Actually its that their's already some struggling settlements in the background stories. But their only alive because of the limited patches of still living fertile ground...Whereas 98% or more of the terrain is barren and has to be healed by a channeler thus preventing civilization from truly returning.

Hope that clarifies.

Are there any non-cynics that would like to post here?

Alright, before I get flamed, I've been assuming so far that all the backstory we see is created for the single player campaign, were these civs will start small but end up BEING what there descriptions are.

I dont know, i'm a newcomer and could be wrong.

Hey Brad, don't let them get to you. They are clearly wrong, and have not paid any attention to what's been put out there by you over the last few years.

You've mentioned at some point even back in Gal Civ 2 days, about your fantasy world or some such. So Random House fleshing out tons of NPC's and giving them some extra hooks is you going an extra mile to help immerse us in your gaming world.

I really appreciate that you and Random House did that. Of the NPC's I've come across they've got realistic stories, and their motivations come across that way as well.

Myself, I've been working on my own D&D game world for the last fifteen years myself. So I can truly appreciate your dedication to this. And folks just simply have no idea what we've put into them, until they finally get to see it.

So, sorry that some completely uniformed individual implied otherwise. But there are quite a few of us out there.. that do know what you've done for us, and the game that frankly is getting made because of your love of gaming. (And AI.. we know your existence is being driven by writing AI.. so hehe.. AI driving you to make better games, and is as The Lord of the Rings drove the lore of Tolkien's fantasy so he could showcase his new languages. Interconnected they are, the precious.)

i kind of agree. But not with the $$ part.

This games main selling point is sandbox maps or modding.

I dont really see an interesting story being told or lore that drags me in  being done in this game, despite what devs have thought up. Unless the single player campaign is something i havent seen before in giant sandbox turn based games.

Tch.... Nothing pisses me off more then seeing someone scoff at the creative labors of others...

It's the behavior of an artless, tactless, unimaginative, fool. Quite frankly its beneath anyone on these forums, or SHOULD be.

I know "Lore" is something that personally upsets you. As a result, I have created this guide to help you enjoy games "Lore Free."

1. Go into your closet.
2. Look for the "Risk" tm logo.
3. If you find it, skip to step #6
4. Order Risk from ebay.
5. Wait two weeks.
6. Put the game on your table.
7. Look for the pieces that are supposed to represent individual units. Remove the horsemen, the cavalary and the canons if present. Replace them with small sqaures of coloured cardboard.
8. Take the board that represents the world. Tape some paper sheets on it until it covers everything.
9. Get a ruler. Trace out a large square grid in the board, leaving two inches of white space along the outside rim.
10. Find the cards that represent territoties in the game. Use a marker to black out the names. Give them a new, random name composed of meaningless letters.
11. By now, your game should have all "Lore" removed to it and should in no way resemble the real world at any point in history. It is a "Pure" strategy game with zero historical lore and zero real world references. All units are squares, the things you are trying to "take" by getting your colour of square on them are squares, and the cards you get for taking them have no meaning whatsoever.

You may apply this guide to "monopoly" to create a sandbox monopoly empire game if you like. You may have some trouble with Clue: I suggest allowing the idea of having verbs and adjectives. "Known Constant X was Something Oned with the Thing Three in the Place 7," can be a winning statement to help reduce this to the basic elements.

At your leisure, you may add in sprinkles of random fantasy elements if you desire. This is more difficult. I suggest getting copies of Twilight, anything by R.A. Salvatore or Ed Greenwood, and cutting the books into small one-inch squares and gluing them at random to the board. You should get adequate jumbles of "Dragon," "Elf," and "Sparkly" occuring in a meaningless, "Lore Free" fashion. At no point will you have to worry about a cohesive, original story emerging.

Thank you, that'll be +1 Karma.

But you can see how that it "Could" come across as a personal attack though right? Because you are accusing the architect of his personal project, that he's out to make a few bucks on the side. That is not directed to the world, as a point of valid brain storming. That was in essence directed to Brad. Which based upon your answers, would honestly seem to indicate a sense of complete ignorance on this subject of the person and the game in general. (And that's not required to function in life or play a game. But knowing about what your speaking is useful when trying to avoid putting ones proverbial foot in mouth.)

Your concerns about having to worry about "Lore" intermingling with your "Sandbox" game, is something you are personally going to have to assess. Every game comes with it's own internal background lore. And you don't have to like it. That's your option. As far as what it's going to do in the Sandbox. Well if your playing the basic game, the simple predication will be unless you add mod's that achieve a style your going for. You will be presented with the game world and lore of Elemental: War of Magic, as it exists when it goes live and out on retail.

If you don't like that, you are free to mod the game yourself, or with others. Or make your own game. 

See Brad is Making HIS own game. This is HIS company. These are HIS pet projects, that in turn he gets to share with, a massive audience. Your concern about modded and lazy paths. Is purely an opinion, and you're free to express that, irregardless of those who respond. But your speaking from a definitive perspective, stating as fact that this is a dangerous or lazy and now you've insulted them by a passive aggressive proxy statement and strawman argument. Your melodrama is the source of friction. And if he felt offended, because you in a short paragraph insulted him, and his works, which you clearly know little to nothing about. His feelings are valid because he is the whole shebang on this. (Meaning the work he's put into this over the last 2 decades. Which in turn sounds like his own personal D&D game world. But he's putting it into a grander scale, and we can choose to partake of that at our choice, ala the campaign.)

