Elemental: War of Magic

[Kossak]

Frogboy reveales some of the diplomacy features: you will be able to marry sons and daughters to make some alliances. I've never seen that in games before

frogboy blog: http://frogboy.impulsedriven.net/article/362223/Elemental_IGN_August_Preview
IGN August Preview: http://pc.ign.com/articles/101/1017713p1.html

[Tals]

The Guild may have had it but that was more part of the game the whole family network

[Huw the Poo]

It was an essential strategy in Knights of Honour too.  Get a daughter into another kingdom to become a spy first, then to lay claim to the throne when the king kicks the bucket.

[Farscry]

You can arrange royal marriages in Europa Universalis III too.

I like the idea, it'll be a good addition to Elemental!

[Island Dog]

[USMC Kato]

looking great! 

[Arkon]

Awesome shots, can't wait until my preorder beta slot opens up.

[Lockdown]

Those pictures got my attention.  "looking great" is right.   

[Chaz]

You can arrange royal marriages in Europa Universalis III too.

I like the idea, it'll be a good addition to Elemental!

Also, Medieval Total War gave you the ability to marry off your daughters.

[Farscry]

Where's ma BETA?!

Seriously, I'm looking forward to getting in on the testing and suggesting for this one. Even with just the cloth map, the game looks interesting and *gasp* maybe even fun!

[CeeKay]

here's an alpha video for y'all.

[rittchard]

Beta is coming in Spring?  I was under the impression it was coming up soon...   

[Lee]

I believe he misspoke, everything they have posted says it's coming before the end of summer. So by 22 Sept.

Journal link.

Elemental BETA: Before summer ends
Frogboy September 06, 2009
We’re on the last day of PAX.  If you want to get into the beta, you can still do so by pre-ordering it.  After the beta goes out, the beta will be closed to new users until next year.

Note: The beta will NOT be fun. These are real betas. The game mechanics are only partially implemented and subject to radical change based on player suggestions.

[Tals]

I was holding back but this is starting to look very nice so I am in!

[Kossak]

hmm i saw the vid and liked it too! i think i'll start to watch the news about this game more carefully.

[Tals]

What swung it for me was the beta option won't be available on preorder once it goes into beta and I do want to get Involved in this.

[Kossak]

What swung it for me was the beta option won't be available on preorder once it goes into beta and I do want to get Involved in this.

but they said the beta is not fun, so i'm not preordering. Besides it costs 50$ - no price cut to encourage preordering?

[Tals]

i saw that but just seeing a new game develop is fun for me

[baelthazar]

I pre-ordered back when they gave out the 20% off coupons for Demigod buyers. I will not be disappointed, if they deliver on their plans. That being said, I won't put tons of time into the beta. I liked to be surprised with releases and Stardock betas, particularly early ones, are not fun... not even a little.

Do we have any idea what the proposed release date for Elemental is? I was thinking I remembered February of 2010, which sounds likely. They love to release big names games in February (wasn't SoaSE released then?).

Bael

[Razgon]

I pre-ordered back when they gave out the 20% off coupons for Demigod buyers. I will not be disappointed, if they deliver on their plans. That being said, I won't put tons of time into the beta. I liked to be surprised with releases and Stardock betas, particularly early ones, are not fun... not even a little.

Do we have any idea what the proposed release date for Elemental is? I was thinking I remembered February of 2010, which sounds likely. They love to release big names games in February (wasn't SoaSE released then?).

Bael

august more likely

[ydejin]

Beta is about to start.  Join now or wait until next year -- the beta program will be closed shortly after it starts and won't reopen until 2010.  Stardock has been trying to downplay expectations on the beta emphasizing that this is a real working beta (not the product demo beta some companies do) and that it will "NOT be fun."  Close in graphics engine will be disabled (leaving just the cloth map, if I understand correctly), which will allow them to quickly add and remove structures based on suggestions without committing a lot of artist resources for creating 3d models.

Brad Wardell says preorders will start processing for the beta next week.

[Razgon]

I've been in a few stardock beta's, and Ydejin is right - these are REAL beta's, but the upside is, that your input is valued, and actually used to implement and change things - its not a demo, there is a reason you play in these particular betas

[Lee]

See the link in my last post. Beta will be out in 2 weeks.

Now, all that said, the beta, which is due out in the next 2 weeks, is NOT going to be fun.  Let me reiterate that: IT WILL NOT BE FUN. IT WILL BE HORRIBLE. WE ARE TURNING OFF THE MAIN GRAPHICS ENGINE.

[baelthazar]

And things change wildly in Stardock betas. You might have a month where you can play only on the cloth map (which is the plan for the first part of the beta, btw) then maybe you might get tactical battles, but they all are auto-resolved.

When you come back two months later, you might see that they removed the trade button and put in an espionage one. It's a crapshoot as to what is being tested or what will go in or out before release.

It can be "fun" from a "I'm helping develop a game" kinda standpoint.

Bael

[Razgon]

Brad posted some stuff over at OO - take a look here at some screens not posted anywhere else :-)

http://www.octopusoverlords.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=64218&sid=b79e449452ce32fa11bf4c94d141608d&p=1455342#p1455342

This game is just looking better and better in my opinion.

