Every year I send out a Christmas letter to friends and family full of pictures. Our pictures are taken with whatever the typical consumer grade gadget we have on us. In more recent years, that’s been iPhones.
This year marks a threshold being crossed where the picture quality really has gotten spectacular. The sharpness, color balance and just general quality is amazing.
Early preview.
Just checked this in:
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12.07.12
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+ Moved AIEvaluateAreaThreat to AIfaction
+ AI looks for enemy defenders sitting on top of targeted improvements in AIFindClosestEnemyImprovement
+ AI trait weighting reduced from 1000 to 100 for researching techs purposes
+ AI checks to make sure a given unit isn't a city guardian unit before doing AI on it
+ AI calculates the battle rank of its champions and sovereigns each turn afresh to accurately reflect how strong it is prior to operating on it
+ AI no longer uses post message to leave a city in order to ensure it has real time strength notice of a target city
+ AI caps how much it will count crystal, influence and metal when factoring what it should research
+ AI vastly better at choosing technologies to research
+ AI is more protective of its cities
+ Fixed bug where AI pioneers couldn't build outposts if they were in an army with a champion or a sovereign (hence, armies of pioneers late game)
+ Fixed AI bug where sovereigns and champions, late game, would tend to lone wolf attack cities
+ AI pioneers better about staying put if there is an area threat around them (i.e. will stay inside a city)
+ AI values armor more than before when designing units
+ AI champions now care more about whether the city is defended well enough before leaving a city
+ Fixed bug that prevented AI from casting strategic attack spells on enemy units
+ AI interacts more with players
+ Modified Average combat rating to be 100 instead of 200 in elementaldefs.xml
+ Fixed crash bug in elementalsectormapper where the ZOC would get updated in a thread
+ Fixed bug in mapgenerator.cpp in which terrain decals were being loaded and placed (we don't display them so we were just using CPU and memory for no reason)
+ Modified the prop code so that deserts display more props and other terrains show fewer (mapgenerator.cpp)
+ Fixed path finding bug that caused any AI units that intersected during movement to cancel their destinations. This prevented AI units from being able to effectively create armies or get around late game (basically crippled AI movement late game)
+ Modified the combat rating calcualtor to consider defense a bit more
We're going to tweak easy and below to be easier because of these changes. My 1.05frog build (https://forums.elementalgame.com/437369/) has these improvements in it already for anyone who wants to try a private build.
One thing I learned from extensive testing is that the AI "quality" is heavily dependent on which factions you play against. Some factions are weaker than others (in terms of the AI's effective use). Krax and Trogs are the ones the AI loves the most.
Q: What is the Map Pack?
A: It is a collection of pre-made maps and random map stamps.
Q: Does it help with randomly generated maps?
A: Yes, it includes a host of new stamps that make the random maps richer as well.
Q: What’s special about the pre-made maps over a randomly generated map?
A: With pre-made maps, we can do things that the random map generator can’t.
Q: Like what?
A: For example, it includes the Anthys map which is over 5X bigger than the normal large map. A normal large map fills up with 8 players. With Anthsys, over a dozen players would have lots of room to expand.
We also have boats on these maps that players can take to sail out to areas and explore the seas for hidden islands and treasures. Pre-made maps also let us do crazy things like have a map where it’s all Wild Lands all the time with everyone trying to survive and ultimately conquer them.
Q: Are the starting positions hard-coded?
A: No, even on Anthys, we made it so that the starting positions are randomized so that you can play it over and over again.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: $4.99
Q: Where can I get it?
A: You can get it here: https://www.elementalgame.com/fallen-enchantress/purchase. If you bought FE on Steam, you can get it on the Steam page.
Last week I talked to Brendan Sinclair of GameIndustry.biz regarding the lack of transparency in digital distribution. If you’re a game developer trying to decide whether to make a game for the PC, XBox, Wii U, PS3, iPad, Android, etc. knowing the likely sales outcome is critical. And yet, even at this stage, it’s very difficult to have an idea of how well a game will do on a target platform.
For example, last year, we released a little Christmas game for the XBox Live indie channel called Elf Squad 7. For a couple weeks, it was in their top sellers list. But that meant selling just a few hundred copies. If we had been a start-up targeting XBox Live Indie, we’d be doomed. What is needed is some sort of metric that lets would-be developers gauge what their prospective return on investment is if they are successful on that platform.
