LOLCHRIST

Mono is great, but Stardock are a Windows shop, so I guess they won't be using it. Incidentally I believe they already make some of their other stuff (like Impulse) in C#. Every programmer has their favourite language I guess. Myself I think Scala would be very productive for this sort of thing. It's still possible, though, to make cool things with crappy languages (how many of us started with Basic?), so I can hardly object to having to learn a really cool one like Python. Me

Cool thread, thanks for the links people. I would be interested to know whether any Stardockers use/have used Lisp, given that they are quite into their AI?

Will there be pre-game strategy decisions (for example, about your character or faction)?

It sort of looks to me like you're trying to do two things here: allow unlimited tinkering with the existing game (for which changing python files is a great idea), and allow someone to build something from the ground up on top of your engine. For the latter, surely people would need to be able to compile some code? I mean no disrespect to Python, which is a great tool for a lot of jobs, but I'd prefer some dlls with well thought-out public functions and a simple example project. <p

I think the original MoM did a reasonably good job of this. Units with a certain type of equipment get bonuses. So 'first strike', 'negate first strike', 'armour piercing', stuff like that. It could extend qute nicely I think. Although a real first strike only comes from being invisible and airborne :D.

Are you considering any sort of tech randomisation or exclusive paths? For some reason looking at your research screen made me remember how well Sword of the Stars did technology.

The best way to learn programming is to try programming. Seems like you have been given some good links, so good luck and have fun :). Books are, in general, less useful than the web. If you can find a book by one of the authors of a language, though, then it might be worth picking up. A search for 'Guido Python' may help.

The best thing I think about Orthanc, is in the description of when they appear to 'freeze' onto the walls and tear them apart like roots acting in rapid-time. Similar to getting a good grip on a jar before you open it, only much much more so :). I would love to see something like that in a game - if anyone could convery that sort of strength in an animation if would be very cool. Maybe if there is one of the 'tangling vines' type spells in there Stardock would think about it? T

I do think the mystery in the story is what Half-Life is about. It's not a book, and if it were you might be disappointed. The story is told through the environment - such as the poster of ape -> man -> combine soldier evolution. The story isn't exactly deep, there aren't profound new ideas, it's just classic sci-fi done with atmosphere and that it becomes archetypical. You end up not caring that they ripped the striders straight out of War of the Worlds just because they're so

When you make your bug reports/feature requests/usability suggestions, a certain amount of precision is useful. Once you find a bug, the first thing to do is to retrace your steps to reproduce the problem. Next, you should attempt to find the minimum set of actions necessary to trigger the bug (real-life example: do I have to fill out the form and click ok every time to make the program grind to a halt? Or will just opening this menu over and over do the same?). Lastly, report the ste

Linux with a lot of the functionality stripped out and Google's expertise in usability could certainly find a niche - there is a lot of demand for thin clients. I hear their major contribution is a new window manager.

Some people will say that Civ 2 was better, or Alpha Centaurii, but in my opinion Civilization 4 is the finest turn based strategy there has been. Civ 3 was a bit of a blip in the series by comparison. Not necessarily a bad game, but those stacks of workers set to automate clean pollution get dull.

I think there have been enough steampunk and similarly magic vs technology settings around in computer games. The default setting for fantasy seems to be a sort of generic medieval Europe, probably because ideas about chivalry often tie quite well into these sort of things. To my mind the idea of godlike magical beings remaking the world is a bit too high-magic for medieval to really work as a setting. I would prefer something a bit more...pagan, barbarian, bloody, Beowulf.

There's also a question of whether there is an experience/levelling system (seems likely), and how it will interact with essence.

I think finite essence locks you in thematically to a sort of traditional end of the age of myth story: gods and titans battle it out, but gradually fade away and are superceded by their creations and the rise of civilization and all that. This could be good I guess, I'm slightly tired of replaying that particular scenario though. Oh? The elves are part of a once great but now declining civilization you say? Never heard that one before. In gameplay terms I'm generally in favour of per

It does look from recent dev journals like we're going to have human looking channellers. I guess there could be possibilities for changing into something greater as you gain essence? Or, failing that, modding. The pre-game customization stuff that MOM and Dominions offers does add a lot in my opinion. Edit: I should mention Stars! I could spend hours just playing with making different races.

Another in favour, this sounds like a great idea. I'm now even more excited about the game. The suggestion that you could go off on a sort of adventurer mode instead of founding a civilization appeals as well. To that poster: try some Dwarf Fortress in the meantime, it has what you want. I'm also glad to see Black & White being used as inspiration. That game had so many good ideas and such gorgeous style.

Tiberium Sun: Firestorm Hinterland Grand Prix Manager Can't decide on what order these should go in, don't think I've been disappointed with any of my other game purchases. Was initially disappointed with Dungeon Keeper 2, but I went back and played it again years after and that time around it was fantastic.

"What it comes down to is this: People dont play MP to play the computer." I disagree, drop the word 'cooperative' in there and people love to play multiplayer against the computer. But that sort of thing could equally be catered to with modes akin to tower defence. Gratuitous helpings of moddability should help too. Be careful with the story in sandbox games, I'm sure you're all well aware of how jarring these things can be when the gameplay tells a different story to th

Bears do not negotiate with terrorists.

I would be interested to know what led you to choose Python for your scripting? I have been playing with writing domain specific languages in Scala a bit recently, whereas at work I have to use all sorts of XAML stuff (yuck), Boo (nice) and Powershell (ugh), so it's a topic which is on the brain at the moment.

Stardock have stated elsewhere ago that they intend to develop for one platform (Windows) only, because of their earlier experiences of developing for OS/2 and nearly going bust when that fell out of use.

Impulse is a bit more stable for me, and quicker to start. It's also prettier - you can tell that it was designed by experts on user interfaces. Lastly, offline mode is much, much more reliable with Impulse. Which is not to say that Steam is bad: for the most part it does it's job pretty well and doesn't give too much grief. Try using it with a slightly flakey internet connection, though, and it's becomes a real pain.

Made me think of Homeworld as well, but for me it's the Kadeshians with their massive short-range fighter swarms and giant carrier. Really interesting aesthetic.

Spell of Mastery? Spell Blast.