After we complete upcoming expansion pack for Elemental: Fallen Enchantress (which we expect to announce NEXT WEEK) we have to do some hard thinking. Specifically, what do we do next? After some trials and tribulations we’ve put together what is, in effect, a Master of Magic style engine (and before someone flips out, I’m not saying FE is just like MOM, I am saying that at this stage, our *game engine* is finally capable of actually making that game which is obviously was not capable of in 2010).
But first, let’s look at the history…
Once upon a time…
After Galactic Civilizations II I wanted to do a fantasy strategy game. I wrote up a brief treatment and had our lead artist draw a mockup of what it should look like:
Basically, I wanted Master of Magic with updated graphics and multiplayer.
During this time, Stardock had the opportunity to publish two games – Sins of a Solar Empire and Demigod. Two opportunities we couldn’t pass up. Meanwhile, Impulse was starting to really take off too.
Now, we’re a small company. REALLY small. People are always shocked at how tiny Stardock is. We might possibly be the oldest independent game studio left (20 years old this year) that still regularly produces new games but the entire enterprise is less than 60 people and that includes our main business – consumer software (Multiplicity, Start8, WindowBlinds, Fences, etc.).
What that meant, back in 2008 is that the team that made Galactic Civilizations had to be spread out to help out on Sins, Demigod and Impulse. To do Elemental, we hired up.
Elemental (and at this point, it was just called Elemental) was going to be a pretty straight forward game. Build cities, capture shards, learn magic, research tech and conquer the world.
Now, Stardock’s game studio didn’t run like a normal game studio. That is, there was really no such thing as a producer or a designer. You either coded or you did art. We had titles but they had no real meaning. Design was handled by the person who was implementing an “area” of the game (for example, GalCiv II did not have a visual tactical battle display in its design, the person who was assigned to code “resolution outcome” wrote that).
And we had a lot of ideas. Why stop with Master of Magic’s design elements when you can also throw in Magic the Gathering concepts, Total War, Civilization IV, Ultima, etc.
Slowly, things began to morph as people had more and more ideas get presented.
The spell system got more sophisticated.
The tactical combat design scope grew.
And the reality was that all this stuff just didn’t mesh together. At one point, we even had underground dungeons.
So when Elemental came out, it was extremely buggy (we had spread ourselves too thin – we had no redundancy) and the individual components just didn’t flow together.
Fall From Heaven
When we looked at what went wrong with Elemental it became clear that we were just wearing too many hats. No one owned the design. No one owned the look of it. No one owned the engine design. We needed to bring someone in who would own the project and enforce their will.
That’s what Kael, the designer of Fall From Heaven was able to do.
Kael (Derek Paxton) didn’t just have great game design skills, he was a senior project manager at Novell.
Originally, we had planned to do two expansion packs:
War of Magic – Fallen Enchantress and War of Magic – Forge of the Overlord. But it was decided that we should do a more ambitious overhaul to the base game and this became Elemental: Fallen Enchantress.
Fallen Enchantress
So with Fallen Enchantress, we ended up with a pretty good fantasy strategy game (if you don’t already have it, GET IT!). We have lots of ideas on how to improve it but the important thing is that we now have a fantasy strategy game engine that is capable of doing whatever type of game we’d like.
And that’s where we’re at. What do we do next? I can tell you one thing, it will not have the word “Elemental” in it. Why? Check this out: [Google Search Results]
That isn’t to say we’d scrap all our work and start over with a brand new design and recreate the millions of dollars in art assets. But it’s not going to be tied to Elemental. But this assumes that our players want us to continue making this style of strategy game at all.
After all, there are some exciting fantasy strategy games in the offing – Age of Wonders 3 I suspect will be announced soon and Eador: Masters of the Broken World looks excellent. Are there enough people who want Stardock to keep making fantasy strategy games of this type to justify that effort?
[Quick aside: What do I mean by “this type of strategy game”?]
