Greetings!
I'm pretty far from a good net connection so I'll keep this brief
Let me say that I'm glad that most people seem to like the game. This message, however, is for those who are disappointed with Elemental so far.
Stardock is not just a game studio but it is also a publisher. What does this mean? Well, historically, the way it works is a game is released and if people don't like it, they're supposed to buy some expansion pack for it that "fixes" things that people thought should be in the original version.
We don't have to do that because we're both the studio and the publisher.
That means we can release free "expansion packs" for Elemental until such a high percentage of players love the game that only then can we discuss sequels or paid expansions.
Having had the opportunity to finally get out of the office for the first time in months has let me look at the game (and ahem, play the game for crazy amounts) of time from a new perspective.
I should also say that regardless of sales or reviews, our commitment to Elemental will not be affected. As some of you know, most of our company's revenue doesn't come from developing games. Even if the game didn't sell another copy, we would still continue our update schedule.
So what will be the concrete results of this?
1. In September we will release v1.1 which will be the first major revision to the game that takes into account the feedback we're getting from players. This will be a pretty substantial change. In particular, character creation, magic (think, shared mana pools),
2. We are going to go ahead and make a more traditional tutorial. I'm not a fan of tutorials but some of my grognard friends have had trouble figuring out the mechanics which means to me that we have to do something about that.
3. We are going to move Book 2: Magesa out of a future expansion pack and into the base game in a future "mega" update, likely late Fall.
4. As mentioned on the forums back in July-ish, we plan to make a new DVD gold master available to those with limited Internet connections later this Fall.
5. As discussed (I think) last Winter, I will be taking a sabbatical this Fall specifically so I can dedicate time to AI and modding so that others, long after me, can use the Elemental engine to create other things (you will need to know Python to really go crazy with it).
6. I will NOT be ceasing my postings on other forums. The guys on Qt3 and Octopus Overlords and elsewhere are my friends. I'm no more going to stop posting there then I would stop going out with my friends to movies and other "public places" where, heaven forbid, someone datamining my comments might find a "gotcha moment". Those people are my friends both on the forums and outside the forums. Interacting with you guys is a major reason I like making games in the first place.
7. To those reviewing the game: I would urge you to review the game prior to v1.1. I say this because v1.05 (the release day version) is the version of the game that was originally released and if that version of the game is considered flawed then my view is that Stardock should suffer the consequences for that. We appreciate the kindness and patience many people have shown. I just think game studios, including Stardock, need to be conscious of what they release and not expect to "patch themselves out of trouble". I do believe Elemental is, by far, the best game we've ever made but I also agree with most of the criticisms I've read too. The state of PC entertainment has changed since 2006 (when we released GalCiv II) and it is our responsibility to stay with the times.
In short, we love this game. And we love this community. We're not going to be leaving this game to work on some other game. We're with it and you guys for the long haul.
I won't be around to answer questions until next week so I hope this answers some questions.
You guys know what that means??......it means all and I mean ALL who love the game start bitching from now on until the end of days....so we NEVER have to pay for expansions.......hahahah
While I am glad to hear you stating now that your dedication to this game and to ALL members of this community appears to be high no matter what anybody says about it, I hope that you will not confuse "most people" with "many fans on this website".
Oh yeah! Froggie & Stardock
Totally agree. The game is boring. Army and cities are almost the same and units lack special abilities. I didn't know it was part of the original game design and i am really disappointed. In the end this is a fantasy game.
However i clearly remember Brad saying that cause this is a pc only game they could have a lot of different creatures and object with respect to extended pc memory.
Really console dumbed down games have bigger variety.
After reading this thread I feel like throwing up. To many sickening sycophants patting Brad on the back for a disaster. His post shows nothing but severe damage control, and point #7 is just disgusting (reviewers should review what's pressed on the disk since that's when the developer says "it's ready", not the game after 5 patches).
I think you are mistaken. Even reviewers hate the game. I think the 1UP reviewer sums it up:
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3181116&p=1
Call me a "steam fanboi" and call me a "troll" Brad, but you gotta admit, I was right.
September for a patch is vast,i hope first big advancements will be in early september,that's all i hope...
That 1UP review talks about the robust multiplayer in the game. It's laughably obvious the reviewer hardly played the game.
The way I look at it- if you delayed 6 months, the game in Feburary would not be as good, as the game will be since it was rushed out. Look how many things were fixed the week around launch. If the game was still in beta, it would have been slower going.
Since I pre-ordered, it doesn't hurt me any. My concern is solely what this does to future Stardock games, especially as pre-orders won't be as high, and that's what determines the budget.
There's no real point in going over the past repeatedly, to me at least , what needs to be done is what Stardock is going to do, improve the game and try to set things up for the future. This is why I think EWOM when the "free" XP comes out, deserves a re-release- to see if the public is willing to give Stardock a 2nd chance.
Wow, just WOW....2 quotes from the 1UP review:
"A huge contributing factor to both the ease-of-use (or lack thereof) problem and the A.I. idiocy is the total failure of Elemental."
"So, is it all a disaster? Well, the A.I. problems are fixed to some degree by the robust multiplayer (if you can find friends willing to slog through the ugliest visuals since finger-painting class)
I am speechless...talk about haters..
If you noted the "editor's note", they pointed out MP was not available at the time of review, and that he was quoting the Elemental website's feature: Robust multiplayer. The reviewer was saying that a shit AI CAN be redeemed in a "robust multiplayer".
You'd have a point if the release version of GalCiv 2 wasn't well received at the time of release, and it was arguably in worse shape than Elemental.
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You should visit one of the Civilization IV fan forums some time. You might be surprised how many quirks still exist in that game that will never be fixed, yet that series is considered the gold standard of turn-based strategy games.
