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..

Sorry for not announcing this sooner, we released the newest Twilight beta and then I had to leave on a business trip.  Beta 6A is the first GalCiv II: Twilight of the Arnor beta to have a significant update to the computer AI along with some new balancing in it.  We're in the home stretch.

Here is the official plan for the rest of the beta:

April 10: Beta 6B

April 23: Release

We're pretty much feature complete. The rest of the time will be spent integrating player feedback into balancing (which means more techs, planetary improvements, etc), more AI updates, and integrating a lot of the new content we've been holding back on.

You'll want to keep an eye on the journals area as that will be where we'll be talking about things we're adding as we add them.

The full change log can be found here.

This week I'm out on the west coast on business. While staying in Redmond, I was able to hang out with Blair and Craig from Ironclad (Sins of a Solar Empire) since they're in the Vancouver area.  People on the outside probably don't realize how unique the Stardock / Ironclad relationship is in the game industry. When it comes to Sins, we might as well be a single team.

While I can't speak to exactly why our partnership has worked out so well, I can say that I think one reason is that we're zealots. That is, we are "true believers". Our mutual cause was to make sure Sins of a Solar Empire was a big success and all other considerations were cast aside.  If Ironclad needed anything from us, they had it. And vice versa.  And over time, it's grown beyond that. The experience has been so positive that now we can look at coordinating future releases together (both ours and theirs) as if we were one big company -- except that we're still independent companies. That is, by putting mutual success first, we end up with the benefits of a "bigger" company without any of the negatives.

We could or should probably write some sort of guide on the way our publishing system works and how it is different from the traditional system.  For example, typically, a game studio gets a huge advance on a game -- enough to pay for its development -- and then after release, the developer rarely sees anything beyond the advance.  But with ours, there's a smaller advance but a higher royalty.  As a result, Ironclad will see income from Sins of a Solar Empire for many years to come.

Consider the ramifications of that.  When game developers are able to see their games as revenue generating assets -- ones that generate a steady stream of income -- there's a lot more incentive to keep doing cool stuff.  As most people know, Sins of a Solar Empire is a very solid game. And yet, we've already released 2 free updates plus the third and fourth are in the works that add new features, graphics, etc.

The whole system is also just far more efficient.  Whether it be marketing or testing or design work, the fact that it's effectively one big team greatly increases what can be done and at a lower cost.  There is no single point of contact between companies. Emails and IMs go far and wide within both.  Until other publishers pick up on this, I think we have a major advantage in being able to produce really good games at a much lower price that generate a lot of money for the companies and give players a much better experience.

Forgive my typos, I've got a pretty bad cold.

Want to try out the latest beta preview of Impulse?

You can get it here:

http://storage.stardock.com/files/Impulse_setup.exe

FAQ:

1. What is Impulse?  Impulse is Stardock's successor to Stardock Central. It is designed to merge all of Stardock's various digital networks into a single platform (TotalGaming.net, WinCustomize.com, and Object Desktop.net).  With it, users can buy, download and update a wide variety of software.
2. Will Impulse replace Stardock Central? Eventually. But we expect to keep both going for a long time so that fans of Stardock Central don't feel pushed to get Impulse.
3. What will be on Impulse? Eventually, everything. Right now, it's mostly Stardock titles and a handful of indie games. With Impulse, we are opening it up to all publishers of all venues - games, utilities, applications. On the games side, we expect parity with Steam and Direct2Drive by the end of 2008. On the non-game side, we hope to have most major utilities and a number of major applications available on it.
4. Does Impulse have DRM? Impulse does not use DRM as it's traditionally thought of. It uses a technology called SSD (Secure Software Delivery) which ensures that the content is transferred to the user in secure form.  Users are able to install their games onto multiple machines using their accounts within reason (the system does evaluate geographic locations of multiple installs and a number of other metrics to flag possible "warez" accounts). Stardock is also working on a new technology tentatively called Secure Virtual Machines (SVM). More information on SVMs will be released later.  Overall, Impulse is largely invisible to users. They do not need an Internet connection to play games, they can re-download the full retail game from it even if they purchased it elsewhere, and there is no "phoning home" during the launch of games.

This preview is designed to test out usability as well as find bugs prior to release that may have slipped past us.  We have an extensive feature set prepared for Impulse that will be delivered over the coming months.  We are still getting the final kinks out, however and the Impulse Store and Website are being overhauled from what is in the beta.

PLYMOUTH, MI - March 26, 2008 - Do you have what it takes to be the president? Today Stardock Entertainment announced The Political Machine 2008, a new PC game that puts players in control of the 2008 presidential campaign. Play as the campaign manager for a host of candidates including Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, historical candidates or design one from scratch.

Players then choose their campaign battlegrounds and are off on the campaign trail to face a host of challenges including fundraising, talk show appearances, hiring spin doctors and winning endorsements. The game is won on Election Day by the player who gets the necessary electoral votes to become President.

The Political Machine 2008 is developed and published by Stardock Entertainment. The game uses a brand-new 3D engine designed to give the candidates a unique look (all candidates are presented as "bobble heads"). The 2004 edition of the game was a tremendous success. Using actual demographic data, the game accurately predicted the 2004 election months in advance. In June of 2004, Stardock's CEO and Lead Designer Brad Wardell said that The Political Machine predicted that Ohio - not Florida - would be the key state and that whoever won that state would win the Presidency.

"This is the ultimate game for political junkies and a really fun way for anyone to learn about the election process," said Wardell. "Once you put yourself in the campaign manager's shoes, you really get to see how each campaign tactic ultimately affects the outcome of the vote. The whole point is to be fun but part of that means being reasonably accurate."

Real-world scenarios are mirrored in the game. Players can choose what TV shows to be a guest on and will face tough questions from the hosts of shows like Colvert Report and the O'Malley Factor. In addition, players can choose to play out different historical scenarios as well as fantasy scenarios taking place in the future.

"Political junkies will appreciate many of the political consultants and strategies employed in the game such as the use of smear merchants, spin doctors, intimidators, cheer leaders, movie stars, etc.," continued Wardell. "Strategy gamers will appreciate the balanced game mechanics that allow players to research new campaign tactics that even novice political observers can see from the current election."

The Political Machine is both a single and a multiplayer game - players can either compete against the computer or against others online on www.politicalmachine.com. The website also provides an ideologically neutral location for users to discuss the current election.

The game will be released at retail in this upcoming June for $19.95. It requires Windows XP or Windows Vista to run. For more information about Stardock please visit www.stardock.com.

Screenshots: