Only 2 days left until release
I don't want to sound sappy here but we have been really touched by all the support we've gotten from you guys over the past couple of years that we've been working on this.
One of the motivations for making so-called "niche" games is that we really enjoy our tight knit communities. We enjoy hanging out with you, listening to your ideas, arguing different game designs, etc.
Earlier today, we went "gold" which simply means 1.0. I like to think that games are never truly finished. They simply ship. For me, that just means that 1.0 is the beginning of our journey together -- not the end.
In the meantime, let me share with you some of the things we've been doing since the last public beta and 1.0...
New Content
Bug Fixes
Balance Changes
UI Changes
I've gotten a lot of questions from people over the past couple of years about why we are giving away Fallen Enchantress to the early adopters of War of Magic. They say people won't remember War of Magic (it was 2 years ago). They say it won't "buy" good will back from those who didn't like WOM.
It doesn't matter. The reality is, our job is to make some of the world's best PC games. Period. Regardless of the reasons, War of Magic didn't live up to that standard. And since we developed it internally, we had the ability to make good on that.
The budget for Fallen Enchantress was about twice that of War of Magic. I am a firm believer that people DO remember when companies backup their stated beliefs with deeds.. They remember when companies make good on their word. I think that in the *long-run* (and Stardock is one of the oldest non-public game developers in the industry so we think long-term), people will have confidence that we mean what we say: If you buy a Stardock game, it will be excellent.
A huge thank you
Tuesday is the big day. It's hard to believe that in the next week or so we'll have a pretty good idea of the fate of Fallen Enchantress. We hope that people out there like what we've done here. We have you to thank for it. Few games have had the opportunity to spend so long in a public, no-NDA beta where people could give their suggestions, criticisms and ideas. The game is better for it. And that couldn't have happened without your help.
We look forward to reading your feedback and deciding together what we should do next with this game that we love so much.
While I still disagree about some aspects of FE's design, there's is no doubt that Brad knows how to run a business and gain respect from his audience.
Stardock has set a great precedent here, I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.
There's alot to be proud of here!
Looking forward to the new tactical maps. Great job.
Sins of a Solar Empire is a real-time strategy game for people who don't like real-time strategy games. It calls itself a "real-time 4x strategy game", and it surprisingly lives up to its billing. I remember shortly after the game's release, a lot of StarCraft fans were appalled at Sins' measured pace and the fact that a "short" game could easily last well over an hour.
I remember when SoaSE came out, it was an immediate purchase for me. I had played Civilization, and it was enjoyable but it entailed so many of what I call "empty turns" just waiting for something to either finish, or to happen. I also love RTS games, but find many of them too hectic for me to enjoy, where APM (actions per minute) dictated the game, and it was a frantic clickfest. Then comes along this real time 4X game (SoaSE), and it fit the bill perfectly. I stopped playing years ago due to so many other games coming out, but recently picked up SoaSE Rebellion, and fell back in love with it. Truly one of my favorite games.
One of the things I'm looking forward to about EFE, even though it's a TBS similiar to Civilization, is the magic aspect as well as the RPG world. So even though I expect "empty turns", I imagine that when something does happen it'll be way more exciting than a Civ game.
It's actually Tuesday the 23rd here now (00.13 h). Today's the big day!!! Looking forward to play the campaign after I get back from work.
Good luck for the release. Great job, great game.
Regardless of what others might say about Stardock's decision about giving away FE, I feel that it takes a really good company that actually cares about games to do such things, so my congratulations, every time you guys do something that shows how Stardock's handles issues, you just become more awesome in my eyes.
That along with how open you guys are with players in the forums, makes me actually care for the company, to me all others are more like 'well, sure, they are game makers' but I do not really feel anything aside from 'I buy the stuff', here I actually feel good when you say Stardock is doing good and so forth.
So maybe I am the sappy one, but that is how I feel.
Besides all your games are awesome so far, so why expect a sudden change? (WoM was simply buggy, not bad in itself imo)
as it is 10.34 on tuesday the 23rd of october 2012 here does that mean we get it in only 2 and ahalf hours???
please
harpo
No.
Release is 1pm EST.
Well I'm just glad I'm getting it before the end of the Mayan calendar. My bucket list is getting shorter.
I am using est (australia summer) time.
only one day to release!! Great job guys, I can't wait to play the campaign and see what changes are in store next.
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