Fallen Enchantress at two weeks
Fallen Enchantress has now been out two weeks. So far, we’ve sold about 50,000 units (give or take). This is somewhat below Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion but, obviously, far far ahead of War of Magic during the same time frame.
The biggest obstacle has been reviews. It’s hard for niche titles (and make no mistake, fantasy turn-based PC games are niche) to get coverage. There’s only so many reviewers to go around and the last thing we want is a drive by (i.e. rushed) review.
Tomorrow or Thursday we expect to release v1.01 which has a long list of fixes and tweaks that we’ve found. Probably the most obvious change will be performance which dramatically improved.
The Map Pack
We will be releasing our first-ever DLC for a Stardock game. It’ll be an interesting experiment to see what the demand is. Paul Boyer and I have designed a series of hand crafted maps that will be going up for sale in a week or two for $4.99. If sales of this are strong, we’ll look at doing additional DLC packs. A game like Fallen Enchantress lends itself to content centric DLC and so we’re anxious to see what people are interested in.
The Expansion
We have an expansion planned for early next year. I won't spoil it except to say that it’s going to re-design the way champions are handled in the game. We want the game to generally move towards the power of your champions be a reflection of the power of your civilization.
After the expansion, Stardock will look at where things stand. We have 3 game development teams at Stardock. One is on “Game X”, One is FE related stuff, and one is on mobile game development. Since we’re not likely to get as many reviews as we’d like, we’re going to be relying heavily on word of mouth.
Version 1.1
We very much want to do a pre-Christmas update to FE. That version will be heavily AI and balance focused based on player feedback. We’ll have more details of that as we get closer. Right now, we’re focusing on getting v1.01 out the door.
Thanks for the "FE Status Report at 2 weeks"! It was an interesting summary generally, whetted my appetite for new content further down the road, and the Sales Information is one of those things that especially interests me personally. (Incidently, I am assuming, by definition, that the 50,000 units are truly New Sales -- not the Freebies to WoM purchasers.) Congratulations, BTW!
I will buy your Map Pack ASAP. You have a guarantee of my $5 contribution.
Like most people, I generally prefer random maps in 4X games; BUT I would occasionally drop back to a pre-made map, just to see what interesing ideas Obsessed People (Brad and Derek, this means you!) can come up with, that a Random Map Generator would NOT come up with.
To my way of thinking, if there are 10 good maps in there, and even if I only play each one once, at 50 Cents @ , it would still be worth it, to me personally ... So, I say: Go for it !
There is at least 1 "huge expansion" planned for FE.
And Brad said earlier that a map pack doesn't require the same amount of resources as a content pack and is therefore easier to do.
Somebody should really tell Firaxis this before they release another Civ game filled with real world maps and scenarios. Really? That's a pretty ridiculous statement.
But Civ game DLC maps usually come with new Civs to play. I don't buy them, because Civ 5 was an abomination compared to 3 and 4. So you get maps and new content to play with.
Sorry a map pack wont do it for me. If you want 5 dollars then please put back in the Dynasty option for the game and flesh it out some. For ideas check out Medieval Total War 2.
Also I liked being given the option to kill leaders and champions. I know it was kind of lame to beat an opponent by killing his leader, but thats where the dynasty system comes in, because one of your children or generals can be a successor.
Lastly there needs to be GLOBAL enchantments added to the games and ways to counter them.
I know you didn't mention DLC, though somebody else did, but contrary to what most people believe, most of the Civ 5 DLC "real world maps" are actually random map scripts set up to roughly (or more accurately in some cases) resemble real world areas, but they are still highly random. The scenarios are, get this... scenarios. Shocker, right? They aren't "maps" they are heavily scripted and controlled challenges designed for history buffs who really want to play through a specific battle in history, which is a concept that can't really be compared to a fantasy game of the same genre.
