Congrats, Kael!

[NASAROG]

Yes... Totally listens. That's why he banned Dale, of all people, for 'being a troll'. In english: Posting criticism. Not criticism of him, not criticism of the team, but well-deserved criticism of game mechanics which were broken at the time.

Yes. Totally listens to people.

Honestly, that is the main reason I dislike Wardell. The guy soaks up any positive comments like a sponge, but flames, bans, or both, anyone who dares to be negative.

You are a champion of all that is right and just. Do you have any manual primer published on what it's like to be awesome like you?

 

[SuperJay]

Congrats! Until last year, I worked in the technical park a few doors down from Stardock, on the other side of Compuware Arena, and the area is real nice.

Walking distance to some quick eats and, if you drive to lunch, good restaurants downtown only 5 miles away (heck, if you're willing to drive to Ann Arbor Road or Haggerty Road, both within 10 miles, you have even more places to eat.) However convenient, I'd never suggest fast food since it's usually not good for you, the tradeoff for being right next door and already prepared ).

I used to walk to the park less than 1/4 mile north of there on my lunch break, with quite a few ball fields and a good fenced-in dog walking area in the back. (I worked there for years before discovering how big and well kept that park was. Not everyone likes it since there aren't many trees, but it is what it is.)

Hahaha, I just have to say - it's pretty bizarre reading about your own local area in a CFC post. That park is Plymouth Riverside Park, and yeah, it's really nice.

I don't work in Plymouth myself, but I'm about 15 minutes away down M-14 and I actually take Haggerty Rd to visit my cousins who live in Canton.

Kael, if you're looking for a pretty cool restaurant in the area, I highly recommend Gaucho (a Brazilian steakhouse): http://www.gauchosteakhouse.com/

 

[Abremms]

I'm a little confused as it appears this game has already been produced, and what happened to Scott Tykoski? I assume Kael will be responsible for what? patches?

the game has been released... but it was a truly disasterous release. Stardock has a reputation for continued support of thier games post-launch though. They have commited to taking the steaming pile of crap they released and turning it into the excelent game it has the potential to be, I'de imagine thats where Kael comes in.

they are putting out a 1.1 patch soon that will switch up alot of mechanics and should help alot, then they are starting work on a free expansion.

 

[Venereus]

Who will fix Civ V now?

 

[Jharii]

Hahaha, I just have to say - it's pretty bizarre reading about your own local area in a CFC post. That park is Plymouth Riverside Park, and yeah, it's really nice.

I don't work in Plymouth myself, but I'm about 15 minutes away down M-14 and I actually take Haggerty Rd to visit my cousins who live in Canton.

Kael, if you're looking for a pretty cool restaurant in the area, I highly recommend Gaucho (a Brazilian steakhouse): http://www.gauchosteakhouse.com/

I live in Walled Lake, myself, and work in Livonia (8 Mile and Haggerty). So yeah, I'm a hop, skip, and a spit away from Stardock as well.

Michiganders unite!

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

Bad news: who's going to take his place? He's kinda of a irreplaceable guy.

 

[SuperJay]

I live in Walled Lake, myself, and work in Livonia (8 Mile and Haggerty). So yeah, I'm a hop, skip, and a spit away from Stardock as well.

Michiganders unite!

Heck yeah! That's cool. I have family out that way too, in Warren and in Mt. Clemens, and my brother works in Novi. Have friends in Royal Oak and Livonia as well, so I'm out that way a lot. I live in the A2A myself, and work in Dexter.

SE Michigan is definitely going through some rough times, but it's cool to see so much tech industry and software development going on locally. And now that Kael's coming, it's just gotten even cooler.

 

[Kruelgor]

the game has been released... but it was a truly disasterous release. Stardock has a reputation for continued support of thier games post-launch though. They have commited to taking the steaming pile of crap they released and turning it into the excelent game it has the potential to be, I'de imagine thats where Kael comes in.

they are putting out a 1.1 patch soon that will switch up alot of mechanics and should help alot, then they are starting work on a free expansion.

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread by changing the subject, but did Elemental have open public beta testing? It's almost a standard requirement in this day and age to have open public beta testing. It can prevent so many problems before release.

Also, I believe that many of these game developers make the grave mistake of hiring a programmer to be the lead designer. It makes more sense to me to have a professional gamer to be the designer. The professional gamer should be the designer and the programmers should be his army to create a masterpiece.