Personally, there are two key differentiators in fantasy strategy games that help me define what sub-genre they belong to:
And specifically, the question is: Making fantasy strategy games that involve tactical battles, city building and RPG elements? That’s the niche I think we have here. I don’t think we’ve nailed down the perfect blend yet but that’s what time and experience exist for.
And that is what we’d like to hear from you. Do you like what we’re doing enough to keep Should we continue it forward (and don’t answer “Make Fall From Heaven” its future isn’t tied to this). Also, before someone screams GalCiv III the future of GalCiv is not tied to anything we do here.
Go here to answer:
https://www.elementalgame.com/journals
Discuss in the comments.
Yeah, in hindsight I should have worded that better. I wasn't really thinking that hard when writing so it came out a bit weird and fanboyish. What I wanted to infer was that a group of professional game developers, that have been producing games for some time and have a good grasp on the current competition, the hits and the failures, will have a better grasp of what a "good game" is compared to non-professionals. Even the intended customers. What kind of feedback could we provide that would actually be useful? We are far too few to provide any reliable statistics, not to mention a valuable source of pre-orders for this potential new project. And as you mentioned posting basic ideas just adds to the pile of ideas already there. The problem is creating a game that sells enough to be worth the effort, not coming up with ideas for possible games. I'm likely wrong though.
I should also have better stated what I meant by "good game" but the stupid rant was long enough already. It's not just about the gameplay of course, it also need to be feasible to produce and market. I doubt the developers feel that Elemental is all they wanted it to be but we're all here so they must have done something right. I still disagree with you that "What do you want Stardock to do with its fantasy strategy game engine after Fallen Enchantress?" is a good question ask here. People come here intending to comment on Fallen Enchantress so you're streamlining all the potential input towards what have in many cases already been posted. And the options in the poll don't really tell me anything. But I might not be the intended reader so I might have made an unwise move posting.
Would it be possible to take the FE engine and make a tactical/strategic RPG dungeon crawler like Warhammer Quest/Heroquest/Descent? That would be potentially awesome I think and it also would fill a void in the PC game market.
I answered other, here's what I mean by that: well if you're going to get away from the Elemental name, then use this opportunity to get away from the "universe" also. I don't mean you should throw everything like assets, races, lore, etc out. I mean you should make a "new" universe (or perhaps a new "continent") with a more interesting compelling background, races, story etc.
Fallen Enchantress was okay in term of immersion, but it didn't really grab me. I think there were several reasons for this:
1) The oft-mentioned disparate game systems which don't mesh together terribly well. This has been discussed to death elsewhere, but here's my two cents. I love RPG systems, but your's was only OK. Not terrible, not great. At times the game gave a bit of "one more turn" but not a lot (which certainly means the game as a whole is good), but the problem is I never got a "one more level" feeling for more characters. I was never excited to go out adventuring with a character, never anticipating his next level etc. Which makes you wonder if the RPG system was ever really worth it in terms of time and cost to implement, the focus and time it took away from other game systems and mechanics etc. What you do about this kinda depends on what type of game you want to make so I'll just leave it at that.
2) The graphics despite having an interesting style look very dated. I suspect several things are at play here, limited resources making the gfx engine and the assets, desire to support older systems and the twin brother to that being making such a huge game requiring immense amounts of RAM and due to the nature of the game you didn't really have the ability to put in loading screens to reduce memory footprint. Again what you do about this is entirely down to what type of game you want to make, but I'd prefer visuals that are a bit more 1) compelling or grabbing and 2) distinctive and unique.
3). The sameness of each race, piece of equipment etc. I found a multitude of the same piece of equipment in any given game. All races were "human-like", not even "humanoid" which would include the usual culprits like elves, dwarves and orcs. Your races were very similar to each other to the point that the only difference was what type of units (usually only a delta of 1) they could recruit... Obviously this doesn't lend itself to making me feel like I'm playing a truly unique group of individuals.
