Jon Shafer joins Stardock to work on elemental

The_J · Jan 05, 2011, 02:21 AM

After the lead designer of Civilization 5, Jon Shafer, has left Firaxis in December, new informations have reached us (thanks to Zanzibar, who mentioned it first): Stardock, the producers of Elemental and Galactic Civilizations, have hired Jon Shafer for the Elemental team.

From the news:

Quote:

In a major hiring coup for Stardock, the developer of the Galactic Civilizations series and more recently Elemental: War of Magic has revealed exclusively to Big Download that it has hired Jon Shafer to its team. Shafer recently left Firaxis Games where he served as the lead designer behind the studio's most recent game Civilization V. In his new role, Shafer will be helping with the design and increasing mod support for Elemental. At some point in the future he will also be leading his own team at Stardock on an unnanounced new stand alone game for the developer.

Please discuss with your fellow civfanatics in the related thread in the forum.

hennord · Jan 05, 2011, 05:40 AM

All the best wishes!

Hope he has a little more luck over there...

Broken Hawk · Jan 05, 2011, 06:27 AM

Ha!!!, I knew it. Hope he and the Frog don't drag down Kael.

Spoonwood · Jan 05, 2011, 07:32 AM

I believe this pic of Shafer is more recent. Just a guess.

Luckystrike77 · Jan 05, 2011, 09:24 AM

Great news. Stardock will have a superteam now. I have great respect for the Frog, Shafer and Kael as game makers/designers of turn based strategy. This is world class league. Oh holy cow, these three guys developing Galactic Civilizations 3 together would be dynamite!

GoodGame · Jan 05, 2011, 10:40 AM

Jon = Kael?

Have they ever been spotted in the same room at the same time?

OnmyojiOmn · Jan 05, 2011, 11:08 AM

So that's two ostensibly good designers who for whatever reason have left games in a state of neglected ruin. Good luck with that, Stardock.

spicytimothy · Jan 05, 2011, 01:20 PM

He's a cutie

Grathocke · Jan 05, 2011, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckystrike77

Great news. Stardock will have a superteam now. I have great respect for the Frog, Shafer and Kael as game makers/designers of turn based strategy. This is world class league. Oh holy cow, these three guys developing Galactic Civilizations 3 together would be dynamite!

And they support their games way better than the 3 and 4 week delays Civ5 has experienced. I have always loved GC. I have every version. This is, as you said, great news indeed.

TheWilltoAct · Jan 05, 2011, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grathocke

And they support their games way better than the 3 and 4 week delays Civ5 has experienced. I have always loved GC. I have every version. This is, as you said, great news indeed.

Stardock's out of the box performance has a poor track record, however.

"Out of the fry pan, into the fire."

Soda7777777 · Jan 05, 2011, 06:46 PM

They all go over to Stardock eventually. Better than working for EA games.

Geddy · Jan 05, 2011, 08:14 PM

How old is this guy? 15?

killmeplease · Jan 05, 2011, 09:59 PM

"At first, I was like..."

Jon Shafer Leaves Firaxis

"But then ..."

Jon Shafer joins Stardock to work on elemental

Kiwi_Mark_LFC · Jan 05, 2011, 10:14 PM

Well thats it for Galactic Civilisations then...another great game about to be ruined by one of the most untalented designers in the history of gaming!

TheWilltoAct · Jan 05, 2011, 10:28 PM

I was more like:

Thormodr · Jan 05, 2011, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwi_Mark_LFC

Well thats it for Galactic Civilisations then...another great game about to be ruined by one of the most untalented designers in the history of gaming!

I think you can assign a lot more of the blame to 2K Games then you can to Jon Shafer.
The 2K suits and their investors wanted a streamlined game for the mass market. I'm sure that wasn't Jon Shafer's vision for the game.

Jon Shafer will thrive at Stardock. Totally different situation from Firaxis.

AriochIV · Jan 06, 2011, 04:10 AM

All I have to say is,

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Stardock is a bad joke. Elemental is an embarrassing product. Shafer belongs at Stardock.

sbtop · Jan 06, 2011, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AriochIV

All I have to say is,

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Stardock is a bad joke. Elemental is an embarrassing product. Shafer belongs at Stardock.

I'd have to disagree with you there. Stardock are one of my favourate games companies for the simple reason that they give long term support to their games in terms of patches and free content updates.

I'm far from being a CiV fan, but like a lot of others am more inclined to believe that a lot of the "streamlined" gameplay was the result of Firaxis chasing big sales numbers rather than Shafer being useless at his job. Hell, even if he was useless at his job you should still be blaming Firaxis / 2K for giving it to him in the first place as you can't blame a young guy for grabbing an opportunity like he was given.

