new buildings, but does so slowly over the course of a few months. Luckmann has downloaded all of them, and decides he doesn't like the names. He takes it upon himself to change the names of buildings, adds some cheesy particle effects and repacks them into "Luckmann's Uber Construction Pack", doesn't give any credit to Wintersong, then wins one of these contest. Winter takes a look at Luckmann's awesome prize winning mod, only to find out all the buildings are actually his. Wintersong gets enraged, and grants Luckmann's bear calvary wish by taming a bear and riding it to his house. We all hear about it on CNN and BBC.
wheres Dale?
The scenario is also more likely than you'd think. I steal. Regularly.
I plan to focus exclusively on quests because the current ones *are* boring. Fear not, you'll get rants about what's not possible but should be soon enough, Frogboy
I see an upcoming gold star mod -> war of the modders
But I agree that there should not be a sort of pricing the modding - it should be fun and not getting to a stressful job because 'I have to reach my deadline for submission'. The modding community will be active if they see an approbiate support from Stardock or other modders
You're more than welcome to do that Anny
Ahh, I fugred that's why you were against the idea. Because perhaps you thought people would with-hold their mods to make money off them or something.
Note: I didn't even think of the other scenario. Now that I see it like that, it probably is a bad idea to give anything away as a prize.
What about a progressive series of Modding Medals that you can Shine and Polish inside your Impulse account. A digital Medal has to be as good as real one right?
The ones I have make me really proud. Especially the Spider Kills one.
Have there been previous discussions as to how we will be able to download mods once someone creates them? I am not very good at opening files and makiing syntax changes, etc. It would be most welcome if there was a designated site where nn-technical players can see a description of the mod and have a one click "download mod xyz" botton where it automativcally unpacks itself into the correct game files, and presto, you now have a new item on the campain menu or faction menu, etc. This would really be a perk for a very large share of the EWoM community. I am especially interested in dome of the oft discussed mod ideas like Raven X's DragonLance, and a LoTR mod, among others.
http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14295360/elemental-war-of-magic-/images/elemental-war-of-magic--20100721030704344.html?page=mediaFull
http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14295360/elemental-war-of-magic-/images/elemental-war-of-magic--20100721030707703.html?page=mediaFull
By the looks of it, everything should be ingame and automated - assuming those screens aren't just mock-ups
Heh.
I hope thats a mock up, because those map sizes are just insane.
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