All of the above points are what contributed to my overall feelings about the game which are: sometimes your game seemed like the stereotypical fantasy world not This Unique World Produced by Stardock that me and my friends won't shutup about, or wish we had more games in that universe, (e.g. Heroes 3, Warlords 2, Mass Effect, ...) or wish we had a way to replicate the universe as a pen and paper RPG. Of course it's unreasonable to expect that a small company like Stardock could produce tons of games in the Elemental universe or ever get pen and paper resources produced along with their video games, but if your video game makes me wish you had, you've succeeded in creating an absolutely wonderful game. Fallen Enchantress wasn't that. It wasn't a bad game, but it wasn't compelling. And I'm not talking about some of the smaller annoying bugs, or the interface improvements that could be made. I would turn a blind eye to those things if I loved the universe; I don't.
One more point, I think that the drive to offer such a wealth of different user customizable options in character and faction creation is what contributed to them lack of emotion in the existing elemental universe. Everything has a tradeoff...
All in all I'm not really sure what type of game I'm looking for other than it's a lot of fun, offers interesting strategic and tactical tradeoffs, makes me care about the people I'm playing as, and makes me interested in the overall universe. I will say that I enjoyed FE, I bought the map pack, but I won't be making an pre-orders or day 1 purchases. I don't just go off reviews, but youtube footage of gameplay too and those types of things will be what make my decision to buy your game.
PS - Stardock's games, no matter what criticism I've thrown at them, have the greatest potential out of pretty much any studio's games I've played. Sometimes this potential isn't realized, but amazingly it's always there. Capture that, bottle it up and you'll have a fantastic game on your hands. Good luck
I just spent £30 on this game with the map pack. I would love to see ffh3 as much as the next person, I've been a fan of in depth fantasy strategy games since the Test of Time. But chaps. Kive Kael a chance. I do not see your financial accounts but the best things are rarely rushed. I start playing FE about now. But it is hard to be enthusiastic or promote to my friends that have hugely enjoyed ffh2 a game that it looks like its developers have given up on!
Edit
A few tries later: seems like a cool game, but man its difficult to give effort to. It's so dull at the start. There is nothing grabbing at all. The style seems ok. But it is really missing ease of use. No button or control seems to work as expected! I dont feel like im making any choices, coz it doesn't respond easily or naturally. Gonna give it more chance after less wine. But I have a massive urge to play some more ffh2. Maybe when I learn this game better I'll enjoy more, but I'm pretty good at picking things up!
One proper opinion tho from a starting player. I couldn't care less about the civ i chose. The civ I chose origionally in ffh2 (also a warhammer player and the same applied, I spent allot of exciting time choosing. I reckon you could fix this by really expanding movie scenes, background messages, sound, wait and sound, the best games have good sound D2, FFh2, Civ, etc) gonna try again and turn my volume up!
After trying again music ok but there is missing a plonk or two when clicking on things (to really make you feel like your interacting!). Unless the sound develops when the game goes, ear-wise it sucks!
I might change my mind again after less wine!
Yeah, without good AI it wont matter what is in the game or what the game is for that matter. I don't play a game to just look at the pretty graphics.
In any case I voted for the Master of Magic 2 option.
But if they can get Fallen Enchantress ironed out then that would be a blessing.
I'd buy any strategy game you guys make. I really respect the stance you take and the passion you have with trying to things well. So as such I'll keep supporting what you do well into the future.
I'd love to see more of the same but with a bit more focus on navies, flying, tactical goodies (terrain and fortifications etc) and so on. I'm still frustrated a bit with the FE UI so I'm secretly hoping that at some point you'll address that in a meaningful way.
You know, i'd love if you made a master of magic remake. Not even master of magic 2, just the same old master of magic 1, with new graphics, but otherwise identical(except, of course, without the bugs). I would definitely buy that. THEN, you could build on that base by making an expansion adding new features but keeping the basics intact(like, add more units, abilities, a 3rd plane, etc.). That i would buy too. Just sayin'
(P.S. that's not to say i don't like fallen enchantress. I do. But it's a different game.)
