Frogboy

Well, I wouldn't say I'm giving GFWL the finger. I love the general concept. I just think MS needs to decide and soon what they want their business model to be.

Now... Getting back to the topic at hand... RightClick, as we know it today, will likely go away and instead be replaced with something that is a lot more practical. You won't be able to embed gadgets and such into your right-click menu but it'll integrate a lot more seamlessly into the native context menus in Windows. That's the kind of difference that I am planning for Object Desktop. Customization with a purpose.

[quote]BS for the casual user? A Linux Distribution like Ubuntu can be easier to use than Windows (obviously once you learn it, you have to remember that everyone had to learn to use Windows too) Ever heard of package managers? Every program you need installable from a single source. BS for the casual user? You mean like completely virus/spyware free? And finally BS for casual user, like everything being complete documented, forums and wiki's everywhere to find help with any problem you gener

Beta 1B has a nearly complete tech tree. So next week.

Some good ideas here. We're digesting them now. :)

Oye. Pew. Beta 1B, which will be out next Thursday, will be much much better. It'll still suck, but yikes. So beta 1A does have a lot of new stuff in it but it's not well integrated yet. Beta 1B, the first economic build, will start to show the direction of the game is going. Now, I've been getting email on when I think people should start making gameplay requests versus compatibility requests. The answer to is the tail end of Beta 1 wh

[quote]I just moaned in another thread about how game development at SD hindered the desktop apps. I am looking forward to a change if it really happens now. Allow me to be somewhat sceptical about that. There are so many apps in Object Desktop that really could need some love.[/quote] I won't be giving a lot of love to legacy programs in Object Desktop. I want to look at creating new programs, even if they have overlapping ability with old programs. So RightClick, KLP, Object

Okay, here's our latest thought process on the sovereign. First, let me say that the sovereign dying is a non-negotiable thing to us. It's an important core concept. That said, we do not want users to have to play defensive with their sovereign. The idea is to give players the option to gamble it all if they want. So here's what we're thinking: Heroes will have a skill called Evade. The evade skill determines the odds of them escaping a disaster (lo

[quote]Too funny. Better be careful with those notes, Brad, you never know who's gonna be lurking around, take it completely out of context, blow it out of proportion, and post it all over the interwebs[/quote] That would only happen if I posted it on my Facebook account. :)

Only channelers are immortal.

[quote]I'm afraid you'll soon suffer from Rocky III syndrome. You gotta go back to the old gym and spit nails with Mickey.[/quote] WOW! WOW! When I was writing this blog, I was thinking the same thing and went looking for an image from Rocky 3 but decided the reference was too obscure.

[quote]Sounds like the perfect approach! Kudos! When your channeler is in hide mode will he still be able to be researching? Will he be able to cast "overland" spells ala MoM? Will there even BE overland type spells or will it be "channeler must be present to cast"? The volcano is a good example - could that be cast from hiding, do you think, or does the channeler need to be in the nearby vicinity to raise the volcano?[/quote] Yes. He's hiding, not sleep

[quote]As far as banning me, do so if you must. I won't pretend like it won't sadden me, I've been a loyal customer and contributor for years. Its not like I called you names, or said you didn't have the right to do what you will with your own company. I didn't even make any judgements on the things that Beck said to get him in this hot water in the first place. But all I think I'm really guilty of here, is daring not to lick gingerly at your backside on this one, as you're so used to on thes

One of the features that we expect to get into Elemental Beta 1B is the Sovereign "hide" option. Right now, if your sovereign dies, the game is over. The downside of this, long-term is that in single player, you'll have players figuring out ways to assassinate AI players (i.e. crazy amounts of AI time will end up getting spent countering assassination strategies) and in online play it'll be "kill the sovereign". With the hide option, when the sovereign is on a c

As a practical matter, we would probably let players have their cake and eat it too. That is, an option for "hidden sovereigns". In this mode, the sovereign only becomes a playable unit in the game when the player wants them to and the rest of the time is simply "hidden" somewhere and is untouchable.

You guys can use FastLoad too and experiment with it if you'd like. But things may crash more often.

[quote]So, from your post here Frogboy I'm getting 2 messages. They are: 1) You love Fox News and have it running 24/7. You are staging a boycott of UPS and calling on all Stardock partners to do likewise. Fedex has solicited you directly for their business and are giving you a discount if you start using their services. 2) The release of Galactic Civilizations 3 is confirmed for August 2010. Correct me if I misread anything from your post.[/quote] And that if

We actually plan to have a ton of little event movies in this.

I responded to this here: http://frogboy.joeuser.com/article/365378/Facebook_Boycotts_and_Politics Basically, I read that UPS was boycotting Fox News (in total). It annoyed me and mentioned it on my Facebook page. One of my friends on Facebook then copied and pasted it and added on which in turn got added on and pretty soon all kinds of quotes were being attributed to me. This is wha

Hi guys, I've been reading on forums of people saying that we're overstating how horrible the Elemental beta is. While we appreciate that support, we don't want anyone coming into the beta that isn't fully prepared for what a real beta is like. Most (nearly all) people are better off waiting until the final game. The beta program is really for people who loved games like MOM, XCOM, HOMM, CIV (AND) (emphasis on AND) want to make sure that elements fro

The deadline to get into Elemental Beta 1 ends October 1st. But lest you think this is a call to join the beta, let me warn you, the beta is a land of horror and agony. Even now, most of the beta testers are requiring long-term psychiatric care to continue functioning. But if you are a true masochist, you can pre-order now and get into the beta as we are putting together the game mechanics and help mold the final game.

You'll see in Beta 1A.

[quote]One thing I would really like to see with regards to AI is that not all computer players play the same. Have different personalities and add some randomness. I'd personally rather have a game that feels like I'm playing against different humans using different strategies than to play against an "expert" that always uses the optimal path. This is the thing that I think is the biggest problem in game AI right now in general.[/quote] In GalCiv there were 6 differ

With Incredibuild, less than a minute.

Someone put up the intro video on YouTube so you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhGZgvNV5Qc&feature=related