Journals
Dev Journal
Brad’s reign of terror ends
Greetings! My reign of terror has come to an end. Now, Kael’s reign of terror begins. I’m not disappearing entirely but after v1.1, Derek Paxton (Kael) will be calling the shots on the day to day on the game and design implementation (at Stardock, the Project Manager aka Producer is the god of the game). I’ll be returning to my traditional role at Stardock on our games (AI and high level design input). We’re working to get a beta of v1.1 out the door as soon as pos... [read more]
News
Gaming Nexus Interview with Derek “Kael” Paxton
GamingNexus.com has a new interview up with Stardock’s Derek Paxton aka Kael about his new role at Stardock and Elemental: War of Magic. First off congrats on the new gig. Why did you choose to go to Stardock? Could you talk about what your role is going to be and what your day to day duties are going to be? I choose Stardock because they focus on the types of games I love to design and play, PC strategy games. Since Stardock is both the developer and publisher they make th... [read more]
Dev Journal
Today we’re talking about different ways we can streamline the creation of resources. A long time ago, we wanted to put in a system where I could mine ore which could be turned into ingots and so on. Basically, one resource being turned into another resource. [read more]
Dev Journal
You know how it goes. Game company releases game. They put out a series of bug fix patches for a bit and then they move on until it’s time to get you to buy an expansion pack or two until it’s time to do a sequel. If the initial game gets panned or negative reviews, it’s typically abandoned. And people wonder why gamers have gotten so cynical. As people in our community know, that’s not how we do things here. Those of you who hang out here ha... [read more]
Dev Journal
Elemental: Historical Timeline of the known world
The world of Elemental is a big place. Thus far, our lore has only covered the events of Anthys, a continent about the size of Europe. 15-10,000 B.C. (Before Cataclysm) Intelligent life emerges on the planet, in the form of dragons. These creatures inhabit Anthys and the southern part of Korrel. They develop a civilization of sorts; not as men would recognize it, but they have clans, histories, etc. This information is passed down orally; dragons do not write. They h... [read more]
Dev Journal
One of the things people like about our office is the hallway-long whiteboard wall that the games team uses for a variety of purposes. Right now there are several to-do lists for 1.1 and beyond, a rundown of sales for our various titles, and a HUGE ‘wish list’ of Elemental features/tweaks players and press have requested. In fact, we’ve switched from writing the suggestions down and now simply print out feedback lists and tape them to the wall. My request today is in a simil... [read more]
Dev Journal
I’m a bit out of the loop this week. My family and I are in the process of moving to a new house that we’ve been building over the past 4 years. Meanwhile, Blizzcon has sucked up some Stardockians. Charles, who has posted on occasion, had a baby (well technically his wife) this past week. Scott (Boogiebac) also had a daughter a few weeks ago and had this week off to help out at home. Stardockians: Breeding at a rapid pace. Cari and Jesse are off this week recovering from “The Su... [read more]