An open letter to Stardock

You win, I'm happy

from GalCiv3 Forums

Dear Stardock,

I loved GC2. I loved the graphics, and the ship designer, and most of the game play. Mostly, I loved Stardock: the support for modding (heck, you hired Kryo!), the responsiveness to player input, and the speed with which bugs where handled all made me feel like the designers cared as much as I did about having the best 4X space game ever. Unlike many other games, GC encourages and rewards creativity. I spent hours that I should have been working modding the game to suit me, and I enjoyed every minute of it. And, as a bonus, the basic game got regular improvements even as supplements came out!

I bought into GC3 early, because I wanted more. I'd be a founder if I hadn't been dirt-poor at the time it was available, but I did buy in as soon as I could. When I finally got a computer that could play it, I was disappointed. Why has been documented elsewhere, and is immaterial, but the disappointment continued with much of the DLC and up until recently. Don't get me wrong, it was a good game. As Frogboy might say, not good enough. I wasn't quite GC2 caliber.

I voiced my concerns, as did many others. Stardock answered. Slowly at first, the game improved, and it was clear the team was trying. Then you brought FrogBoy and brought back CariElf, the pace of improvements accelerated. Then I saw the most Stardock thing I've seen in a while: Frogboy took a complaint (slow giant games), and simply fixed it. I know for a fact Frogboy was up very late some nights to get that done. THAT is the Stardock I remember. It is that commitment to the product, to the experience, that I was hoping for.* **

I had been hesitant about this game, but not any more. I expect to go back through and change my Steam reviews after Crusade (I updated the main one already). I don't want to get my hopes up too much, and I plan to be patient because I know that sometimes features don't come out until later. But I will wait and see, and I will give you more than a week after Crusade. Stardock has earned that patience from me.

Do I think GC3 is as advanced over GC2 as I'd like? Not yet. Not "no," just "not yet." My trust in you guys is back in spades, and I am looking forward to where the game goes. I hope we can win new players and win back old ones, one player at a time, as the game improves. And I hope we can move past some of the (undeserved) beta griping and negativity (some of which I am responsible for... sorry), and make the GC series a gamer standard like Civ and the Total War series.

In the meantime, I know I'm not alone: folks like Gauntlet and Seilore and Horevmore among many others are pumping out quality mods, and Steam is full of gorgeous ships (and not-always-so-gorgeous factions) because they care about the game, and they enjoy the creative outlet. I have a half-dozen mods waiting for Crusade. So please keep up the good work, and please give the team a round applause for their efforts.

Again, thank you Stardock, for turning my money into hours upon hours of fun,

General Pants (Jon)

* I do not normally encourage obsessive, late-night work, but I understand Frogboy essentially has a day-job too, and some people just work better that way. Says the person who was up late and noticed who else was up late...

** I do NOT mean to imply that the team was not doing their jobs before. They apparently needed help. We all need help, that isn't a failing on their part. They obviously needed a few more resources. I'm glad they got them.

45,065 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Hi GP!

Wow thank you so much!  I feel like we really got our second wind this past Fall. We had some new engineers join us here in Plymouth Michigan who have been really helpful.  

Also, like you mentioned, CariElf returned from her multi-year maternity leave and I got to join the team in November to work on 1.9 and 2.0.

I feel like we're just getting started.  There's so much good stuff coming soon.  As in, quite soon.

Again, thank you so much!

 

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Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

:thumbsup:

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I agree, things are going great with this game.

Cant wait for Crusade and hopefully many more expansions after that

 

Thanks Stardock!

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Would like to echo the good vibes as well. We've had some really nice updates back to back over the past month and a bit and I can barely contain my excited impatience for Crusade ;)

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

i too have returned(kind of) after being disappointed in November that the game had so many many issues and while its not 100% better it IS improving as the days/weeks/months pass as more improvements are made i will start budgeting for DLC content and i hope one day GC3 is my go-to game for strategic space empires (currently though GC2 still holds the number 1 slot for me)

 @stardock thanks and good luck!

@frogboy welcome back and good luck!

 

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I'm impressed by the patches they are way more and better quality than two. To be fair we will have to wait to 2019 just to compare this game to gc2 2.03 that was where they were at when everyone probably thought that they were done with the game, and series. 

Reply #7 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Nicely said.  I too have noticed the great strides recently being made to make this game better.  Definitely a big step in the right direction.  Personally, like many here, I eagerly await the Crusade expansion simply for the civilization builder if nothing else.

I think Crusade, if done right, will give GalCiv 3 the kick it needs to bring those sitting on the sidelines a chance to jump in again.

Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I agree whole heartily.

I am a founder because as my former roomate likes to joke "one more turn"... oh.. ok  um "one more turn"....   right yeah going to bed now... just "one more turn"...  crap that thing out there in the sky.. that's the sun... it's now up again...  One more turn....

Pretty much describes my experience with GCII

I bought it right away...  got each of the expansions as they came out and really really loved what they did with the final twilight release.

I am a founder and I have enjoyed III a lot.   But it has never had that... one more turn feel to it.

I don't think I've actually seen the victory screen more than a handful of times.   GCIII gets to a point where it just...  I've won, why keep playing to the end?

I don't know if it was just that the 64 bit engine was more complex than StarDock expected, or if your resources were simply stretched too thin  but this had a lot of the same feel that Elemental War on Magic had... it simply felt unfinished.   Things that should have been in the base game (spys, actual invasions etc) were lacking...  and the game has always had issues with being too easy to game the game....

I hope Paul is still at StarDock..   He did a good job... he just wasn't Brad.   This game was never his baby like it was Brad's...  and the improvements since Brad came back have been noticeable.

Maybe we just need the next game to be named  Brad... the Braddening or something cause I seem to just really enjoy the way he designs stuff.


Either way...    Stardock Gave people Fallen Enchantress and fixed their mistakes to make a really awesome game.

and as I had to remind people of a lot... GCII didn't start out with all the awesome features it ended with.     GCIII took more baby steps than most of us wanted (this definitely includes people at Stardock)   but I think the project was probably aiming for something too ambitious to start with....   and now is just starting to really find its own.


So I for one have faith.    I've never played a bad game from Stardock.   I've never been left in the lurch.


They have never pulled a Peter Molyneux and as long as Brad's in charge probably never will.    


Thank you guys for all the work you and how much you work with the community to fix things add things and overall really improve your games.

I look forward to Crusade.....     I look forward to my next turn.

 

 

Reply #9 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Taslios, reply 8

I hope Paul is still at StarDock..   He did a good job... he just wasn't Brad.  

Not to speak for Stardock, but I gather Brad did not replace anyone, he jumped in to help out, presumably so that the team could focus on Crusade, and so he could work his AI magic. I think he said project management was staying the same.