Watch this space…

I'm expecting a week from today.

awwww... oh well get starcraft 2 in a few days so im good. but you better not take a brake for starcraft.

I thought from earlier posts it sounded like this is the last gameplay build we'd get until launch.

3c is pretty basic for gameplay pretty shallow and unpolished.

Yea, Beta 3C is a distant memory at this point for us.

for a budget of 5 million dollars you really are effective thats why i love stardock.

beta 3c seems pretty broken so far but its played the best since 2a

starcraft 2 had a budget upwards of 60 million ....

The UI. We are going to update the UI but it’ll not be in the RTM version but will be in the v1.0 day 0 version. Right now, there’s just too many clicks.

ok now UI is pretty flawed at this point and you guys seems to be able to skin well as well as make things way easier in terms of stuff like Fences but if that means slowing down balancing as well as new features just work on the UI when you can't do anything else.

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If you really had a corrupt system file it could be any number of things un-related to beta, but may have been triggered more by the beta. It could be bad ram, bad hard drive (or going bad)

no it would be the beta had some graphical fuzzy pictures issues on my Xp Computer while on my brothers Win 7 it had no issues and was far more stable both had Nvidia Cards.

so far the changes at stardock would be quiet instant since they would fix it right away but they wouldn't be able to pick up issues from people with different system specs i would assume that stardock have about all the same computers or a few more variations of older or newer specs so they relies on us to send in crash reports as well as the graphics one.

we only get a beta update once a week or basically once they got the build ready.

will Beta 4 contain more than just the mod tools

it would just add the mod tools they are already using as well as update the game play / add more features

Best bet is to send the reviewers a copy they can download off Impulse,

make sure you also say how many free more features plan to be added after release

The magic system. This deserves its own post so I won’t go into it.

magic so far feels almost broken & useless in Beta 3c like to see how good its gotten for beta 4.

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Quoting Frogboy,

reply 24

Quoting Spitz, reply 23When do you expect we'll get to try out some of the new goodness. I'm a bit put-off from testing 3c since I'm not sure how much of the feedback I'd provide would be useful at this point and how much of it would simply be: "You're worried about that? We completely revamped that two days ago!"
I'm expecting a week from today.

Yea, Beta 3C is a distant memory at this point for us. We've gotten a ton of great feedback from the community. It'll be pretty obvious pretty fast after running it that we were paying attention to the beta group.

frogger, WILL we be receiving a 3D version?

harpo

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Quoting ,

quoting post

Sorry we’ve not been posting as much. Things are moving so fast that it’s hard to keep up.

Some highlights of work this week:

Performance is MASSIVELY better.
Been doing a lot of focusing on stability.
Been tightening up the game mechanics considerably and taking into account the many discussions here.
Tactical battles are much better
AI is much better
A lot better filling out of the tech trees to balance things.
A lot of work on the quest system to have the quests and goodie huts be more rewarding
Things we’re still not happy with include but are not limited to:

The magic system. This deserves its own post so I won’t go into it. Elegance in a design document can be just work in a game.
The UI. We are going to update the UI but it’ll not be in the RTM version but will be in the v1.0 day 0 version. Right now, there’s just too many clicks.
I’ll post more as time permits. Stay tuned.

Sounds good Froggie. I am especially happy about the improved performance part, because the game tends to slow down occasionally -> extreme lagfest, and my comp is quite good...as for tactical battles, I can't wait to see that what was changed. Could you post some details about the changes to the tact. combat system?

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Quoting Murteas,

reply 4

Frogboy said in another post that they typically review the day 0 version (i.e. RTM + day 0 patch).

So hopefully it will just be the pirates that get the lesser version.

Na I dont think so pirates get updates easy just look for them on the internet lol. And even C&C4 can be played online with a pirated version :/ so i dont think getting a update is even 0.01% hard for pirates :/ probably just 0%

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Quoting SpaghettiMon,

reply 25

Quoting Frogboy, reply 24
Quoting Spitz, reply 23When do you expect we'll get to try out some of the new goodness. I'm a bit put-off from testing 3c since I'm not sure how much of the feedback I'd provide would be useful at this point and how much of it would simply be: "You're worried about that? We completely revamped that two days ago!"

I'm expecting a week from today.

Yea, Beta 3C is a distant memory at this point for us. We've gotten a ton of great feedback from the community. It'll be pretty obvious pretty fast after running it that we were paying attention to the beta group.