That said, you are too late. I think every single Civ 5 player complained about the Scenario DLCs. There's a difference between something happening and people wanting it. So yes, really, I've never heard of a single person wanting preset maps in a 4x game. Just read through this thread, there's no excitement about the idea, there's a few people saying they will buy it anyway to support Stardock, and a bunch of people saying it's just a bad idea. They could have saved a few hours of fiddling with the map editor and just added a $5 paypal donate button to the news post here, same end result.
Can't we have some new races and factions as DLC? And then I don't mean just the same humans with a different colored robe... I'd easily pay way more than $5 for classic fantasy races like elves etc.
One of the first things that happens when a Civ game comes out is people design an Earth map, then the maps of their favorite contenents, then their country, whatever. Then Middle earth, and the Game of thrones continent, and any of a dozen other maps. Not my cup of tea but hundreds of people design these maps and many many people download them.
Also, just in this thread there were some people excited about it
The added stamps + getting the game free is why I'll get this, though with a bit of grumbling. I was kinda expecting this is a way to make up for all the freebies though- I just hope Stardock doesn't get as bad as Paradox when it comes to DLC, as in Paradox's case, that has actually stopped me from being one of their customers- CKII was the last straw, I don't think I'll be buying EU4.
I´m happy that we don´t have this boring (classic) fantasy races. I understand that many people like these races. You know Heavenfalls "Stormworld" Mod? Could be something you like
Classic fantasy races will not happen, because there is a lore for the World of Elemental, you know.
But to me there are two obvious DLCs. Capitar with new faction traits, equip, maybe spells and a unique Sov. and Umber with the same fluff.
Anything that doesn't look like a differently colored human would be nice..
I know it's hard to do, just saying it's something I would gladly pay for.
You got 50k sales above and beyond all the free editions you handed out? I'd say that's quite impressive considering the first games reviews and the users scores coming in at Metacritic are in the 7.3 range. Yes quite impressive indeed.
As far as the map pak I'd be interested if they were a "CLOTH MAP" boxed edition as I always enjoyed the cloth maps of the Ultima series and hung them on my walls with pins in them at points of interest. I still have my giant 48" x 36" map of Gondor from the old Commodore 64 game War in Middle Earth too. I still have my collectors editon of Elemental:War of Magic sealed with hopefully that Pewter Dragon inside.
Honestly, I'd rather pay $5 for a complete overhaul of the lousy random map generator. Oh - and losing those ugly seawalls in favor of passable beach terrain. Pre-done maps that I might play twice each? Meh.
Couldn't anyone just spend the time at the Cartographer's Table and release a Map Pack? You are charging $5 for what? Your assurance that your maps will be awesome?
How about this. If this map DLC had over 50 well done maps and it allowed an option to randomly place all created maps into the random then it would be worht the price.
To clarify I purpose the option to randomly select from a library of manually created maps when I start a game. This I think would be a good added feature toi the Random map generator. And it would be really cool if we could select which maps we want to add to the random generation.
I just checked Civfanatic's Civ 5 section, there are 20 threads in the map section, total, and not a single one of them is based on Earth. There are about 60 threads in the scenario section, most of them based on small sections of history on accurate maps. That's 80 threads out of the ~3000 threads in the modding section. That is the best site for quality civ mods I know of (including FFH). Pretty much speaks for itself doesn't it?
Really? I think not unless it game with other stuff as has been already mentioned on this thread. You would actully pay $5 for one map? Unbelivable.
Hi Brad,
Just have to say, I'm finally enjoying Elemental. Fallen Enchantress is really what I expected Elemental War of Magic to have been. That having been said, I have been talking well of it of late, and shared that with my 880+ followers on G+. And I expect to talk more about it in the future as well.
But I have to be honest here with you. A map pack shouldn't be where you set your metric for interest in DLC. This game came with the actual tools to generate our own maps and that's swell.
What it didn't come with is artwork and new races such as Orc, and Undead (so many varieties here.. it could be it's own faction), Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and many other "Stock" fantasy races that people actually have interest in.