Your response in the second paragraph, leaves a lot to be desired. Because you may not be clear, the way it reads is an insult, compounded by ignorance, and turning a bit trollish. Followed by your comments about purchasing a game and being openly critical. That last part is truly okay but not about purchasing the game. Being critical isn't an issue. It's your use of the tone of being critical that causes the friction. Because your approach is couched in doom and malfeasance if they don't build the game to your specifications and demands (Which again, if you want to fund your own development house, and dictate what is made and isn't, feel free to do so just like Brad.). 

In truth EndofDayz you may not have realized your approach was insulting. But it was, irregardless of whether you can fully comprehend it and why. Because Brad... he's not a Soccer playing who has someone run past him lightly brush him, and have him throw himself to the ground, writhing in imaginary pain. If he stated his feelings here, he was aggrieved. 

Was that directed at me? I said I found the lore inspiring. Save for the race of Men who are a little bland compared to the different races of the Fallen. My opinion is that the race of Men should be more diverse culturally and visually.

He is SELLING the book. To say he wants to make a few bucks on the side is the truth, he could easily just paste the lore onto an elemental wiki for free. Seeing as its being sold, what I said was true.

This is my key problem: I bought it not realizing that I was, as you say in a few sentences, some guys "pet project". I thought it was a game with its customers interest at heart, and in turn assumed the gameplay wouldn't be sidelined by an excess of backstory: I play strategy game because I can make my own world, not so I can be allowed to meander through someone elses

When I said this attitude was dangerous and lazy, I didn't mean the devs are the only ones being lazy. As a customer you have the right to buy a product that functions as described without modification from day 1. Patches, and the concept that developers can release a broken product and fix it later developed out of this type of attitude. As a player I shouldn't have to do anything else to get what I paid for (note: I don't expect them to turn this into MY personal fantasy world - im okay with modding that. I dislike it coming packed as someone elses.). Having actually dabbled in programming I HAVE made my own (shoddy) games. They were fun for me and free and just dandy. I paid for this product, and in turn feel I can vent my worries (which is all these really are: The game is barely even in beta) without being turned away for a differing opinion.

This is all fine, and shows that you are actually a capable and reasonable person. Let me just point out the crux of my issue

BTW - I made several DnD worlds for my friends and I to play. When they didn't like something about it, I adapted it in future works to make it better. Art from adversity. I didn't pout angrily, I simply tried harder. The result was positive for everyone, despite being disappointing in the short term.

I am not a fourteen year old using moms credit card to buy the game. I am a college kid, and believe it or not the game was a sizable investment for me in terms of disposable income, hence why I keep pointing out how I feel I have the right to criticize. They probably don't care about a single customer, which in turn is why I am attempting to bring the issue to light. Criticism could have saved alot of failed triple A titles in the past, even if someones feelings got hurt along the way

I like the current game engine, hence why I want a quality game attached to it. I don't want anything in particular, but I was led to believe this was going to be an epic TBS strat game, which usually don't rely entirely on one storyline to make or break the product. Maybe my approach is harsh: most reviewers will be worse, should the game warrent it. And alot more public.

I kinda wanted to just buy a game... I guess that was wrong of me.

LOL, very nice. And I do realize I am being somewhat abrasive (Didn't think it was insulting: It is only a game. If someone told me a paper I wrote was really bad, I wouldn't let it tear away at me personally.). But again: Not a 14 year old trolling, a legitimate customer with concerns. Note that if it makes brad feel better, I really like the way the game plays, just not the backstory.

While actually pretty funny, this is kinda the problem. Criticism being shot down without addressing the issue. You went too far, creating a straw man situation where all I appear to want is an empty void where I move figures around. My real problem is I want a more open world, with room for variuos fantasy traditions. The one thing I am actually right about is races: they only have two, and even they are virtually the same. It's 2010, a fantasy game should have SOME kind of variety... no elves, dwarves, or orcs. Instead we get somewhat tall humans, somewhat short humans, and fallen (basically dark skinned humans) that are a little hunchback. I understand the difference is subtle, but as its a fantasy game those little differences leave it dry. I dare someone to answer this concern of mine without using the word mod.

This is another problem - addressing valid concerns with offhand remarks like that. I guess I might take the same "My company. My way." approach in your shoes, but again: art from adversity. Shooting someone down because you can doesn't actually add anything to an arguement.

The quick buck remark is true. You are selling the book. I imagine it isn't being given out as charity, hence profit will be made. I'm not seeing the problem here. Maybe implying that you are selling out or something is bothering you, but you took a work that could be released free (not saying you should - I wouldn't) and are selling it. As you make games I can't imagine that that type of backstory could be anything more than a DnD campaign written on the side, hence certainly not your main form of income. You did what any American would do, and are doing it for a genre that is in desperate need of new blood, all im doing is stating the truth. BTW all these sweeping assumptions could be wrong, and maybe your dieing friend wrote it and gifted it you, and i'm a total d*ck. But this is where you are getting hung up, and my concerns lie else wear.

Galciv was a space empire game - play any of those and you will note that they all save on art and such by never really showing the races, just little looping AVI's in the diplomacy screen. A fantasy game is supposed to be about variation and seeing things you never see in real life. In all my DnD sessions the most interesting characters weren't human fighters, they were stuff like satyr warlocks and dark elven rangers dual wielding schimitars (props to any that get the reference). If I wanted to see tall, short, and dark skinned humans I could just go outside... I guess thats really the gist of my arguement.

Then again, my opinion is stupid.