In mid 2010, we released Elemental: War of Magic. This was our first attempt at: [A] a fantasy strategy game and [B] a game that involved terrain. This produced…mixed results in that when released it was buggy (like on nVidia 7900 cards you get a white tactical battle screen which caused a particular PC Gamer UK reviewer to claim the game was totally broken) AND even once fixed it was…meh. v1.4 is decent but it’s no Master of Magic.
So the question is, what do you think we should do to describe Fallen Enchantress?
It exists in the same world but it’s a very different game. It’s not an expansion since there’s not much of War of Magic specific stuff in it. But I hasten to call it a sequel because sequels imply a continuation of an existing series of gameplay mechanics none of which exist.
So what do you suggest we do to describe it to new players?
I agree with Sanati. People who see Fallen Enchantress are going to look at the screen shots and just see War of Magic. This is compounded by the fact that most people have not played War of Magic (even if they purchased it), and it has been too long since its release for them to remember anything specific in the images besides the general art style. I'd go with Elemental 2: Fallen Enchantress.
I also would tie in a one word marketing slogan that really encapsulates the concept behind Fallen Enchantress (a la Obama Change), and tie it in with all of the logos and marketing materials. Something like "Elemental 2: Fallen Enchantress - Explore." Or "Choose Your Fate."
Stupid question but does the sequel/expansion have a real fallen enchantress to be found/tell about/play/play against? If no, then why calling it fallen enchantress at all?
There is a real fallen enchantress. I think it's the Wraith chick, Resolyn Empire chick? Om..Cerveza? It's not Lady Porcupine or Kool-Aid Khan, I think it's Seer Cerveza. Or Oracle Cerveza.
I think how this game gets marketed is going to be determined heavily by us folks who are getting it early.
If we dig it, and let the word out, folks are going to give it a chance. If we're not digging it, the franchise is toast.
One question: are there still plans for a third Elemental game besides the RPG like originally intended, provided this does well?
Elemental 2: Fallen Enchantress.
That's the right pitch for me.
A culmination of everything you learned from E:WOM. Almost everything In fallen Enchantress is a result of understanding What worked and what didn't.
Since everyone else is pitching titles.
Fallen Enchantress: The result of what we learned when making Elemental : War of magic.
(greatest subtitle ever, it both admits a connection and disavows it in the same line.)
th ehard part of selling this game is that it looks like WoM, even though we here know it's a new game with just the same art. Same name and looks the same. Like saying "Here, I made you a nice meal, sure I fed you that turd before, and yes this brown lump looks like that turd AND it's called Turd Jr, doesn't mean that it isn't delicious, eat up!" It's just a hard sale to people who haven't been here to watch FE be created, I would think.
You should keep calling it E:FE. If the game is great the word will get out anyway. It's not like Fantasy TBS fans have tons of other new games to choose from.
Be honest. Just call it the second game in the series, a total rework of the failed first game. There was a good game hidden in E:WoM, and by hiring some of the best talents around you were able to make it the game you wanted WoM to be.
MoM has nothing to do with it. Don't mention it.
They are getting a new one from Paradox pretty soon I think. Warlock?
As you yourself have said, Brad, developers are perceived to be as good or as bad as their last release. The public, in general, has a very short memory. If Fallen Enchantress is good, then it will get good reviews and good word of mouth, and people will buy it. Sure, the online forums on various sites will always have people who seem to take endless pleasure in pointing out past failures, no matter how long ago they were. That doesn't mean the bulk of potential customers will care though, and most don't even read forums.
MoO3 and SotS2 both had disastrous releases (for vastly different reasons from each other, and vastly different from why Elemental had a bad release). However, I bet if there's ever a MoO4 or a SotS3, people will judge them based on the reviews and word of mouth of the games themselves, not their feelings about the predecessors. Same goes for Elemental: <fill-in-the-blank>.
Sometimes the short attention span of human beings is a good thing!
If you absolutely do not want to drop Elemental, almost certainly use Elemental 2: Fallen Enchantress. Like I've said before, you -really- do not want people thinking this is just another expansion or expandalone.
