Since there's been a popular demand for more frequent updates on ThinkDesk, we're going to go ahead and make public some of our internal builds.

Note that the alpha builds have NOT been approved by internal Stardock QA. So use at your own risk.  This only applies to builds that are labeled as ALPHA (ThinkSinc/SecureProcess).

Betanews has put up their annual Holiday Gift Guide.  The Betanews Holiday Gift Guide is amongst the best gift guides on the net with recommendations to satisfy nearly any power user.  With recommendations ranging from the BeyondTV to Nokia's Internet Tablet, it's got it all.

Definitely worth checking out!

http://giftguide.betanews.com/

 

I've gotten a couple of thoughtful emails from gadget authors who have been disappointed in how long it takes for a submission to go live on the site as well as how picky we've been.

We've been averaging a couple of gadget submissions per day.  Nearly all, unfortunately, are rejected.

Point #1: You can't charge money for things that are easily available for free

If something is available for free, especially in a lot of different forms, you can't just submit it and charge $5 for it.  You can make the fanciest CPU meter in the world and it's going to be tough to sell that. 

And even if we do accept such a gadget, odds are it won't sell. If something is available for free, especially in wide distribution, why would someone pay for it? 

If there's some Konfabulator widget that does the same thing as yours but yours is $5, nobody is going to buy it.

Point #2: Stores are not the same as skin sites

If you upload a gadget for sale here, you cannot expect it to simply go live in 24 hours or even 1 week.  For liability reasons, gadgets have to go through a much more intensive QA process before going live.  If they are for sale, that process is even more extensive.  I would argue that DesktopGadgets.com has one of the most streamlined on-line stores out there for selling software in existence.  But it isn't an overnight thing.

Remember, when you are charging money for your gadget, you are, effectively, a business.  

Point #3: We don't market for you.

DesktopGadgets.com is a store/distributor.  It is expected that you will promote your gadget yourself.  We can promote it some on DesktopGadgets.com but we do expect users to go out and promote their own gadgets.

The beta of Galactic Civilizations II will be ending tomorrow.  That is, the beta will no longer be open to new users who pre-order.  So if you want to get ahold of the beta, time is running out.

Just in time for Christmas, Stardock has released the Desktop Pet.  The Desktop Pet lives on your Windows XP desktop. He will interact with various included desktop objects. A sophisticated artificial intelligence engine helps bring him to life by giving him needs such as hunger, sleep, boredom, and even (ahem) the need to take a potty break. 

Users can set the various included desktop objects to be automated or take care of the feeding and cleaning up on their own.  It also includes options for muting sound, pausing, and unloading. The pet is saved to disk regularly so that if you close it or reboot he will be back to where he left off when you bring him back up again.

Stardock hopes to keep updating the pet after release to keep adding new behaviors, additional objects, and new habits to help keep the experience fresh and to respond to customer input.  The Desktop Pet is a fun $10 diversion and makes a great stocking stuffer for the computer user in your family. 

The home page for the Desktop Pet is https://www.stardock.com/products/desktoppet 

Just in time for Christmas, Stardock has released the Desktop Pet.  The Desktop Pet lives on your Windows XP desktop. He will interact with various included desktop objects. A sophisticated artificial intelligence engine helps bring him to life by giving him needs such as hunger, sleep, boredom, and even (ahem) the need to take a potty break. 

Users can set the various included desktop objects to be automated or take care of the feeding and cleaning up on their own.  It also includes options for muting sound, pausing, and unloading. The pet is saved to disk regularly so that if you close it or reboot he will be back to where he left off when you bring him back up again.

Stardock hopes to keep updating the pet after release to keep adding new behaviors, additional objects, and new habits to help keep the experience fresh and to respond to customer input.  The Desktop Pet is a fun $10 diversion and makes a great stocking stuffer for the computer user in your family. 

The home page for the Desktop Pet is https://www.stardock.com/products/desktoppet

Ever wonder what many of us are doing during the day?  Paul Boyer (Mormegil) whose icons and skins you use, Scott Tykoski (Boogieback), myself, Andrew Powell (Kapsules), Pat Ford (T-Man), Kristin Hatcher (PowerUser.TV), Vexxen (lots of DesktopX objects including those Christmas ones) have been working on a game that should be available at retail at the end of February as well as through Total Gaming.net.  The game, Galactic Civilizations II.

Screenshots:
   

Paul Boyer not only did the user interface for this (using DesktopX 3.1) but also put together the advertisement now seen in most of the game magazines:

Boogiebac has been working on both coding and other art resources.  Vexen on the starships and many scenes in the game. And a whole load of other artists working on lots of other parts of the game (aliens, cut scenes, planets, effects, etc.).  Andrew Powell has been working on the Metaverse technology (the web component uses AJAX heavily and will be able to be seen soon). Walmart, Best Buy, EB, Gamestop and other retailers are already taking pre-orders.  Stardock is self-publishing the game. 

If you've ever wondered where skinning skills can be expanded into, here's just one example.  As for me, I code the artificial intelligence for the game!

As beta testers can hopefully attest to, making sure that Galactic Civilizations II is a top-notch strategy game hasn't been the only thing Stardock has been working on.  Making sure Galactic Civilizations is available at retail in a big way this next February/March has also been occupying the new publishing arm of Stardock Entertainment.  The original Galactic Civilizations was not published by Stardock, this time, we're in charge of the whole process  that means the game, the advertising, the marketing, box design, etc. 

So what has been happening on that front?  Stardock has signed on for dozens of full page ads in the major game magazines including Computer Gaming World, PC Gamer, and Computer Games Magazine to help strategy gamers know that the game is coming.  We've also been working with our distributor Take 2 to make sure that the retailers are on-board.  As a result, we hope to see Galactic Civilizations II have a much wider release this time.  For example, WalMart is taking pre-orders for the game.  Best Buy just signed on board today to take preorders (we'll have links for them as soon as its in their system), EB and Gamestop are taking preorders. By the time we release, we hope to be available in most major retailers in North America.  Meanwhile, our partner Paradox is taking care of things in Europe and is working hard to try to have the game be available throughout Europe at retail in the February/March time frame.

If you haven't seen the ad, this is what it looks like:

Being an "indie" game developer (and now publisher) does carry some challenges and risks.  But it allows us to do things our own way. For example, the retail version of Galactic Civilizations will have no copy protection whatsoever.  It will have a serial # that users can optionally enter in at install that they'll need to retrieve updates to the game after release.  But there will be no CD checks, no activation, no DRM or anything else in the retail package.  Instead, we hope to win over gamers by releasing a good game that we vigorously support well after release with free updates that aren't just bug fixes but offer new features and new content.

With any luck, the final game will be out at the tail end of February available for purchase at retail or for electronic download via TotalGaming.net. Stay tuned!

Holiday Desktop 2005 is available!  It's a complete FREE Suite to give your desktop a Christmas look and fee.  Created by Paul Boyer (Mormegil).

 

 

 Have fun!