Greetings!

I’m getting ready to get on a plane to go to San Francisco to visit with the media (gaming and non-gaming).  It’s been a crazy week getting all the different things together. I was hoping to get the second Demigod preview ready this week. If there’s some down time during the week, I’ll work on putting together the notes on it.

Gas Powered Games is working on getting me some screenshots and such to begin showing them as we start to get near PAX (Penny Arcade Expo that’s in Seattle at the beginning of next month).  As I’ve been scrambling around the office, I can say there’s quite a bit of activity both at Stardock (where I work) and at Gas Powered Games (the makers of Demigod) to solve a LUA decompression bug that causes the game to crash in MP.  One theory is that it’s related to the concede code somehow but no one is quite sure but that’s one of the reasons why there hasn’t been another mini update – both teams feel that this issue needs to be resolved before more features get added.  That said, I saw QA testing out the re-match code.

Rematching

So the way they’re implementing rematching is a lot like the concede. As a game ends, players can propose a rematch. If everyone agrees, the game starts again.  It’s working pretty decently in LAN mode but there’s a bit of extra work for online MP because of the stats and there’s more timing robustness needed because of latency.

Other stuff going on

I’m not privy to everything Gas Powered Games is doing of course but besides working on 2 new Demigods, rematches, replays, balance and other goodies for Demigod players, they’re working on Supreme Commander 2 which is being published by Square Enix.

Over at Stardock, we’re working on Elemental which is a fantasy strategy game that isn’t due out until mid next year.  I know there’s a lot of interest at both developer GPG and publisher Stardock to keep enhancing Demigod over the long-term.  The view is that a game like this, being primarily multiplayer, can continue to grow over time.  Obviously a big challenge is getting more content out there whether it be from GPG, Stardock, or modders. That’s where much of the future development will focus. 

Another area we’re working on is improving the community features of Demigod. We’ll be talking more about that in a couple weeks (one of the reasons I’m going out West is to show these new community features).  But suffice to say there will be a lot of good news coming in that area as we ramp up to PAX.

If any of you guys are going to be at PAX, please stop by the Stardock booth. We’ll be showing Demigod, Elemental, Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy, and lots of other cool stuff.

For those of you who have been in a Stardock BETA, none of what I mention is going to be a surprise. But for everyone else, stand back!

See the screenshot? If you’re in the Elemental BETA, you won’t see anything remotely resembling that for MONTHS.  That’s because BETA 1 of Elemental will exist only with the strategic map (aka the cloth map).  Imagine playing Galactic Civilizations or Supreme Commander or Sins of a Solar Empire purely from the zoomed out strategic map.

Why are we doing this? Because we’re evil? Well, that probably does contribute. But the main reason is because if the game is good, it should be fun to play even with the crappiest graphics.

So BETA 1 will be fun then right? NO. It’s going to be HORRIBLE actually. At least, for the first month and a half it’ll be represent such a dense level of crapitude that it actually has its own detectable level of gravity.

The alpha testers could attest to this right now except they’ve all lost consciousness (the smart ones anyway) due to passing out from it.

Originally, I had argued internally that BETA 1 would be only X’s and O’s played at CGA resolution with 4 colors but the team made the case that we’d end up having to throw out that code so we settled on the strategic map (cloth map) since at least, if we did that, a player could actually play the game on a netbook or some really ancient laptop in pure cloth map mode.

Why Stardock? Why are you so cruel? Is it because chicks wouldn’t go out with you in highschool?

Sure, that’s a contributing, even possibly a majority factor, but a big part of the reason we do it this way, and again, GalCiv and Sins players can attest, is that it allows players to have a lot more input into the game.

A Stardock BETA isn’t a typical beta. It’s really not a beta by typical industry terms. Rather, it’s more of a prototype. GalCiv players, not us, came up with starbases.  Hard to believe that isn’t it? But it’s true.  For BETA 1, we’re not really looking for “bug” reports. We want to hear people telling us what they’d like to see, how they’d like the game work.  And we’ll debate, discuss, argue, and have a lot of fun putting it all together over the next several months because, well, for us, the BETA process is a key part of the game’s (as opposed to the coding) evolution.

If we do things right, Elemental will be a game that will be evolving and improving and modded by players years from now.  Everything from its game mechanics to its flexible graphics engine is being designed so that a person will be able to fire up the game 10 years from now and it’ll still seem like a “modern” game that is fun to play and has continued to evolve.

