Beta 2D is the last of the Beta 2 builds which were designed to test connectivity.  Over the weekend we spent a lot of time working on the connectivity server – the “magical” feature that Demigod makes use of to make connectivity a lot better and easier than what has been seen in typical RTS.

The release of Beta 2D showed a killer bug in the Impulse Reactor back end that caused it to just fail in setting up connections after a couple hours.  That got fixed (we hope) on Sunday night. We’ll know more soon.

That leads us to dealing with the remaining biggest challenge with regards to connectivity: The peer connectivity.  Right now, it only takes ONE person who can’t be connected to in a given game to cause the infinite “connecting” dialog to come up.

We have to do two things still:

1) We need to improve this substantially.  Beta 2D increases the likelyhood of success to around 80% (needs to be 99% by ship date).  Ironically, my work machine is one of the machines that can’t easily be connected to when it’s hosting.

2) We need a better way to eject players who can’t connect so they don’t hold up everyone else.

But at this point, we’re at a stage where we can start debugging that and move to Beta 3 which has the tournament code and we can really get into the balance part of the game.

We’ve learned a lot from this beta.  One of the things we’ve learned is that we really need to do a better job conditioning beta testers that the Demigod betas are just that – BETAS. They aren’t marketing experiments.  We’ve had lots of posts complaining that the game is (wait for it) “buggy”.  Or comparing the game’s balance or features to some shipping game.

Having shipped the “Strategy Game of the Year” for the past 2 consecutive years (GalCiv II and Sins of a Solar Empire) I would hope that we would get cut some slack that we know something of what we’re doing but then again, it is the Internet.

Here’s an interesting factoid that Sins of a Solar Empire players can tell you:

The economic model in Sins of a Solar Empire didn’t get its final version until GAMMA (that’s after the betas).  Before Gamma 3, asteroids and such ran out of resources (metal and crystal) eventually.  Imagine how different Sins of a Solar Empire would be. There also wasn’t an “unfair” difficulty level in Sins until the gammas.

With Beta 3, we get to start finally getting into the actual balance and game play a lot more.  Obviously, the game isn’t going to radically change in terms of scope. It’s not going to become a first person shooter.

So here are a few things that we’re looking at as a sample:

MY  personal opinions:

• Currencies should increase gold income by a % not a raw amount.
  • Currency I: Increases gold income by 20%
    • Cost increased to $2000
  • Currency II: Increases gold income by 40%
    • Cost increases to $4000
  • Currency III: Increases gold income by 60%
    • Cost increased to $6000
• Experience I
  • Experience I: increases XP generation by 10%
  • Experience II: increase XP generation by 20%
  • Add: Experience III at level 5: Increases XP generation by 30%
    • Cost $2400
  • Experience IV at level 6: Increases XP generation by 40%
• Graveyard
  • Graveyard I moved to war rank 1. Lowers Death Penalty by 10%. Cost 600
  • Graveyard II moved to war rank 3. Lowers death penalty by 20%. Cost 1800
  • Graveyard III. Lowers death penalty by 40%.
• Priests moved to war rank 3.
• Angels should be moved to war rank 10, made a lot tougher, should only be 1 of them.
• Catapultasuri should be moved to war rank 5. Should only be 2 of them but tougher (more HP).
• Giants should be moved to war rank 7.

• Requested new item: Totem of Cancelation: (replaces totem of revelation if necessary)
  • Cost: 200
  • Wipes out any mines or similar things in an area when placed.
• Requested new item: Scroll of Health
  • Cost: 1000
  • Casting time: INSTANT
  • Restores 1000 health
• Restorative scroll should eliminate Regulus tracking device
• Requested new item: Gauntlets of Demolition
• Requested new item: Scroll of Demolition
  • Does 2000 damage to a structure
  • Cost $2000
• Requested new item: Scroll of Invincibility
  • Unit is invincible for 3 seconds
  • Instant cast time
  • Cost: 200
• Eliminate:
  • Combat health potion
  • Combat mana potion
  • Rejuvenation Elixir (the cheap one)
• Armor: Need to be careful about how much armor we give players so that they don’t become invincible.

Demigods

Assassins

• The rook moves far too fast by default. He’s a walking castle! Super tough but super slow.

Generals

• Fewer minions that are a lot tougher.
• 1^st level minions can only have 2 of with you.
• 2^nd level minions can only have 4 of them with you.
• 3^rd level minions can have 4 of them with you.
• Generals should do less damage in battle. (the Oak, for instance, starts out doing like 150 damage per second).

Misc.

• Edge scroll should be on by default
• Multplayer is set to a threshold of 200ms. Can we increase this to 350ms?
• Is the game clock a real clock or one based on performance?
• Still need a fancier progress bar displayed when taking a flag
• Amount spent in upgrades should be displayed in the final game score
• # of upgrades paid for should be displayed in the in-game score screen
• Damage done by the general’s minions is not displayed
• The voice acting on Regulus could use some work. The original Regulus voice was much better.
• War score and war rank need to be synched up so that war rank is simply war score / 1000.