I vote for developing FE, whatever you decide to call it.
Stray thoughts:
Tactical combat - as it currently exists it's pretty crap. But it could be brilliant. Zones of Control (think Panzer General or Blood Bowl), a Move or Fire/Cast rule, Terrain Modifiers (attacking a lower tile gives a bonus), Line of Sight (can't see or directly attack units in or behind trees)... Stuff like that would make what's already there enormously much more entertaining. Please take a good look at games like Blood Bowl, Age of Wonders, and Heroes of Might & Magic. You guys can do this better than MoM did. But what's there right now is worse.
Unit Design - again, what's there right now isn't exactly awe inspiring. Primarily for the two reasons that gear research doesn't play well with the unit designer, and cross-subfaction diversity isn't anywhere near great enough. What's the point of designing my units if they don't feel unique, and/or aren't super-specialised to do that one thing I'll be using them to do the next 20-40 turns?
Research - I actually really like the individual techs, but the tech trees don't offer much in the way of short term (40-80 turn) counters, nor do they seem to me to offer much match-length versatility. Compare to GalCiv2, for example, where lots and lots of techs are hard counters to each other, and players can string together a vast, vast pile of different match length tech strats, because there's so many synergies to exploit. EDIT: more individual steps on the tech trees and "tech crashing" (very fast research for a short time at a high cost) would also help.
RPG Elements - not sure what to say here, other than... Keep working on it. I don't know what I'd try to improve it. What's there is good, and I'm sure it could get even better. I'd definitely be up for some quest & quest-like world events/locations DLC.
4Xpansion - Keep doing it the FE way. Not allowing cities everywhere, but not placing any real restrictions on city spamming, works really well in my opinion. I never understood why Civ didn't adopt the idea after seeing Age of Wonders and the various space 4X games do this.
Diplomacy - transparency, personality and unique dialogue is what makes or breaks diplomacy for me. GalCiv2 nailed it right out the gate; the inclinations of the different AI personalities were obvious, the various factors influencing them were clearly displayed, and both were clearly conveyed through the dialogue. Sure, GalCiv2's diplo could be lots better (and its dear dev could have not decided to break it in ten different ways ), but what's currently in FE was a significant step backwards. Speaking of, you should probably drop the Political Capital idea. You guys have had nothing but time and opportunities to try to turn it into something interesting, but it really-really hasn't happened.
Setting - I'm sure FE has a vivid, imaginative and compelling setting. But I didn't buy the book, so I'm just guessing... Which is the provo-way of saying it needs to come across stronger in the games. There's not a lot of obviously distinctive stuff in there right now, and I doubt most of us actively look for the fluff. Maybe adding a couple of lines of VOs to the default leaders, and to a distinctive monster or five would help. Unlike walls of text, VO doesn't really get in the way.
AI - I feel like a git saying this, but... But the AI kind of sucks on both the strategic and tactical layer. The game can definitely be a challenge. I still can't beat max difficulty. But the AI really doesn't play very well, it just gets to bend the rules a great deal. And I'm not against that in principle, it's just that past a certain point it starts to detract from the experience when the AI repeatedly makes bad decisions.
I know all of that sounds very negative, but that's not the intent. FE is a pretty good game already, and the different components really do come together quite nicely now. But it's also a game that makes me go "aww, if only XYZ got done to what's already there, this game would be sooo much better." That's not a great thing, but it's not a bad thing either. It really just means the game is good enough that I'm seriously into it and care about it.
So again: my vote is to keep working on FE. It's the kind of game I want.
EDIT: Oh and... If you're dumping the Elemental brand, please, please dump the horribad GUI too. And with the next one, don't worry about screen real-estate, don't hide buttons, make sure everything clickable is at least twice as large as the mouse pointer, and make sure all the font is large enough to be legible. Also, try to be colour-blind friendly if you're not already (I wouldn't know). I know Frogboy thinks the current GUI is an improvement over GalCiv2, but the only thing that proves, is that he shouldn't ever be allowed to have an opinion on GUIs
@Simsum, I like that post, states some ideas and problems without being too negative, remember, constructive criticism is not a bad thing.
