To be compared with:

Seems clear to me that they need people to work on the AI now!

I continue to work on War of Magic because I enjoy it. 

But the thing I think some people may not be seeing -- and indeed, *I* didn't see -- is just how much better FE is going to be than WOM was.  When I started work on the v1.3 feature set, my expectations for FE were considerably lower. I thought FE would address the weaknesses of WOM and take the game in a different direction.

But what FE has done instead is make me realize that FE is simply at a different level. I.e. it's not just a matter of being different or "funner" but it is like comparing a hobbyist effort to a commercial effort.  

I know I'm not explaining it well but even those of you who have played Galactic Civilizations or enjoy games like Space Empires V Dominion 3 understand that the production values of those games are at a different level than say a Civilization V or a Starcraft.  

The problem I'm having at this stage is that I originally anticipated Fallen Enchantress as being a game with its own game mechanics that wouldn't be released with the kinds of gameplay flaws that WOM had but still ultimately a game that was of the same production values as our other titles (Sins, GalCiv, WOM, etc.).  But Fallen Enchantress is a noticeable step up from WOM in production values which is taking a lot of the wind out of my desire to work on WOM.

So the reason I worked on WOM to this point is because I enjoyed it. I believe -- and continue to believe- - that WOM can become a pretty awesome game by addressing the kinds of things we've all mutually discussed. And while I still believe that, there's no scenario where I can make WOM reach the level of FE because FE has so much more talent behind it.

Back when WOM came out and sucked, we eliminated our second games team at the time. SOme people got laid off and the rest were put onto FE.  So the staffing on FE is significantly larger than the staffing was on WOM which has resulted in a game with much higher production values than anything I've seen our studio produce. 

The bottom line being, I won't really put too much effort into a v1.4 until I see what the community wants me to put my time into after the first FE beta comes out.  If people prefer FE's potential to WOM's potential (or even if it's a tie) then it makes more sense to focus on that.

My view is that WOM v1.3 is certainly a respectable game. It'll never be a classic though in its current state but I would be satisfied with how a new player to it would feel about the game overall.  

Anyway, as this comment demonstrates, my thoughts on WOM updates are all over the place.

The more time I can spend on FE though the better.  I only got 3 months (4 with the post release updates) worth of hours on WOM.  I got about 6 months on GalCiv 2 (including expansion packs).  It's looking like I might be about to get a solid 4 months on FE with almost all the work on AI which would be unprecedented for me (except for the OS/2 version of GalCiv whose AIs were vastly better than GalCiv I/II on Windows but that's another story).

Thanks for the update Brad.

If any of the reason you are working on WoM is because you feel you need to keep your word to us (delivering two great games) - then I for one absolve you of any such need or responsibility - at least from my perspective. At this stage if your involvement with WoM is going to mean the FE will be less than it could be then please shift your focus. As you say in your post, FE was anticipated to be much less than it currently is. Sounds like that is where the focus needs to be now.

edit:

Oh - but please fix the tactical battle numbers first.

On the other hand nothing is hurt if the people working on E:WoM are still waiting for other parts of E:FE to be finished before they can work on it (which is the case with AI).

That's true, and 1.3 falls into that. Since it looks like FE beta (the version that will be stable enough to get AI work) is coming out before 1.4, it does preclude working on 1.4 until the FE AI is mopping the floor with players.

Hi Brad, please don't start rumors.  Take some videos around the office when the PR/Marketing/Legal dept is not around or it didn't happen.

Great input into your upcoming plans, chief. I definitely like the idea of the AI using "mini-strategies". Such an example would be to cast a mass freezing spell that turns a group of targets into ice and then shattering them with a earthquake type spell. Little things like that, the AI using spell combos and planing for them and setting them up, would be a great step in the right direction for that I believe.

Something I've noticed playing the base version of Elemental is that as a channeler I don't start with a basic, small damage, ranged spell attack (think "magic missile" from D&D or "flame arrow" from old school UO). Something that does only 1, 2, or 3 points of damage for a relatively small casting cost. Without early access to something like this I often get over-run by even simple wandering bandits while trying to start out and found the beginnings of my empire. Hopefully something like this won't be overlooked in the expansion.

As always, keep up the great work.

The races are a massive problem but are not easy to fix. I'm currently playing a game where I'm at war against both Kraxis and Magmar (or what-ever they are called). My armies march through the fallen lands and I don't know which of the two I'm fighting because they are both exactly the same. None of the battles have been memorable. None of the interaction with them has had any flavour. The game is still currently more about 'process' than 'immersion' and that aspect can't be good for replayablity.

I still remember specific games I've played of Age of Wonders years ago where a bunch of Orcs march down from a mountain pass, or even just lowly zephyr birds flying across water to take resources, or massive sieges. There is none of that in World of Magic. But unless Fallen Enchantress is addressing this in a meaningful way then don't hold your breath.

And by meaningful way I mean not just adding a unit here or there to specific races, but really changing the look and feel of all races.

One really really easy adjustment they could make to help the races would be to add ambient sounds to specific races. I'm surprised at how little attention has been given to this aspect of the game. Whether it is ethereal type sounds for wraiths or drums for trogs it would add enormously to the experience. Sound in WoM has not just been put in the back seat - it has entirely missed the bus.

Why is this version not available to me?

Is anyone else experiencing a major hang-up during the Elemental loading page?  The page with the dragon just before the intro video.

It freezes so bad that CTL+ALT+DEL is ignored and I ultimately have to do a hard reboot.

I've encountered this problem more times than what I'd like to admit, but only after updating game to "F" version.

Depending on how the existing music is encoded implementation could be done by accentuating a given instrument type on the existing track.  Or an additional instrument track could kick in.  Say like the trogs either have more prominent drums in the original track (louder) or anouther track kicks in on anouther sound channel to compliment the existing music.  On the aspect of music some variation of styles could also work.  Say the original track goes thrue an instrumental filter changing some or all of the instruments to anouther type (like wood wind to guitar, or piano to bass).  You could change tempo (play speed) for a difference in feel.  I'd just listened yesterday to a 50% Bloody Tears (castlevania) track for example that while recognizable sounded more mellow (it was also played played on piano).  In a similar vein you could also try different music styles of the same piece.  Playing the original track as heavy metal, jazz, country or chamber music for example.  Granted some of the styles or changes might break with the expectations of music for a high fantasy game, but there would deffinitely be a difference.  Sound can really set the mood, feel, or interpretation a player has of a faction just like it does for movies and characters.

On that note, is there a folder that music files can be dropped into to play as background music or a way to set an ingame playlist for a faction currently (it would be neat to do with the expanded factions for example).  Hmm... I wonder if an axe could be skinned into an 'axe'.

*puts down Age of Wonders for a sec* Did I hear that FE beta is soon? Great news, please move all WoM resources to FE development, I doubt anyone who is still sticking with this is looking forward to WoM patches more so than FE beta/release

Pleeeaaaaaaase