This is not a story that will make all people happy.

In War of Magic, we had a requirement that the game would work on netbooks. And the good news was, it did.  But it came at a price: Pixel Shader 2.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with graphic tech, video cards support various types of on-chip programs with the best known one called Pixel Shader.

Pixel Shader 2 will work on really old machines going all the way back to the Radeon 9800 series and the Geforce FX cards and those crappy old Intel embedded cards. There were a lot of visual downsides, particularly in terms of lighting and shadowing. But the biggest had to do with memory consumption.

Because most modern video cards have lots and lots of memory on board (those would be cards that support Pixel Shader 4 and 5), when those cards had to go into Pixel Shader 2 mode, a lot of graphics got doubled up in memory because of the way we had to manually cache things in main memory to keep performance high.

The ironic result is that people with newer hardware ended up running out of memory. The better your video card, the faster it would happen.  It was a case of trying to be all things to all people. People with older video cards ended up with a much better experience.

With Fallen Enchantress, we bit the bullet and went with Pixel Shader 3. This not only gave us a lot of new lighting and shadowing options but largely eliminated the doubling of memory issue we had with Pixel Shader 2. The net result is that, voila, our memory use was halved. But it comes at a price. You need a much better video card to play Fallen Enchantress than you did War of Magic.

Now, bear in mind, what I mean by much is still a relatively low end video card. It just has to support DirectX 9c. So for instance a Radeon X1300 or a Geforce 7 series would now be the low end.  Put another way, if your video card has less than 512MB of memory on it, you will probably have problems.

A rule of thumb is, if your video card is older than 5 years…it’s probably time to upgrade it if you want to play Fallen Enchantress.

There’s been a lot of talking about the character portraits shown in screenshots.

One thing to bear in mind: Developer journals are not marketing screenshots. I take them in the debugger while I’m working. It’s the only way we are able to have so many developer journals.

That means the lighting, particle effects, etc. are disabled.

Here are some of the character portraits for FE:

 

In every Stardock game ever, from 1993 on, the “flavor text” was done by whoever had a moment to throw something in there.

Often times, it meant I did it since I type 120wpm and could crank out a lot of stuff.  The GalCiv technology descriptions are notorious for this.

In War of Magic, we decided that we would keep the tongue in cheek text to a minimum which in reality just made it dry and boring.

Since we didn’t enjoy doing it and our fans really wanted to see our games start having some “soul” to them, we hired Sci-Fi writer, Dave Stern full time. He’s been with us since January and the results will be pretty obvious in Fallen Enchantress.

Screenshots:

I’m not a marketing person so these screenshot are taken by me in the debugger so keep that in mind (i.e. all graphical enhancements are turned to min for max performance in the debugger):

So Dave would write up a lengthy story along with something short for the in-game part. We would then be inspired to come up with game mechanics around it.

For example, in WOM, the Urxen were described as “Like Trogs but less warlike but more productive”.

In FE, Dave wrote a story about the history of the Urxen and their lives under Lady Umber. This in turn allowed us to come up with some unique traits that simply didn’t exist in WOM like Wanderlust and Serpent’s pack. Wanderlust lets players have Exploration technology early and Serpent’s pack lets them recruit a special type of unit in game.

Goodbye…”Random” name generator

I am sure people will miss our random name generator.  Instead, Dave Stern wrote up hundreds of different names that made sense based on which faction they were for and whether they were male or female.

The creatures of Elemental have also gotten their lore updated.

So for example, Rock Spiders are no longer described as “big tough spiders” but rather:

And of course NPCs now are individually described:

Now, is all this necessary?

We think so because each game plays out very differently and these familiar creatures and characters will provide a general continuity.

Turn 1.

A big objective is for the world to seem alive and interesting worth exploring. Each tile should mean something. Every expansion to your empire a victory. Every character important and valuable.

Will it be worth it?  That’s hard to say.  We think it’s worth it. Our primary objective with Elemental has been to create a brand-new PC fantasy strategy franchise.  We learned a lot with War of Magic and have applied those lessons to Fallen Enchantress. And one key lesson was imbuing the world with lore to bring the player to the world and make it theirs.

How aggressive should monsters be?

Make them too nasty and people get frustrated.  Make them too passive and they’re a joke.

I’ve got to tweak them in both directions. Gonna have to be a lot of subtlety in the difficulty levels.

Derek and his team have been busy working on the sequel to Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, the sequel to last year’s War of Magic.The final release date for Fallen Enchantress hasn’t been set yet but we do expect to go into beta around Thanksgiving.

Beta and Release

The initial beta will only be available to those who already have War of Magic. A later beta will be available to anyone who wants to pre-order it.  The beta will be available via Stardock’s new digital store. We plan to run the beta exclusively via our digital updater (tentatively called Stardock Central) though the final version will be available through multiple channels.

Where things stand right now

In many respects, Fallen Enchantress is a lot closer to what we had initially envisioned for the first Elemental strategy game. Specifically:

1. Terrain matters for city placement
2. More differentiation between factions
3. Much better economic system
4. Much better magic system
5. Much better tactical battle system
6. Cleaner, more compelling tech tree.

Before the beta hits, we’ll be releasing some videos along with some AI vs. AI battles to show players how the new game plays.

A few highlights

There are more technologies in Fallen Enchantress for players to research.  However, we’ve consolidated them into three distinct trees – Civilization, Warfare, Magic (The Empires have their own equivalent). 

The display has been changed such that you can easily tell what each tech gives you. You can also choose a technology that has multiple steps to get to and it will take you through the intermediary techs automatically.

 

When your city levels up, it now gets to choose from a random assortment of special city improvements that it can build. The higher the city, the more powerful the selection becomes.

 

We have cleaned up the way armies are handled. At first, your armies will only be able to support 4 to 5 units (depending on your faction). Of course, each “unit” can be made up of many guys but the point being that researching the logistics to support larger army sizes becomes one of those strategic choices rather than a “must” to win.

 

This is a small thing but for grognards (like myself) every tooltip has been redone such that you get an instant display of where a given stat is derived from.

The Gameplay

While some artwork and music survived from War of Magic, not much else has.  So your skills at War of Magic aren’t really going to carry over here.  While Elemental: War of Magic did eventually become a fairly decent TBS game,  we were never satisfied with its underlying game mechanics. Specifically, the way production, research, farming, etc. worked. Rather than tweak it, we decided to take a different path.

In addition, the way heroes were handled was something that felt too much like luck.  Instead, you will find champions being powers unto themselves. They’re typically living in their fortress, keep, dungeon, or what have you. The more powerful they are, the better your recruiting skill will need to be to recruit them. 

In Fallen Enchantress you are also encouraged to kill off champions that are allied with the other side to prevent them from becoming allied with an opponent. 

The land is a dangerous place. Virtually all the prime spots are surrounded by serious dangers. The good news is, they won’t just run out and attack you normally. The bad news is, as soon as a city’s sphere of influence spreads to one of their enclaves, they will be all over that city.

