Hey AM_shark, why do you have a picture of my ex-girlfriend for your avatar? Are you sure you're not her? Is there where we went wrong--I should have waited a week after our first date first?
[quote]I'm a polysci major. [/quote] Isn't political science an oxymoron? And why would anyone ever make the slackers the BAD guys?
[quote]Seems to me like a way to deflect blame. "Elemental didn't sell well so we're laying you off".[/quote] This is true. If layoffs occur because Elemental did not do well, then it is Elemental who should take the hit. Who is it that did not deliver-someone on the Elemental team, or someone on this second team that had nothing to do with it? Thing is, managers are not in the business of levying justice. Their job is to run the business.&n
Not knowing the direction Stardock was going (but very intrigued with it), earlier I made the speculation that Stardock was attempting a new release strategy, where they release Elemental in an early state, get the revenue flowing early, and get the feedback from the user community. Then with that information they could steer SD with more up-to-date information of where they stand. They could then re-invest the Elemental revenue into improving it and hopefully milk mor
Another observation: Before this news of layoffs broke out, Stardock wasn't doing Elemental for the money. The bulk of SD's revenue comes from non-game products, and Elemental was more of a hobby, a work of art, and a gift to the community that they were going to evolve on an ongoing basis. Now with this new news, the layoffs were caused by a reduced budget outlook due to a lackluster launch of Elemental. Something doesn't jibe.
[quote]or when stardock release the expansion make sure its 100% perfect[/quote] Now there's a fantastic idea. Release an expansion pack that you think will get positive reviews and market that as a separate product--even if it's free to existing players. Gamespot would give a 4.0 to Elemental but then they would give a 9.0 to Elemental: Ages of Goodness, or whatever the name is.
What I was thinking was, letting people loose in Michigan...man, that's rough. They need to form a Michigan executives' support & recovery group for that.
[quote]AI asks for a marriage then refuses.[/quote] Sounds like some of the girls I dated.
I doubt there is anyone here who doesn't want Stardock to succeed. I just don't want them to succeed at the expense of whitewashing reviews and the public buying $50 games that collect dust. Lord knows I've got PLENTY of those. The best path to success is to have a game that really does addict and cause massive reductions in worker productivity to our economy. Sugar-coating is counterproductive to that end.
Anyone remember Lords of Magic? OMG that was the ultimate pathetic attempt at integrating tactical combat and strategy.
My biggest surprise in all this: Galciv II uses Pear?!?
I think it's all a matter of expectations. A certain level of expectations were set, and they were not met. Personally, my expectations were that this going was to fall about right in line with Demigod. And unfortunately, it's looking like my expectations have been met.
I think we're beginning to take the forum's permissiveness too far. The reviews Elemental is getting are C's--not F's. The forums is allowing negative feedback and criticism, but this is starting to devolve into a slamfest. We shouldn't be abusing Stardock's grace on their own board.
Nowadays I think the biggest reason you would want to buy a game close to release date is to get a leg up in the online community. I don't think that looks to apply here.
From an executive-level point of view, I think there's merit to this different approach of releasing a game when it's still not quite polished. You make most of your top-line money up front. When it's released--that's when most of the top-line revenues pour in. OTOH most of the profit comes later on--after it's been out 9 months to a year or so and it's getting discounted. If you release it earlier than later, your up-front investment goes down, and once a
[quote]It's really quite simple. You have engineers and designers. Do not let engineers design a GUI.[/quote] I can partially agree with that. If your designers eat and breathe what works and what doesn't, works with users every day, reads past studies on HI design, that makes sense. The software engineers don't--they eat and breathe design patterns, libraries, revision control, debuggers, etc.. I can see software engineers getting cocky and thinkin
I look at both the critics and the user reviews, and make a combined opinion based on that. Sometimes they're wrong, but usually they're right. Simply look up reviews for games you've already played and see how that compares. I've done that, and I've confirmed that the forums hosted by the games themselves are biased. It's not necessarily the censorship and the moderation; it's that you're getting only the people who still play the game on the site.&n
That's great news about Shacknews. An undiluted review after they patch it is exactly what I need. Based on what I'm reading, I think I have a hunch what's going on. A lot of people think human interface design is something just anyone can do out of high school. Microsoft invests millions in scientific, repetitive, and kind of boring studies into finding out what people consider an intuitive interface. I took a Ph.D. level class on HI design m
I'm on the fence, too. The reviews so far are too lukewarm for me to plunk down $50 on it, and not good enough to make me jump off the Starcraft II bandwagon. But at least it got me onto this forum to research it before investing my time in this game. But I'm more off the fence than on it. Unfortunately, the time to get me to buy it for anything more than $19.99 is now. Now is when all the reviews are coming out, and if I come back to this forum for
Looking forward to the first reviews coming out.