Stardock/GPG relationship

from Demigod Forums

I'm confused with the relationship here. I was under the impression that GPG was the developer and stardock the publisher. However the publisher and employees run the forum, the multiplayer system, and patch the game. So what does GPG do? Why aren't GPG developers on these board releasing patches and updating the demigod community? I'm really lost as to who's in charge of support to the game. I can understand multiplayer connectively issues being addressed by stardock but after that? Who decides future patches and content? It looks as though the "developer" GPG is just some name on the box rather than a developer that has much input regarding the game especially when you travel over to their web domain only to find zero information and to be redirected to this stardock forum.

 

 

demigod
8,502 views 16 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

Stardock is publish and gpg is the developer.  you are right.  You hear more from stardock because you are on the stardock forums and gpg are just more quiet like all other game companies.

Stardock does the multiplayer part, distribute through impulse which happens to be own by stardock and the forums.   Sorta like Microsoft does multiplayer part for Xbox 360 live and capcom is publisher for Street fighter 2. 

 

Or in Dawn of War2, relic is developer, thq is publisher, microsoft does the multiplayer part.

 

Gpg is the developer, they create the engine, 8 demigods, maps, game modes, sounds, menu, etc.  gpg owns demigod so gpg can create demigod2 and have nothing related with Stardock in it.

 

GPG decides the future content like which demigods, maps, and game mode to put in.   Stardock decides the multiplayer part content like group joins, clans, statistics.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Blitz64, reply 1
Stardock is publish and gpg is the developer.  you are right.  You hear more from stardock because you are on the stardock forums and gpg are just more quiet like all other game companies.

Stardock does the multiplayer part, distribute through impulse which happens to be own by stardock and the forums.   Sorta like Microsoft does multiplayer part for Xbox 360 live and capcom is publisher for Street fighter 2. 

 

Or in Dawn of War2, relic is developer, thq is publisher, microsoft does the multiplayer part.

 

Gpg is the developer, they create the engine, 8 demigods, maps, game modes, sounds, menu, etc.  gpg owns demigod so gpg can create demigod2 and have nothing related with Stardock in it.

 

GPG decides the future content like which demigods, maps, and game mode to put in.   Stardock decides the multiplayer part content like group joins, clans, statistics.
End of Blitz64's quote

 

basicaly all he said is true  but i doubt the companies will split they  are 2  underdog companies making brilliant games with out the huge  backing like other games

which is good news because everyone like ths underdogand they do a pretty good job

dow 2 had a huge backing on it and it still cock ups some times and that has been out a while

so if gpg and sd take less time to fix more problems  then who can bitch

 

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

GPG decides the future content like which demigods, maps, and game mode to put in.   Stardock decides the multiplayer part content like group joins, clans, statistics.
End of quote

Why is this the official forums then? how is GPG going to communicate to customers or address customer concerns/wants regarding future content if they aren't involved in the process? This setup seems pretty absurd especially with all the talk of so many other topics that are out of the realm of stardock's hands. Considering this game is entirely based around multiplayer having awful community relations with the playerbase isn't helping. Maybe I'm just spoiled by developers that address player concerns and keep them in the loop but this current setup has poor support written all over it and by poor support I mean nothing regarding stardock's role at all.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Shock0311, reply 3

GPG decides the future content like which demigods, maps, and game mode to put in.   Stardock decides the multiplayer part content like group joins, clans, statistics.


Why is this the official forums then? how is GPG going to communicate to customers or address customer concerns/wants regarding future content if they aren't involved in the process?

This setup seems pretty absurd especially with all the talk of so many other topics that are out of the realm of stardock's hands.

Considering this game is entirely based around multiplayer having awful community relations with the playerbase isn't helping.

Maybe I'm just spoiled by developers that address player concerns and keep them in the loop but this current setup has poor support written all over it and by poor support I mean nothing regarding stardock's role at all.

End of Shock0311's quote

 

un block it a bit  like that so people dont go who cares

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

GPG is the developer.  Developers Develop.  Stardock is the publisher...

Publishers deal with the marketing, the community, effectively the public face of the game...  It makes sense for the official forums to be looked after by the people responsible for managing the community.

GPG is unlikely to announce anything directly to the customers, their announcements are most likely going to come through Stardock.  Similarly GPG isn't likely to take any notice of us end users at all, their feedback will all come through their publisher who can sift out the gallons of sewage to find the few nuggets of value.

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

I'll chip in what I think is the case here. I believe you're misunderstanding what's going on.

As stated, Stardock is the publisher, and GPG's the developer. Right now Stardock's acting as the correspondent/spokesperson on behalf of both GPG and itself. The patches are developed as a joint effort between Stardock and GPG. Feedback from the community are passed on to GPG by either company's staff reading the forums here. I've seen both Stardock and GPG staff post on these forums myself.

Essentially, feedback is currently flowing both ways rather healthily. Just because Frogboy from Stardock is making the Developer Journals doesn't mean GPG's quiet and not listening. He's simply representing both parties as a central point of contact. Also, I think it's rather intuitive that the publisher's forum be the "official" one since it's the publisher's role to do the public relations.