Sincerely~ Kongdej
I think to answer the question properly and fully we have to know what is planned for the expansion and what this game engine is truly capable of. Without full knowledge of how the underlying code really works I can tell that there is a game of epic proportions waiting to be unveiled.
I know that your team has put a whole lot of work into "Elemental" already, but it will be worth it to keep the game going in a positive direction until it becomes a true masterpiece. It is already a great game that has allowed myself and others to put in many hours of fun, but not without some faults. Whether it is through the expansion, DLC, patches, or player built mods, I feel that there is the real possibility of a game using the foundation you created that will flawlessly combine all the best aspects of empire building, rpg, and tactical battles that has great replay value and is enjoyable to a broad audience.
I feel that the end of the "Elemental" journey must end in greatness, and to settle for anything less than that you will be selling yourselves short. The thing is though, that you don't have to do all the work right away, or even all yourselves. Many games are fun that don't realize their true potential until expansion packs and player designed mods come out. All you have to do is to create a great game that can stand on its own two feet as a product worthy of our time and money, so that means taking care of both the bugs and major stuff like AI (like you have been doing), and then let the mod creators tailor the game to specific demands. There are some cool mods out now, but I think it is important to keep giving the modders appropriate tools, feedback, and support.
How do you feel about the game and what you have produced for us? You should feel proud, and even after the initial Elemental:WOM launch you stuck with your vision and gave us a great game in Fallen Enchantress. Many companies would have just scrapped the whole thing after that, but I am glad that you kept at it, and I hope your continued work on this "franchise", even if you change names, will reward you well and give us enjoyment.
I will support the company whatever decision they make but as i said i believe FE has potential and want to see more of it.
As paladinjb said above i want the "Elemental" end in greatness too. Both the game end the devs deserve it.
Just my two cents without checking all the other comments.
I think the part that I liked the most of the elemental universe whas the survival aspect. I really loved Elemental: war of magic. I can even remember a private build from Brad/Frogboy where monsters where really agressive and strong, and I loved it!
I can really recall only turn-based fantasy strategy that has a survival aspect, and that one is discontineud. So personally, this is the niche that the Elemental universe has for me. Only Kohan: immortal sovereign had this aspect, in which lairs where buildings on the map that spawned roaming monsters.
Do we loyal minions get the oppertunity to see a "Expansion Log" of all the changes coming up??
I also think I speak for many here when I ask: Can we beta the expansion?? (when the campaign was held back from us...it really showed in bugs n' balance upon release)
Arrh you make it sound so nice, but you also had similar promises about the "content held back" before release... My heart is twisted
Would be nice to see said expansion log firefly is prodding about.
I find "Alpha Centauri" had a survival aspect, although personally I am not too fund of too much "survival" against the random environment... atleast without me being able to set it higher or reduce the amount of "survival needed".
I understand reading all our long lines of pointless text gets rough .. Only suggestion I ever have is if you have the time; The more often you take a look in here, the less you have to read at once. Anyways, hope you enjoy the game anyhoo .
In the absence of alternatives, please keep working on/expanding FE. It is a very fun game for me. I already know I'll buy any expansions/DLCs for this game. To say nothing of GalCivIII.
Now I know sod-all about game development, so I'm not entirely sure what "game engine" means, but is it at all conceivable to use the same engine for a combo space 4x/RPG? You could even use the GalCivII factions as a base (or come up with something different). Rather than sitting on your homeworld ruling a vast empire in abstract, have the sme kinds of leveling, questing, etc as FE, but set in space? I would imagine it would have to be some kind of two-level game - a space based 4x coupled with the usual empire building, to include ground combat/plnetary invasion with the second level being strategic and tactical space combat. Recruit heroes, have them significant in leading fleets or ground forces or commando raids or research or ... (anyone remember how the heroes worked in the old Star Wars: Rebellion? An updated version of that would be pretty cool). Think of the faction differentiation in Sins, for instance. Lots of possibilities for spell-like abilities, etc. You can even cheese the back story - you represent the pitiful remnants of the survivors of a vast war between the megacivs or whatever.