Tactical Battles

Players have the choice to either instantly resolve a battle or go to a tactical battle screen. Once there, they can either watch the battle resolve turn by turn, fight it out themselves or just resolve it.

My personal preference right now is to handle the first few turns and then turn it over the the auto play and watch the gory results.

Fallen Enchantress combat works based on initiative. There are no “rounds”. The faster a unit is, the more turns they get. There’s no counter-attack (unless that unit has it as a special ability).

Some spells take time to cast and that spell will appear in the film strip on the left so that players know what’s coming up and can see if there’s time to counter it.

Some units are more effective than others. Mounted warriors are harder to hit via archers and thus a very effective counter.

There’s a lot of combat in Fallen Enchantress and the battles tend to be fairly quick.  They visually look a lot better as well (since every fighter in a given unit will take part in a given action rather than simply the lead one as was the case in WOM).

The most obvious difference in Fallen Enchantress, imo, is that nearly every unit has some sort of special ability. You can even design them into your soldiers if you have researched the appropriate techs.

Rewards after battle tend to be more meaningful.

 

Now that so much of the game has been put into XML, we and modders can throw in basically as many abilities and such into the game as our imagination comes up with.

Diplomacy

This is an area that is getting a lot of attention. With each faction playing in very different ways, we needed to make sure those ways were sufficiently apparent to players. That meant having players who were effective with diplomacy and giving diplomacy more teeth. That means more treaties, more opportunity for manipulation, more tools to play the puppet master.

AI

The AI challenges in Fallen Enchantress are significant. This is the area of the game I’m focused on.  I’ve written elsewhere on this but the AI is much more XML driven than anything I’ve done in the past. The less I hard-code, the more broad strokes I can take with regards to deciding what spells to cast, what special abilities to pick and use, what improvements to construct, what technologies to research.

Unlike a typical Stardock beta cycle, the first beta of Fallen Enchantress will have the first AI pass in (normally our first betas have no AI in it). So players will be able to quickly discern how we’re doing in this area.

Marketing

There will be no real marketing effort for Fallen Enchantress in 2011. Basically, the betas are going to have to speak for themselves.

In the meantime, assume it’s going to suck and give you a disease.

My house uses a lot of energy. Specifically, it uses a lot of electricity.

A good portion of that electricity is because of the Geothermal system which uses Geothermal heat pumps to heat and cool the house.

To offset that, I had a 20KW solar array installed.  While October is not the most ideal of months for solar power (lot of rainy days), the results are looking somewhat promising.

Now, let me first be clear: Even with all the subsidies involved (which are a lot) the cost per KW was still $4.  The magic number is $1.  Without the subsidies, it would have been around $10 per KW.  In other words, it’s very unlikely I’ll ever make back what I paid to put into it to get it set up.  But that wasn’t really the point.  Not for me anyway.

So here are the results for the first month: The house ended up using about 7KWh per day of net power (instead of 85KWh).

This translates into a residential electrical bill of around $45 instead of $355. 

I’ve written about the creation of the novel, Destiny’s Embers, a book that takes places on Elemental.

I’ve gotten a lot of emails and requests for the second book in the series.  Will there be a sequel to Destiny’s Embers?  The answer is, I don’t know.  The first book sold pretty well but it was a lot of work. A lot more work than I ever dreamed it would be.

Writing a book for a world class publisher like Random House was an eye opening experience. My book got a bit of extra editorial attention because my lead editor happened to have extra time because he was waiting on A Dance With Dragons which was running late.

To help illustrate what I mean by work, I’m going to share with you the first chapter of Destiny’s Embers in 5 different drafts of it.  You see, the book was written several times over and over.  Bear in mind, these are drafts – no copy editing so I apologize for misspellings and grammatical errors.

Destiny’s Embers, Chapter 1, Draft 1:

The afternoon sun peeked between the forest canopy far above. A whole world of life lived far in the trees oblivious to sunny haired boy far below. The sunny haired boy, no older than 15, surveyed the ground below looking for midnight stones. These shiny black quartz stones were fairly common in “The Henge” as people called it. Little did the boy know that the stones were fragments of long destroyed beings who had been constructed by the powers to battle for this world. All that was left now were their fragments, much prized by the locals for their beauty despite having long ago forgotten how lethal the beings they were attached to once were.

The sunny haired boy was named Xander. He had lived on his own in these woods for many years after his parents had been slain. Not surprisingly, he was far skinnier than most boys his age. On the other hand, other boys his age considered him unusually lucky. Not only did he have a knack for finding the pretty midnight stones but he was friends with Princess Angenica, daughter of the Lord Ambrose who ruled The Henge from the Keep known simply as Outpost.

The Spring rains had made the shallow stream beds rush with water which, Xander knew, made it easier to find the stones. Leaping across one such stream, he found himself amongst several converging river beds. It was the perfect spot.

The boy knew if he concentrated, he could picture every place he might look and soon know the right place to actually look to find what he wanted. Soon enough, Xander saw a couple of midnight stones being uncovered by a nearby running stream.

The Spring day made the woods more humid than they would be later in the year. This forest had grown up around the spine of the empire after the cataclysm. It was still quite ancient as forests go in this part of the world. The forest, however, gave away quickly to the grass lands that surrounded the village that was set just outside the Keep of Outpost.

With his prize in his pocket, Xander began his trek out of the woods and back to town. As soon as he left the woods, he could see trouble coming. Three boys were coming his way.

Xander knew they were coming probably before they knew where they were going. The boys knew he was an easy target. As an orphan, he had no standing in the Kingdom. He had no proof that he was a proper citizen or the descendent of the so-called blood traitors down in Kraxis. As a result, in matters such as these, he was on his own.

Soon enough, the sloshing on the soft ground the boys made marked the beginning of the confrontation. At this point the forest was a good hundred yards behind him and the village that surrounded the keep was still in front of him.

“Well, if it isn’t the skeleton boy,” said the biggest one.

The big one, Morlis, had always been big for his age which more than made up for his lack of wit. He had been a bully for as long as Xander could remember knowing him.

“What do you want, Morlis?” Xander asked. He knew the answer but in his mind, Xander was weighing every option he could think of as quickly he could.

“You hear that, Mor? The skel acts like he doesn’t know what we want. You know what we want. We want the midnight stones you stole from us that you use to impress the princess,” said Vincor, Morlis’s slightly smaller but even nastier friend.

“Give us the stones, skel and we might let you off with just a black eye,” said Oro, the last of the thuggish trio. Oro was the most dangerous of the three. He wasn’t as big as Morlis or as smart as Vincor but he was more sadistic than the two combined.

“How are they your stones?” Xander asked. He needed only a little more time for several options in his mind to converge to avoid the beating the boys intended to give him regardless of whether he gave in.

