Releases March 17, 2026
Journals
News
October 1 deadline to get into the beta
The deadline to get into Elemental Beta 1 ends October 1st. But lest you think this is a call to join the beta, let me warn you, the beta is a land of horror and agony. Even now, most of the beta testers are requiring long-term psychiatric care to continue functioning. But if you are a true masochist, you can pre-order now and get into the beta as we are putting together the game mechanics and help mold the final game. [read more]
Dev Journal
Hey Everyone! Version 0.23 (aka 'The Beta1 Update') is now available on Impulse. We highly suggest those with major graphical errors on the main map give this a go. As for the major issues not listed as fixed... Saved Games: We're currently narrowing down the major issues with loading a saved game. These will be ironed out by next Thursday (Beta 1a). Crashs on Startup: This build won't do anything for people who can't get into the title screen. We have some leads on how the prob... [read more]
News
Shacknews Interview with Brad Wardell on Elemental
Shacknews.com has a fantastic, and very informative interview with Stardock CEO, Brad Wardell, on the upcoming PC game Elemental: War of Magic . “Shack: [laughs] We should cover Elemental before we get into that. Now, there aren't many companies that are still making these kinds of games anymore. Do you take a conservative approach in figuring out whether your audience can support a game like this, or do you just make what you think is fun and go from there? Brad Wardell: ... [read more]
Dev Journal
The AI in Galactic Civilizations I and II has tended to get a lot of praise over the years. But it could have been better. Much better. A big reason that kept it from being better was sheer laziness on my part. A lot of the best strategies involve algorithms that just are tedious to write. For example, I submitted feedback to GPG for Demigod’s AI based on algorithms I knew would be effective but that I didn’t actually use in GalCiv because they were a pain to write. ... [read more]
Dev Journal
If you’re a software developer on a large project, IncrediBuild is awesome. Let’s you offload all your compiling to idle machines in the office. [read more]
Dev Journal
Elemental Beta 1 Screenshots understood
With the beta scheduled to go out TODAY I thought we should go over some of the game concepts here. Now, as has been mentioned, the graphics for beta 1 are stripped far far down in order to focus on the core game play. Now when you start out the game, it is just your sovereign. The world is largely covered up. As seen in this screenshot, you see the outline of land but not much else. Eventually, you will come into contact with other players as you can see here. [read more]