Those are just my personal thoughts.  The next step is that we talk it over and decide what makes the most sense to do.

1. I have never tried smoking or any drugs.

2. I never drank any alcohol until I was 21 and still mostly a social drinker (though I do like wine).

3. I was relatively dim until my 20s when my brain, for some reason, switched on and went into overdrive.

4. I tend to read 2 to 3 books a week.

5. I used to be a total sports junkie until high school, now I don't even watch the Superbowl.

6. I can't think of anyone that I "hate" or even severely dislike.

7. At work I go into "business mode" where I think and act completely differently than I am at home. It's like being schitzo a bit.

8. I work with my friend Pat who I've been friends with for almost 25 years.

9. I have only had 3 serious relationships in my life including my wife.

10. I have been with my wife for 17 years. We have 3 children.

11. My parents are the least compatible together people I've ever met. They got divorced when I was 4. They get along now but they are still totally incompatible. Glad they got together though long enough to have me!

12. I always wanted to have kids, even when I was little. Ideally, 2 boys and a girl (I have 2 boys and a girl).

13. I don't tend to worry much but when I do worry, it's usually about whether I'm doing the right thing with my children.

14. I almost never feel stressed.

15. I am finding myself less social as I get older but trying to fight against it.

16. I'm 170lbs now but was only 110lbs in High School. (5'11 inches tall).

17. I still have my Star Wars figures from when I was a kid and LEGO space ships I made too.

18. I am an only child but have a half-brother in Colorado as well as an adopted brother in Colorado though I haven't seen either in a long time (thank goodness for Facebook!).

19. I am not religious but I am thankful to God anyway for my life.

20. I make, amongst other things, computer games for a living.

21. I don't tend to have much compassion for people in general but tend to want to help individuals a great deal.

22. I tend to be politically conservative (fiscally very conservative, socially moderate). I'm a big believer in people having lots of freedom but coupled with lots of responsibility.

23. During the cold Winter months when work is busiest, I look forward to going to our cottage on Higgins Lake as a way to keep my spirits up.

24. I like to drive very very fast. Fastest I've driven is 161mph (don't ask me when or where, no comment <g>).  But I drive very carefully if I have passengers or if there's anyone else on the road. I've never been in a car accident.

25. My friends and family have said I am a lot like the Tom Hanks character in "You've got Mail" except when I'm at work where I'm more like House mixed in with the "You've got Mail" character.

One of the things about right-wingers that really annoys me is when they tell people who don’t like some policy with the US that they should just move to another country. It’s just obnoxious.

Of course, it’s annoying when left-wingers do it too.

In JillUser’s blog asking that people who complain how the rich spend their own money to take an interest in how those on public assistance spend theirs, long time user Mumblefratz writes:

This response can be boiled down to saying that we live in a country where the majority sets the rules and if you don’t like it, move somewhere else.

No one is arguing how the system functions. The point, I think, of people debating and discussing issues is to raise awareness of various issues.

At one time, the majority of Americans thought slavery was just fine.  Should those who had a problem with slavey just shut the hell up and moved to say Canada?

When someone argues that it’s not fair for the rich to have so much and the poor to have so little should the rich guy say “Well move to Cuba then, in the meantime, shut the hell up.”?

I don’t think so. I think people should discuss and debate as much as possible so that we can learn from each other.

People (clearly) don’t realize the unintended consequences of their beliefs. Some liberal/Democrat says “Hey, you don’t like high taxes? You rich people should move overseas.” And what they don’t realize, even though it’s right in front of them, is that that is what’s happening. It’s called outsourcing.  The rich get to enjoy all the benefits of living in the USA but without the tax downsides.

Hey, don’t like outsourcing? Well, hey, it’s legal and what else is there to be discussed? If it’s legal, it’s ethical right? What more is to be discussed right?

But no, we should discuss this sort of thing to raise awareness and see how our society might evolve and be a better one.

After all, JillUser could have just written “Hey whiney losers, quit complaining about my mansion and other material possessions that we earned. That’s the way it is and if you don’t like it, move to Cuba.”  Instead, she tried to raise awareness about an issue and opened it up to discussion.

1. Improve my email communication skills. How I communicate online is very different from how I am in person even though I use the same words.
   
2. Standard losing weight goal: Get down to 165lbs by my birthday.
   
3. Keep future house project on schedule.
   
4. Spend more time with my boys.
   
5. Write a fantasy novel for publication.
   
6. Put more effort into being a better husband.
   
7. Spend more time with friends (George, Sherry, Pat, Paul, Kristin, Kirk, Phil, etc.).
   
8. Get the lower level of the Stardock building finished to start hiring second games team.
   
9. Take a real vacation this year (i.e. not just "working" vacations).
   
10. Participate more in our communities.

The Titans of old long used men as pawns in their proxy wars on Elemental. But men were often unpredictable.