As a game developer, I’m a lot less interested in how many copies the #1 game on a platform does than I am what the 100th did. I’m sure Angry Birds on the iPad has sold millions of copies. But I’m not likely to make the next angry birds. Getting into the top 10 or even top 100 sellers on a given platform is a successful achievement. But if my game can make it into the top 10 seller on a given platform by selling only a few hundred units for a given time period, that’s not a good sign to me.
For all the shouts that “PC gaming is d0med” we’ve heard over the years, it strikes me as odd that Galactic Civilizations II, a game released 6 years ago and is almost certainly in the top 100 best sellers on Steam has done over $1 million in the past year alone on that platform. And that’s just Steam and not counting Impulse or direct or retail or anywhere else it’s available. That strikes me as a pretty healthy platform. As a developer, if I know that something that didn’t even crack the top 100 for that year can make 7 figures then that’s a good platform to target.
But until that developer has taken the plunge on a particular platform, there is no readily available way for them to know what kinds of sales their game can expect. If I were making cars, I know exactly how many Chevy Volts or Honda Accords have sold in the past year. But in games? It’s guess work.
It would be really handy if the platform owners would divulge what their 100th best selling game did that year. They don’t need to name the game. Just the # of units sold and its average price point. Understandably, the weaker platforms wouldn’t divulge this but the stronger ones could use this as a competitive advantage. Right now, game developers too often feel like they’re playing the lottery and that’s not a healthy way to run a business.
As Fallen Enchantress rushes towards the 100,000 unit sold mark, we are hard at work on v1.1. We are hoping to have it ready before Christmas but I don’t want to make any promises.
The main changes in v1.1 will be memory and AI related. There are lots of bug fixes in the pipeline too such as ones that help with modding and just plain good old fashioned bugs that slipped by.
People have been asking whether Fallen Enchantress is “selling well”. It’s a hard question to answer since I don’t think it’ll ever be able to sell as well as Galactic Civilizations because we did, after all, give the people who bought War of Magic back in the day copies of Fallen Enchantress. I think if you combined War of Magic with Fallen Enchantress you’d have a much better story.
We are pretty happy with the reviews. We’re hoping to see a lot more as time goes on. I doubt we’ll release any more games in 4th quarter in the future. Very hard to get coverage with all the big console releases that come out for the Christmas season not to mention the Wii U. 
The Map pack is expected to be out in early December. They’re putting the final touches on it. I will confess I wasn’t terribly excited about it at first as I prefer the random maps. But having played Anthys (the new immense sized map) it really does become an amazing world. Anthys is also a great map for testing the AI on so if you don’t see me posting a lot over the next couple of weeks it’ll be because I’m coding on that.
And lastly, a random plug for those of you running Windows 8. You may already be familiar with Start8 which brings back the Start menu in Windows 8. We just released Decor8 today which allows you to change your backgrounds in the Start screen (yea, Microsoft doesn’t let you use your own backgrounds for this for some reason by default).
Anyway, lots of cool stuff coming up. Also, if you don’t already have Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, v1.1 just came out. The merged development teams (IronDock? StarIron?) have really made something special with Rebellion. It’s really terrific.
Stay tuned!
GameSpy’s Katie Williams has a terrific blog on the real misogyny that exists in the game industry.
You can read it here: http://alivetinyworld.com/2012/11/27/too-many-reasons-why/
In the article she writes:
I’ve been watching the #1reasonwhy hashtag on Twitter with an anxious kind of understanding. Like, part of me wants to jump right in and post a dozen of my own experiences, but I’ve also learned what happens if you say that shit publicly: you’re berated, blamed, dismissed. I’ve been there.
And she’s right. People seem to like to indulge their most base instincts and turn total strangers into warped avatars of everything they despise. If they see a young woman making observations they don’t like, some will instantly berate her based on their own preconceived notions.
Our company operates in both the game and general software industries. We’ve had the opportunity to see the drastic difference in the way female PMs/PR/Developers get treated by users/media. It’s not a pretty picture.