Does this mean we'll get another Beta 3 type build, or will Beta 4 contain more than just the mod tools? I thought from earlier posts it sounded like this is the last gameplay build we'd get until launch.

It would be kind of difficult to test the modding tools if you couldn't play a game with the things you modded in IMO. Not only do the tools have to work correctly the creations need to fuse with the game correctly as well. My guess is the next version has both but I could be wrong.

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Well, I think there will be people *attracted to* buying Elemental outright precisely because of the minimal (Impulse online version) to non-existent DRM (retail version - single player anyway ).

Best regards,
Steven.

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The will review the Day 0 version. the RTM version will be sent to get the DVDS printed and packaging in order. But once you load the game I suspect the day 0 update with be installed from the servers

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Philocthetes

Join Date 10/2003

+153

Quoting Denryu,

reply 18

The community has been wondering why the magic system has not been part of the beta for a long time. For this game, magic should have been very central from the get go, and with the community feedback it is hard to imagine where that part of the game could be.

"We told you so!"

Live and learn, eh?

That's maybe a tad harsh, but maybe I'm a tad too optimistic about what the devs might pull out of their collective hat given their repeated claims of how 'easy' it is to do 'content' now that the engine is nearly finished.

It sure would have been nice to be able to discuss essence=mana cap with a magic-enabled build in our hands well before Brad et al adopted that as a locked down rule. Heck, it would have been wonderful to have had even half the give-and-take that's gone on for the mundane economy & knowledge trees. Maybe the 'other' (non-seafaring) expansion pack will be the thing that makes the game magic feel, well, magical, and not like a bunch of science fiction effects wearing fantasy costumes.

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Murteas

Join Date 08/2003

+44

Quoting Blazerules,

reply 30

Quoting Murteas, reply 4Frogboy said in another post that they typically review the day 0 version (i.e. RTM + day 0 patch).

So hopefully it will just be the pirates that get the lesser version.

Na I dont think so pirates get updates easy just look for them on the internet lol. And even C&C4 can be played online with a pirated version :/ so i dont think getting a update is even 0.01% hard for pirates :/ probably just 0%

I thought that wasn't the case with stardock games, where you have to log in to impulse to get the updates. Stardock, IIRC, doesn't release patches separate from Impulse.

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They don't, but what's to say that Stardock doesn't have a few legit users who don't post on the forums that feel the need to crack the patches as they come down the pipes and post them to the pirate bay or whatever?

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Quoting DoomBringer90,

reply 36

They don't, but what's to say that Stardock doesn't have a few legit users who don't post on the forums that feel the need to crack the patches as they come down the pipes and post them to the pirate bay or whatever?

All they really need is one user to repackage the (patched) game with a custom installer and distribute it via pirate bay or whatever. You can't stop piracy, it's an effort in futility to try and you end up inconveniencing paying customers more than the actual pirates when you do so. People playing with a pirated copy don't have to deal with all the copy protection BS a paying customer does and that's simply ridiculous. Stardock fortunately realizes this, if somebody wants to pirate something, they'll pirate it, that's a simple fact.

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what's to say

The fact that a cracked "patch" never appeared on TPB for, say, Sins. Now, updated games are another story. If someone can package 1.0 to throw up on TPB, they can package 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, etc to throw up on TPB.

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Quoting Slainangel52,

reply 37

Stardock fortunately realizes this, if somebody wants to pirate something, they'll pirate it, that's a simple fact.

Yeah, too bad other game developers don't

I guess they are being idealistic or something to think they can develop THE system to end piracy. Like you said, it's up there with world peace, the end of poverty, and the end of crime. I.e. never going to happen.

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Quoting VR_IronMana,

reply 39

Quoting Slainangel52, reply 37
Stardock fortunately realizes this, if somebody wants to pirate something, they'll pirate it, that's a simple fact.

Yeah, too bad other game developers don't

I guess they are being idealistic or something to think they can develop THE system to end piracy. Like you said, it's up there with world peace, the end of poverty, and the end of crime. I.e. never going to happen.

Pretty much, if there's somebody who can create a security system, there's somebody who can get around it as well. It's a never ending escalating battle that just creates more and more annoyances for the paying customer while only creating a slightly longer wait for a pirate release to occur.

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Quoting VR_IronMana,

reply 39

Quoting Slainangel52, reply 37
Stardock fortunately realizes this, if somebody wants to pirate something, they'll pirate it, that's a simple fact.

