Elemental: War of Magic v1.09 was released last week. It’s been a challenging month or so since the release of the game. At this stage, the technical issues that affected the game at release have been largely resolved.
Now we move towards the next phase which is where we begin to address the game play based on feedback and our own experience.
Now as some people have probably noticed, most games released today are sequels to existing games. It’s difficult these days to launch a new franchise and Elemental has certainly been no exception. We don’t wait to wait for some future Elemental II to make sure the game lives up to its potential. And realistically, I don’t think we have that luxury.
Elemental: War of Magic is, ultimately a strategy game that lives in a fantasy/RPG style world. There is so much potential there to be tapped and having suffered the knocks of the initial launch, we want to make sure we do things right going forward.
During the later parts of the beta, I took over as the interim Producer (Project Manager) of Elemental: War of Magic. Typically, my role is that of Executive Producer and AI developer. But the sheer immensity of Elemental: War of Magic led us to conclude last Spring that I needed to get more directly involved. With v1.09 now out, it’s time for me to return to my traditional role on our games and pass the torch on to someone else.
After careful internal consideration, it was decided that we needed to bring in someone with a great deal of project management experience. This way, Elemental and our future games would have a dedicated, experienced, full-time Producer and I would be able to get back to running Stardock as a whole.
Tomorrow, we’ll be announcing the new Producer for Elemental and, in all likelihood, Stardock’s subsequent games that we develop. This is a person that is already well known and well respected in the PC gaming community and we’re very excited to be able to hire someone with his talent, experience, and qualifications to succeed me as the Producer on Elemental.
This will allow me to focus my time on design and AI on the game without neglecting the rest of Stardock. In turn, a full time experienced Producer on Elemental will ensure that subsequent updates and expansions get the kind of attention they need and deserve.
We are going to have Elemental: War of Magic v1.1 be the transition between he and I. After that, we’ll begin work on the first expansion pack for Elemental which will be given to all people who currently own Elemental: War of Magic. I won’t go into any details on that expansion since our new Producer will be heavily involved in the specifics of the design.
Our goal for Elemental to become a worthy successor to classic games like Master of Magic has not changed and we will be continuing to endeavor to make that a reality. Stay tuned!
Wasn't BoogieBac the Producer for Elemental? What happens to him?
wheres the announcement?
It's in there. It's not very good yet, but they're working on that. Have you played much? If you just tried it for a little bit, you might have always been below the threshold where it asks whether you want tactical or auto-resolve. You can lower that down to 1v1 in the options, so that you always have the choice for tactical battles.
My guess too.
This was exactly my reaction. To the word. To the letter. But he did say respected in the PC community, not respected in the PC community a decade ago... so we might be safe.
Not sure about Brian Reynolds, he's obviously got the pedigree from AC but well... Zygna. Has that taint seeped so far into his now empty black soul that he'll never make a good game again? A valid concern.
Soren seems more the programmer/designer than producer type.
Kael would be an excellent choice in my book. Certainly respected, and has a proven body of recently successful work, and has updated it over a long period of time in the SD fashion. My only qualm would be lack of experience in commercial game production as opposed to mods but so long as I had a reliable backstop for him I'd snatch that guy up in a second.
Ol' Bill is free though, and a producer type person... I hope it's not Bill Roper.
Brian Sullivan? Who knows.
What if it's Sid Meier?
Clearly they've hired Bob Sagget.
Wow. Brings back old times. And I knew immediately who he is before I saw the post below that says.
Yeah maybe he's sick of all the 2K/Steam crap
It's me. I'm the new producer. Enjoy your new FPS game with DLC hats.
It would be really funny if its Bill Roper to be honest so I want the comedy option to be him.
Robin Walker??
My excitement for this game has come to an end. I have had more problems now with 1.09 than at any other time. My disappointment over this mess has reached its boiling point. You guys spend three years and this was the best you could do ? When you get it right and who knows when that will be ? Please e-mail me. Its a waste of time at this point. I`m sorry, but I have no confidence in your ability to make this right. I feel for everyone that spend their hard earn money on this half done , awful computer game. Please do not offend me by saying we will get it right and then not deliver. As far as your change in direction with someone new in charge, my thoughts are simply this. Anyone with a background in computer game developement would be better than the previous person in charge. Its my understanding that every problem was addressed at the Beta stage and nothing was fixed. You guys (Brad) said that you would not release the game unless everything was really to go. You guys should have stuck to that decision. Whoever talked you into releasing the game ahead of time, sold you a bill of goods. I`m done ranting. Diablo 3 can not get here fast enough for me. Sorry, stardud. This Freebird has to fly away. Good luck in the future.
Have a good one freebird, don't get burned by the sun. Oh, by the way, thanks for letting us all know. We were sitting at the collective edge of the seat waiting for your update.
So you think this is a good game ? As far as that edge of your seat thing goes, I was expecting alot more and got alot less. I wanted Masters of Magic 2 and instead got Howard the Duck. Your right about one thing ..... that sun is sure hot. I might crash and burn. Freebird out.
Believe it or not, I am enjoying this game. I have not experienced many crashes at all. I see it's potential. So few games come out that are trouble free these days, I am willing to wait. SD hasn't done anything to lose my trust so far.
Wow !!!!! Really? Its not about trust. I spend $50 on a game that under performed in every way possible. When the game first came out and the outcry was so loud, I sat back and waited to see what would happen. I was stun that any developer would release a game in this condition. Then to insult my intelligence, Stardock tells me that it was released due to shelve space. What the bloody hell !!!!! The game does not work. I felt cheated. Believe me when I say I wanted this game to hit a homerun. It could have and it should have. The reality is this. Stardock rushed the game out and knew it was a duck. We will fix it and make it all better. While I`m young ? How many patches will it take to make this right ?
Freebird out.
Get out then. Nobody gives a shit that you're butthurt over not liking a video game. We are here having fun about speculating the new producer, and you feel the need to shit in our cheerios. Well, go fuck yourself. And "Freebird out"? Only assholes talk in the third person. Lord Xia In!
Why do all these people insist on fucking a dead horse?
Sick bastards!
I care that Freebird is unhappy.
[Self Moderated] Let's stay on topic shall we?
I think Parker Lewis would make a good producer. He just can't lose.
hmm... i´m not so interested in names. But certainly thats big deal for stardock. It sounds so. so...congrats.
I´m more interested in "what does it mean for elemental: wow"...
The thing is, i love the game, but at the moment, i can not play it. I always start a game and after a few turns, i only think about the changes that will come. So i cant get into it.
ANd what i really hope is, that the new producer communicates with us like you and other SD-Guys do. I hope that was a qualification that was needed to get the position.
Agreed, I hope there are about as many bug fixes as they have been since 1.00 in this patch, we have many bugs that are still in from the original BETA stages laying around, bugging ppl.
I do also have faith, but if another patch goes though, and there are posts of "this and that bug haven't been fix", then the only hope for me to stick around and play this or recommend it to my friends will be a public list showing known bugs and acknowledgment they are being worked on.
The multilayer push has been feedback driven, and I for one was in the 'forget about it until its stable' camp.
Its not that bad, at lest now it loads and starts a lot faster, that is a big plus, or at lest it dose on my system.
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