IF you want in the beta, you have to preorder now, or before the end of september, or else wait for Beta2

[Tals]

As I understand it the beta program is going to be longer than normal - there was talk of a Summer release, so beta players will get more input in the game

[Razgon]

aye, thats true - Here's Brads post about the Beta

This week Elemental Beta is to begin.  It will go out to all users who have pre-ordered it.  For the rest of September, new users will be able to pre-order and join in as well and then it will be closed (people can still pre-order but they won’t get access until we roll out Beta 2.

ALL REPORTS can go here: Elemental BETA forum.

BETA OBJECTIVES
BETA 1

Initial Build: Basic Compatibility
Beta 1A: Initial Gameplay Skeleton
Beta 1B: Initial Economic system Implemented
Beta 1C: Initial AI system Implemented
Beta 1D: Initial Diplomacy system Implemented
Beta 1E: Initial Dynasty system implemented
Beta 1F: Initial Magic system implemented
Beta 1G: Initial Quest system implemented
BETA 2

Initial build provides basic multiplayer (player hosted – client/server)
Beta 2A: Persistent stat tracking
Beta 2B: Stardock hosted option.
Beta 2C: Stardock hosted persistent games
Beta 2D: Stardock hosted persistent universe game (persistent dynasties)
BETA 3

Initial Kumquat3D engine build of Elemental.
Beta 3A: Introduction to Dungeons
Beta 3B: Introduction to Magical Spells
BETA 4

Introduction to tactical battles
Beta 4A: New multiplayer mode: Arena
Beta 4B: Customized tactical battle options
Beta 4C: Super-Duper AI Update to tactical battles
Beta 4D: Polish Beta (extensive and ongoing)
BETA 5

Introduction to integrated modding
Beta 5A: Persistent universe mods
Beta 5B: Third-party Maya/3D Studio importing beta
Beta 5C: Modding group testing
GAMMA

Private Build (only very active beta testers get access to this under NDA)
Single Player Campaign Testing
RELEASE

When the consensus is that this is the best turn-based strategy game of its kind available.
Betas will also include additions and enhancements to previously released milestones (i.e. additional game modes, additions to multiplayer options, additional single player quests, more single player game options, etc.).

Objectives of BETA 1 in detail:
We want to know if it runs okay on your computers. If it doesn’t, tell us what operating system you’re running, video card (dxdiag is a useful tool), CPU, etc. The more hardware info, the better.
As has been mentioned, beta 1 will NOT be fun in any way. We are not kidding about this. Our objective with this first build is to get the parameters on which the game runs, how well it runs.
On October 1st, we will have BETA 1A which will implement some of the “game” features that we took out of beta 1 along with a lot of features that we’ve been focusing on since PAX (computer AI, economic AI, research tree stuff, etc.).

The entire BETA 1 (and BETA 2) series will only play on the cloth map (seen above). The cloth map mode will remain the standard game experience for the Elemental beta until the Beta testers (AND Stardock) decide the game is sufficiently fun without having to rely on next-generation graphics. This will take as long as it takes.

[JSL]

What swung it for me was the beta option won't be available on preorder once it goes into beta and I do want to get Involved in this.

but they said the beta is not fun, so i'm not preordering. Besides it costs 50$ - no price cut to encourage preordering?

Yeah, if they want me to preorder they have to offer something worthwhile, like $10 off.

[Razgon]

What swung it for me was the beta option won't be available on preorder once it goes into beta and I do want to get Involved in this.

but they said the beta is not fun, so i'm not preordering. Besides it costs 50$ - no price cut to encourage preordering?

Yeah, if they want me to preorder they have to offer something worthwhile, like $10 off.

depends on what you find worthwhile, right?

[ydejin]

Beta is out now.

[Turtle]

Still only for pre-orders or can I still get in on this?

[Razgon]

Still only for pre-orders or can I still get in on this?

Beta is only for pre-orders yes

edit: to explain .- its not a demo, or a stress test like in MMO's - its a pure and real beta where you have the opportunity to give feedback on restricted parts of the gameplay and engine.

[Turtle]

Yeah, I knew it was a real beta.  Just wanted to make sure I could still get into it if I pre-ordered.

The game seems like what I wanted for a while now.  A game with scale along the lines of Dominions with a more user friendly slant like Civilization.

[Lee]

Still only for pre-orders or can I still get in on this?

If you preorder now, you are out until Oct 1 when they introduce more game play elements in Beta 1A. Right now it's just the compatibility test. Will it run? Lock ups? It's very rough right now, I played, and lost quickly, but only because I was screwing around, really no idea what anything is or does right now.

You aren't missing anything yet. Preorder before the end of Sep to get into 1A on Oct 1.

[Arkon]

So far in 4 attempts I have had 1 successful play/save/quit.  1 time it froze while loading, the other two times it locked up while playing and I had to use the task manager to kill it.

[Huw the Poo]

That's beta testing for you.

[Arkon]

That's beta testing for you.

Yup, not complaining at all.  Tonight I hope to do more testing to see if I can isolate what caused my lockup at start up and my 2 lockups in game.

[Razgon]

I'm surprised no-ones talked about the intro - that has to be one of the most brilliant intro's ive seen over the last 20 years!! 

[Lee]

I'm surprised no-ones talked about the intro - that has to be one of the most brilliant intro's ive seen over the last 20 years!! 

It is truly awesome, I didn't want to give it away for other Beta testers. I assume it will get more refined each Beta until we have the real one.

[Tals]

Does anyone know what they are meant to be doing, all i'm seeing is the ability to wander around a bit but I hear talk of loosing the game and roads etc....