It came to pass that some of the Titans with the darkest of motives began to take the strongest, most ruthless, most consistently evil of men and used them as the basis to create a new race of mortal - The Fallen.

The architecture of the Fallen is very alien from that of men. More savage. More violent. But also more practical.

10 ill fated franchise reboots: http://pc.ign.com/articles/949/949110p1.html

The top 12 best anti-depressants: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=6761204&page=1

10 debunked scientific beliefs: http://listverse.com/science/10-debunked-scientific-beliefs-of-the-past/

World's most pissed off speeding ticket recipient: http://rightwingvideo.com/?p=253

David Letterman's most awkward moments: http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-9-most-hilariously-awkward-letterman-interviews/

Crossing the scariest bridge in China: http://rightwingvideo.com/?p=349 (must watch this)

WindowBlinds 7 internal alpha on Windows 7 beta

Unmodified WindowBlinds skin (i.e. skinners won't have to necessarily make any changes to support Windows 7).

WindowBlinds 7 betas will probably show up on Object Desktop this Spring.

Well today I have to start putting together all the assets that are going to need translation so that we can get that going.

For Elemental, the plan is to have a much much higher level of writing quality than we had in previous games by bringing on professional authors and editors to help.

So what sorts of things do we have in mind?

The Factions

There are 12 named factions (races) in Elemental. In addition, players will be able to create and submit their own factions to be shared by other users.

Each of the 12 named factions will have its own history and back story.  Those factions are:

• Kingdom of Altar
• Kingdom of Yoren
• Kingdom of Gildren
• Kingdom of Tarth
• Kingdom of Capitar
• Kingdom of Ithul
• Empire of Uthugul
• Empire of Calax
• Empire of Turzog
• Empire of Izen
• Empire of Dol-Sirion
• Empire of Korin

The Kingdoms are of men, the Empires are made up of the Fallen.

Technology Trees

The technology in Elemental is largely the same for each faction with a handful of distinctive early game features that enable special buildings and units per faction.

There are roughly 20 different technologies.  This seems low because of the way (far more fun IMO) technologies are implemented.  Instead of there being "Advanced Swordsmanship" or something players instead choose a more generalized tech and the more they research into it, the better that stat gets. Spell books are where the more literary interesting stuff comes in.

Spell Books

Men and Fallen get completely unique spell books.  The spells are broken into the 5 different schools of magic:

Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Life/Death. 

Each of the 5 schools will have around 20 different spells in them.

Quests

Unlike previous strategy games Stardock has developed, Elemental will have optional quests. How in-depth these get will really depend on how much time we have.  But ideally, we would like players to be able to see their sovereign as a quasi-RPG unit that can go out and deal with a particular quest.

There would be a huge, and ever growing, quest pool for the game to make use of.

We are budgeting for an initial quest pool of around 500 quests. 

The Campaign

Like the GalCiv series, Elemental will thrive the most in its sandbox mode.  Unlike GalCiv, our intention is for the campaign in Elemental to have a lot more to it.  We'll have a firmer idea of this later once we figure out how powerful the engine can be made in the time we have with it.

1. I've lived in Michigan nearly all my life but was born in Texas.

2. I love talking and reading about politics but I don't really care much about it.

3. My birthday is almost exactly half a year away from Christmas

4. I never had to learn to blow my nose until I was 34 due to never being sick.

5. I have a pet turtle that I got when I was 15 (22 years ago)

6. I never had a detention in school but was suspended for defending myself (successfully) from 5 huge seniors by using a knife back in 10th grade.

7. I tend to get obsessed about order and efficiency.

8. I prefer to chat with people online versus talking to them on the phone.

9. My favorite thing in the world is being the daddy of Alex, Ryan and Ashley.

10. My favorite hobby is reading history.

11. I am a beekeeper with 6 honey bee hives.

12. When I was a kid I wanted to be a pro baseball player. Then I got a computer.

13. I tend to plan major events meticulously years in advance.

14. I was very good at disciplining my children until my daughter Ashley was born, now I just do whatever she wants me to do.

15. I never drank coffee until I was 37 and then started drinking Mocas every day.

16. I've been working on a fictional sci-fi / fantasy universe since I was 12 that I'm about to start writing books on to be published next year.

17. I often spend hours doing statistical analysis for enjoyment.

18. I met my wife in Electrical Engineering classes 17 years ago.

19. The movie I've watched more than any other is Back to the Future.

20. I enjoy having friends that are around the world because it's like having an all-star team of really awesome people to virtually hang out with.

21. I'm extremely competitive.

22. I often think I have the greatest job in the world. I spend my day working on making computer games and desktop enhancement software and love the people I work with.

23. One of my best friends is also my sister-in-law.

24. I am proud of the success our family has achieved but uncomfortable about discussing it with friends and family out of fear of being seen to be "bragging".

25. I believe that the best way to succeed is to help others be successful.

If you guys could think of 20 questions that someone might want answered about Demigod what would they be?