Big Fat Pictures and Day 0 reporting

Finally getting to actually PLAY the game some.  I’ve got a huge list of tweaks already for the day 0 build.

I play at really high resolution so this is what my screens looked like:

2010-08-14_2025

In this game, I’m slowly wearing Kraxis down.  Which means I’m unhappy because it means I need to do more AI work. Bear in mind, when I play I play at normal where the AI gets the same resources. If I wanted to get creamed, I’d just push up the difficulty but I want the AI to be very intelligent at normal.

2010-08-14_2032

This screenshot is full of win.   The beta group pushed hard for special abilities for units and they got their way (the fire giant has 3 actually).  This is something we plan to expand on over the next few months a lot (don’t worry, these things will be free updates).

We’re just incredibly excited about how things have turned out. Though, like all the other games we’ve done, we have a long list of things we want to add and improve on over the next several months. Though, for now, we’re going to stick with polishing so that we can hear what our customers want first before we commit to anything specific.

Availability

Now, one thing I think I can say (and I’m not promising this because all things are ultimately decided by the IT gods) but it is our plan to make the “gold” version of the game available a bit early to those in the beta and those who pre-order will also likely get it a bit early.   We hope to start pre-loading Elemental onto machines early to mid next week to reduce strain.

At retail, Walmart, Best Buy, Gamestop, EB, etc. should all have it in strong supply. Just make sure you update to the day 0 version (via Impulse) because you will need the day 0 version to play multiplayer or do the mod tools stuff not to mention we’ll have a ton of new stuff in it as well. The download should be pretty small though.

What’s next

Well, for this week, I plan to have fun working on the AI and making some more quests. How much will make it into the day 0 version is hard to say.  The writing team at Random House and us have been brainstorming lots of new quests we can put into the game and I really want the AI to play “in character” (no snarky dialog like in GalCiv).

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Reply #1 Top

Awesome.

Reply #2 Top

Thanks for the update :) Would love to preload asap

Reply #3 Top

"it is our plan to make the “gold” version of the game available a bit early"   ! ! !    :)    :)     :)

Reply #4 Top

I had to let out a squeal of joy at folks who were involved in the beta and/or pre-ordered possibly getting to mess with the game early. :D

Can't tell you guys how much I'm looking forward to this game!

Reply #5 Top

 

Wow that's fantastic! Even a chance at playing a bit earlier in the coming week is exciting. Will the day 0 build be a major tweek from the current gold version, or a small bump?

Reply #6 Top

Woot @ early access.

Super happy to hear about the unique abilities. One thing that really breaks immersion for me though: the fire giant's center image (or avatar, w/e) looks nothing like what he looks like on the actual map.

Reply #7 Top

Awesome!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait, Heres hoping for gold on the 20th  k1   !!!

Reply #8 Top

This is a great update. In my case I too also play at a high resolution. 1920x1200. 

And the game is looking beautiful.

The excitement about special abilities in combat.. woot!!!

 

And the reveal of a possible preload, is just something special to be appreciated.

 

All in all, I want the game! Partially so I can continue my videos, which I'll be doing even after the game hits the market. But also from the perspective, of me wanting to put in my efforts towards the mods I intend to run. And also make sure there are a LOT of minor nations/groups. I ended up making about 21 new ones. Just so I could have some diversity, and really want to see how that all comes together.

And so on and so on.. but let me just say, thanks Stardock!

Reply #9 Top

Thank you! OMG the first picture looks so NICE! :thumbsup:

Reply #10 Top

Those screenshots look amazing. Good stuff.

 

 

Reply #11 Top

Wow that first shot is awesome...

 

Second one looks great too....I hope we get it early week I'm all for it:)

Reply #12 Top

Great news. Looking forward to seeing the changes since beta 4!

Reply #13 Top

Ok, I'm sold!!!! (for about the 100th time now):grin:   A huge thanks to Brad and Team Stardock!! I feel like flying all the way from Pennsylvania to Michigan to give gratitude/thanks for all your professionalism and courtesy Stardock has shown towards this community and the public in general.

Reply #14 Top

Guess it's time to whip out the ol' credit card and pre-order.  :erk:

Reply #15 Top

 Well I was gonna wait until the 24th to buy the game cause I didn't see any advantage to pre-ordering but if I have a chance to get the gold version early, I'm pre-ordering right now!! Sooooo looking forward to playing this game.

Reply #16 Top

Just realised that here is a typo on the Searing Attack card, " Target enemy unit takes is ignited..." .

Reply #17 Top

Quoting AllegroMonkey, reply 5
 

Wow that's fantastic! Even a chance at playing a bit earlier in the coming week is exciting. Will the day 0 build be a major tweek from the current gold version, or a small bump?
End of AllegroMonkey's quote

MAJOR.  Think Beta 2 to Beta 3 level changes.

Reply #18 Top

Stardock always seems to be full of good stuff!

Reply #19 Top


Now, one thing I think I can say (and I’m not promising this because all things are ultimately decided by the IT gods) but it is our plan to make the “gold” version of the game available a bit early to those in the beta and those who pre-order will also likely get it a bit early.   We hope to start pre-loading Elemental onto machines early to mid next week to reduce strain.
End of quote

Nooo I haven't had a chance to finish King's Bounty: Armored Princess yet... guess it will have to go on the backburner now :P

Reply #20 Top

oh oh, pick me for Monday/Tuesday preloads~~~~~~

Reply #21 Top

You know what I just did? Preordered.

All I really needed to hear was preloading would be available, but the possibility of getting the game a few days early? Awesome.

Reply #22 Top

I know it's a bit too late for that kind of criticism, but I think buildings on mountains look very strange. Anyway, looking forward to the early release. :D

Reply #23 Top

Frogboy, I have some criticism about the screenshots that I hope you find constructive. First I want to say the game does look beautiful over all and definitely has improved significantly since Beta 4!

 

However, one thing stuck out to me in the screenshot, and that was that the walls generated around the cities looked glitchy/bad going around steep/curved hills.

 

For example here are a couple crops with the issue pointed out:

http://i.imgur.com/ggrcD.jpg and http://i.imgur.com/2XrzO.jpg

 

I'm not sure if that's planned to be fixed, and I'm not trying to nit-pick. I'm just saying it could look better. There needs to be pieces that have varying angles or something. I'm not sure how you'd fix it.

Reply #24 Top

Great to hear about the "in character" dialog for the AI. The snark was always something that took me out of the moment in GalCiv.

 

And based on some of the screen shots you've shown of the release version the writing does feel greatly improved overall, so now I'm actually looking forward to reading the story and the new quest text.

Reply #25 Top

Hurray! Pre-load and early release!