Oro snorted, “They are ours by right since we belong here and you don’t. You’re just an orphan living off the good will of others. You have no ma or pa so you scurry around the keep. “

Xander inwardly sighed with relief as their window of opportunity closed and many different options now presented themselves to him. Xander laughed “Yes, what you call scurrying other people would call working. Maybe if you didn’t loaf around all day and instead worked an honest day you would appreciate the value of things. You are all 16 years old, a full year older than I am and you’re still nothing but thugs.”

Oro raged, “Get him!”

The three thugs prepared to pounce on Xander when a voice cried “Stop!”

The three boys froze instantly. Behind them walked the Princess Angenica. Besides being the daughter of the lord of Outpost, Angenica had a unique magical talent, anyone would do whatever she commanded instinctively. Everyone but, ironically, Xander.

“You three boys are lower than worms!” Geni said harshly.

“Get onto the ground and slither like worms,” she commanded.

The three boys instantly obeyed without hesitation and did exactly as she asked without question or resistance.

“I swear, Xander. I leave you alone for a few minutes and you nearly get yourself killed,” Geni teased. “What are you doing out near the woods anyway?”

Xander smiled and held out his hand. In his hand set 3 midnight stones.

“Oh, Xander, you’re the best! I don’t know how you manage to find these. I’d almost think you have some sort of magical tracking ability. No one else ever seems to be able to find things like you,” Geni laughed.

Geni was astonishingly pretty for a girl her age. Being the daughter of the ruler of this province, she had utmost personal confidence but more than that, her magical ability ensured she tended to get her way.

Of course, as was quite well known, Xander, like most people, had no magical talent unless luck could be considered a talent. He just tended to know what to do to avoid trouble or find what he wanted to find.

Geni considered the 3 bullies squirming on the ground, now thoroughly muddy. “You three continue slithering until the sun sets.”

Xander couldn’t help but smile as he looked up at the afternoon sun. It would be still some hours before the sun set.

Geni turned back towards the village that surrounded the keep and gestured for Xander to follow her.

“My father is having an important visitor today so I have to find something to stay out of the way until dinner. Let’s go find master Barlon, I hear he found an injured Garling,”

Xander smiled and simply said, “Sounds like a plan.” The two ran towards the village while the three bullies continued slithering in the mud.

 

Draft 2:

Xander had nowhere to go.

The three boys in front of him knew that. Which is why they were just standing there, smirks on their faces. There was no need to come after Xander, Xander would have to come to them. Because what choice did he have?

Behind him was the Keeper’s wood where he had spent the day finding the items that the three boys intended to take from him. To either side, the scraggly grassland stretched seemingly forever – although Xander knew if he traveled north enough he’d hit the stark rock face that made up the Imperial Mountains while the south led to the stark cliffs overlooking Morrigan’s Bay.

No, the only way for him to go was forward. Forward towards the Keep, and the village which surrounded it, both of which he could see before him, in the gathering dusk. Forward towards the Old Lord Protectors' Road, whose massive, slate gray stones still peeked out here and there from the scrub that had grown over the remnants of that once-great highway.

Forward towards his tormentors. Towards a beating, if they had their way. He didn’t understand why they hated him so. Geni said it was because they were jealous of him, because he was smart and they weren't, but Xander doubted that. Jordan said they were jealous too, but not because of his brains, because of the fact that he made friends with the princess, and they hadn't. That was probably a little bit true, Xander thought, but the real reason they tormented him, he'd decided, was because he was an easy target. He was alone. He was an orphan.

He’d come out of the Keeper’s Wood to find them waiting for him. Just as they had been last week. Only last week, Xander had gone into the Wood in the morning, and come out at noontime. This time, he had gone in later afternoon. He thought, by switching up the time, he’d confuse them. He was wrong.

He fingered the two black stones in his pocket, the stones he’d spent all afternoon searching for, and sighed.

“Well, if it isn’t the skeleton boy.” The biggest of the three boys – the one standing in the middle – took a step forward. His name was Morlis – he’d been a bully for as long as Xander had known him. Had always been big for his age, too. Big, and stupid. He was a wearing a stableboy's uniform - tan trousers and jerkin, worn black leather boots. Xander could smell him from where he stood. Morlis had been working in those clothes all day, no doubt. He'd probably work in them tomorrow, too. Probably he'd die in them as well. Xander almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

“What do you want, Morlis?”

A second boy stepped forward as Xander spoke.

Vincor. He was smaller than Morlis - a year younger than him too. Fifteen - Xander's own age. The two of them had been friends for a week, when Xander had first moved inside the Keep. Now…

“You hear that, Mor?" Vincor said. "Skelly acts like he don’t know what we want. You know what we want, skelly. We want them midnight stones you stole from us. That’s what we want.”

“Yeah. Give us the stones, Skelly, and we’ll let you go.” That was the third boy speaking. Oro. He was the oldest of the three - and by far the most dangerous.. Not as big as Morlis, maybe not even as smart as Vincor, but nastier than the two of them combined.

“What stones would those be?” Xander asked.

“What stones?” Oro’s eyes narrowed. “The ones in your pocket, skelly. The ones you plan on giving to the princess, I bet. Going to try and impress her again.”

“Well if they’re in my pocket… how are they your stones?”

“Because we belong here, skelly,” Oro said. “We belong here, and you don’t. You’re just a little skeleton boy – a little orphan living off the good will of others. Scurrying around the keep, taking what don't belong to you."

“It ain't scurrying, Oro. It's called working. Maybe you ought to try it sometime."

"Funny," Oro said.

"True," Xander shot back.

Oro glared at him, and took another step forward. Vincor did the same. The three of them were now only about fifteen feet apart. Morlis, in the middle, hung back just a bit..

"Listen, skelly," Oro said. "I - "

And then he charged - in mid-sentence - straight for Xander. A surprise attack, Xander supposed, only he'd seen it coming a mile away. Xander knew how Oro expected him to react, too - he was supposed to turn and run, or try to, anyway, except that when he turned Vincor – who had started moving the second Oro did, and was even faster than the other boy – would be right behind him. Which was when Xander was supposed to turn again, run the only way left for him to go, which was straight ahead, straight into Morlis’s arms. And then the beating would start. That was their plan, he knew, and he wasn't having any of it.

He didn't back off, like Oro expected. He charged. Straight at Morlis, who was only just getting set, Morlis who - Xander knew - was not only a bully, but a coward at heart. The boy saw him coming, his eyes widened, and he took a sudden instinctual step backwards. Coward.

Xander darted past. Morlis recovered, and lunged for him. Xander twisted his body out of the way, and ran free, ran for the safety of the village in front of him.

That was the idea, anyway.

Unfortunately, Xander wasn’t quite fast enough. Not quite flexible enough.

Morlis grabbed the tail end of his shirt, and yanked him backwards.

“Nice try, skelly,” he said, and shoved Xander to the ground.

“Yeah. Nice try,” Oro said, and then kicked him in the stomach.

Xander had seen that coming too, though, and hunched over to protect himself. Not fast enough though – Oro’s boot dug right into his gut, and he gasped in pain.

Vincor kicked him in the leg.

"Cough ‘em up, skelly," he said. “Cough up them stones.”

