Elemental seems to be getting very little attention

it'll grow. plus theirs a book.

even if that doesn't pan out...Elemental will be like MoM it'll be long remembered and played for along time.

You mentioned the Flash of Steel podcast. They have a Q&A session coming up in a couple of weeks. Might be a good idea for us to ask a few questions of the guys. In their last Q&A months ago I asked their impressions of random maps vs pre-made maps specifically with Elemental in mind because I was pissed off with Elven Legacy not having a random map generator.

I'd be surprised if Flash of Steel didn't really ramp up their coverage after release. Elemental seems like the sort of game these guys love.

Also, I think the game will have a solid modding community in the long term. I know what you are saying if the initial critical mass isn't large enough to boost it along, but many of the Age of Wonders modders are active here in the beta and they have stuck with that game for years upon years. If they can reproduce the quality of the mods they created for Age of Wonders then it should be enjoyable times ahead for us in Elemental.

Elemental positions itself as a platform; it needs a killer app for the "players that be" to notice. That is, a mod or mods of great value, delivered by Stardock or our community.

Just a guess, but I'd wager Brad does care a bit about how "big" Elemental gets.  I think he likes the money for some reason. 

Regarding the little attention, I have seen ads in print magazines, coverage has started showing up on sites like joystiq, and Brad appears to be doing quite a few interviews (Island dog or one of the other SD folks keeps posting links to the various ones).  So, I think people are going to know about elemental.  I just hope this genre has a lot of fans so we do get a larger player base, that expansion plans or dlc are announced 2 months or so after release, and I couldn't agree more in wanting a large player base so we can attract a good amount of modders.  It would be helpful if Brad was willing to share some estimates about total purchases etc here and there to get a bigger picture of how the game is doing, etc. 

Hey Brad - hope you guys have plans for a demo to help draw in additional folks and put more money in your pocket. 

Elemental has had previews in just about every major gaming publication that I can think of off-hand.  Brad has taped an appearance on G4 to show off Elemental, and countless other gaming sites have been writing about it.

And the demo will come after release.

The release date mentioned at G4 is December 31st.

Do NPCs and player controlled avatars in Elemental age over time/turns?  I am thinking an 90 turns barely able to walk soldier is not going to beat a 30 years/turns old soldier.

The main reason for the previous post is I want to mod Three Kingdoms.

actually they seem to have more then one date listed.

for this page it is: Dec 31 Their main elemental page.

and here it is: Aug 24 Article on the feed.

they need to beat on their web master .

The best thing to do is to make a Civ 5 mod for Elemental, and pretend Civ5 is just a mod of the game.

There's this slight hexagon issue, but apart from that, it should be feasible.

For a PC TBS game, it's gotten plenty of coverage.  You also have to keep in mind that it's a new franchise so it has to built up everything from scratch.  Civ has had many years to build up a core fanbase excited for the next installment.

I would agree the game isn't getting as much attention as some big names such as Civ 5 and Starcraft 2, but it's getting enough. I think the obscurity is going to help Elemental in the long run. Tbh, I was worried early on, when people were expecting this to be the successor to Master of Magic, bc it was creating a scenario as storm mentioned above. A scenario where the game gets released and people start shouting "what the hell?" bc it isn't enough like MoM for them. 

Especially with the modding tools that will be available with this game, it's going to be huge... Eventually. The game on release day won't stand a chance against the mods that will be available in 6 months. With independent artists, designers, and players creating new skins, races, units, improvements, etc. this game is going to get better and better, without stardock's help. 

If anything, Stardock is just releasing a mediocre game in order for us to make it a classic. And I don't say that to sound rude, but I'll be the first to admit that this game doesn't come close to what I think it could have been. The idea is awesome, an rpg/strategy game mix, but I would have made a million different decisions in its development.

But see, what's amazing is that we all have a chance to make the game whatever we want it to be. The modding tools are all there, and even for us less than skilled designers we have tutorials being made by Frogboy himself to help us along. This is what makes Stardock so great, it isnt the advertising, the big name, the corporate bullshit. It's that at the heart, I think every person there is a gamer. Like we are. They understand that can't make a game that fits everyones needs. So they poured money into making it moddable.

This game is going to be a classic, but not for the game that goes to the shelves on day one. This games popularity will be based on the mod that makes it everything you thought it should be from the beginning. That DnD fans can go tell their friends they can play campaigns online now. That Lord of the Rings fanatics can play with the races on random maps. That those who want a Master of Magic remake can have that. And Elemental will be the starting point for all those. That's what will make it a classic.

No doubt!  And a double boot to the head for such poor coverage.  On one of the pages it reads... # of Players:1 player.  They have an "image unavailable" for the box art.  The title of the article reads "Elemental War of Magic Dated"....  that envokes thoughts of something being out dated like soured milk.  They provide very little info.  And there is no link for more info.  The g4 coverage may do more harm than good. 

