Welcome to the official Demigod forums!

This Summer we're going to be putting a lot of work into enhancing the forums.  But we would like your input in what we prioritize.

Use this post to put in what kinds of features or changes you'd like to see in the forum structure.

Thanks!

Over on the Sins of a Solar Empire forum, I wrote a post about how we, as develoeprs, publishers, and gamers, could get together to find a way to keep our favorite games going forward.

You can see the post here.

Today, most games are released, get a patch or two, then maybe an expansion pack and then that's it. 

Even Galactic Civilizations II is coming to the end of its active development.  Twilight of the Arnor is our last planned expansion pack and there won't be a sequel for many years.

But what if users wanted more updates? An enhanced economic engine, updated graphics, new diplomacy options, a more serious metaverse system. And so forth.  How would these be paid for?

Traditional expansion packs wouldn't work because they require far too much up front development and too much marketing support to make happen.

So what are some other ways? You could have a subscription system. You could have micro-expansions, you could have some other system.

What kind of system would you envision and would you even want to see your favorite games continue to evolve?

We're thinking this Summer to look at setting up an official multiplayer tournment with cash and prizes.

There would be team games and individual games (duels). The winner of a given game would submit the replay to the tournment server for moderators to evaluate.  If it's successful enough, we'd build a system to do these occasionally and get sponsors and such.

The question is, would you guys be interested in this?

Here is the way the PC game industry operates today:

1. Game is released
2. Game gets patched
3. Expansion pack made
4. Wait years for possible sequel

This model is not ideal IMO.  And I wanted to get a discussion going with fellow Sins players on what they'd like to see.

With Stardock games (GalCiv and Sins) we release a lot of free updates after release. That's because we budget for that.  But even our games eventually have to be "retired". After all, without revenue, companies go out of business.

We've been throwing ideas around the office on how we could create a business model that supports players not for months but years with new updates and features and content.  I think digital distribution may finally getting to the point where we could let players keep purchasing or subscribing to a game (OPTIONALLY) in exchange for regular, meaningful updates in an on-going way.

For example, if we created a persistent multiplayer universe for Sins in which new ships, new techs, new maps, new features, new campaigns, multiplayer tournaments, new scenarios, etc. were released on a regular basis, do you think users would subscribe to this? How about if such updates were packaged as micro-expansion packs at say $9 apiece or something?

Now, with Sins of a Solar Empire, we have v1.04 coming out, then it's on to v1.1 and of course the expansion pack.  But we want to start thinking about the future too.

The same is true on Galactic Civilizations. We're planning for Twilight of the Arnor to be the last big expansion pack for it.  And we don't have any sequel plans to GalCiv in the foresable future.  So even in that case, would users subscribe or purchase mini-expansion packs in order to support continued development?

Anyway, the point being is that I think we all have a list of games that we wish were continually updated for years and years.  I woudl love to still be updating Total Annihilation or getting new mini adventures for Baldur's Gate and I know i would pay or subscribe to get them. 

What do you guys think?

There's going to be a rather huge announcement from Stardock on Monday...

Stay tuned...

This past week I was on a press tour visiting our friends at GfW, IGN, GameSpy, Gamespot, Wired, PC Gamer, Game Developer and more.  I had the flu so hopefully I didn't leave them any parting "gifts".

As some have reported, there will be an expansino pack for Sins of a Solar Empire. Ironclad and Stardock are just working out the best time to release it and what features will go into it.  It will have a campaign to help narrate the backstory more.  I know we're looking at more ships, more technologies, more units, diplomacy enhancements, and more.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here is some of the coverage:

>> IGN Sins
>> Wired

Somehow, I just don't see Abraham Lincoln and Nancy Pelosi being ideological "buds".  Eric Alterman once again proves the point that most liberals simply see things as a "good" vs. "evil". Good people are liberals. Bad people are conservatives.

It might make modern day liberals such as Eric Alterman feel good thinking he's in the company of say Thomas Jefferson, but I suspect Jefferson would take issue with today's modern liberal agenda of using the federal government's monopoly on the legal use of force in an attempt to control how we live - whether that be through forced "charity" programs, "hate crime" legislation, laws against smoking in public places, racial quotas, "carbon offsets", public school indoctrination, etc.

I have been pretty fortunate in my life when it comes to health.  To put it in perspective, I never had to blow my nose until 3 years ago.  I typically go years without getting so much as a cold let alone the flu.

So I guess it was time to catch up on being sick because on this trip, it hit hard. I started coming down with it just before I left but by yesterday, I could barely move.  I managed to drag myself in for the Games for Windows podcast where an equally ill Jeff Green and I worked on creating a super-flu.  Then I went back to the hotel and slept from 3pm to 9am the next morning.

Today I'm feeling somewhat better, better being relative.  But working on the road (especially when you're walking as much as I am from appointment to appointment) means that every step you take towards health you lose a few steps due to expending energy.

Back to bed..