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).

Change your Windows XP GUI with this WindowBllinds skin.  It supports the new alpha blended borders and with animated snow!	Change your logon with this LogonStudio theme.	Change your Windows icons with this IconPackager theme.
[Download]	[Download]	[Download]

 Have fun!

Truly one of the more jam-packed shows we've done. You asked for more, you got it! Don't miss this one!

Galactic Civilizations II is getting some tremendous coverage.  From around the world we're seeing some really cool previews (at least we think we are as some of the languages we don't know).  Here's a few samples:

Norway: http://gamer.no/art.php?articleId=18170

Finland: http://www.dnainternet.fi/id/pelit/pc/artikkelit/1126689175796027.html

And Belgium: Here.

Gamespy has a really good preview of beta 4 of Galactic Civilizations II. 

The preview touches heavily on a feature that hasn't gotten a lot of attention yet -- diplomacy. 

While GalCiv II has plenty of features for those who enjoy warfare and strategic combat.  But immense amount of effort have gone into the diplomacy engine of Galactic Civilizations II.  With 10 different civilizations to choose from, we have developed tools that came from our last game, The Political Machine, to make it easier for different species to have different personalities, reactions, and strategies in diplomacy.  The result we're aiming for is that each civilization will truly behave differently and require different strategies based on which civilization you play as.  The Gamespy article touches on this as the author of it is very familiar with the GalCiv series (he reviewed the original GalCiv for instance).  It's a great read.

One place I hang out on a lot are the forums over at Apolyton.net. The forums are really just getting started but it's a great "Civilization" fan site to hang out on to see what all is out there.

Stop by the forums, join up. It's fun!

I'm just rambling here so if you're looking for a well written piece, you'll want to go elsewhere.  After 6 weeks of massive hours I'm spent..

It's not a good time to ideological. 

If you're a conservative, you're quickly discovering that victory in politics quickly corrupts.  Conservatives control the congress and the presidency only to have record deficits, sloppy governance, and cronyism. 

If you're an intelligent liberal, your ideology has largely been hijacked by very loud people who sound like they just came off their meds. 

It is kind of ironic that in the past few years conservatism, as a movement, has become more secular, while liberalism has become a secular religion unto itself.  Those who stray from orthodox liberalism are treated as heretics. I think this is one of the reasons why liberals seem much much more likely to attack Christians because they now subconsciously see it as a rival religion.

Personally, I tend to pick and choose pieces of different ideologies to create my own life philosophy. A philosophy that suits me based on my experiences.  I wouldn't be considered very conservative socially by most "real" conservatives.  I'm pro-choice. Pro-civil union for gays. Pro-higher taxes on the wealthy.  I'm not really a libertarian as I do believe in government regulation, the FDA, the FCC, the FTC, etc.  But since I don't follow liberal orthodoxy, I'm a "conservative".  And that's why Liberals are the minority because nowadays, it doesn't take much to be a conservative.  Believe in a reasonably free market? No soup for you.  Consider patriotism to be a good thing? You're off the liberal team. Think Kyoto is a bad idea? Pack your bags, righty.

The liberal religion, for lack of a better word, seems to have gone a long way towards making themselves a permanent minority.  The reason boils down to their religion being so fundamentalist.  Just as obnoxious Christians used to take the attitude "Sure, you can believe what you want, but don't blame me when you're burning in hell" liberal dogma goes something like this "Sure, you can believe what you want but you just prove you're not enlightened if you disagree with me."

I found this image on the net (from a Mac user which is unsurprising).  Pretty typical stuff. To be a conservative simply requires a frontal lobotomy.

And so it goes with most debates I get into with left of center people.  There's a smug undertone to the discussion in which my views are not being taken very seriously because it never occurs to them that any view other than theirs could have any merit.  My views are simply based on ignorance and base human desires (hate, greed, you name it). 

Liberals, would counter and say "Conservatives don't listen to opposing views either." Nonsense.  That's the basic disconnect between conservatism and today's liberalism.  Probably because conservatives believe in social Darwinism, capitalism, and the free market as a whole, bad ideas get jettisoned and good ideas take over. A belief that can't stand the test of the real world gets tossed out. Over time, the ideology gets sharper and sharper.  Liberals tend to have a lot less faith in competition of all sorts and perhaps that is why they tend to stick to beliefs that don't survive critical inspection.

As a result, over time, the conservative ideology has evolved and changed.  Consider today's conservative to one in 1972.  The typical conservative today is quite different from the ones of 1972.  The book "South Park Conservatives" is practically a case study on the phenomenon.   Liberalism, by contrast, remains almost completely unchanged other than changing the dates of predicted doom or whether it's global cooling vs. global warming.  A liberal demonstration today looks pretty much the same as it did back then. Everyone's a Nazi still (except for actual brutal fascist dictators with little mustaches) and big business is still the devil and good intentions still trump any concern over the logical result if their demands were met. It's about caring after all.  It's about fairness(TM) (whatever that means).

As liberals have lost ground, they have become even more shrill and intolerant and it shows.  Moreover, many liberals are poorly equipped to battle on anything resembling equal ground in the war of ideas. Liberals get into college which insulates them from the real world and provides them a sympathetic left-wing environment thanks to left-wing professors who never had to put their beliefs to the test outside academia, and as a result, liberals go out into the world without a good background in how to put forth a compelling argument to advocate their beliefs.

Liberal debating strategy ends up being either:

1. Duh. (to use Bakerstreet's quote). If you disagree with me you're stupid.
2. SHUT UP YOU RACIST NAZI!

Nearly every liberal debate on any site will devolve into that.  Either you're stupid or you're a racist nazi. It depends on who you're debating with and whether they are feeling cornered.

