hmm.. not too stable in windows 7, I keep getting booted then I would have to wait a few minutes to even try and loaded again... or else it will just freeze up.

Really?  Do you really believe that is helping at all?  If so, you have no concept of the development process.

As a developer, I work with deadlines all the time.  Most of the time, I scare the crap out of myself because I'm a few days away from the deadline on a month long project and I have little to actually show the user.  However, 95% of the actual project is done.  I just need to code up the rest that the user actually sees and interacts with.  

So when you basically state that unless time slows down there is no way the Stardock will reach their expected date, you are showing your naivety.  Stardock has built the Empire State Building and is now working on moving around the chairs on the roof deck to achieve perfect Feng Shui.  You are trying to tell Stardock that it will take them far more than a few weeks to to move the chairs around when it only took them two years to build the entire building.

It won't be done. It'll never be done.

Games are released and judged but they shouldn't be considered done.  Someone should try out the retail CD of Galactic Civilizations II and compare it to now. It's embarrassing.

I bet that quote wont be going on the box

Precisely.  

It's kind of academic anyway because no one in the beta will ever likely play the RTM version (unless you ordered the box version).  The version over 90% of beta testers ordered is the digital version which has a "gold" date of August 17th.

I knew that one was coming. Besides, it willl be done when you stop working on it and start working on Elemental 2.

"Software development is never finished, but sometimes it stops." -- me, just now.

well lets go for a moment out of elemental and stardock and talk in general

the point is deadlines SHOULDNT exist

if i am writing a book should i print it when is ready or 27 september?

the same should apply to every creativity job

i know world is based on money and not on creativity but still dont put like its right and cool if there are deadlines

the whole concept of deadlines is wrong and bad, and ppl just dont like it

ppl cant be blamed for that, imo

No matter what you are doing there are deadlines.  Everyone has deadlines.  An artist's deadline is his need to eat.  He can work a masterpiece to some arbitrary level of perfection, which he may never get it to, but if he can't sell it he can't eat.

Stardock has told us that they will continue to work on Elemental for the next year or so.  Let them get the game out without the grief of needless crying of "IT WON'T BE READY".  Constructive ideas and suggestions are always welcome, keep them coming.

For a perfect illustration of what a project without deadlines is like, look at Duke Nukem Forever.

Deadlines, if only self-imposed ones, are needed to get anything done.

watch van gogh then he didnt have deadlines

later this week as in..... NOW?!

ddd888,

In your idealistic fantasy deadlines may not exist, but in the real world they do. Whether or not people feel the game is ready or not is irrelevant, it's coming out on the 24th and can't be pushed back, the gears are already rolling.

Therefore, screaming that the game won't be ready isn't helping. You can twist it any way you like, but that's the simple truth.

But all the Italian guys doing paintings/sculptures during the 1400-1500s had. Those were contracts.

I can't help but notice that the discussion has magically gone from the game being "done" to being "ready". While the game may not necessarily be done, it should absolutely be ready.

I suspect Blizzard may disagree with you.

Funny you say that, as I did that about a week ago, I pulled out my original first round copy of GCII and played it, then the next day I went out and bought the Ultimate edition and updated...holy crap the difference lol. But with things like that and what you have with Elemental.  You have so much potential that even after a "finished product" there's more you can add and include, which is awesome really.

While you've given us fair warning since the early betas this "won't be fun" I've had a blast going through each beta, and seeing your posts of what's coming down the pipes to us next are great. I can't wait to see more.  Good work I say, I look forward to seeing the next phases of the game and beyond

As much as I would like to have tactical battles, I think this is a good call. I get more or less constant crashes, some reproducable, some not. Great potential, and I think that these crashes should be easy to address.

Hmmm. The game is sometimes a bit choppy for me when I try to zoom in or out or sidescroll a bit. I am surprised to see the exact same thing in a video that you guys post.

Also I note that your cloth map is actually very much usable. My cloth map is barely usable, because I need to zoom out pretty far to get it and once it shows up, the icons on it are rather small and some of them I cannot even tell what they are any more. I need to zoom in to take a peek, which very much defeats the point of having a cloth map.

its true they were contracts but there werent really deadlines

leonardo worked on la gioconda for years, michelangelo worked for the pope for decades

Heh, I just wanted to post the same stuff.

Blizzard has plenty of self-imposed deadlines. A lot of B.net 2.0 features won't be ready for launch because there's no time, and they have to do it after. Quit posting nonsense.

I did order the limited box

harpo

The interesting factors to this post are as one mentions.. academic. Things that one would hear, Spock say "Fascinating." And Teelc "Indeed."

90% of the beta-testers, are going pure digital. Yet what percentage will we represent, as beta-testers, and also as those "Elite Hardcore" PC gamers who avoid a disk, because we have the internet.

And also the whole extra 2 weeks of 1.01 updating and polishing we'll see on the 24th. That's what I consider quite exciting and fascinating. Think of it this way... how much that was proposed will we see make it past the disk "Gold" version? Will there ever be an organic city with satellite method, without it being a mod?

Questions, questions. But also the entire thing itself is quite fascinating.

And you don't plan to update ever?

The RTM version of Elemental will be very solid, just like it was with GalCiv, Sins, and Demigod (Demigod's issues were, ironically, in the initial online multiplayer).

That said, as pointed out earlier, if you compare the CD version of Galactic Civilizations II to the current version of Galactic Civilizations II (and I'm not talking about expansion packs or anything, just the free updates) it's night and day.