Yeah, too bad other game developers don't

I guess they are being idealistic or something to think they can develop THE system to end piracy. Like you said, it's up there with world peace, the end of poverty, and the end of crime. I.e. never going to happen.

Oh *disassembles "Utopia device"*. I was about to turn it on too. Oh well...

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It would be cool with some youtube vids of this new awesome build.

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DO NOT TURN on that switch.

Your Utopia may screw up my Utopia.

Then neither of us would have the real Utopia we have created.. LOL

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Quoting Blazerules,

reply 30

Quoting Murteas, reply 4Frogboy said in another post that they typically review the day 0 version (i.e. RTM + day 0 patch).

So hopefully it will just be the pirates that get the lesser version.

Na I dont think so pirates get updates easy just look for them on the internet lol. And even C&C4 can be played online with a pirated version :/ so i dont think getting a update is even 0.01% hard for pirates :/ probably just 0%

Please use punctuation dude. I know this is the internet, but it makes reading what you have to say much easier if you actually put some effort into trying to make complete sentences.

Anyways, patches are not necessarily easy for pirates, especially for impulse/star dock games from what I've seen. Star Dock doesn't release a "patch" exe like most companies that can be cracked, it sends updated stuff and drm through impulse. Someone would either need to make a patch from scratch, or hack the DRM for every single version to keep it up to date. None but the most popular games get that kind of treatment. A lot of games, even with easy to crack patch.exe's don't stay completely up to date, unless there's a lot of demand from the pirate scene.

Also why make up percentages, when you obviously have no clue?

Quoting Slainangel52,

reply 31

Quoting SpaghettiMon, reply 25
Quoting Frogboy, reply 24
Quoting Spitz, reply 23When do you expect we'll get to try out some of the new goodness. I'm a bit put-off from testing 3c since I'm not sure how much of the feedback I'd provide would be useful at this point and how much of it would simply be: "You're worried about that? We completely revamped that two days ago!"

I'm expecting a week from today.

Yea, Beta 3C is a distant memory at this point for us. We've gotten a ton of great feedback from the community. It'll be pretty obvious pretty fast after running it that we were paying attention to the beta group.

Does this mean we'll get another Beta 3 type build, or will Beta 4 contain more than just the mod tools? I thought from earlier posts it sounded like this is the last gameplay build we'd get until launch.

It would be kind of difficult to test the modding tools if you couldn't play a game with the things you modded in IMO. Not only do the tools have to work correctly the creations need to fuse with the game correctly as well. My guess is the next version has both but I could be wrong.

Haha yes obviously it'd be hard to test without the actual game. I thought that they would pretty much stop updating the actual gameplay of the game beyond 3c, and focus on updating the mod tools. Not that the gameplay part of it would be completely stripped.

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agreed...i am calling blizzard right now...there will be no shipments of star craft 2 to Michigan for at least a month...anyone seen smuggling them across state lines will be beaten with baby seals.

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there are alot of things that cant be pirated "fully", as in no updating with patches, playing online, etc. But I think like someone else said, if someone wants to, they'll pirate something, simple as that. even if it has to be with some features or patches.

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2415

for a budget of 5 million dollars you really are effective thats why i love stardock.

$5 million? I would love to have that kind of money to do a game.

Elemental's budget is about half that and that includes the cost of developing its custom 3D engine.

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Quoting Frogboy,

reply 47

for a budget of 5 million dollars you really are effective thats why i love stardock.
$5 million? I would love to have that kind of money to do a game.

Elemental's budget is about half that and that includes the cost of developing its custom 3D engine.

in otherwords you are TWICE as effective as was supposed.

keep up the good work

harpo

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Quoting Frogboy,

reply 47

for a budget of 5 million dollars you really are effective thats why i love stardock.

$5 million? I would love to have that kind of money to do a game.

Elemental's budget is about half that and that includes the cost of developing its custom 3D engine.

I thought you said a while ago the total budget to make Elemental was under a million? Somewhere in the $800,000 range. Or was that a different quote I'm thinking of?

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Quoting Raven X,

reply 49

I thought you said a while ago the total budget to make Elemental was under a million? Somewhere in the $800,000 range. Or was that a different quote I'm thinking of?

I think that was the budget for GalCiv2. I may be mistaken as well, however, so it's probably best not to quote me on that.

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Watch this space&hellip;

Watch this space…