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.
Nothing wrong with adding ogres or bandits or Edar or Iru or Sion's and Drath.. but there isn't a reason why they couldn't put out some traditional fantasy race packs and those of us who ARE interested in them can purchase them. And no one loses any skin off their nose as they are simply just another option for that person's game.. hence the non-canon where it applies.
And this isn't nerd rage this is simply folks saying that Brad mentioned he'd judge their dlc metric by this map pack option to help determine if they should put in any more effort's. And what many of us here are mentioning is that we're leary of the map pack as the metric for DLC. There are so very many other option's for interesting DLC that we're expressing our concern for this subject.
I'll be playing Elemental for years. And that's what I expected years ago when War of Magic was being worked on. It just took them a few years to put together the game in a really solid manner, and it's now there. And I'm just enjoying the hell out of it. But.. as I said years ago, I would want new race and faction DLC that I could pick and choose from to add to my games. And I would like those race's that aren't part of the canon story to be available for me to give my hard earned money for. That's all I'm saying.. make it and take my money please. Thanks you.
You don't figure out the interest in a movie by trying to get people to buy still shots from it.
Based on my past experience with SD games, their patches are what other companies call DLC or expansions. It will be interesting to see what SD considers DLC! If as you say the DLC is just a map pack, I will probably buy it just to show my appreciation. Chances are I wouldn't use them much though, the random maps work very well for me. So I'm not sure if that will be a good gauge of interest or not. Although if that map pack included that full map you posted a while back...Just speaking for myself, if the DLC was geared towards any of the following or some combination:1) Continuation of the campaign2) Adding new monsters3) new quests (longer quests?)4) more research options...I might give you direct access to my bank account! The only problem I have with this game so far, is I'm having so much fun roaming the country side doing quests that when I do meet an AI opponent, I'm totally unprepared. A few turns later, they've wiped me off the map and I'm starting a new game. (P.S., don't fix this!)
See ... the rage itself over the content is just a RED HERRING.
The real problem is that they will GAUGE the success or failure of this DLC in relation to ALL DLC TYPES.
personally, I think the data is only remotely relatable to other DLCs ... and I'd rather them take a different opening approach, but if they go ahead and get the data, I certainly hope that they will look at the data only with relation to equivalently priced Map Pack DLC (rather than ALL DLC types)
We must be on different internets
When I go to the "Civ5 - Custom maps" forum on Civfanatics the word "Earth" currently appears 11 times on the very first page of the forum. The three top threads are an Earth map, a dude looking for Earth maps, and a Europe map. Further down there's a "Maps of the World," "British Isles," "Map of Italy," "Toft's Earth: Based on Mercator projektion" etc etc etc. I am a bit surprised there's no Middle Earth on the first page, but there are two different Westeros.
And then there's thishttp://www.pcgamer.com/2010/10/14/top-10-civilization-v-mods/
Top 10 Civilization V mods1. Dale’s Earth Map
Echoing a few of the posts above
In general I rather like the idea of DLC for FE, quite happy to pick and choose any buy or not buy on the basis of the content of each individual DLC rather than buying a full expansion (though I like these as well) but having 25% of the content that isn't of interest to me.
It is because I (and I think others posting as well) DO like the idea of future DLC for FE that we are concerned about the choice of the first DLC, not of what it is in itself (the benefit of DLC is that we can take it or leave it) but that the original post by Frogboy stated "If sales of this are strong, we’ll look at doing additional DLC packs" and the fear is given the response to it that sales may not be strong and therefore we won't see any future DLC.
Ditto! I don't understand this outrage. Let us that will enjoy these maps buy them and increase Stardocks economical muscle to further expand upon this game, or at least help their artists to have something to do between the battles.
You others just wait for other dlc's or the expansion pack.