 

Similarly GPG isn't likely to take any notice of us end users at all
End of quote

I believe they are taking notice of end users very well. As I've mentioned, their staff post on the forums when need be and our feedback is fed back to them through Stardock. I don't know about you, but that's more than I can ask for. Besides, I'd rather the GPG staff spend their time more efficiently than constantly browsing and posting on the forums. However, it's not hard to imagine that they do read back on the forums if Stardock informs them of some posts of importance.

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Playdoh, reply 6
I'll chip in what I think is the case here. I believe you're misunderstanding what's going on.

As stated, Stardock is the publisher, and GPG's the developer. Right now Stardock's acting as the correspondent/spokesperson on behalf of both GPG and itself. The patches are developed as a joint effort between Stardock and GPG. Feedback from the community are passed on to GPG by either company's staff reading the forums here. I've seen both Stardock and GPG staff post on these forums myself.

Essentially, feedback is currently flowing both ways rather healthily. Just because Frogboy from Stardock is making the Developer Journals doesn't mean GPG's quiet and not listening. He's simply representing both parties as a central point of contact. Also, I think it's rather intuitive that the publisher's forum be the "official" one since it's the publisher's role to do the public relations.
End of Playdoh's quote

i agree i have seen gpg and sd members here they read the posts that catch there eye and that are popular

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting TheTrav, reply 5

Publishers deal with the marketing, the community, effectively the public face of the game...  It makes sense for the official forums to be looked after by the people responsible for managing the community.

End of TheTrav's quote

No insult, but I am used to talking to developers on a game's forum, and not the publisher's people. It is a bit different here as Stardock does the MP (which is the main issue right now), but still not usual.

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

Why do you care if it is "usual" or not?

Reply #10 from Demigod Forums Top

Because he made it sound like it is normal this way.

Why do you care if I care? O:)   See where this is going?

Reply #11 from Demigod Forums Top

The GPG guys are reading the forums, but are focusing their efforts on the game right now. Servo has posted a few times but mostly they're leaving it to our guys (such as me) who aren't directly involved in the work going on, so it doesn't get slowed down.

Reply #13 from Demigod Forums Top

^^ But it's not like the devs are any more active there.  SD is still doing public relations.

Reply #14 from Demigod Forums Top

yh  the devs and most of sd  are busy fixing bugs after that then it will  be good

Reply #15 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting kryo, reply 11
The GPG guys are reading the forums, but are focusing their efforts on the game right now. Servo has posted a few times but mostly they're leaving it to our guys (such as me) who aren't directly involved in the work going on, so it doesn't get slowed down.
End of kryo's quote

Kryo, Zargon, and Frogboy all do a fantastic job of funneling information for us both ways. On average they are able to devote more time to intensely watching their forums and IRC, and especially for time-critical testing or communication, more often than not, we choose to have them post on our behalf than to do it ourselves here, because they are diligent shepherds.

We do have forums of our own, as has been pointed out above, and we have some very insightful SupCom/TA people who help us isolate complex scripting and engine bugs. BUT we point our fans here for general Demigod communication because neither we nor Stardock want to present a multi-headed Hydra to the average user, as the above mentioned Cerberus is quite sufficient for the task.

The unusual part of the relationship, from our past experience is that Stardock is the active developer for the internet-based multiplayer matchmaking component, whereas on other GPG projects we either handled that in-house (GPGNet), or subcontracted externally (Zone, GameSpy, etc.). Because that is getting the lion's share of the attention right now, we need to let Stardock handle that relationship.

I hope that helps answer the question.

- Servo

Reply #16 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting GPG-Servo, reply 15

Quoting kryo, reply 11The GPG guys are reading the forums, but are focusing their efforts on the game right now. Servo has posted a few times but mostly they're leaving it to our guys (such as me) who aren't directly involved in the work going on, so it doesn't get slowed down.

Kryo, Zargon, and Frogboy all do a fantastic job of funneling information for us both ways. On average they are able to devote more time to intensely watching their forums and IRC, and especially for time-critical testing or communication, more often than not, we choose to have them post on our behalf than to do it ourselves here, because they are diligent shepherds.

We do have forums of our own, as has been pointed out above, and we have some very insightful SupCom/TA people who help us isolate complex scripting and engine bugs. BUT we point our fans here for general Demigod communication because neither we nor Stardock want to present a multi-headed Hydra to the average user, as the above mentioned Cerberus is quite sufficient for the task.

The unusual part of the relationship, from our past experience is that Stardock is the active developer for the internet-based multiplayer matchmaking component, whereas on other GPG projects we either handled that in-house (GPGNet), or subcontracted externally (Zone, GameSpy, etc.). Because that is getting the lion's share of the attention right now, we need to let Stardock handle that relationship.

I hope that helps answer the question.

- Servo
End of GPG-Servo's quote

it awnsers most of them but there is a bug  well i think it is a bug it was that  my dude slowed to not moving by a  mark of betrayer  mines and maim  my demis speeds was droped  so i had 0 speed