I buy elemental to get away from the crap that is Civ V only to have the lead designer of that crapfest work on elemental. Atleast we know elemental wont require steam

To Frogboy: 

I personally moved from civ5 to Elemental, even with the bad release reports, because of the design decisions among other things.

To me he is one of many who destroyed civ .. and now he comes here

Sidenote: I guess since i can't play elemental without it CTD i shouldn't be as annoyed by this as i am but wtf man.

**Edited to remove my silly arse hyperbole caused by my initial ire to this news.

To those already whining:

https://forums.elementalgame.com/403506/page/1/#2859941

Oh hey, turns out Schafer was hired to do what he's actually good at! How about that, eh?

Games are rarely the result of one person.  And hiring Jon Schafer to be an expert moddability-enabler is not entirely out of the ball park.  After all, there is no doubting he is an expert modder, so he may be able to bring something to Elemental modding.  I think it's important to note he is not being hired to be a designer.

Best regards,
Steven.

LEAD DESIGNER.. is the main visionary of the game...  He was the one preaching in interviews about the BETTER AI.. the greatness of 1UPT etc etc. He put his face and reputation on the line with CIV V so he can live with mine anyone elses response to it.

Futher more when he decided to address anyone about the issues the community brought up did he post it to 2k forums? NO. Did he post it to Civ fanatics ? no. He posted it on mofo QT3. Shows you what kind of elitist he is(or maybe he was just trying to kiss up to tom chick the only honest reviewer of Civ V). Which really irks me because part of the reason i decided to buy elemental was the conversations between stardock and the customers.. and this arse gets rewarded with a fat contract after totally ignoring the fan base.

I was more than happy to post my comments and go about my business but if you really wanna open this can of worms.

The other reason i bought elemental was civ V sucked because of its DESIGN.

His vision was 1UPT (being a fan of panzer general and all).. which lead to just about every other ISSUE in civ V from my perspective. The AI cannot handle a 1upt design on a world map without more  design time than ANY company is willing to put into it. If you have a vision you need to make sure that its even plausible with your given resources.. and his whole vision, although in concept is good.. was simply unrealistic.

He decided "hey lets have the AI play like a player instead of a ruler". My other huge complaint about civ V the psycho diplomacy. So yes.. as far as i am concerned HE IS THE RUIN OF CIV V.

The only major complaint i have about Civ V that wasn't his fault is the steam requirement. That I can blame on 2k.

I can nerd rage about civ V all day long. I would have preferred to leave it as it was but you insisted on playing the "oh it wasn't his fault" BS. If he's not responsible then he shouldn't be putting lead designer of Civ V on his resume.

Now does that mean he won't do a fabulous job at his position at stardock? no. But it does mean to me and others his arrival at stardock is not seen as a good thing.  Simply because he ruined my favorite franchise as far as i'm concerned. Not to mention he negative view many people have of him is now tainting elemental as well.

Or look at it from this angle: he's not in charge of Elemental the way he was in charge of Civ5.

Or look at it from this angle: Elemental needs all the experienced game developers it can get.

Or look at it from this angle: If the game improves you can still hate him because he's just one person on a team of people working to make Elemental better.

the BIG DESIGN DECISIONS HE MADE RUINED THE GAME FOR ME HOW IS THAT MOOT? Are you claiming that 1UPT wasn't his idea.. seriously??.

Jon Shafer:"I'm certain you're familiar with Panzer General? it was actually the first game that I ever bought, and it's something that stuck with me and I'm a big fan of that game. I felt the combat system in it was a really good system that they had. It wasn't until later that I then found Civilization and then started playing that. One of the things that I'd always wanted to do was create a game that had the scope of Civilization but the combat mechanics of Panzer General, so that was kind of the inspiration behind what we ended up with in Civ V. We started off with something very similar to Panzer General, but it changed and evolved over time as we worked out what the details were. The general thinking was though that what was in Panzer General was a good start and we can expand from there."

You ignored the majority of my post then went into a fallacy about majorities. I never stated He had absolute control of everything that was put into civ V.. simply that he had enough control to ruin it for me.

That being said.. the new position at stardock may be more suitable for him.. however it doesn't make me hugely happy to have the guy whom was lead designer on the latest iteration of my favorite franchise to join the team for the game i bought in response to my displeasure with the game he had designed.

Further more.. if the lead designer isnt.. the team leader then why is he called the LEAD designer. I know when i'm running a crew everything that crew does or doesn't do falls on me so how is it any different for a lead designer? I'll try that and see if it flies "Oh corporate said I had to finish those reports and i didn't have time so I just fudged the numbers its not my fault"

Please explain why the LEAD DESIGNER.. isn't responsible for  the game by your theory. I mean what according to you he just mops the bathrooms and gets everyone coffee so its not his fault?

Edit: Honestly this would have been over after my first post if people wouldn't have kept questioning how i can hold a lead designer responsible for the game him and his team produces. I mean seriously are you people kidding me..a lead designer isn't responsible for the game??

I mean really.. it was simply. I am displeased with this fact. the end. yet you guys feel the need to turn this into some kind of debate.

And regardless of my displeasure.. welcome jon. I hope your alot happier at stardock and conversing with the fans.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.

I'm really happy that Stardock (and Elemental) have got this great pool of talent now. Jon, I guess you'll be reading this, so welcome aboard.

As far as the Civ5 vs Elemental debate is concerned, I like playing CivV a lot. Love the hexes and the one unit per hex. I can understand the angst of people who have been purists about the Civ series but I'm not in that camp. The only reason I had Civ4 installed was to play Fall from Heaven.

Touche

That's just hilarious.

Now this has replayability written all over it!

Shush before they start streamlining user feedback

I have never once complained about Elemental despite its many problems, but this announcement has to be an April Fools joke.

Civ 5 is an unplayable mess.  Jon Shafer is primarily responsible for its failure.

He and all those involved with Civ 5 have not even had the balls to admit that there might be problems with the game.

Then he comes here and his first post is definitely asinine and borderline insulting to everyone who has wasted at least $100 on Elemental and Civ 5.

I don't find it funny in the least.

Perhaps a better first post would have been a heartfelt apology for ruining the greatest, most successful franchise in the history of computer gaming this side of WoW, along with an assurance from everyone here at Stardock that he will definitely not be allowed to make any decisions about the future of Elemental.

All I have seen from him is some moderately successful features in an add-on to an add-on to a rock solid game.

Perhaps it is hard for a 25 year old to appreciate just how lucky he is to even have a job in the current economy.

There are plenty of out of work people in America that have lost their jobs even though performing that job well.

Jon failed miserably at his last job.  Most people that fail that badly don't get a second chance so soon, if at all.