And then Oro kicked him in the head - or tried to anyway. Xander moved just in time, and the tip of the boy’s boot caught him in the back of the neck. Hard.

He cried out in pain.

“Think that hurts, skelly? Try this,” he heard Oro say, and then he felt the boot kick him again. Square in the back of the head. Tears came to his eyes.

“Yeah, Oro,” Morlis said. “Yeah. My turn.”

Xander felt a hand grab his shirt, and was vaguely aware of getting dragged to his feet. Then Morlis’s hot steamy stinking breath was in face.

“Try this skelly,” Morlis said, and then Xander saw the bully pull back his fist and prepared for the inevitable blow.

“STOP,” a voice commanded.

The bullies, hearing a voice that spoke with authority, froze.

"Hell," Morlis said. "What's she doing here?"

"Let's finish him," Oro said.

"Not me." The sound of Vincor's voice was followed a second later by the sound of boot on forest floor - someone backing away from him. "I'm not having her mad at me."

Her.

Xander smiled.

Geni. Princess Angenica.

"You three boys are lower than worms!” the voice - now recognizable as Geni's - yelled again. "You better hope he's all right, or I'll have you and your families thrown off the cliffs, do you hear me?"

"We didn't - "

"He started it. We - "

"It's just a friendly little - "

"GET AWAY!" Geni shouted, overriding the attackers weak objections and excuses, in a voice louder than Xander had ever heard from her before.

He heard the sound of mumbled excuses, and the three boys backing away.

He smelled lavender. Geni's scent.

He looked and saw her smiling at him.

“I swear, Xander. I leave you alone for a few minutes and you nearly get yourself killed.” Geni shook her head. "What happened to you? How come you didn't - "

Her eyes widened. "You were in the Wood again, weren't you?"

“Maybe.”

Geni grinned.

“We were supposed to meet up outside the castle,” Geni lectured.

“Keep.”

“I know, it’s a Keep, I live there don’t I?” Geni said and gave Xander a mock punch in the arm.

“For your troubles, my lady”, Xander smiled and presented her with the objects that the bullies so wanted to relieve him of.

“Midnight stones!” Geni exclaimed in delight.

“They say that these are bits of ancient titanic warriors from before the Cataclysm,” Xander explained.

“They’re so pretty,” Geni said as she studied them intently.

“You’re such a girl,” Xander teased.

“That’s a lady to you, I’m older.”

“Barely. 6 months.”

Xander saw the sun was nearly set and urged his friend to start to hurry back to the Keep before it got dark. The eastern Henge was on the very edge of civilization. The keep was the only thing keeping the vast wilds of the former Empires of the east at bay.

Xander knew that Geni had no business being out of the Keep this late.

As night began to fall, they stuck closely to the path. The brush on either side seemed to be unusually full of the sounds of the night.

“I bet there’s big spiders in there,” Geni whispered.

“Maybe Grim Spiders,” Xander said, promoting the sound to something bigger.

“Or Dire Wolves,” Geni said, upping the ante.

“Or possibly a giant ogre,” Xander not wanting to be outdone.

“I think it’s a dragon,” Geni laughed.

Xander was working hard thinking of something particularly gruesome when suddenly up in front a bloodied soldier came crashing out of the brush onto the path.

Geni gasped. “Captain Leeland!”

Xander instinctively rushed towards the fallen man.

“He’s really hurt,” Xander said.

Geni knelt down beside the soldier.

“Where is the rest of the patrol?”

“Dead. All dead,”

Geni looked at Xander.

“The wilds have become so dangerous,” Xander said quietly. “There’s been talk of people who have disappeared suddenly.”

“The FALLEN,” the soldier gasps. “They have crossed the wall!”

He said nothing else.

 

Draft 3:

The afternoon sun peeked between the leaves of the forest canopy far above. A whole world of life lived far in the trees oblivious to Xander. Sunny haired, no older than 15, Xander had explored the woods that hugged the Imperial spine countless times. He had spent the afternoon searching for Midnight Stones. The shiny black quartz stones were fairly common in “The Henge” as people called it. Most people had no idea that the stones were fragments of long destroyed beings who had been constructed by the powers to do battle. All that was left now were their fragments, much prized by the locals for their beauty despite having long ago forgotten how lethal the beings they were attached to once were.

The Spring rains had made the shallow stream beds rush with water which, Xander knew, made it easier to find the stones. Leaping across one such stream, he found himself amongst several converging river beds. It was the perfect spot.

Sure enough, right where Xander knew he would find one was a Midnight stone. He plucked it from the water and put it in his pocket with the other one.

The day was getting by. Spring was making the days longer but it would soon be dark and the Keeper’s woods were no place to be at night. Not now. Not anymore.

Emerging from the woods Xander saw ahead that he was in trouble.

Xander had nowhere to go.

The three boys in front of him knew that. Which is why they were just standing there, smirks on their faces. There was no need to come after Xander, Xander would have to come to them. Because what choice did he have?

Behind him was the Keeper’s wood where he had spent the day finding the items that the three boys intended to take from him. To either side, the scraggly grassland stretched seemingly forever – although Xander knew if he traveled north enough he’d hit the stark rock face that made up the Imperial Mountains while the south led to the stark cliffs overlooking Morrigan’s Bay.

No, the only way for him to go was forward. Forward towards the Keep, and the village which surrounded it, both of which he could see before him, in the gathering dusk. Forward towards the Old Lord Protectors' Road, whose massive, slate gray stones still peeked out here and there from the scrub that had grown over the remnants of that once-great highway.

Forward towards his tormentors. Towards a beating, if they had their way. He didn’t understand why they hated him so. Geni said it was because they were jealous of him, because he was smart and they weren't, but Xander doubted that. Jordan said they were jealous too, but not because of his brains, because of the fact that he made friends with the princess, and they hadn't. That was probably a little bit true, Xander thought, but the real reason they tormented him, he'd decided, was because he was an easy target. He was alone. He was an orphan.

He’d come out of the Keeper’s Wood to find them waiting for him. Just as they had been last week. Only last week, Xander had gone into the Wood in the morning, and come out at noontime. This time, he had gone in later afternoon. He thought, by switching up the time, he’d confuse them. He was wrong.

He fingered the two black stones in his pocket, the stones he’d spent all afternoon searching for, and sighed.

“Well, if it isn’t the skeleton boy.” The biggest of the three boys – the one standing in the middle – took a step forward. His name was Morlis – he’d been a bully for as long as Xander had known him. Had always been big for his age, too. Big, and stupid. He was a wearing a stableboy's uniform - tan trousers and jerkin, worn black leather boots. Xander could smell him from where he stood. Morlis had been working in those clothes all day, no doubt. He'd probably work in them tomorrow, too. Probably he'd die in them as well. Xander almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

“What do you want, Morlis?”

A second boy stepped forward as Xander spoke.