Bah. I may be prejudiced against g4 for the way they executed their take over of TechTV.  But from their programing, it is clear that g4 targets the pubescent demographic.  I suppose their article content reflects their viewer base.  idk.  But I do know that teens are not EWoM's target audience.  And g4 targets the teen male.  So I suppose it is to be expected that g4 would not do the game justice.

I would like to see Adam Sandler review the game though.  g4 got Adam from XPlay when they took over TechTV.  That guy is an old school geeky gamer.  Would be interesting to see his review.

Add to that the increasing likelihood that Civ will annoy a good chunk of their fanbase (the usual suspects: DRM, DLC, mainstreaming of the game)- Elemental has a good shot of getting some of the Civ fanbase also.

I was going to be day 1 on Civ- now I'm determined to wait until the bargain bin, if then.

I have 3 gaming friends that are in driving range of me, and several that are online gaming friends also.  We were thinking about getting SC2 and Civ5 for sure, but, all decided on Elemental (lack of DRM was a major factor). 

Word of mouth has been far more a reason people know about this game so far than advertising, and I think it will be even more important after the release.

You do read the journal entries right? Didnt they say they just sent out builds to alot of places for prewiews etc and that they were doing interviews and stuff last week?

My guess is that we will start to see alot more Elemental stuff over the next couple weeks building up to release. Saying Stardock don't care is a very disrespectful to the team, they are no doubt working their asses off on the actual product and PR.

There is so many things wrong about comparing Elemental to Fallout 3, oblivon, Civ 5 etc, that i am not going to bother address this.

If the game engine is good and the modding accessable and open for lots of ideas then word of mouth will ensure a nice active modding community, bearing in mind that this game is designed for modding i think there is nothing to worry about.

Word of mouth advertising!!!!

I heard about Elemental, when I posted a query on a forum as to needing to find a replacement for Civ.  A poster mentioned Elemental and so here I am.  Then I returned the favor by making a number of Elemental mentions on Civ forums.  One dude asked for a Civ replacement just as I had.  I posted a link and provided a little info.  He replied back that he'd pre-ordered the game.  Word of mouth advertising will be huge for EWoM.  People will come trickling in at first.  Then they will come in waves as the word gets out on how cool EWoM actually is. 

And once a few kick ass historical (non-magical) mods are made; even more people will come.  The Elemental platform is something that Civers will embrace.  Some portion of the Civing community will just need to read about some non-magical mods first.  An expansive and well crafted WW2 mod will go far towards extending Elementals base.  As would other historical based mods.

I speak just of Civ since that was my game up until 2k began perverting it.  Other genres like MMO's, RPG, and RTS are also great places for use users to spread the word.  Make mentions of Elemental where you can.  Provide some EWoM info relevent to your posting, then link to some good videos and articles.  No need to be spammy.  Just interject some EWoM info as comparison data.  For example: There was a forum topic at CivFanatics in regards to how big Civ5 maps will be.  So I posted Brad's EWoM/Civ4 map comparison pic.  And there was a topic about Civ5's Strategic View so I contrasted it with Elementals Cloth Map mode and provded a pic.  I mention Stardocks developer and publisher philosophies when people gripe about 2ks methods.  I mention Stardock::Reactor when people complain about steamworks.  etc etc

I for one was very happy that a poster made me aware of Elemental.  I've been returning that favor by spreading the word to other like minded gamers.  I think that peer based word of mouth advertising will be responsible for much of the Elementals community growth.

Brad needs to throw around some of that big advertising money and "Rent" GameSpots front page for a big ass "Elemental: War of Magic" add like it seems every other major release does these days. Notice when you go to GameSpot you see a different game in the background of their page almost every other day. It would be Awesome to see Elemental back there

I have recently asked Keen & Graev to do Elemental some justice on their gaming blog. I encourage everyone to poke their favorite gaming blog site to do a work up on Elemental as soon as possible.

If any are unfamiliar with these guys..

http://www.keenandgraev.com/

Already pre-ordered. Just waiting on release. Hooyah!

90 turns does not equal 90 years.

the question deserves its own thread, how does aging work for children and spouses, as sov's are immortal..

I believe its just been buried a bit under the hype of SC2 and ciV coming out this year. Thats okay though good year for my gaming. Almost done with sc2, (I dont multi much anymore) 2 weeks till Ele, then another 4 weeks and my ciV gets here. That should all tide me over till The old Republic and Guild Wars 2 release next year. Oh and fear 3 is this year too isnt it....hmm I think thats all the good ones unless I missed one...

A nice little blurb on Fidgit from the Sci Fi channel. Disscusses the insane requirements of CIV 5 and offers up Elemental as a better alternative

http://fidgit.com/archives/2010/08/civilization_v_hates_your_old.php

Since when did 4+ year old hardware become "insane" system requirements?  Having a really old machine is fine, but if you don't have a Core 2 Duo these days, you shouldn't be expecting to play brand new games in 2010 - especially not in a genre that typically is very hungry for CPU horsepower.