The sausage factory of game design

Where to start?

from Stardock Forums

They say the difference between a successful game company and one that is out of business is time.  At least, that's what the joke in the game industry is.

And there's a lot to be said for that.  There are a lot of problems in game development, particularly when doing a new game.  For example - turn over.

While developing Galactic Civilizations II, we had a couple people leave during the course of the project. It was all amicable, but you get big enough, turn over becomes a percentage.  Because we were so tight on time, we ended up taking people off Society and putting them onto GalCiv II.

So then GalCiv II gets done and we're left with one game team. So what can one do?

Paul K., who was our lead developer on Society, has also left in the past year.  When you have a company of 40 people, a few people are going to leave each year.  But some developers are not well equipped to handle the loss of even one person. 

At Stardock, our development strategy revolved around having a few incredibly good developers who are equipped with a lot of inhouse technology that allows one developer to do the work of many. So when we lose one developer, it is really tough.

So what this means is that we're hiring up people. But it's slow going finding the right people, particularly since we're based in Michigan which isn't a tech hub (it's a great place to live and work but it's not like say Dallas where there's a bunch of game studios coming and going).

So that's one of the things that's slowed down Society.  The other thing is the fact that GalCiv II has done not just a bit better than we thought but massively better.  Which begs the question of which projects should resources go to?

Stardock has on its plate 4 game projects:

  1. Galactic Civilizatiosn and future expansions.
  2. The Political Machine 2008
  3. A fantasy strategy game
  4. and Society

The Political Machine is a smaller project so that will essentailly be done by the GalCiv team.

But if we have a second dev team, which should it be? a fantasy strategy game or Society?

It wouldn't be the end of Society, it would just mean that it's developmetn would be slower (i.e. a later release date).  We are definitely going to do Society. The question is how fast we can develop it.

7,352 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
It really depends on what you mean by "fantasy strategy" game. I imagine that a standalone game would be a better project for a smaller development team to tackle than an MMORPG.

Fantasy strategy games can be fun, but most really really suck. If you are planning on making a Lords of Magic type snorefest then don't even bother.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Well in reality space strategy and fantasy strategy aren't that different from each other. Of course if you are doing fantasy plz broaden the races. Most fantasy games have the standard Elf, human, ork?goblin, undead, dwarve, dragon, you get the picture, races. While those are good they should be joined by other,more unique races. But overall I think society would do better than a fantasy game. Society is a unique concept that will attract a lot of attention as it gets closer to release. If you thought GC2 went beyond your expectations, then the acclaim that society will generate will leave you standing there wondering why you didnt do it first.
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Where do I send my resume? I've got three (including myself) aspiring game developers sitting here in Alaska lookin to relocate. We've over 30+ years general development with a focus on web and GIS. We've got mad skills commin out our ears. You need us.

-Dan
ghostinak@gmail.com
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
https://www.stardock.com/jobs.asp

Cheers Stadock lists their contact information at the bottom of the page.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
I'd focus on Socity, even the best fantasy stratagy can be replaced with another Fantasy Stratagy, there are some out their.

On the other hand Socity is a Totally unique game, and should be done ASAP!
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Well, personally, free always sells better. And if marketed right (totalgaming.net, gamespot.com, wincustomize.com, etc) im sure it would be a big hit very fast. I'd much rather see this, though my opinion is a bit biased. Though, i would defintely settle with a beta.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Who knows maybe you will get more devs since people in Michigan are really looking for jobs at the moment some of them with a good tech background who got fired by all the small bussiness that went bankrupt.