GS: It's no secret that War of Magic had some major issues on its launch day. What are you doing to make sure Fallen Enchantress doesn't give a repeat performance?
DP: There are now dedicated people for the critical aspects of game development. There are dedicated producers, designers, and a formalized production pipeline that we have borrowed from the enterprise software world. The design is focused, fixed (with some flexibility as we iterate and improve), and communicated to the team. Time is set aside for iteration (after we are feature complete) rather than still implementing critical features until release day.
I've tried to start playing this over and over and I never last more than 20 minutes, if that. The interface is just horrid to me and it's hard to find stuff you need. It took me forever to figure out how to equip items even with the supposed tutorial telling me where to go. Ok, maybe I'm just an idiot but I've done Ok in other games in the genre. This one just likes to laugh at me for some reason....
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Xbox Live/PSN/Steam ID: GraveMatter
I've tried to start playing this over and over and I never last more than 20 minutes, if that. The interface is just horrid to me and it's hard to find stuff you need. It took me forever to figure out how to equip items even with the supposed tutorial telling me where to go. Ok, maybe I'm just an idiot but I've done Ok in other games in the genre. This one just likes to laugh at me for some reason....
This is because you are treating it a game. You have to treat it as a simulation application. Then you will have more luck. Pretend you are using something like Photoshop for the firs time. I'm not kidding. If you approach it like a complex application, you will have more luck.
Unfortunately, I think this game was written and designed by application developers, not game designers. Considering Stardock is also an app developer and started out with applications, I'm not surprised.
I though Galactic Civ II was a horrible game. Ridiculous interface. If you can't hop into a 'build a galactic civilization' game and figure out on your own how to create a colony, then that game is crap. Believe me, that game was crap. And Elemental, the latest big turn-based game from them....crap also. These people DO NOT HAVE THE FIRST CLUE HOW TO MAKE A FUN TO PLAY GAME.
I disagree with you about GalCiv 2 but agree with you about Elemental. There's no way in hell I'd buy this expansion/sequel after pre-ordering Elemental. The only way I'd even consider playing this is if they gave it to the people who bought Elemental for free.
This is because you are treating it a game. You have to treat it as a simulation application. Then you will have more luck. Pretend you are using something like Photoshop for the firs time. I'm not kidding. If you approach it like a complex application, you will have more luck.
Unfortunately, I think this game was written and designed by application developers, not game designers. Considering Stardock is also an app developer and started out with applications, I'm not surprised.
That's a great way to put it and I agree. I guess that's why I don't find it "fun"...cuz I like to play "games", not applications
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Xbox Live/PSN/Steam ID: GraveMatter
I disagree with you about GalCiv 2 but agree with you about Elemental. There's no way in hell I'd buy this expansion/sequel after pre-ordering Elemental. The only way I'd even consider playing this is if they gave it to the people who bought Elemental for free.
Didn't they say the first couple of expansions would be free to people who bought Elemental early as a sort of apology for the terrible state it was released in?
Yes, if you bought it before something like October 2010, you get the first 2 expansions free. If you bought it before January 2011, you get the first free. After that, nutin.
I believe they are releasing Fallen Enchantress as standalone though so you don't ever need to buy the original if you don't want it.