Tavenier · Jan 06, 2011, 07:17 AM

I always thought him to be relatively old, like Sid, or something. He looks like one of my students!

NukeAJS · Jan 06, 2011, 08:51 AM

Two weeks before the Kennedy assassination, there were anti-Castro pigeons seen drinking in bars in Dallas. Someone overheard them saying "coup! coup!"

Jan 05, 2011, 09:24 AM	#5
Luckystrike77 Prince Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Kingdom of Norway Posts: 407	Great news. Stardock will have a superteam now. I have great respect for the Frog, Shafer and Kael as game makers/designers of turn based strategy. This is world class league. Oh holy cow, these three guys developing Galactic Civilizations 3 together would be dynamite! __________________ --------------------------------------------------- *If CIV is not opium to the masses, at least it's opium to me....*

Jan 05, 2011, 10:40 AM	#6
GoodGame Red, White, & Blue, baby! Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 13,455	Jon = Kael? Have they ever been spotted in the same room at the same time? __________________ Ways to be banned from RL: Heart disease, Cancer, Strokes, Chronic Respiratory diseases, Accidents, Diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, the Flu, kidney disease, infection,... http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/cho...a/raiseHDL.htm Evrbody thot Ceiling Cat was stoopid, Warning: User cites from the Internet, or even just makes stuff up., so Ceiling Cat let thm do stoopid stuff dat they shuldnt do! NAH-məs-tay

Jan 05, 2011, 01:20 PM	#8
spicytimothy Warlord Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 240	He's a cutie __________________ Image is just your imagination. Reality is rarely revealed. My Photography @ Flickr

Jan 05, 2011, 06:46 PM	#11
Soda7777777 Warlord Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: United States Posts: 158	They all go over to Stardock eventually. Better than working for EA games. __________________ "If, by groupie, you mean someone who follows the band around and hangs out at all the gigs, then I don't really have any of those. Being in a band that does well is almost like being a girl. " - Paul Banks

Jan 05, 2011, 09:59 PM	#13
killmeplease Tsar Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Samara, Russia Posts: 1,557	"At first, I was like..." Jon Shafer Leaves Firaxis "But then ..." Jon Shafer joins Stardock to work on elemental __________________ CIV5 MODS: Emigration v4; Food Resources; Happines per population CIV4 MODS: Commanders, Defender withdrawal, Gold for disbanding, Occasional Promotions, Caveman mod launcher, Supply Lines (no mod, just an idea)

Jan 05, 2011, 05:40 AM	#2
hennord Chieftain Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Denmark Posts: 41	All the best wishes! Hope he has a little more luck over there...

Jan 05, 2011, 06:27 AM	#3
Broken Hawk Shepherd Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: On a hill Posts: 1,218	Ha!!!, I knew it. Hope he and the Frog don't drag down Kael.

Jan 05, 2011, 07:32 AM	#4
Spoonwood Grand Philosopher Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Ohio Posts: 4,442	I believe this pic of Shafer is more recent. Just a guess.

Jan 05, 2011, 11:08 AM	#7
OnmyojiOmn Prince Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 364	So that's two ostensibly good designers who for whatever reason have left games in a state of neglected ruin. Good luck with that, Stardock.

Jan 05, 2011, 08:14 PM	#12
Geddy Warlord Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 105	How old is this guy? 15?

Jan 05, 2011, 10:14 PM	#14
Kiwi_Mark_LFC Chieftain Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 15	Oh No! Well thats it for Galactic Civilisations then...another great game about to be ruined by one of the most untalented designers in the history of gaming!

Jan 05, 2011, 10:28 PM	#15
TheWilltoAct I am observe Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Exiled from Fribbulus Xax Posts: 1,873	Hmmm I was more like: Attached Thumbnails __________________ "Doesn't make much sense though. Banana science!! " Banana resources.!

Jan 06, 2011, 04:10 AM	#17
AriochIV HERETIC Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 2,651 Images: 19	All I have to say is, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stardock is a bad joke. Elemental is an embarrassing product. Shafer belongs at Stardock. __________________ Civilization V Analyst - Brave New World update

Jan 06, 2011, 07:17 AM	#19
Tavenier King Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 784	I always thought him to be relatively old, like Sid, or something. He looks like one of my students! __________________ XBox Live gamertag: Wim Tavenier

Jan 06, 2011, 08:51 AM	#20
NukeAJS Warlord Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 163	Two weeks before the Kennedy assassination, there were anti-Castro pigeons seen drinking in bars in Dallas. Someone overheard them saying "coup! coup!"

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