NB! And if one of the maps is a huge version of the whole world of Elemental, oh my God, I'd pay 20 dollars for that one alone, especially if all races started on the right spot and our self designed Umber and Capitar sovereigns could join in. It would be my favorite way to play a grand campaign. You know; here in Norway 5 dollars isn't more then what you pay for seven cigarettes, and if you want a beer at a bar it's easely 10 dollars. I'm sure I'll get a hell more value out of this dlc then what half a beer gives me.
NB2! I'd hope this thread could be more about the grand news of the first expansion pack. I'm really excited to know, or hear speculations on, how the new champion recruiting system will work.
For once I'm part of the majority... YAY! I'm not too interested in a map pack, and using that to gauge interest in real DLC is a big mistake IMO. I'll buy it because I want to support ongoing development for EFE, but am hugely disappointed that it's a map pack, stamps or not.
And to something else that came up in this thread (and others), please leave the typical fantasy trope out of EFE. It's not about elves, or orcs, or dwarves... If you're creating a whole new world here, be creative with new races.
I meant a tactical map designer.
Supposedly you can build tactical maps with the cartographer.
You can create tatical battle maps in there as well. Although it's a little more tricky. I would prefer a better interface for producing such tatical battle maps.
Support this.
I don't want them not making DLC because they release a map pack and only the people who have 'goodwill to burn' buy it.
I'm in the same position. Another big patch is only common sense really, you should definitely get a 1.1 out before Christmas with as many fixes as possible so you don't get bad word of mouth from all the Christmas purchases. I'll probably purchase the map pack if I continue to see quality support for this title. At first I was annoyed at hearing about paid DLC but tbh I'd rather have to pay for map packs and get non-expansion quality content for free than have to pay for more weapons/equipment from what would essentially be first party mods. The only thing that would hold me back from purchasing a map pack is the blandness of the terrain atm, even the random maps all feel exactly the same for me. Its far better than WoM's 3 shades of brown though, thats for sure!
I've started making my own maps, it's lots of fun...but I agree with Cruxador, if you're going to break this long held tradition of no DLC, and instead giving paying customers extra content, wit occasional paid for expansion packs... a map pack is really not the way to go for your first DLC.
Please bear in mind that there is still a good amount of content I haven't seen, so if I mention something that is already in the game, excuse me.
I'd like to see the war between man and fallen be more emphasized, there doesn't seem to be too much in the way of gameplay mechanics here.
It would be awesome if we could get a Unit Designer in the workshop, so we could design units for the A.I. to use as our opponents, as it is now you actually have to play as that race and get to the proper tech level to design the units, this would be a welcome addition that would really add a sense of life the opponents
I definitely think there should be more items, both as loot in the world and to research as troop equipment. Especially trinkets and accessories like +X Exp Rings or +Y% Crit Chance, Rings of Regeneration. I'd like to see more poisons tied to the Assassins Tools faction trait. Poisons that have differing effects, not just more powerful D.O.T.
I'd like to see the ability to create your own magic items, Either through a Sovereign Trait, or perhaps a semi-advanced tech on the magic tree.
I'd like to see the ability to set what type of land is created in your zone of control. For example, my land could turn into swamps, of course different land types would cost varying faction trait points. I know this idea is a bit out there and I'm not likely to see it implemented, I'm just trying to illustrate the point that there is so much awesome stuff that could be done with this game, I'm exciting to see new ideas.
I would buy some map packs if only to support the development of the game. Currently i havent bought fallen enchantress yet. The main reason is that i never heard about the title until 3 days ago. I happen to stumble upon it when seeing it appear in my recommanded games on steam. Ive played loads of civilization (all of them since civ 2) and heroes of might and magic. This game seems it has potential to be the perfect blend of the 2. + customalization which is very nice. I truly like the combat system + the massive amount of customization. The game has loads of potential but my experiences with civ 4/5 tell me that it could take up to 2 years for a game to be fully playable. Some reviews say this game is full of bugs while others say it is highly recommanded. But i`l think i will probably still have a blast with it.