Case study: Master of Magic

Imagine if Master of Magic had been developed as a 3D based game instead of sprite based. That means, no fixed screen resolution. Now, imagine if all the assets in the game were designed to be potentially replaced using very well known, open standards and that a lot of the game specific coding was available in Python?

The result would have been a game where the graphics and other visual “assets” could slowly be updated and replaced with ever higher polygon and higher texture versions. The AI and the game mechanics could slowly evolve over time as players came up with interesting ideas and they could pick  and choose which parts they wanted.

That’s one of our biggest goals with Elemental.  We want to make a game that will keep getting better over time.  So we have an engine with no practical limit on texture size or polygon limit. It can get both visually and programmatically better for years to come with our without our involvement.

But in the betas, well, they’re still going to be HOOOORRRIBLE!

Demon Assassin

Overview and Traits

Demon Assassin is a Melee Assassin fighting for the Forces of Darkness. He wields a sword and a knife in battle, the sword being his primary weapon.

The Demon Assassin is a highly mobile character who can quickly close the gap between himself and his opponent though the use of warp attacks. His Shadow Swap ability allows him to change positions with an enemy Demigod, throwing them back into their foes. His melee attacks are fast and have a passive chance to critically strike.

While mobile and able to dodge many normal attacks, Demon Assassin is susceptible to magical damage.

The nemesis to Regulus, the Demon Assassin is extremely fast and lethal.

Abilities

Warp Strike – Key 1

Activated ability. Warps behind the targeted unit and performs an instant attack. Damage dealt increases as the skill increases.

Deadly Warp

Passive ability. Warp Strike has a high chance to critically strike.

Spine Attack – Key 2

Activated ability. Launches a barb from his tail, attacking an enemy at range. Damage dealt increases as the skill increases.

Warp Area – Ultimate – Key 3

Activated ability. For a few seconds, Demon Assassin warps to nearby enemies and attacks them. While performing this ability, he is invincible. Number of warps increases as the skill increases.

Forceful Blows

Passive Ability. Smaller enemies near targets of Warp Area are thrown into the air.

Shadow Swap – Key 4

Activated ability. Demon Assassin swaps places with an enemy Demigod. Distance increases as the skill increases.

Passive abilities

Elusiveness

Demon Assassin’s chance to dodge normal attacks increases.

Demon’s Speed

Demon Assassin’s movement speed increases.

 Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor has received an update bringing it to version 2.03. This also applies to the Ultimate Edition and Endless Universe as well. Updates can be downloaded now via Impulse.

Change log:

• Minor adjustments to tech tree costs
• Arceans more aggressive at colonizing
• Terrans build up military sooner
• Fleet window crash bug fix
• Misc other updates and fixes

I wrote this almost 3 years ago:

https://forums.joeuser.com/144168/

“What happens if the earth starts cooling?”

Of course, we have since found since then that yep, the earth’s mean temperature is starting to go down again despite all the claims of the global warming zealots who claimed it would be a steady rise.

I wonder how long it will take for the whole “climate change” zealotry to start to die out?

I imagine the comments area will contain tons of people who disagree with me since the masses are still convinced that the earth is on a warming trend caused by humans.  I invite that because this post will be around for years and we can look back in the future.

The current system has its flaws but it does something profoundly right:

Most people who have health insurance are paying for their own individual health insurance either directly or indirectly through their employer. They are paying into the system for what they get back.

Obama supporters dream of a different system where taxes pay for health insurance instead. The problem with that is that nearly half the population pay no net federal income taxes. 

People get this and they’re pissed off about being saddled with paying for yet another thing for the nearly half of the population who pay no net taxes.

A big reason I have such disdain for the federal government is that the people who don’t pay have not just a lot of control over how money is spent but have an incentive to get ever increasing goodies given to them. Health insurance is just the latest.

According to the 2008 exit polls, over 60% of the people who pay no net federal income taxes voted for Obama. Zip.

So yea, I’m sure they’d love to see the idea of health insurance paid for by tax payers, because it’s free for them.

But the remaining near half the population are stuck with the bill.

And that’s just one reason. Loss of freedom, rationed care, the unintended consequences of moving away from the free market are just a handful of other reasons.

But for me, one of my big frustrations is just getting sick of being stuck with the tab of paying for people who hide their parasitic demands behind the illusion of “compassion”.

http://thedanashow.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/meet-the-mob/

Clearly sent there by “big insurance companies”…

Greetings!