That's not DRM. DRM stands for "digital rights management" and refers to a very specific form of copy protection. What you're describing is really no different than the registration process you need to go through before you can post on most internet forums, so by your logic, a large portion of the internet employs "DRM" making the term pretty much meaningless.
Actually, DRM is NOT a specific form of copy protection, it is ANY protection method. Forcing customers to register to receive patches IS DRM.
Oh, I was just thinking, there really should be Cities on the tactical map when you're fighting in a siege. There should be City Walls that the player can put units on like in Age of Wonders. Just a thought. It would do a lot for tactical combat I think. Also it seems that units can walk through a lot of things on the tactical map. Like rocks and trees and cactus's. Units should have to go around these things and not be able to walk through them.
This is not the reality and the variety of the asssets and potential of the engine is more than other game.
they could take the same engine of galactic civilization(like blizzard do)and add more variety,i thin this one is better choice,sure the start point is more basic.
For console beh,take an example,let me think,dragon age,not much variety due to the limit of the consoles.And is more simple in elemental add content,structure you can make with editor in game and other things.
you italian like me,what city from?
All you can do now is move forward. I was shocked by the 'shared mana pools' idea, but then I thought about it, and I realized this might make me level up a stat other than essence for once on my channeling heroes.
[...]Well, historically, the way it works is a game is released and if people don't like it, they're supposed to buy some expansion pack for it that "fixes" things that people thought should be in the original version.
[...]
That means we can release free "expansion packs" for Elemental until such a high percentage of players love the game
Thank you!
I'm not sure that's the way it works, though. Normally, people buy a game and if they don't like it, they NEVER buy the expansion pack. The expansion pack is for the people who LIKED the game.
So I think you are on the right track in getting people to like the game. Those free "expansion packs" (fixes?) will surely help. Then, they can buy the expansion pack.
Until then, are you sure that you have your target group in focus? When you write that "most people" seem to like the game, that confuses me a bit. Which people are those? The most loyal fans? The people on these boards? Reviewers? Gamers in general?
Well as many others said before me elemental is not a map editor but a game. So they are not supposed to sella a "potential" game but a complete one.
Second blizzard sell only complete games and this is the reason why they are so famous for their delays. And however this is not a sequel of galciv so you are pointless.
Dragon age as you mentioned it has few monsters and creatures cause it is multiplatform. However there are a lot more creatures in that multiplatform game than in elemental. (spiders are nearly 60% of nasty creatures in elemental)
In the end the greatest mod that a common gamer can create with elemental editor is a repaint of an existing model so stop talking about modding as the holy graal.
More easy to make a complete game with an engine tested from warcraft 3 and the gameplay not changed from 1998(and more money for sure)
the delay for sc2 is beacuse they had to work at wow for one year also.
Elemental is incomplete and basic im with you in this,but the example with blizzard dosent make sense.Blizzard make a sequel with the same gameplay of the predecessor,and same engine of warcraft3,more simple,less risk.
dragon age different genre but for an rpg is important the single player campaign,it is all the game there.eelemental,like other 4x game,are sandbox games.
You dont use the same model but assets,i hope and i think they'll add more.
I thik is more than a map editor,moddability is not just map editor,and the same we can say for the tools.
you make confusion with mod and with create sovereign maybe in game.Mod is one thing,custom sovereign or race another.
said that i hope that became better and they'll add varierty to the game without mod.
Mod was holy graal for civilization series and other games also.
Actions speak louder than words, but its good to hear nonetheless.
I didn't for 11 years and neither did all my friends in my old neighborhood who played PC games. We all lived in a very rural area where the cable company said it wasn't "cost effective" to run cable internet lines. Counting the number of people without internet isn't easy either, because without internet, they can't get on the internet to complain about not having internet. It's a catch 22.
I do believe Brad and the rest of the team will work on this until it becomes a much more polished game. I just question how long that may take.
Your attacks to blizzard are simply off topic. Even bred said he loves sc2 and is in the platinum league. So as we are talking about elemental stop to come here just to show you are a blizzard hateboy.
The same about dragon age, and, again you are pointless, where is the link between the single playe campaign of dragon age and the variety thing we were discussing? i can hear the noise of your nails on the mirror.
In the end mods may be additive to a game but you can't delegate to them the developer work and for sure not everyone is able to create a mod.
perfect
i didnt say that sc2 is a bad game,i have bought it.I have said that is more simple and less risk to make a game with and engine already in use,and a gameplay already tested.just it.i like sc2.But blizzard choise an easy way,i dont hate sc2 as a game
Singleplayer campaign in DA is that and that will remain.A story,and that is.You can create other campaign but the game is the story and the campaign and is the centre of the game.
in game like elemental or other 4x,you add unit or variety and you make them playable many many time in sandbox mode,i see this difference.
I see the civ4 mod,and than dragon age mod,and i see that modding is importan for this type of game.if it was'nt blance mod for space empire 5 I'wouldnt play it.
but i repate elemental need some work for me and im happy brad says that will evolve also in the next months
According to the almighty Wikipedia, the term digital rights management "is used to describe any technology that inhibits uses of digital content not desired or intended by the content provider. The term does not generally refer to other forms of copy protection which can be circumvented without modifying the file or device, such as serial numbers or keyfiles." Emphasis mine.
Sure, you need to register to get the patches, just like you need to register in order to post on these forums, but once you've downloaded a patch, there is no mechanism in place to prevent you from copying the install directory and transferring it to another computer. For that matter, you can go to anywhere.impulsedriven.com and download an up-to-date standalone version of the game that can be installed without restriction on any computer you want.
In short, Elemental is not protected by DRM.
Cant' remeber of comparing or neither talking of elemental single player campaign. Again you are pointless.
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