Journals
Dev Journal
Explaining what Elemental is to people
During the past couple weeks of heavy *playing* Elemental (as opposed to just coding) I’ve come to the conclusion that Elemental is very different than any strategy game I’ve played before. It’s different in a very very good way. But that is going to be a challenge for “marketing”. The Technical Game play Difference In my view, Elemental is simply the natural evolution of PC strategy gaming IF PC games were being made explicitly for the PC still as opposed to cross pl... [read more]
Dev Journal
Elemental – coding coding coding
Lots going on this week. I’m scheduled to fly out on Monday on a media tour to start showing off Elemental in preparation for its anticipated release date late Summer. Here are some of the things being worked on in preparation for beta 2. Memory use. We’re consolidating our mapping of how every byte of memory is used in the game. Performance. We’re setting things up so that we can begin handing over builds to the full QA lab for compatibility ... [read more]
Dev Journal
If Stardock were a real company, a guy like me wouldn’t be allowed to put up dirty laundry like I’m about to put up. For those of you who know me, I’m a bean counter. It’s probably why I love strategy games so much because tactics are for amateurs, logistics is for experts. So one of my ongoing angst with the Elemental budget overall is just how large a percentage of the budget thus far has gone into “modder tools”. Don’t get me wrong, I love modding. But in my day, moddin... [read more]
Dev Journal
Please don’t get mad when beta 2 comes out
There is quite a bit of concern (mostly from marketing) that people will be angry when beta 2 comes out because of how much we crippled the betas. I hope those of you in the beta understand why we did what we did with the betas. Elemental is a new game. It’s been many years since there’s been a new fantasy strategy game made from scratch. As a result, it was important to us that we not rely on 3D graphics or multiplayer in order for the game to have good game mechanics. Now,... [read more]
Dev Journal
Elemental: Good News Everyone!
After a lengthy meeting with the Network team, it was concluded that it would require a considerable amount of effort (read: expensive) to release beta 2 with it crippled (like beta 1 is) for the public. Therefore, Beta 2 and 3 are being combined so that from here on out, all builds will be the “full beta” (minus the Workshop mod options and campaign). This way, the network team doesn’t have to put a bunch of code in to turn off certain parts for the public build versus what we use ... [read more]
Dev Journal
I’m on Skynet’s side
This week will mark the second full week I’ve been working on the AI in Elemental. Beta 1 doesn’t have AI in it per se. It just randomly does nonsense really. I’ve been writing computer AI now for 17 years (egads). It’s what got me into making games in the first place. I love computer AI. Everything else in the game (for me) is secondary. Early AI: OS/2 The first computer AI I wrote was for Galactic Civilizations for OS/2. It had the distinction of being t... [read more]
Dev Journal
For beta testers, only the Kingdoms have been exposed. The Kingdoms play much like a traditional 4X game. You build city improvements to get benefits to your city. You train up soldiers hoping they’ll get better and better. It is a civilization based on laws and rules. The Empire has taken a different path… In War Their soldiers don’t gain experience. Such a concept of thinking about individual soldiers is anathema to the Empire. As such, there is no such th... [read more]