Journals
News
IGN’s Feature on Elemental Modding
IGN has a new article up focusing on the modding abilities in Elemental: War of Magic. “So what can you actually modify in Elemental? It's a long list, including maps, tiles, items, quests, locations, factions, and monsters. "It's almost easier to say what can't be modified because the game is so data driven via XML," says Wardell. "Even the game's built-in editors are really just pretty front ends for manipulating .XML files that attach .PNG files (for static ima... [read more]
Dev Journal
Game Mechanics: The Ultimate Balancing Act
Loosely speaking, here are the 5 different technology paths and what you’re supposed to accomplish with them. Our challenge is to make sure each of these 5 paths are meaningful on their own as well as can be mixed and match to create an endless combination of strategies. During the betas, we have been turning on and off different trees in order to get a sense of how effective any given path is. The purpose of this journal entry is to discuss with you guys things you th... [read more]
Dev Journal
An insider’s look at PC game publishing
Greetings! With the mod beta coming up, we prepare to split our code tree into two. One part will go one to become the RTM version (release to manufacturing version). PC Game Publishing: Inside the Sausage Factory For those of you who wonder how the game industry works, here’s a basic run down: Publishers negotiate with retailers for shelf space. Each year, thousands of games are released and there’s only a small number of slots at retail available. If... [read more]
Dev Journal
Greetings! Yesterday we got Beta 3B out the door. We still have a lot of work to do on stability. At the start of Beta 3, we were running about 50 engineering hours ahead of schedule. As we head into Beta 4, we’re approximately on schedule now (tactical battles have been more problematic than anticipated). We’ve gotten a ton of data from the beta community both in terms of crash reports, general glitches, game suggestions, memory problems, etc. As for me, I live in the AI. ... [read more]
Dev Journal
Greetings! We have a Monday update for Elemental beta testers. This will be the last beta prior to Beta 4 which is the modding beta. Here’s what’s new: ************ * Gameplay * + Settlements have a Maintenance cost. 0 for the first, 1 for the second, 2 for the third, and on. + Significant strategic AI changes + We no longer require technology pre-reqs to builds on resources (if you find one, it’s a bug and you should let us know) + Attacking a c... [read more]
News
Elemental Giveaway on Shacknews
Shacknews is holding a giveaway over the weekend where they are giving out 10 copies of Elemental: War of Magic! One person will also get a signed copy of the book, Elemental: Destinys Embers as well! Head over to Shacknews for the details on how to enter. Hurry, the contest ends on Monday! http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/64779 [read more]
Dev Journal
Elemental – Beta 3B Changelog
It has been one week since the last public build. Here’s what’s new: --------------------------------------------------- ----------------- Beta 3B Change Log ------------- --------------------------------------------------- ******************** * Tactical Battles * Overview: Can now enter tactical battles if the unit threshold is within a certain number (defaults to 4). Battles are turn based, you can cast spells, traverse the battlefield, or even run aw... [read more]