Vincor. He was smaller than Morlis - a year younger than him too. Fifteen - Xander's own age. The two of them had been friends for a week, when Xander had first moved inside the Keep. Now…

“You hear that, Mor?" Vincor said. "Skelly acts like he don’t know what we want. You know what we want, skelly. We want them midnight stones you stole from us. That’s what we want.”

“Yeah. Give us the stones, Skelly, and we’ll let you go.” That was the third boy speaking. Oro. He was the oldest of the three - and by far the most dangerous.. Not as big as Morlis, maybe not even as smart as Vincor, but nastier than the two of them combined.

“What stones would those be?” Xander asked.

“What stones?” Oro’s eyes narrowed. “The ones in your pocket, skelly. The ones you plan on giving to the princess, I bet. Going to try and impress her again.”

“Well if they’re in my pocket… how are they your stones?”

“Because we belong here, skelly,” Oro said. “We belong here, and you don’t. You’re just a little skeleton boy – a little orphan living off the good will of others. Scurrying around the keep, taking what don't belong to you."

“It ain't scurrying, Oro. It's called working. Maybe you ought to try it sometime."

"Funny," Oro said.

"True," Xander shot back.

Oro glared at him, and took another step forward. Vincor did the same. The three of them were now only about fifteen feet apart. Morlis, in the middle, hung back just a bit..

"Listen, skelly," Oro said. "I - "

And then he charged - in mid-sentence - straight for Xander. A surprise attack, Xander supposed, only he'd seen it coming a mile away. Xander knew how Oro expected him to react, too - he was supposed to turn and run, or try to, anyway, except that when he turned Vincor – who had started moving the second Oro did, and was even faster than the other boy – would be right behind him. Which was when Xander was supposed to turn again, run the only way left for him to go, which was straight ahead, straight into Morlis’s arms. And then the beating would start. That was their plan, he knew, and he wasn't having any of it.

He didn't back off, like Oro expected. He charged. Straight at Morlis, who was only just getting set, Morlis who - Xander knew - was not only a bully, but a coward at heart. The boy saw him coming, his eyes widened, and he took a sudden instinctual step backwards. Coward.

Xander darted past. Morlis recovered, and lunged for him. Xander twisted his body out of the way, and ran free, ran for the safety of the village in front of him.

That was the idea, anyway.

Unfortunately, Xander wasn’t quite fast enough. Not quite flexible enough.

Morlis grabbed the tail end of his shirt, and yanked him backwards.

“Nice try, skelly,” he said, and shoved Xander to the ground.

“Yeah. Nice try,” Oro said, and then kicked him in the stomach.

Xander had seen that coming too, though, and hunched over to protect himself. Not fast enough though – Oro’s boot dug right into his gut, and he gasped in pain.

Vincor kicked him in the leg.

"Cough ‘em up, skelly," he said. “Cough up them stones.”

And then Oro kicked him in the head - or tried to anyway. Xander moved just in time, and the tip of the boy’s boot caught him in the back of the neck. Hard.

He cried out in pain.

“Think that hurts, skelly? Try this,” he heard Oro say, and then he felt the boot kick him again. Square in the back of the head. Tears came to his eyes.

“Yeah, Oro,” Morlis said. “Yeah. My turn.”

Xander felt a hand grab his shirt, and was vaguely aware of getting dragged to his feet. Then Morlis’s hot steamy stinking breath was in face.

“Try this skelly,” Morlis said, and then Xander saw the bully pull back his fist and prepared for the inevitable blow.

“STOP,” a voice commanded.

The bullies, hearing a voice that spoke with authority, froze.

"Hell," Morlis said. "What's she doing here?"

"Let's finish him," Oro said.

"Not me." The sound of Vincor's voice was followed a second later by the sound of boot on forest floor - someone backing away from him. "I'm not having her mad at me."

Her.

Xander smiled.

Geni. Princess Angenica.

"You three boys are lower than worms!” the voice - now recognizable as Geni's - yelled again. "You better hope he's all right, or I'll have you and your families thrown off the cliffs, do you hear me?"

"We didn't - "

"He started it. We - "

"It's just a friendly little - "

"GET AWAY!" Geni shouted, overriding the attackers weak objections and excuses, in a voice louder than Xander had ever heard from her before.

He heard the sound of mumbled excuses, and the three boys backing away.

He smelled lavender. Geni's scent.

He looked and saw her smiling at him.

“I swear, Xander. I leave you alone for a few minutes and you nearly get yourself killed.” Geni shook her head. "What happened to you? How come you didn't - "

Her eyes widened. "You were in the Wood again, weren't you?"

“Maybe.”

Geni grinned.

“We were supposed to meet up outside the castle,” Geni lectured.

“Keep.”

“I know, it’s a Keep, I live there don’t I?” Geni said and gave Xander a mock punch in the arm.

“For your troubles, my lady”, Xander smiled and presented her with the objects that the bullies so wanted to relieve him of.

“Midnight stones!” Geni exclaimed in delight.

“They say that these are bits of ancient titanic warriors from before the Cataclysm,” Xander explained.

“They’re so pretty,” Geni said as she studied them intently.

“You’re such a girl,” Xander teased.

“That’s a lady to you, I’m older.”

“Barely. 6 months.”

Xander saw the sun was nearly set and urged his friend to start to hurry back to the Keep before it got dark. The eastern Henge was on the very edge of civilization. The keep was the only thing keeping the vast wilds of the former Empires of the east at bay.

Xander knew that Geni had no business being out of the Keep this late.

As night began to fall, they stuck closely to the path. The brush on either side seemed to be unusually full of the sounds of the night.

“I bet there’s big spiders in there,” Geni whispered.

“Maybe Grim Spiders,” Xander said, promoting the sound to something bigger.

“Or Dire Wolves,” Geni said, upping the ante.

“Or possibly a giant ogre,” Xander not wanting to be outdone.

“I think it’s a dragon,” Geni laughed.

Xander was working hard thinking of something particularly gruesome when suddenly up in front a bloodied soldier came crashing out of the brush onto the path.

Geni gasped. “Captain Leeland!”

Xander instinctively rushed towards the fallen man.

“He’s really hurt,” Xander said.

Geni knelt down beside the soldier.

“Where is the rest of the patrol?”

“Dead. All dead,”

Geni looked at Xander.

“The wilds have become so dangerous,” Xander said quietly. “There’s been talk of people who have disappeared suddenly.”

“The FALLEN,” the soldier gasps. “They have crossed the wall!”

He said nothing else.

 

Draft 4:

He shouldn't be so far outside the walls.

He shouldn't be away from work so long.

He definitely shouldn't be wasting so much time on what was probably a fool's errand; it was stupid to expect that he'd find anymore of the stones out here, even if he looked for hours.

He could hear Saren now: Stupid boy. Stupid Xander, where were you? What were you doing? I had messages for you to carry, money for you to earn, money to line my pocket, money to feed you and I. You let me down boy, you let us down, and now what will we have for supper?