I'm not even sure this is possible. But I know I'd buy it. MMORPGs just don't do it for me any more. And after the disappointments with Star Wars: Old Republic, the Star Trek MMORPG (whatever the name was), and even WoW after awhile, I'd like to see a space RPG/4x that combines the nice synergies that FE seems to have. I'd even be willing to stomach TBS tactical combat as cheesy as MOO2.
Having played Civilization 4 and E:WoM before FE, I strongly recommend continuing development of FE. I think you have something special here.
As for my two Gildar pieces:
I don't want to oversell the expansion. It's an expansion, not a new game. It's refinement not revolution.
So how much the expansion changes things depends on what level of refinement you're looking for.
I can only speak for myself but I don't want another Elemental but rather a re-imagining of MoM.
Not an exact copy, though, given how broken the game balance (and partially the AI) was in MoM.
Would still love for the expansion to run 32-bit.
And would be icing on the cake if I got my peeps to display again.
I know that means memory work....but memory work helps everybody out. I'm happy playing medium map with peeps.....others who run 64-bit can get gigantic with peeps....
Those look pretty. When is the reveal? The official reveal, I mean.
Also, will we be able to test this out, too?
I believe Fallen Enchantress deserves to be developed further, abandoning it and moving on would be a shame.
At this point in my personal opinion it's sitting on that weird spot where it's kinda fun but not where it should be either, kinda like GalCiv 2 before Twilight of Arnor which in my opinion completed the game and really made it a gem. Whenever I play I have this sort of instinct where I know there's something good to be found there but half the time I'm wondering why I'm bothering and I quit. With some changes it could really become a diamond.
As someone who has been modding for close to 15 years now and developed a growing interest in game design, I always strive to find ways to improve the experiences. Take those suggestions for what it's worth, some words on the internet, but I truly believe those could really transform this game.
Suggestions
1. I feel that separating the building production from the unit production would fix so many problems with this game.
A ) It would help with A.I. interactivity, which as of now, is almost non-existent. The monsters currently feels more interactive than the other civs.B ) It would make some techs worthwhile, especially the military ones. As of now, military units barely have a presence before they are ''outdated''.C ) Fights would and could become much more interesting if we had armies instead of mini skirmish encounters that we have with other civs.
2. Remove the sole focus from expansion and reduce the amount of score it gives. Massive expansion should be a choice, not a requirement, the expansion race gets very tiresome very quickly. Every civs should have their preference for diversity sake and the tech tress should reflect those choices, with techs aimed towards toward big or small empires.
A ) As someone who prefers well defended and upgraded small empire, I'm tired of having A.I. civs with twice my score being agressive towards me but keeps getting stomped because they have no units and are stretched so thin that they can't defend themselves. I'm also tired of them expanding everywhere without reason and blocking my way with their borders.
3. Add an Open/Close Border option in diplomacy.
A ) It would fix the above problem with A.I. civs borders blocking everybody with their expansion lust.B ) It would also add strategic value when you are at war with another civ. Influencing them to close or open their borders to you/others would add a great diplomatic aspect to the game.
4. Remake the tech trees.
A ) It's currently a mess, weapons, armors (magic or not), military infrastructure, army size and groups upgrade should all be inside warfare.B ) Civ tree should contain general infrastructure upgrades (growth, research, production, ect) and everything diplomatic.C ) Magic should be magic, spells, upgrades to your summons or amount you can have of one type, ect.