For example, Stardock’s lead game developer is female (Cari Begle). I don’t know if I could say she personally wrote the majority of the code in Galactic Civilizations but it’s possible she did. She wrote a huge chunk of the code in Galactic Civilizations II and subsequent (Metacritic >90 game) expansions. She worked on Impulse::Reactor after Twilight of the Arnor until she came back to work on Elemental: Fallen Enchantress.
And she’s not alone. In fact, I think Kael would agree that over 50% of the lines of code in Fallen Enchantress were probably written by women and a sizeable chunk of the artwork players see.
On one gaming forum, a user talked about a gaming dinner I attended where I arrived with 3 women and implied I must have brought them to "look cool" (or something to that effect) ignoring that two of the three women were managers (with male subordinates) and the other was my planner (basically the person who tells me what to do and where to go on trips). In other words, important positions at our company. I don't even think the person realized the misogyny they were displaying so publicly.
And yet, it doesn’t take long to go online and see the abuse hurled at women by male gamers. It’s bizarre and disgusting. We’re in Michigan so I don’t know if our game studio is set up differently from other game studios but I wonder how many people hurling insults at female gamers have any idea how many of their favorite games were actually made by women?
Meanwhile…
Our main business, software, does not suffer these issues. I have no worries that our PR manager (a woman) or our marketing manager (a woman) and a given female PM could be sent out to a conference or a tech site and be taken seriously.
At our company, we don’t intentionally hire people because they’re male, female, black, white, etc. (I’m equally obnoxious to everyone I deal with). Perhaps it’s because of our location in Michigan that we don’t have the luxury to indulge our baser instincts. That's because we simply don't "get it". We're far enough away from the core gaming industry that we don't have a "game culture" here that encourages that kind of thing. It's alien to us. I could be the most sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-puppy bastard in the world but it wouldn't occur to me to let it get in the way of business even if I were that way. That would be insane. You have to wonder what some of these people out there are thinking (or perhaps they’re just not thinking).
Regardless, I do share the same fears that Katie brings up. The kind of crap I’ve seen thrown onto female gamers has not made us very excited about subjecting our staff to the abuse out there. I always leave it up to the individual on how much “exposure” they want. Most people (male and female) wisely choose privacy. They just want to make games in peace.
What I can say is that I’ve seen the same crap that Katie has seen. I’d like to think it’ll go away in time. My oldest son’s generation play games universally. So there’s hope for the future. In the meantime, what we can do is make sure people know that gaming and game development is not nearly as male dominated as some people seem to think.
Update:
I think there is a lot confusion on what misogyny is. At least, that's the impression I get from reading the comments.
Specifically, what I'm talking about are men who really have contempt for women. Some men are blatantly unaware of it and others will try to rationalize it. In either case, I find it ugly.
Misogyny is NOT when a person gets insulted or trolled and that person happens to be a woman. If you let that become a narrative, you will have an endless parade of cynical people who will exploit this to get attention for themselves.
I see both men and women confuse the issue in different ways. A man being mean to a woman in itself isn't misogyny. I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity jerk. I've read enough forum trolls over the years to know there are plenty of cubicle drones out there that live to crap on people who run businesses but lack the fortitude to, you know, actually start and run a business where they have to hire and fire employees. Nothing throws cold water faster on braind-dead but feel-good policies than a bit of reality. If someone thinks they can run a business without ever being "mean" to an employee than go have at it. You can run the world's politest bankrupt company.
The point being, I wouldn't want to see the public awareness of the misogyny in the game industry being turned into a "treat women with kiddie gloves" movement because that's a form of sexism as well. The problem comes in when men simply make sexist assumptions about women without even knowing them. That's one of the things I've seen. The assumption that a woman doesn't know how to program or know games or what have you. That's nonsense. Have female coworkers who could absolutely destroy most DOTA2 players.
My pet peeve gets a little political, if you'll forgive me. I see men who decry misogyny but don't do a damn thing about it but think merely "creating awareness" in itself is something. I've been to a lot of game studios over the years and it's a little absurd to see guys being sanctimonious while they work at a studio where the only woman there is the receptionist or maybe a graphics designer.