The "Duh" argument

Liberals who use the Duh argument usually rely heavily on wit and one-liners. John Stewart of the Daily Show is the poster child of this argument. "Many people disagree with Kyoto, such as President Bush.  In related news, Bush has proposed a mission to Mars in the hopes of helping speed up the timetable in which mankind can escape to a new planet to destroy."

Liberals are often very witty. But wit is no substitute for an argument.

Here's a typical "Duh" argument example:

Mary: "We only eat organic food, it's better for the environment and more healthy."

Bill: "Really? How?"

Mary: "Well, first, it doesn't use pesticide. I'm just not big on having poison on my food. I'm just weird that way. Second, they use natural fertilizer instead of chemicals. Got enough chemicals already, thank you."

Bill: "Why do you think that's better?"

Mary: "Duh. Pesticide. Poison. Poison = Bad for environment. And chemicals = bad. Hello?"

Bill: "I've never heard of anyone dying from pesticide. And they use pesticide so that insects and weeds won't destroy a lot of the crop so that they can produce more food on less land which is better for the enviroment. Secondly, the 'chemical' fertilizer they use is nitrogen which makes up 75% of our atmosphere. Natural fertilizer is literally poop.  Are you saying you'd rather eat poop than have trace amounts of pesticide on your food?"

Mary: "You just don't get it.  You sound like you've been brainwashed  by the agribusiness."

The "SHUT UP" argument

The Shut up argument can start out a lot like a Duh argument. It depends on the intelligence of the debater on how long they are able to "use their words". Eventually, many liberals will devolve into shouting and personal attacks. Either a demand for you to be quiet or an accusation that you're evil or racist or a comparison with Hitler or the Nazis (which is ironic since this breed of liberal is unknowingly imitating the tactics of the Nazi party during the 1930s -- another issue, this breed of liberal usually knows little on history).

Craig: "Bush and his cronies are once again stuffing the pockets of their rich friends while the poor are left to rot. What's next? Bush going to send his cronies to pick pocket the poor to give to their rich buddies?"

Angie: "Well technically the poor don't pay federal taxes and the government doesn't give rich their money, tax cuts mean that less of the income earned by rich people is taken by the government."

Craig: "The rich don't need that money! (getting louder) What about the poor mother with 3 children to feed? What about them??"

Angie: "Well, perhaps they should have considered their finances before having 3 children?"

Craig: "SHUT UP YOU RACIST NAZI!"

It's not both sides

Usually at this part of the discussion an intelligent liberal will try to argue that "both sides" have their crazies. And that is true. But numerically, it's incredibly one-sided (you don't usually find too many math majors who are liberals which I guess makes sense since statistics seem to be an anathema to them).  Cindy Sheehan who is detested on the right can give a speech uninterrupted but Ann Coulter and other conservatives have to worry about being assaulted on stage. Being able to give their speech is often difficult if not impossible because of left-wing loonies screaming  "SHUT UP YOU RACIST NAZI!"

You see it on JoeUser too.  there are right-wing boobs here on JoeUser.com.  But in terms of foaming at the mouth, red-eyed hatred, it's not even close which side is more represented.  It's not just here. Democratic Underground is a favorite whipping boy.  But there's really no right-wing equivalent.  The New Republic has some crazies, Democratic Underground IS crazy.

Many liberals are very intelligent and have many good points. But it's becoming increasingly rare to find even intelligent liberals who do more than simply complain about how bad a given policy is. Conservatives often seem more intent in actually finding a solution. It may not always be the best solution but at least they're trying. Liberals, even intelligent ones, will just poke holes in it without offering an alternative.  And the unintelligent ones will just shriek nonsense that I suspect even they don't think will be considered seriously.

And it's getting worse.  I'm not sure where things will end up.  The joke at our home is that it won't end in civil war because the right-wingers have all the guns.  But something is going to give in the next few years.  The left's shrillness from the extremes and complacent arrogance from its mainstream is causing it to lose more and more influence as the majority begins to find replacements to the institutions that those demographics have tended to control (media and academia). 

In the meantime, I'll just hope that I can debate with friends and strangers alike without them trying to patronize me or shout me down.  But I won't get my hopes up.

Beta 4D of Galactic Civilizations II has been released.  In about 3 months, Galactic Civilizations II will be at a store near you.

At this point we're moving towards feature-completeness and then we'll move onto putting in the final content (i.e. graphics, sound, etc.).  The screenshots you see of Galactic Civilizations II won't look as good as the final game will. 

Beta 4D has a ton of new features but the biggest ones probably revolve around:

• You can now upgrade ships.  You can select individual ships and upgrade them to a different ship that is of the same hull-size. There is a money cost and a time cost. Money cost has to do with how significant the upgrade is and the time has to do with how far away from friendly territory it is.
• We have started to implement the new invasion system. It isn't done yet and it a bit rougher than we'd like but we wanted to get it out there so people can see what direction we're going.
• Pirates are in.
• Minor races are in.
• You can now change the color of the interface for any civilization you choose (for instance, I chose "purple" for my last game).
• The Ethical Philosophy dialog is now in. When you research Xeno Ethics you must choose a ethical philosophy which will give you various bonuses.
• The Civilization Manager is much more complete now
• The new governors for managing ship building and rally points are now in which should drastically reduce micro management of ships.
• Lots of changes to the technology tree, star base modules, and other goodies that you can use to enhance starbases and planets.
• TONS of bug fixes.

Fairly full list of what has been added since beta 4C is HERE.

There's still quite a bit to do which we hope to have done by next week for a beta 4E.  Features we hope to put in by then include being able to upgrade any planetary project into another one, Artifacts, mineral rich zones, etc. on planets finalized, and planetary invasion completed (other than visuals).