Ars Technica Article- Jon Shafer

New Lead for Elemental Development Team?

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/01/civ-v-designer-shafer-jumps-ship-to-stardock.ars
from Elemental Forums

"It may have been called Sid Meier's Civilization V on the box, but the real creative mind behind the game was young lead designer Jon Shafer. But after getting a chance to lead the development on one of the biggest PC franchises there is, Shafer decided to leave Civ developer Fireaxis to pursue other interests. And now he has announced just what those interests are: Stardock.

Shafer recently revealed that he will be working with the developer behind games like Sins of a Solar Empire and the Galactic Civilizations series. Specifically, Shafer will be working on the troubled Elemental: War of Magic, a turn-based strategy game that has had quite a few issues since being launched last August. He'll be working on the design and mod aspects of the game and, eventually, will be leading a brand new, currently unannounced Stardock project. "

elemental
8,609 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Is that "unannounced project" going to be GalCiv3?

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

So my first question is, how does this change in staff impact the delivery of v1.2?

My second question is, will the "out of memory" error be fixed in the next release?

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

... that "3d"ish avatar kills eyes...

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

I have played the PC version of Ars Magica. Great idea. Gorgeous art. Mixed feeling about the game play.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting charon2112, reply 1
Is that "unannounced project" going to be GalCiv3?

Or perhaps Stardock is going to make it's own non space Civilization game? That would be awesome indeed!

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting NorsemanViking, reply 7

Quoting charon2112, reply 1Is that "unannounced project" going to be GalCiv3?

Or perhaps Stardock is going to make it's own non space Civilization game? That would be awesome indeed!
I don't see why they would. You can do more in a fictional setting, because if you want a gameplay element you can generally brainstorm a fluff justification for it. In a historical setting, you'd have to align it to something that actually existed, which can end up making you do a lot of shoehorning.

It's also worth noting that with the acquisition of Kael, Stardock has effectively acquired the rights to Fall from Heaven. So I reckon they'd like to do something with that.

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

I don't have the time right now, but I had started a Fantasy Civilization mini mod. Gandhi was looking great!

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Cruxador, reply 8



Quoting NorsemanViking,
reply 7

Quoting charon2112, reply 1Is that "unannounced project" going to be GalCiv3?

Or perhaps Stardock is going to make it's own non space Civilization game? That would be awesome indeed!I don't see why they would. You can do more in a fictional setting, because if you want a gameplay element you can generally brainstorm a fluff justification for it. In a historical setting, you'd have to align it to something that actually existed, which can end up making you do a lot of shoehorning.


It's also worth noting that with the acquisition of Kael, Stardock has effectively acquired the rights to Fall from Heaven. So I reckon they'd like to do something with that.

Don't you think Kael would like to lead design a hypotetical Fall from heaven game himself? And anyways, he can use his fantasy ideas to make Elemental great instead!