Awareness of the issue is a good thing. A better thing is to actually do something about it. Run a game server? Kick off the scum. Run a forum? Get rid of them. Are in a position of authority? Fire people who demonstrate a problem. Long before this issue became a popular discussion topic, I fired an employee who showed contempt to his female manager. No warnings. She didn't even complain to me about this employee. I heard about it, brought the guy into my office and fired him on the spot. Words are cheap. Don't just talk about it, do something.
So what kind of car do you drive?
I've got a Chevy Volt. Best car I've ever had.
Greetings!
This post will occasionally be updated with whatever private build I have on my PC. It's not an official build. Save a backup of your EXE.
FE: v1.05FROG (12/6/2012)
+ All code-based (as opposed to XML) based improvements listed for the unreleased 1.1 PLUS
+ Massive AI improvements
-->https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8051911/FE-105frog.zip
As a side-hobby, I run the Facebook Entlebucher page. Entlebuchers are an amazing breed of dog. They’re closely related to the Bernese Mountain Dog and the Swiss Mountain dog. What sets them apart is size, life span, and hair length. Entlebuchers are about 50 pounds, they have short hair and live around 14 years.
Personality wise, Entlebuchers (pronounced Ent-Lee-Booker or Ent-Lees) are velcro dogs. That is, they want to always be with you. There is a saying about Entlebuchers:
“One does not call an Entlebucher because the Entlebucher is already there.”
It makes for some pretty amazing demonstrations to other people. Without any serious training, I can walk around anywhere and my Entle will follow me around without a leash. When I go downtown, she’s always on a leash but I didn’t have to “leash train” her for her to nicely walk with me because she wants to always be near by. When off leash, I could be walking one way, abruptly turn around and walk the other way and the Entle will quickly turn and follow without being called.
There are, however, some downsides of owning an Entlebucher which makes them unsuitable for most people.
First, the attachment thing I mentioned can’t be turned off. When she has to go to the bathroom, I have to go outside with her. She simply won’t go outside with one of her people being with her. That means, early morning, there is no opening the door and letting her go out. You are going with her. This is something I have never had with any dogs I’ve had before.
Second, the attachment thing means leaving them alone during the day is not good. They want to be with their humans all the time. If you have multiple dogs, you might be able to get away with keeping them together but these are not dogs to be kept alone during the day. My Entle goes to work with me (though she could stay at home with my wife too in a pinch).
When the family traveled to Europe this Summer, we couldn’t take her. My mom babysat her at our house. When we got home a week later, I thought she was going to stroke. She was just insane at us being home. It’s certainly endearing but is a reminder that these dogs want to be with their family – all the time –.
But the downsides of their extreme attachment (which has many good sides itself – no such thing as a runaway Entlebucher) are more than made up by their other qualities. They barely shed. People with dog allergies can generally tolerate them because there’s very little hair. They are extremely low maintenance.
They’re also very easy to train. Being so eager to please, they learn tricks even when you’re really not trying to teach them. My son taught Bailey to roll over in less than 10 minutes. She loves to play fetch. She is extremely intelligent which allows me to tell her to get specific objects and bring them to me (if she knows where they are). She is pretty stubborn – she’ll bring me her toys but she won’t bring me my slippers. 
Entles are also full of mischief. I can put a sandwich on a plate on the floor next to the couch while I’m reading and Bailey will loyally not touch it. However, if no one is around, she’ll open the pantry door, go in and steal something.
Speaking of doors, she also knows how to open and close doors which can lead to mischief if she thinks we’re not paying attention and thinks there is food in the garage. It also means that if I have her at work and I go out to lunch without her, she’ll open my office door, open the stairway door and try to get out to where I parked my car (the outside doors pull in so she can’t open them). At least once a week we have to bring her in from the stairwell where she got herself stuck when we went out to lunch.
Entles aren’t common in the United States. And, like I said, they’re not for everyone – or even most people. But if you’re someone who’s able and willing to invest time and energy into a dog that they’re able to keep around them most of the time, they’re a great companion.
Bailey being weighed moments after being born
Bailey on her first day home.
Bailey snoozing when she was a puppy
Bailey’s first walk
Even on laundry day, Bailey is ready to play
When programming, I’ll look over and have someone staring at me…
If you take a nap, your Entlebucher may decide that’s the time to join in.
Entles make good pillows (my daughter and Bailey)
At the city park
Bailey and my son on the boat