Today I’m evaluating the Elemental Alpha.  All the various “platforms” come together to start putting together a game. Next month, the Beta of Elemental will be released for those who have pre-ordered it.  Shortly after, we will

Downloading…

First, I have to download it from Impulse.  This is the version of Impulse that people will be getting by the time the beta comes out. It’s “Phase 4” and has a lot of new stuff but we’ll talk about that soon enough.

For those who aren’t in the alpha, you’re not missing much. There isn’t much “game” there yet.  The primary purpose of this alpha is to let us just get some early feedback on the basic engine and let us get things set up for the beta.

The Alpha intro screen.

The Alpha, like Beta 1, will all take place on the cloth map. The idea here is to take all the eye candy away and let beta testers focus first on just the game play. So again, people looking to have “fun” with the alpha or beta 1 should stay far far away from this. The whole point of a Stardock beta is to let people help mold the final game.

When a player starts the game, they have just their sovereign. If he (or she) dies, you die.   You will want to build cities near fertile land which, in Elemental, is relatively rare. Fertile land is designated (for now) by a green and yellow flower tile.

Once you build a city, you can begin researching techs.  This screen is still a work in progress (like everything else) and not likely to resemble the final screen. Suffice to say, as you research technologies, new paths open up which are displayed at the bottom.

Clicking on a city will allow players to build new things right on the map. At first, there won’t be much to build. But over time, lots of different things will become available (though in alpha 1 we have purposely limited it to just a handful of things).

Early on, you will want to build units to protect your cities. You can also design units (though it’s pretty basic right now). 

As your influence grows, your zone of control will grow (which as you can see in this screenshot, I’ve asked to tone down a bit).

In Elemental, the power of your empire will rest on your control of the magical shards which give your side the mana necessary to cast ever more powerful spells. In addition, your economy is based on your control of key resources.  Elemental (unlike Galactic Civilizations) has no concept of “industrial units”.  You want to build something, you better control the necessary resource otherwise it’ll take a ridiculous amount of time.  The more of those resources you control, the faster you can build things.  Thus, control of one iron deposit is not as good as controlling two or three iron deposits when it comes to making steel weapons.

So over the coming weeks, the economy and magic of Elemental will begin to take shape and beta testers will, ideally, find the game fun despite the Commodore-64 style graphics.  Then, when the full environment is added in as well as the tactical battles the fun will be greatly amplified because you’ll be able to see the true effects of your power and we can convey a lot more information visually in a way that is pleasing to the eye (which we can’t really do without the cool graphics easily).

Once the Alpha program gets complete, assets and features will start getting injected into the game at an accelerated rate.

I’ve been reading through a lot of resumes lately as we are now in full hiring mode here at Stardock.

We’ve got openings almost across the board (here are some samples)

1. Game Developers
2. Artists (general)
3. 3D Modelers
4. Concept Artists
5. Web designers
6. .NET developers (all kinds, big demand here)
7. Web developers (Microsoft centric)

With that in mind, I’d like to give a few suggestions to people that I think might help them not just here but everywhere.

Suggestion #1: PLEASE provide a cover letter that includes your willingness to relocate (if applicable) and provides some background on the company you’re looking to work at along with how you might be ale to help them.

Suggestion #2: If possible, include a URL to your own website.  The decision makers are extremely busy and as a result there is a tendency to just weed out those who don’t include a link to their website in their resume.  We want to see your art, code, etc.

Suggestion #3: If you only are into “computers” at work and turn off at night, you probably won’t get looked at beyond an interview at most small companies. We are looking for people who are into this stuff.  One of the reasons we’ve done so well here, for instance, is because we love doing this stuff. It’s not just a job.  We don’t work crazy hours but when we go home, we like to play games still or like to tinker around with things. 

I spent part of my vacation learning Python. Why? Because I enjoy doing it, not because I have to. I know that most people go home and live “normal lives”. That’s great but a small tech company may not be a good fit for you then.

Those 3 things would be extremely helpful in getting people to the front of the pile.

Today I spent a lot of time working on the story elements and timeline for Elemental to make sure it goes along with the book. There, I said it. There’s going to be a book that comes out at roughly the same time as the game. 

There’s ten thousand years of history to work through, quite a big difference from what we’ve done in the past where we had just enough story manifested for the game (like in Galactic Civilizations) to proceed.

Having the game and the book being developed at the same time is proving to be marvelous as it allows the game to have a lot more depth even though it’s “only” a strategy game. The scriptable engine allows each so-called sandbox game to have a truly unique life of its own because there’s just such a massive amount of lore to tap into.

Of course, since I worked on that, I wasn’t able to do my walk thru of the alpha. I plan to get on that tomorrow.