The old man had been like a father to him, Xander reflected. Best to cut his losses now and get back to the Keep while it was still light out. How much longer did he have? He looked up. The afternoon sun, peeking between the leaves of the forest canopy far above, was going down already. Another hour or so of light. He ought to get back. He could hear Saren's disapproving voice in his mind.

He could hear Geni's, too.

Oh Xander. You shouldn't have.

Five more minutes, he thought. If I don't find one in five more minutes, I'll turn back. He noted the trail markings, and took a few hesitant steps deeper into the forest. The Keeper's Wood. He'd roamed it since he was a boy; knew every one of these trails like the back of his hand. There was no reason to be afraid of anything in here, was there? No reason to be hesitant about what might lurk around the next bend in the path, or behind the massive tree trunks that blocked the way in front of him?

No. No reason at all.

Except that Lord Ambrose had declared the Wood off-limits, a month earlier. On the day the Knights had ridden in from the West, The Keeper - and his Council - had issued several proclamations. Times have changed, Lord Ambrose had said. Things are no longer as they were. In order to insure the safety of the Keep and all its residents, I hereby make, in the name of the King, the following proclamations. The Wood, off-limits to all but those on the Keeper's business. Etc., etc.

Well, Xander thought. He intended the stones for Geni. So by the strict letter of the law, he was, in fact, here on Lord Ambrose's business. Because Geni was Ambrose's business, wasn't she?

He sighed. Somehow, he didn't think the Lord would see it that way, if Xander was caught and brought before him.

Best to finish here, and get out.

The trail narrowed; it led him downhill to the banks of a small stream. The spring rains had been falling pretty hard for the last week; the little stream had overflowed its bank. He left the path, walked alongside the water for awhile, heading back upstream, in the direction of the Keep, using the roots and limbs of some of the trees to keep his balance, to keep from falling in. He was wearing the boots he'd found the other day, and if he got them wet…

Treat these well, boy, you could work for a year and not earn enough to buy another pair like them, the devil's own luck you have, finding them in the first place, having them turn out to your size in the second, boy, boy are you listening boy?

There'd be hell to pay, he knew.

He walked for awhile longer, was about to give up when he saw a glint on the far side of the little stream; something reflecting the last light of the dying sun. It looked like... it might be... no way to be certain, of course, except to get closer.

It was a good ten feet to the other side of the stream. He was no athlete, Xander knew. He was small for his age - fifteen, and barely a hundred and twenty pounds and not blessed with the coordination other boys his age were already displaying -- the kind of coordination that made for a good warrior. What he was, though, was fast. Nimble. That was what made him such a good messenger.

Closer. How to get closer?

With a running start, that kind of speed might let him jump across the bank. Might. Only one way to find out, wasn't there?

He took a deep breath, a couple steps back, and leapt.

He didn't make it. But luck was with him. Just as he jumped, he caught sight of a flat rock in the middle of the stream. A dry-looking rock, sticking up out of the water. The jump took him to that - and from that, a second jump took him to the other side. And the thing he'd seen glittering in the sun. He bent down and picked it up. He smiled.

It was a small black stone, shaped like an arrowhead - triangular, smooth to the touch on one side, like crystal, rough on the other. A midnight stone - the second one he'd found in the afternoon's searching. Geni would like this one even better than the first, he was sure of it. The shape of it, the way it sparkled...

Oh Xander. You shouldn't have.

He smiled to himself, picturing her. The look on her face.

If my father found out you were in the wood...

Who's going to tell him? You?

No. Of course not. But it's not safe.

I was careful. I stuck to the trails. Don't worry about me.

But I do.

Xander pictured himself handing her the stone. Their fingers touched. Their eyes met.

His stomach rumbled. He pictured another scene.

You let me down boy, you let us down, and now what will we have for supper?

He blinked, came out of his little reverie, and saw the shadows around him had lengthened even further. Saren would kill him. And rightfully so. Too dark to run any more messages today, by the time he got back to the Keep. Too dark, even, he realized, to use the trails, overgrown as they'd gotten in the last few weeks. The stream, though, would lead him out. A longer route, but he would end up at the same place when he finished. Everything would be fine.

Except it wasn't.

When he came up out of the wood, when he got to the gate, the three of them were there, waiting for him.

###

Morlis, Vincor, Oro.

He didn't understand why they hated him so. Geni said it was because they were jealous of him, because he was smart and they weren't, but Xander doubted that. Saren said they were jealous too, but not because of his brains, because of the fact that he had made friends with Geni, and they hadn't. That was probably closer to the truth, Xander thought, but the real reason they tormented him, he'd decided, was because he was an easy target. He was alone. Always alone. An orphan, with no family - no brothers, no cousins, no father, no uncle or grandfather even - to protect him.

"Well, if it isn't the skeleton boy." The biggest of the three youths - the one standing in the middle - took a step forward. Morlis had been a bully for as long as Xander had known him. Had always been big for his age, too. Big, and stupid. He was a wearing a stableboy's uniform - tan trousers and jerkin, worn black leather boots. Xander could smell him from where he stood. Morlis had been working in those clothes all day, no doubt. He'd probably work in them tomorrow, too. Probably he'd die in them as well. Xander almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"What do you want?"

A second boy stepped forward as Xander spoke.

Vincor. He was smaller than Morlis - a year younger than him too. Fifteen - Xander's own age. The two of them had been friends for a few days, when Xander had first gone to work for Saren. Now...

"You hear that, Mor?" Vincor said. "Skelly acts like he don't know what we want. You know what we want, skelly. We want know what you been doin' in the wood."

"None of your business."

"So you say." That was the third boy speaking. Oro. He was the oldest of the three - and by far the most dangerous. Not as big as Morlis, maybe not even as smart as Vincor, but nastier than the two of them combined. "I say different."

"Let me pass," Xander said.

Oro shook his head. Over his shoulder, in the fading light, Xander saw the walls of the Keep, and the outlines of the South Gate. Safety. It seemed a long way off.

"What you got in them pockets of yours, skelly?" Oro asked. "What you been stealing from the Wood, hey?"

"Move," Xander said.

Oro ignored him. "More of them little black stones, I'll bet. Going to give 'em to the princess, ain't ya? Going to try and impress her again."

"None of your business," Xander said again. He thought about turning and running for a second - no way any of these three could catch him. Except that he was tired of running from these three; almost as tired as he was of getting beaten up by them.

"That’s it all right," Oro said. “Ain’t it? You got more of them stones?”

"Hand 'em over, skelly." Morlis stepped up alongside his friend. "They belong to us now."

"I don't think so."

"You think wrong, skelly," Oro said. "They’re ours now. Rightfully so, in fact.”

“How do you figure that?”

“’Cuz we belong here, and you don't. You're just a little skeleton boy - a little orphan living off the good will of others. Scurrying around everywhere, taking what don't belong to you."

"It's not scurrying, Oro. It's called working. Maybe you ought to try it sometime."

"Funny," Oro said.

"True," Xander shot back.

Oro glared at him, and took another step forward, and to his left. Vincor moved forward to, only to the right. Morlis, in the middle, hung back just a bit..

