More so than any game Stardock or GPG have done before, Demigod is truly unique in that it's such a radically different game from what we've done before. While it has some simlarities for Defense of the Ancients, the strategic scope is significantly larger (as one would expect in a AAA stand alone title).
Here are 10 reasons why users may want to pre-order the game and get the beta:
#10 The game will include the usual multiplayer skirmishes most strategy games have, but Demigod will also have a persistent on-line tournament mode that is being co-developed by Stardock and Gas Powered Games. We will definitely want to get people's input on this. If you ever played TA, especially on Boneyards you can get an idea of some of the things we're going for.
#9 Item ideas. You build up your Demigods by purchasing items in the game to equip. We've got a lot of items already but I suspect you guys will have some requests in this area.
#8 Map ideas. Demigod comes with multiple maps (arenas). We will be looking for feedback on how to make these maps even better. What would Total Annihilation have been without Painted Desert or Greenhaven for instance?
#7 Collector's Edition. Technically, the pre-order version of Demigod is the Collector's Edition which will come with extra stuff over the standard retail version.
#6 Assassins vs. Generals. The former is a bad ass. The latter is a strategic genius. Balancing the two will be quite a challenge and who better to do that than the players BEFORE the game is released.
#5 Multiplayer testing. With Demigod, Stardock, GPG, and Ironclad are working together on a new type of multiplayer platform that, in theory, will allow people to play online without opening ports when it's done. I.e. it just "works".
#4 Game Mechanic Tweaks. How many times have you bought a game only to have it have some feature or game mechanic that really throws off the game for you? You can help make sure Demigod is the ideal game for you BEFORE it gets released.
#3 Tournament Achievements. One of the things we'd like to put in are features that give kudos, awards, achievements to players who have played a long while that show up in game. The beta players will be the ones who help decide what those are and how they operate in game.
#2 Strategic Flow. In Demigod, the map will have other objectives to take than simply wiping out the enemy's base or what have you. We want to have a lot of depth in this department and who better to help mold this than players before the release?
#1 Richness of experience. If any of you have played Galactic Civilizations, you know that one of the reasons why the game has been so popular is that the game presents a rich experience in terms of dialog, back story, bits of history here and there that show up during the game. Beta testers will be major contributors in this regard just as they were in GalCiv.
We're only 4 weeks from the first beta (the compatibility beta). Things are about to get very interesting...