Elemental 2: Fallen Enchantress. However, emphasize the new approach. "From the same studio that brought you Galactic Civilizations 2, a brand new game in the fantasy 4x genre." Only talk about War of Magic in interviews and such with major game sites. For shorter advertising stunts directed at a more general audience, you should just avoid mentioning War of Magic entirely, except for the Elemental at the start of the name.
I think that's Q2, so it's a while off.
Of course the other side of the argument is that if you call it Elemental 2 and it looks the same as 1 consumers will feel like they are being ripped off. This is a good point though. In order to differentiate E:FE you should really be putting tons of cool screen shots out there that look nothing like WoM. If you have a screenshot that looks like it could be from WoM then toss it.
/sarcasm on
While your at create a cut scene and only post screen shots from said cutscene
/sarcasm off.
I hate when games purposely misdirect people with the best screenshots they can come up with and 99% of the time your looking at something that looks NOTHING like the screen shot.
Like it or not.. this game has large ties with E:WOM. It uses the same engine, same style etc. At a glance most people will not be able to tell the difference. Misdirecting people with screenshots that aren't representative of the game isn't going to help.
I stick by my position that FE should be presented as the representation of everything stardock learned with E:wom. Admit that E:wom isn't everything you wanted it to be, but that you learned from that and this representation continues on the lore but is a result of what was earned from E:wom, Not a continuation of it.
This has been the line on the forums.. and personally I think if thats the story stick to it. Humility in marketing.. so crazy it just might work.
Edit: My point is that no matter how you present it.. its going to be tied to and compared to its predecessor. (for an example see Arcania or sim city societies). So accept it.. Preempt the inevitable and spin it to your advantage.
I think you can asume that most people have not heared about elemental and its issues, and therefore you can use a similar positioning as you used with elemental.
The way I became interested (and bought) elemental was because it was refering to master of magic. Why not do that again for FE?
I'd say keep it simple - " ELEMENTAL 2 : Fallen Enchantress" is good,
Cheers
Chris
Yes, the campaign revolves around her.
Yes, beyond the expansion pack intended for Fallen Enchantress, there is a third strategy game in mind for the Elemental universe if FE does well.
(off topic) So, exactly 2 weeks left to the Beta. Were actually going to play it on a thursday or friday? YAY!
Derek Paxton's Fallen Elemental
Sorry--Derek Paxton's Fallen Enchantress
Elemental : Fall from Enchantress
For me I have been following it so closely that the name is really irrelevant.
However for the broader audience, I like Elemental: Fallen Enchantress. I don't think it will put off other people as much as you might think. Elemental 2:Fallen Enchantress would be okay as well, but I think it is unecessary.
Actually, I would even vote for Fallen Enchantress: A 4x game set in the Elemental universe. This clarifies that the game is different even though the setting is the same (or similar).
Fallen Enchantress: An Elemental Adventure
Fallen Enchantress: An Elemental Strategy Game
Fallen Enchantress: Elemental
My initial reaction was that you should downplay the Elemental WoM connection, because the game was panned by critics and was pretty bad in general. But that's juvenile and cowardly and positively reeks of Big Publisher Syndrome.
You're not trying to trick people into buying FE. Either the game is as good as you think it should be, or you're quitting the video game business altogether. So either the game is going to be good and get good reviews and good buzz from the player community. Or it's going to suck and you wont be able to sell it even if you call it LolCat Farmville: I Can Haz Elementalz.
So call it what it is.
Elemental 2: Fallen Enchantress. A new game set in the Elemental universe.
And it will go down in history as the greatest Turn-Based Fantasy RPG ever created!
This leads me to:
Elemental 2: Fallen Enchantress
From the Makers of Galactic Civilizations 2 and Fall from Heaven 2
... mentioning two well-regarded second games and showing their makers are doing it again.
Yeah let's make Derek Paxton the next Sid Meier. For me, Fallen Enchantress is hopefully the game I was hoping to get when I paid for EWOM. There's a lot of hope in that statement. I reserve the right to write more on January 19th!
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