GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #18 - Should there be a campaign?

DivineWrath

Join Date 05/2006

+135

I say nay. I want to be able to play a good game, not play a campaign. I really wish you guys do some quality of life improvements to the game. There are some good features that GalCiv 2 had that GalCiv 3 & 4 don't, such as better rally points or fleet management.

Have you tried to put a fleet of tiny ships together? 64 of them? You need to select each ship individually while hold the ctrl button. 64 ships is a lot of mouse clicking. If you make a mistake you have to start over.

I'm quite happy to read the lore of the game outside of the game.

I'm still mad at you guys at letting civs survive because they still have a colony ship somewhere on the map (a GalCiv 3 problem).

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Quoting pixelcowboy,

reply 25

IMO this is a really weird question to ask during an Early Access. Game as it currently is lacks a lot of polish, content, and many promised features aren't working or implemented. If the choice is between finishing the game or having a campaign, then yeah, please finish your Early Access game.

When GC4 was coming out, they asked if people wanted the battle veiwer even though other aspects of the game would recieve less work\polish.

Enough people including me voted yes and they added the battle veiwer back in.

Stardock listens to us. We actually get to play a huge part in how these game are made. While I agree the campaign should be left for DLC or made into mega events, questions like this are how they gage interest in what their player base wants.

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Quoting Halicide,

reply 27

Quoting pixelcowboy,

reply 25

IMO this is a really weird question to ask during an Early Access. Game as it currently is lacks a lot of polish, content, and many promised features aren't working or implemented. If the choice is between finishing the game or having a campaign, then yeah, please finish your Early Access game.

When GC4 was coming out, they asked if people wanted the battle veiwer even though other aspects of the game would recieve less work\polish.

Enough people including me voted yes and they added the battle veiwer back in.

Stardock listens to us. We actually get to play a huge part in how these game are made. While I agree the campaign should be left for DLC or made into mega events, questions like this are how they gage interest in what their player base wants.

So true the far setting in the Galaxy set up is one I suggested, then I suggested it and suggested it again, did I mention I suggested it? They finally added it to shut me up.

In this case and seeing most of the votes going towards finish the current version and then add a campaign in a DLC is leading I believe that will be the outcome.

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My opinion is:
yes to the campaign, I'd like to continue the epic (I started with GalCiv2, and played all of them since) but better to put it in a later DLC, first there are more important things to add and fix for the sandbox

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I like campaigns in a game I always play that first. A good option for me is to have 1 or 2 campaign maps to get you excited about the story and act as a tutorial and the rest to come as DLC. This way people will be inclined to buy the DLC, to see the rest of the story. However, if this is not an option people generally prefer a well-refined experience in games.

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I have never wanted to play campaign. For me, the point is the variable challenges and opportunities presented by random sandbox galaxy generation.

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I have purchased every GC game and expansion to date.

Campaigns have come to be expected for me. I love to play through the stories.

Having said that, I will purchase every expansion and DLC you create for GC without a second thought.

I would prefer you add it as a DLC (hopefully multiple DLC) for the extra revenue.

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Personally, I think saving it for DLC would be the best option for a couple reasons.

1st: I think what's most important for the 1.0 launch of supernova is to launch with all the mechanics extremely refined, bugs as low as possible and all the important information being extremely readable for new players. Granted this is just an assumption, but I am guessing you'll be pushing advertising of some kind after the game launches to attract new and returning players - You NEED that first impression, that first experience to be flawless, especially after some of the "meh" reception of base gal civ 4. So I think you should focus entirely on hammering out, adjusting and refining the important features for now.

2nd: I want a GOOD campaign. As you mentioned, campaigns aren't the normal for sandbox 4x games which means an average or bad one is extremely easy to forget about/gloss over and never think about again. So, if you do a campaign it should be something very special, the kind of thing that takes a large amount of development time/devotion. That's much easier to do if it's own post-launch DLC than trying to shoehorn it in for 1.0.

So overall, I think trying to put the Campaign in for 1.0 would be result in a sub-par, forgettable campaign and potentially impact the quality of the game as a whole which serves neither company nor customer. Saving it and focusing on it as a DLC is the best idea to give players the base game they deserve, an excellent campaign people enjoy playing and of course the best bang for the companies buck.

Just my two cents.

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So if I look at what's happened with GC IV to date.....there is to this day polishing and balancing that I wish was done but was never gotten to. So clearly development resources remain tight.

To that end, I would much rather have effort spent on the core game than on a campaign.

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add me to the 'no campaign' list as well - i hardly ever play them (especially as a 4x strategy scifi game) i'm happy with the more organic storytelling that just comes from playing....

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Between more features or campaign. I'd vote for more features.

However I liked the previous GC where the campaign was incorporated in to the tutorial. That way it could tell a short background story while helping a new player with the mechanics of the game.

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GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #18 - Should there be a campaign?

GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #18 - Should there be a campaign?

GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #18 - Should there be a campaign?

The Backstory

The Iconians

The Flight of the Precursors

The Younger Races

The Humans

The Present Day

Pros and Cons