5. Magic needs to be more interactive, things like having upkeeps on summons rather than a cap could grant an alternative way to create an army and play the game. Spells that affects the environment in your territory and some that persist for an upkeep cost, like a maintained fire wall or storm damaging or slowing any units passing through. Growing trees to slow down enemies, setting forests on fire to clear them or damaging units per turn inside the tile. Freezing water tiles to move your army over and so on. Lots of possibilities with a bit of creativity, Age of Wonders did this really well in my opinion.
A ) Magic is alright as of now, the unit buffs/debuffs are a good step but it needs more, especially on the strategic layer.B ) The magic aptitude level (apprentice, master, ect.) of sovereigns and champions should grant a bonus to spells researched in the magic tree (strategic spells should all be in there) and should provide only tactical spells.
6. More customization, allow us to use traits slots for unit spells, have some specific options either in traits or weapons for mounted/foot warfare, ex: Lances for mounted units, specific bows (like longbows) or polearms for foot troopers.
A ) The game already has tons of items/models but for some reason, they are not used outside from loot rewards.B ) Equipment should not become obsolete but rather be an tactical choice and excel in their own areas. The game already does a pretty good job at this, which is a bit why I'm a little confused by the upgrade option but the impact of equipment should be kept as it is, alternatives rather than upgrades. I really like how big of a drain on resources high level equipment can be and how simple things like spears can still have an impact late game in large groups of units.
I will support Stardock strategy games no matter what form they take.
I voted to keep working on Fe, but I would be satisfied with anything strategy related. You and your team have very good ideas and there are also many posted in this thread.
The bottom line for me though is that I do look forward to any future Stardock strategy titles.
Next week is the reveal:
It'll be a couple weeks after that (at least) before the beta is ready. I think FE 1.3 will come out first.
I voted MoM2. And here is why:
I would pay 100 bucks in a heartbeat for a MoM2 with updated graphics, high moddability and some minor improvements (AI, maybe some balance), and I would easily bet another 100 that there are many, many more around that would do the same. I am not saying that every TBS-enthusiast would pay this much, but what I am saying is that I am very, very convinced that such a game would sell extremely well. Think of all the coverage it would get - MoM still is highly present nowadays in nostalgia/best-games-of-all-time articles. Most of your target customers at least know it's there. Also, see how well the new X-COM sold - it is a very solid game by itself, but the nostalgia/remake factor must have been huge. Never have I heard of anyone saying that MoM is not at least a very solid game. At the same time, I do not want go glofiry MoM. It sure has its flaws - but heck, Startdock is a great studio with very talented people, so go ahead and improve on them!
It has been said numerous times why MoM was and still is such a great game, so I will just briefly recap some of which I think are the most important ones:
If at all affordable, I would even go as far and sugggest to try and acquire the licence (I am aware that Stardock tried to buy it years ago). Even if the price tag is very high, if you can somehow afford it, go ahead and pay the price. Not only would you get the name boosting sales, but also a huge amount of design work done which must be worth millions (since you are basically rebuilding the classic with identical/very similar mechanics). Again - I am extremely convinced that you would earn the investment back tenfold.
And as some other poster pointed out very well: That would only be the beginning and not really undermine your own creativity. What doesn't fit in the original remake could go into expansions. These would give infinite room for further layers where Stardock could come back with its own ideas and visions for improvement.
Another point of my somewhat random rambling: I don't understand how "build on the foundation you've already laid" is a strong argument in favor of further developing FE. Many, many assets could be used for MoM2 as well (and not taking into account all the invaluable experience of what did NOT work, or not very well which could be used in a MoM2 and its possible expansions).
Last point, and maybe most important one:
What other game-related news that you can possibly imagine would make you say something along these lines (replace "MoM2" with whatever you like):
"I never thought that it would happen. But actually, it is. MoM2 is coming".
It gives me goosebumps just daydreaming about this.
heh, I can't afford that no matter how much I want MoM2 Buying FE was my left-over money from 2½ months...Same reason I didn't touch the 5$ map pack.
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