Little dissapointed with the devs

Cari has been ill for a while so there has been no recent update. I think it is just two or three devs working on TA now and yes, things do seem to have nearly ground to a halt on the 'keeping the people with the money informed' front. However i am sure they are working like beavers behind the scenes.. Right?

(sorry guys i am a huge fan of yours but with no communications on the ETA for the full release or keeping up with the beta release schedule you talked about i can only guess you guys are working hard!)

D

Actually in regards to editors, I believe that with the Map Editor release came with the condition that unless the beta was leaked onto bittorrent more editors would be released. Of course the beta was leaked onto bittorrent, so that is a possible explanation for the lack of editors in the recent betas.

However there has been no official confirmation on this so I'm not entirely sure - though the sudden increase in piracy articles made by Stardock staff does seem to indicate that they are riled by it somewhat

I must admit though that it would be nice to hear a little more info in regards to the release date, but that's about it really.

i was talking to Cari (CariElf) before and she told me that the rest of the editors may be out when the game is initially released. She's not 100% sure though.

-Dave

Seems to be more of an 'If' than a when at the moment



Is that just me or does that really sound like a cop-out? If the editor finds its way onto a torrent site we wont release any more editors! For (insert chosen deity here) sake, of course it will! 99% of games released find there way onto a torrent site, so even posting that was strange.

Excuse my annoyance but i have been around here since the old GC1 days and recently find myself wondering what happened to the fantastic customer relations Stardock used to have. Never would they have let their members actually wonder what was happening about a game they were working on. Damn it was hard to shut Brad up about it most of the time Now however there seems to be a lack of communication and most of us here know nothing and sit here wondering if and when we will get an update, verbally or game wise.

I think they're behind the curve on this one. I think most of us feel it would be better to release the game when it's done than to release it early and see big changes post-release. That said, things have going slow with the beta releases so I doubt we're even going to see a March release on this one. I was hoping to see it this month, but if it takes longer, it takes longer. Though, it would be nice to know one way or the other. I'm not particularly displeased about it and I've already paid my nickel.

I thought it was supposed to be released mid January and then "things (insert reasons here)" got in the way as life is... an obstacle course at times. It would be nice to hear some news on the goings ons of TA but I somehow thing they're working extra hard to surprise us or at least I know many of us would hope so. I just wish the Campaign worked in TA (it keeps shutting down/exiting the game etc) because I kinda passed a few missions in the game taking me some time and don't really want to start over and would assume the save games are incompatible with the other games (DL/DA).

There's been a lot of stuff going on. Anyone who hasn't been out sick has been extremely busy, AFAIK. And I do believe we're hoping for a TA beta this week.

if frogboy is reading this please give us an update on the status of the game and inform us if there will be a delay in getting it out. I would like to see it out soon but waiting won't be any trouble.

If you guys think these delays are bad, be a huge fan of the upcomming Star Craft 2...

i cant wait for starcraft 2....been waiting since the 90's! it's gonna be great!!

-Dave

Its not the delays that overly concern me, more the total lack of communication regularly that worries me.
As Kryo says everyone has been busy but doing what? It still appears to me at least that there are fewer and fewer people working on TA. Surely, if everyone worked together they could get the game finished quickly. It was apparent that all the staff assisted in the release of Sins even stopping working on other projects, such as TA, to do so. So why not pool resources and get this release finished?

At the rate we are going, we will be lucky to see a finished release before the summer!

I know stardock is also busy working on sins of a solar empire, and communication there is great atm, like it was when galciv 2 just got released.

I'd like to know when the game is supposed to be released.
And i sure hope your not thinking about NOT releasing those editors.
I'd like to have the editors when the game is finally released.

Keep working until its finished. Don't release it incomplete. Some of us have enough trouble downloading patches, never mind extra features that should have been in from the beginning.

Yeah, I agree that it shouldn't be released until it is finished.

Stardock, for all of their success, is still a rather small company. And Frogboy takes a lot on his shoulders. Looking at his posts over the last few weeks across all sites, it is pretty clear that he is currently focused on Sins. That makes sense, it is a new game for them, and they want to get out of the gate strong with that project.

I'm sure we will get TA eventually, and probably even a new beta before the 1.4 patch to Sins.

While it can be frustrating feeling like you are sitting in the dark, this is just one of the expected side effects of dealing with a small developer. It comes part and parcel with the greater customer service they are also able to provide.

~ Wyndstar

This is disappoints me too. I feel that this game is not given the attention it deserves by the devs right now. Of course, I could be wrong and everything runs along the way it should, but it certainly doesn't seem that way. Let's hope for more news soon!

It does make the original poll of "December or January?" a moot point now.

I personally think it's a bit harsh to express disappointment with the devs however. By Stardock standards, communication has been lacking recently, but they are still way above the curve of most other devs out there. Obviously with Brad sick previously, and now Cari, that has delayed things. Seems like SOASE has turned out way more popular than anticipated too, so I'm sure that would be taking lots of Brad's attention.

At the end of the day, we are not privy to the goings on at Stardock, so there could be any number of reasons. I am sure there will be an update of what is happening when Brad is good and ready. To make suggestions such as dragging staff off of up and coming releases (ie the new not MOM fantasy game) to complete the finishing touches of an expansion pack is basically saying that we the consumer can manage Stardock better than the actual CEO of the company, which is bordering on insulting to be honest.

well that's a bit of good news at least
Thanks for the update Kyro.

Indeed!

The game is great,the company is great,i like the game being complete when released, BUT there is a big difference in making preorder available in august with release date in november then moving it in christmas,then on the grounds of a poll in january, then to add more content in end of march, and then not be able to answer the question with certainty about the release date.Someone paying in August and promised to have full content in November is surely pissed off,and don't tell me about the majority,polls,etc people's hard earned money(even if it's just 25$) do not adhere to majority laws,you preorder with the prospect to play full content(you know in this case campaign,metaverse)as was advertised at a given period with a small offset,and for sure 5 months offset isn't exactly small.

So, what you're saying is that they shouldn't offer preorders.

I don't mind Stardock taking their time, I appreciate what they've done, and I respect the busy-ness of everyone, but I have to admit that communication has not been up to the usual Stardock standard.

At least you can get what Stardock has done so far- so it's all good. That is definitely the best business decision (the open betas) SD has done with GC2.

I preordered in October scince and yes i am pissed of the lack of updates but the fact because for the past few months Stardock had been distracted by Sins of a Solar Empire, i mean come on I know that it sounds but posting updates for Sins should go on sins of a Solar Empire.com not Galciv2.com. Sorry to be rude:( 

No, i am just saying that you have to be able to do what you advertise and getting funds of,i wouldn't have a complaint if they advertised in august preorder with the open beta system and open release date.I am not tolerant to pushing back release date again and again especially when i have paid for full content an advertised period of time.

Well met me first say that I wholeheartedly apologize to anyone who is disappointed in the release date being pushed back.

In our defense, I want to point out that the release date pushes aren't because we are running behind schedule but because we keep adding new features to the game that weren't in the original design.

Essentially, once we realized we weren't going to be doing any more expansion packs after this one, we decided we wanted to make sure Twilight was particularly spectacular.  And that has meant really combing through things.

We definitely should be participating more on the forums but as some have pointed out, Cari's been ill and I too have been out sick (first time I've had to take sick days since the 1990s). 

We have been working on the game and today we will have a new beta going up and this weekend I'll be putting in a lot of time on the computer AI and balancing of each race.  But we think the end result is goign to be a lot better game than any of us had anticipated when we first started.

 

Sigh on the no new expansions, this means the one thing I wanted fixed/changed won't happen now.