Stardock's new game -- Elemental: War of Magic

[Martok]

On a lighter note, Brad posted the following this evening as he and his family were getting ready to go on vacation for a few days:

So here I am, minding my own business in my home computer room working on AI stuff for a future Elemental update when my wife comes in.


“Why aren’t you packed?” she asks.

“I’m packed,” I say, referring to my duffle bag with my iPad, laptop, and various computer books.

"We’re supposed to be leaving and all you have are gadgets and work books.”

“They’re not all work books.”

“Oh?” she asks. “Which of these isn’t?”

“Well, see ‘The Halls Below’, that’s not a computer book.” I respond.

“Isn’t a Penny Arcade book?” she demands.

“Well, sure, but it’s not a computer book.” I try to assure her.

“You’ve spent all afternoon and this evening on the computer instead of packing clothes, tooth brush, swimsuit, and other real people stuff?” she asks.

“Well, look, something came up.”

“Oh, tell me, husband.” she says.

“Well look at this, I can assassinate the AI’s sovereign with just a regular army.”

“So?”

This is where I, understandably, became shocked.

“So? So?!” I exclaim. “These are Channelers. Imbued by the Destiny to rebuild the world and I wiped one out with a bunch of guys with Lord hammers while my sovereignw as out on a quest. That’s an outrage.”

“Well there’s nothing you can do about that right now.”

“Ah, but I can! I wrote a function AIUnit::EvaluateAreaThreat(x,y,radius)! The guys have all these cool vectors where I can quickly determine what’s in an area quickly. It’s amazing stuff that I can use to make the AI wipe the floor with these bloody humans.” I explain.

“Vectors are just glorified arrays anyway,” my wife (CS major) says. “Besides, we are supposed to leave and we’re missing out on a beautiful full moon.”

“I saw it, you can tell it’s fake.”

“What? Fake? What are you talking about?” My wife says.

“It’s an uncanny valley thing. I saw the moon earlier. They rendered it wrong. There’s clearly two light sources.”

“ARE YOU INSANE? Who is ‘they’?” my wife demands.

“I dunno who exactly. I don’t want to get into a blame game here. The model seems right, I think it’s just a lighting issue.”

“GET. OFF. THE. COMPUTER. NOW.”


See you guys in a week or so.

Hee.


Whatever state the game is in currently, I take comfort in the fact that Brad was working on the game even during his supposed downtime....and was willing to risk the wrath of his wife in the process. Now that's stupidity dedication!

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

On a lighter note, Brad posted the following this evening as he and his family were getting ready to go on vacation for a few days:

Hee.

Whatever state the game is in currently, I take comfort in the fact that Brad was working on the game even during his supposed downtime....and was willing to risk the wrath of his wife in the process. Now that's stupidity dedication!

I may be a sucker for things like that (I would, for instance, be willing to kill and be killed for Valve) but that erased most of my (second hand) ill will towards the guy.

[Martok]

I may be a sucker for things like that (I would, for instance, be willing to kill and be killed for Valve) but that erased most of my (second hand) ill will towards the guy.

Yeah, Brad definitely has this....way about him. It's not always a good thing -- some of his recent comments are a testament to that -- but overall, I think it's an asset far more often than not.

He comes off as just a regular guy, flaws and all. He doesn't have any "a God am I" complex that some developers seem to have , and I think it's one of the big reasons I'm such a supporter of Stardock. He truly views himself as a gamer, and seems to identify with the customers at least as much as -- if not more than -- the "Industry" (if that makes any sense). Seriously, how many game company CEO's do we know of that post in the forums and hang out with the fans on a regular basis?

I have heard nothing at all about my copy, I am quite disappointed.

Yeah, my copy didn't arrive today either. Apparently they just shipped out on Tuesday, via express mail, and should arrive at their destinations within 3 days or thereabouts.

Of course, since you live across the Pond (correct?), I'm guessing your copy might take a little longer. On the other hand, I've no idea what the shipping time from the States to the UK is, so probably best not to quote me on that.

[Xiahou]

I got my Limited Edition today.

"Destiny's Embers" came in today too. Yeah, I got the book..... does that make me a fanboy?

If the AI's any good at all, I'm probably going to be in trouble once I meet one of the challenging level ones.

This was prophetic. Pariden has already wiped out one of my fellow empires and I just made contact with them. I tried to do some trading to build up some good will, but they declared war on me after a few turns. I'm in no condition to fight them, but so far they haven't showed much interest in actually destroying me either.

Let's hope they exhibit the same kind of neglect in conquering my empire that I did in growing it.

[Beskar]

I have trouble with scrolling across the map, which is awkward. I have to "guess" the direction it is, etc.

[Crandaeolon]

I asked for a refund and got it, very nice of them. I'll probably give the game another look once it has matured a bit, but right now the game is way too rough and unpolished.

[Xiahou]

I have trouble with scrolling across the map, which is awkward. I have to "guess" the direction it is, etc.

Can you use map text to orient yourself? (is it right side up, sideways, ect)

[Beskar]

I put a couple of squads on "auto-explore" and well, I am not sure where they are in relation to my town...