Currently i am playing Civilization 5 with the new patch. Which is a blast. I dont have much free time as i spend most of my time playing civ and drawing/painting fantasy art. I will lurk a bit in these forums to see what the state of the game is and how it is improving with new patches and mods. Probably ill pick it up when i have some more free time or when i am impressed on what i see of the game.
I did buy all the dlc from civ 5 even if i never played a map pack. Since ive played the game for 400 hours even when the game was still unplayable before gods and kings. I had faith in it and am not dissapointed. I would probably buy all the content from FE as well as money is not much an issue. Im more worried if i have the free time to enjoy playing the game to the max.
ll be hanging around and hopefully playing the game in a couple of months.
Hi driztduorden,
I think i read almost all review and non of this reviews said the game is full of bugs. (there are somme small bugs, but nothing gamebreaking) All reviewer had something to critize, sure. But the critic had nothing to do with technical issues/bugs.
And... if you love Civ, HoMM and customization. This game will not disappoint you. Ofcourse this is only my opinion.
Lantros,
"Some reviews say this game is full of bugs"
It might have been an article about the game and not an actual review. I am not sure about this. I have seen this comment a couple of times as a responce to a revies. I have not played the game yet but only watched a small portion of a let`s play of Maddjinn. Ive read some reviews and articles. Been reading some in the forums. So i have no clue if the game has bugs or balance issues in this state. My experience from some games the last few years is that at release some issues might come up which might be somewhat annoying. I`m expecting i can live with this when i pick up the game (again i have no idea what the state of the game is after release and 1 patch) as probably i am to excited about the game and want to explore everyting afap.
Ive thought a lot about this game before i even know it came out. If i would make a game myself it would be a blend between civilization 4/5 and total war in a fantasy setting. This game comes very close except the thousands of thousands of units TW has to offer. But if i can costumise and really get attached to my units when they die etc. this is very cool.
Again, this game has so much potential from what i saw of it already and how it is build. And i guess i already made up my mind that i will buy and play it as soon as time comes available. It just that im not sure when the game is at a state that is is good enough to dig into it.
I`ve seen a lot of possitive reactions to the game.
I think u are right this game will not dissapoint me.
Yes but it sucks pretty bad. And very buggy
No I bet he is some damn Blleding heart progressive liberal (not talking about a normal liberal) who loves the Political Correctness crap.
I personally thing Civ 5 is a terrible example of a 4x game, but Civ 4 with all of the expansions was a great game. Also this game is nothing like the total war games. They're more RTS/Tactical War Game, where as this is a turn based strategy game with a minor emphasis on tactical battles that are also turn based. The difference between 4x and tactical war games in my opinion is the city building ability, while you can make minor improvements in TW city building is a really minor part of the game because there is an emphasis on warring and political intrigue. The game is more of a mix of Civ 4, GalCiv 2, and some rpg flare thrown in.
Huh... that should be interesting.
Emperor_Nero,
Visually Civ 5 looked way better than 4. Not perse that it has better graphics but the stacking of units in civ 4 was the biggest issue i had with that game. Seeing a huge blob of units on the scteen is more satesfying that a stack of doom. Still civ 4 is probably the best game ever made.
Seeing a huge army with thousands of soldiers marching towards eachother in real time is absolutely awsome. If the micromanagement is done in turnbased and the actual battle in realtime it would be perfect for me.
I understand that making that kind of game would cost many millions of dollars. But if someday the companys would take over each others franchises and blend it into one game it would be perfect for me.
I don't really play strategy games for graphics, which must explain my 6 month addiction to dwarf fortress. Strategy gamers in general don't really care about graphics, because unlike an RPG you're usually looking at many characters at a time or are trying to make a decision that is vital. It isn't realistic to have a single unit attacking a city. Like I wouldn't be able to roll up on a city with a group of panzers. It would be an entire group of varied units. I appreciated that the hex based system allowed for more strategy, but not allowing stacked units just isn't realistic.
None of it is realistic. A stack of doom , attacking one unit at a time isn't either.
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