"Listen, skelly," Oro said. "I - "

And then he charged - in mid-sentence - straight for Xander. A surprise attack, Xander supposed, only he'd seen it coming a mile away. Xander knew how Oro expected him to react, too. He was supposed to turn and run, or try to, anyway. Except that when he turned Vincor - who had started moving the second Oro did, and was even faster than the other boy - would be right behind him. Then Xander was supposed to turn again and run the only way left for him to go, which was straight ahead, straight into Morlis's arms. That’s when the beating would start. That was their plan, he knew, and he wasn't having any of it.

He didn't back off, like Oro expected. He charged straight at Morlis, who was only just getting set. Morlis who - Xander knew - was not only a bully, but a coward at heart would not stand his ground. The boy saw him coming, his eyes widened, and he took a sudden instinctual step backwards. Coward.

Xander darted past. Morlis recovered, and lunged for him. Xander twisted his body out of the way, and ran free, straight for the South Gate.

That was the idea, anyway.

Unfortunately, Xander wasn't quite fast enough. Not quite flexible enough.

Morlis grabbed the tail end of his shirt, and yanked him backwards.

"Nice try, skelly," he said, and shoved Xander to the dirt. He hit the ground hard; his elbow slammed into a stone, and pain shot up his arm.

"Yeah. Nice try," Oro said, and then kicked him in the stomach.

Xander had seen that coming too, though, and hunched over to protect himself. Not fast enough though - Oro's boot dug right into his gut, and he gasped in pain.

Vincor kicked him in the leg.

"Cough 'em up, skelly," he said. "Cough up them stones."

And then Oro kicked him in the head - or tried to anyway. Xander moved just in time, and the tip of the boy's boot caught him in the back of the neck. Hard.

He cried out in pain.

"Think that hurts, skelly? Try this," he heard Oro say, and then he felt the boot kick him again. Square in the back of the head. Tears came to his eyes.

"Yeah, Oro," Morlis said. "Yeah. My turn."

Xander felt a hand grab his shirt, and was vaguely aware of getting dragged to his feet. Then Morlis's hot steamy stinking breath was in face.

"Here you go, skelly," Morlis said, and then Xander saw the bully pull back his fist and prepared for the inevitable blow.

"STOP," a voice commanded.

Morlis’s arm froze.

"Hell," the boy said. "Now we’re in for it. "

"Finish him," Oro hissed. “Now.”

"Not me." Morlis shook his head. "I'm not having her mad at me."

He let go of Xander’s shirt; Xander fell to the ground again, a smile on his face.

Her.

Geni.

"You three are lower than worms!" the voice - now recognizable - yelled again. "You had better hope he's all right, or I will have you and your families thrown off the cliffs, do you hear me?"

"We didn't - "

"He started it. We - "

"It's just a friendly little - "

"Leave. Now!" Geni shouted, overriding the attackers objections, in a voice that demanded obedience.

He heard the sound of mumbled excuses, and the three boys backing away.

He sat up, and it was only then he realized that the stone his arm had slammed into was one of the massive slates belonging to what remained of the Lord Protectors' Road, most of which was now overgrown with the scrub and grass. In the old days, Saren had told him, the road had been a gleaming highway, running from the heart of old Imperium in the East to the very shores of Lycea, through jungle and desert, over mountain and river. The Road had been a place of refuge, of safety, of safe passage guaranteed not just by treaty, but – some said – by enchantment.

If he believed in magic, Xander would have said that enchantment seemed to still be working.

"Are you all right?"

He looked up and saw Geni standing over him.

She was wearing a long cloak. Underneath it, he saw, was a dress.

Geni never used to wear dresses.

"Sure," he said, getting to his feet. "Never better."

"You don’t look it.” She reached out a hand and touched his cheek.

“Ow.”

“That’ll be a nasty bruise in the morning.”

“I’ve had worse. Probably will again, if the three of them have anything to say about it.”

“Oro’s the problem,” Geni said. “The other two are idiots.”

“They’re all idiots.” Xander sighed. “Did you mean that – about throwing them off the cliffs?”

“I did. Unfortunately, I don’t think my father would approve. And speaking of my father not approving… you went in there again, didn’t you?” She gestured towards the wood behind him.

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Xander…” Her face darkened. “It’s dangerous.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Really?” She stared at him. At the bruise he felt growing on his cheek.

He felt himself flush with anger, and embarrassment. “In the wood, I mean. I know the wood.”

“Of course you do. But may I remind you, my father has issued a proclamation – “

“I know about the proclamation,” he interrupted.

“But you went in anyway.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because,” he said, and pulled the stones out of his pocket, and held them out to her.

She looked down at them, and then back up at him. For a second, her eyes shone with pleasure.

In that second, she was Geni again, not the princess. The girl he’d met the very first day he’d started working for Saren, the girl who trailed him around the Keep for a good week before he’d found out who she was, Lord Ambrose’s daughter, Princess Genica herself, the Lady-of-the-Castle in waiting. Not that she acted like a princess – not back then. The two of them spent hours together, exploring, playing, getting into places – the shopkeepers quarter, the Orphans quarter, the little warren of streets that made up the Armorer’s Way, places none of the other girls who had been Princess of the Keep before her had ever been, Xander was sure. Geni was right at home in all of them; she got along with everyone she met. Better than he did, to tell the truth. People liked her, right off. They didn’t really like him. Or rather, they didn’t notice him. He was pretty easy to ignore, Xander had to admit. Not that imposing physically, no special talent to make him stand out in the crowd. People looked at him and looked past almost like he wasn’t even there. Unless he was with Geni.

Which hadn’t been quite so often, these last few months. Not his fault; hers. She couldn’t get out of the Keep as much to ride, or explore. She had lessons all the time – the ways of the court, the history of the world, music. She wore make-up. And dresses.

She was becoming a Princess. And he was staying a messenger.

She was pulling away from him.

That was why he’d gone in search of the Midnight Stones – last week, and now today. Never mind Ambrose’s proclamation, once he saw how heavy the rains had been he knew some of the old stones would be showing up in the river and he wanted her to have them. Wanted her to have the reaction she was having this very second.

And then that second passed.

“You should bring these to the observatory,” she said. “To Mirdoth. My father’s mage. He will want to examine them – “

“I know who Mirdoth is,” Xander snapped. “I got them for you.”

“Oh Xander.” She shook her head. “You shouldn’t have.”

The two of them stared at each other a moment.

There was a line of trees leading back along the path to the Keep; over Geni’s shoulder, in the shade of the nearest of those trees, Xander saw there was a man standing. A man in armor. Leeland. Geni’s guard. Of course, he thought. Geni wouldn’t have come here alone. She couldn’t go anywhere alone these days.

“Saren was looking for you too, you know.”

He wasn’t surprised. “Okay.”

“It’s not okay. That old man depends on you, Xander. You don’t work, he doesn’t eat. You don’t work, he doesn’t have a place to live. You know that, don’t you?”