I won't buy a map pack, it has no interest to me. But if you came up with those fantasy races that people have been begging you for over the last few years... that.. that I'd buy as DLC and think I got a bargain! Clearly they don't have to be canon to Elemental. But in a world with returning magic to the world, clearly they could be some rift's where other traditional fantasy races portal in, and get trapped here.. thus having to grow their societies like the standard rule sets..
Long and short, many of the people in this thread so far have said, they want more than a map pack for DLC. I do.. and the more you put out that enhances the games that I play, the happier I will be times ten. And the more effusive I am in sharing how great this game has become.
I stayed away from here while you worked on Fallen Enchantress, after being let down by War of Magic. I am back and truly wanting to support this great game, but please listen to what were telling you we want to buy. There is no need for this to be a case where you put out some horse armor DLC and then wonder why we don't want to buy it.. we want more things, more traits, more mechanical fiddly bits, more choices at level up for our champions, hell more level up options for our regular troops. That last part.. I want to be able to customize my troops as they gain levels to differentiate them from each other.. with new options that make them each unique. These things we want.. maps.. well yeah I can do those in my spare time if necessary.
But that is just it. You Can't. Its not that you 'may' not, but it is simply impossible to gauge DLC interest on a type of DLC that people do not want. Generally, maps are just added to the pot.
I agree that something like, say, a "faction" DLC may require too many resources .. but as people say, units, heroes, monsters, spells ... THAT is where the real content is here.
If you want to release a map-pack to gauge interest, fine. But realize that the results will be negatively skewed.
And this is from someone that has only played on pre-made maps thus far
--------
If I were to sell a map-pack, I'd probably waver between $0.99 and $1.99.
If I were you, I think I'd focus on adding a few heroes (simple enough to make), make a new monster or two (a bit harder), maybe a weapon or two (somewhere in between), and a few cool maps
Maybe a lesser version of that, like, say, 5 heroes, 1 monster, 2-3 new 'loot items', 2 maps.
Then gauge a price on that accordingly ... but I really don't think you will get good results with a 5 dollar map-pack, if all you are selling is maps. I mean, BY ALL MEANS sell maps expensively if you want, but DO NOT use it as a way to gauge the market for DLC.
Probably because the game came with tons already. Also, I am not talking about resource placement, iron, food, that shit, it's more the layout and shape/design of the continent itself. the premade maps look better, the random ones look like a block with a few square begs punched through.
I mean, its probably fair enough from a business perspective (especially with respect to selling DLC on the vast market of steal sales) to just choose something that is easy to create. But you'd have to keep in mind that the following results would be skewed one way or another. Clearly the demographics on this forum would be skewed against, but I guess its possible that you'd have other demographics that would be skewed for it. Point is, map-packs are not in my mind 'typical' dlc, and as such you can't truly gauge the market for actual content-based DLC.
I don't want to see fantasy races in FE. I am not sure why people do. It's not in the lore and when you dump in fantasy races you're just dumbing it down to every other game. I'd rather have like an ogre faction or a bandit faction or something that is in the lore.
I don't want standard fantasy races. Lets add races that are in the lore that haven't previously been playable. Edar? Iru? Maybe Sions as a race of it's own? And the Drath should make a comeback too.
It's amazing to me that DLC is one of those things that trigger massive uncontrolled internet nerd-rage. If you don't want it, don't buy it. If you want some premade maps and new stamps to enhance your random maps buy it. If you feel like supporting Stardock some more, buy it. It's not like they're charging people for key content. They're f'ing maps and stamps.
Otherwise, get over it. Does anyone honestly think that Stardock doesn't also plan adding more content to the game? At the top of this very thread they mention a big 1.1 patch AND the expansion pack.
I agree with Xia and Nero on this. I do not want standard fantasy races in Elemental. There is enough lore to create DLC without tapping into the tired old things that are in other fantasty worlds.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