“Don’t lecture me.”

“I’m not lecturing. I’m reminding you of your obligations. And the law.”

“Thanks so much.”

"Xander." She drew herself up. "We're friends. You know that. But I'm more than your friend. I have to be. I'm the – “

“Princess,” he snapped. “I get it. Your majesty.”

She glared at him a second. Then she held out her hand.

“Here. Take your stupid stones.”

She dropped them in his outstretched palm, then spun on her heel and stalked away.

Xander watched her go. When she reached the guard, she turned for a second and looked back at him.

He turned and threw them back into the Wood.

# # #

 

Now, the last draft is pretty close to what’s in the book.  But that’s 4 different versions of chapter 1. A book with seventy chapters. Some chapters only had 2 drafts. Most though had between 3 and 6 drafts depending on the subject matter.  The overall story remained the same.

I gained a great deal of respect for published authors through this experience. 

Personally, I think some of the earlier drafts were better written but one of the things I learned is that books today are a product. Pacing and overall approachability trumps the quality of the writing itself. Pacing Pacing Pacing. Keep the reader engaged. Earlier drafts had less dialog, larger paragraphs, more attention put into the writing. Later drafts were more about moving the story forward.

So will there be a book 2? I’m not sure. If you’ve read the book, what do you think? If you haven’t, you can pick it up at your local book store or online (Elemental: Destiny's Embers).

With the beta of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion approaching, it’s time to start talking a bit about its features.  That is, what’s new in it?

This is, by  no means, a complete list:

Six new factions

In Sins of a Solar Empire, there were 3 races – TEC, Advent, Vasari.  Hopefully by now you know something about the grand histories of each of these mighty races.

In Rebellion, as the name implies, things have kind of gone to hell. 

The start of the game is very much like Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity. You are picking one of the three races.  But during the course of the game, the player has to make some tough choices. As the civil war escalates, players can choose to become a Loyalist or a Rebel. In doing so, a whole range of new technologies open up.

I can say that these aren’t cosmetic things either. The Vasari Rebels, for example, go a very different direction than the Vasari Loyalists.

The Tech Trees

As briefly discussed above, these new factions come with their own tech trees which let players take on some very new strategies that should be quite interesting to see play out.

The Titans

The civil war can become pretty brutal as each loyalist and rebel faction now has access to its own Titan class ship. Titans are big, powerful, and rare.

The new ships

In addition, there are some new battleships with some interesting abilities coming into play. Similarly, there are new corvette class ships coming into the game.

New music

Yes, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion has a new sound track (along with new effects).

New Multiplayer system

While Sins of a Solar Empire will continue to have a spectacular single player experience (the AI has gotten a lot of attention), the multiplayer experience has gotten a lot of attention. We’ll be talking a lot more about this in the comin gweeks.

New Graphics system

Sins of a Solar Empire’s graphics have always been on of its strengths. But Rebellion takes it to a new level. One of the things that really brings a sense of scale to the new ships is the new shadowing system.  There’s nothing quite so humbling than to see a Dreadnought become shadowed by a passing Titan.

New Modding System

A new Galaxy Forge has been developed along with a new Particle Forge. These have been heavily used to update the in game maps and really spice up the existing effects.

Optimization

While not as “sexy” as the other things on this list,  a lot of time has gone into optimizing the memory and CPU use of the Iron Engine.  Some of this was done so that the AI could be enhanced further without slowing down the game.

So this is just a glimpse of what’s going on with Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. 

WindowBlinds 7.3 came out today and with it comes the first skin to make Windows 7/Vista/XP look like the upcoming Windows 8.

Some of the things you may notice about it include a cleaner taskbar and squared off edges. It’s a nice, clean look which continues to the trend Microsoft started with Windows 7.

If you don’t already have WindowBlinds, you can download it at www.windowblinds.net.

Elemental is a big world. Much of our game design for Fallen Enchantress has come from imagining how different parts of the world would drive different strategy.

Western Anthys & The War of Magic

For example, in Elemental:War of Magic, we envisioned the random make staking place in Western Anthys around a century after the cataclysm. This meant a barren, desolate world where the objective was to find the tiny spots of resources (fertile land for example) and gain control of them.  Where you built your city didn’t matter so much as long as it was close to a resource tile of some kind.

But Fallen Enchantress takes place in Eastern Anthys, a land that was once the seat of power of the Titans and whose land, while far more dangerous, is less desolate. This presents some interesting AI challenges.

Where should I build my city?

In War of Magic, that was easy. Find a resource and build near it. Voila.  Those resources were all pretty uncommon and so there weren’t a lot of AI decisions there. 

In Fallen Enchantress, the precise tile matters.  To the player, they can visually tell the “good” places because they’re green (or otherworldly violet).  But if that’s not good enough, you can turn on the resource overlay and actually see the initial output of a tile. 

Two obvious resources would be food and material. The more food, the higher the population the city can support. More material and the more productive the city can become. Since population and what improvements you build have a great deal to do with how “powerful” the city is, there is a natural inclination to have fewer, powerful cities.  The world has a limited population to attract and so the more cities you have, the more spread out your population gets. This is a tough thing for the AI because normally, having a ton of cities is always a good thing.  Here, it is an “interesting choice” that depends on your overall strategy.

 

Sticking with the concept of “green is good” let’s also bear in mind the importance of scouting now.  The AI not only has to train pioneers but he has to find a place to send them. Which means he needs to scout out territory to find the very best tile for his strategy. This is a challenge because players will quickly notice if the AI builds a city on a stupid spot. At the same time, taking too much time scouting gives the human players the opportunity to beat them to the punch.

Another challenge that has to be baked in a bit is that certain geographical features can act as short-cuts for the AI in terms of its scouting. Rivers, for instance, are almost always desirable to have cities around. So if the AI scouting party sees a river, he’s going to almost certainly send a pioneer out into that area in parallel with scouting. In fact, a lot of the time I’ve been spending on this code is deciding when I should “roll the dice” and send out a pioneer. What % of the tiles do I need to have explored before I send a pioneer?

Another AI challenge has been dealing with monsters.  In Fallen Enchantress, the monsters won’t enter your territory voluntarily. So if you stay within your borders, you’re safe.  However…if your territory expands into a spot where a monster is already hanging out, then bad things are going to be done to you (or the AI player).  Monsters won’t be attacking cities (or I should say, it’ll be extremely rare). But they will camp out in the outskirts waiting for meat to come their way. 

Now, there is also a new concept called the Wildlands. This is actually a new AI player that I’ve had to program that has been very interesting to do. The Wildlands control a portion of the map. Kill their leader and you get to colonize their awesome area and get to their fabulous quests and goodie huts (easier said than done).  If you stand outside their “territory”, they won’t bother you. Walk into it and they will hunt you down. Marketing won’t let me show you call the cool new monsters they’ve got in there but the art team has had a year to come up with some horrible, nasty things to have lurking around.

Next Time: AI dealing with quests and goodie huts, the new Quest and Notable Location system.