 

[Abremms]

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread by changing the subject, but did Elemental have open public beta testing? It's almost a standard requirement in this day and age to have open public beta testing. It can prevent so many problems before release.

Also, I believe that many of these game developers make the grave mistake of hiring a programmer to be the lead designer. It makes more sense to me to have a professional gamer to be the designer. The professional gamer should be the designer and the programmers should be his army to create a masterpiece.

they did a beta, but it wasn't open. it was made up of some trusted testers from previous stardock games and people who pre-ordered the game. it also was far from what you would expect from a beta, it was focused on one aspect at a time, so the beta players never got to test the full game with all of its parts working, just little bits and pieces here and there. there was alot of feedback in the vien of "the game's not ready, please don't release it!", but it was ignored.

 

[Broken Hawk]

Who will fix Civ V now?

The same people who fixed Civ III?

 

[MisterBarca]

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread by changing the subject, but did Elemental have open public beta testing? It's almost a standard requirement in this day and age to have open public beta testing. It can prevent so many problems before release.

It did. And virtually every major problem was pointed out by the beta testers.

But Wardell essentially told the critics: "STFU, and go away, because you have never designed a game, and I have!"

 

[Venereus]

The same people who fixed Civ III?

IDK, I've seen so many post about how modders are the hope of Civ V I started to believe it.

 

[Abremms]

IDK, I've seen so many post about how modders are the hope of Civ V I started to believe it.

yeah, the loss of one modder is for sure going to completely ruin the modding community. we should all just give up hope of ever playing a deecent civV mod

j/k There are alot of great modders already doing work, and a bunch of people new to the modding scene learning the ropes, I am not at all worried about the modding community, Kael was a great modder and he will be missed, but he was far from the only modder.

 

[zomg]

Hmm.. definately have to keep an eye on Elemental war now.. I think Kael is a good choice, he has cred from ffh, and basically hes doing what he does best, modding (since the game is already released).

 

[Valkrionn]

I'm not sure if you're being funny, or actually think that CiV is not in Alpha?

I would certainly not have purchased CiV if I had have known it was going to be... well, craptastic.

Read below:

not to derail the thread, but V is in infinitely better shape than Elemental was at launch. V is playable, and its even fun for the vast majority of average players. Elemental was bad. like, real bad those few of us who could get it to run for more than an hour were greeted by a clusterfrak of broken mechanics, terrible balance and generally poor gameplay.

V has a few bugs and needs some tweaks, but don't compare it to Elemental.

also, its worth noting that Elemental now is a vastly different game than it was at release, the majority of the bugs are cleaned up, and the game is fun to play. with Kael onboard, i have no doubt it will only continue to improve.

Said it before I could.

Quite so!

By the way, now that Frogboy has Kael under wraps he got his old arrogance back in full. He even resumed asking critics to leave unless they have made a game of their own. All this to the usual cheers of the fanboys.

An important advice to Kael: If Frogboy invites you to a weekend retreat for employee bonding, then run like hell.
Unless you dig that sort of thing, of course.

...Aaaand that is why I dislike the man. I couldn't give a rat's ass if he THINKS like that (hell, there are some people that I have seriously wanted to call a ing moron ). The thing that rubs me the wrong way is when you actually come out and say it. Doubly so when the concerns they are posting about are entirely valid.

You are a champion of all that is right and just. Do you have any manual primer published on what it's like to be awesome like you?

....I'm not sure if this is a troll or not.

Who will fix Civ V now?

The rest of the modders, of course. Kael was a major modder, yes, but there are many more of us.

 

[AriochIV]

Aw, why Stardock? CEO Brad Wardell suggested that people who don't like playing shoddy, unfinished games should stay away from Stardock titles in the future, and I'm taking his advice.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Aw, why Stardock? CEO Brad Wardell suggested that people who don't like playing shoddy, unfinished games should stay away from Stardock titles in the future, and I'm taking his advice.

To be fair, a few days later he admitted that the shoddiness was his own fault. Um, I'm not sure what that says about him. Feels kinda like a panda. Cause he's pandering to every audience.

 

[SuperJay]

Interview with Kael and Brad Wardell here: http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/10/12/interview-we-get-stardocks-brad-wardell-and-derek-kael-paxto/

 

[andrewlt]

I wholeheartedly agree. The utter, wholesale crappiness of Elemental at launch was like nothing I've ever witnessed in games I've played (and I am an old fart who has bought every meaningful turn-based game since the dawn of civilization).

Also, while I am happy that Kael gets a crack at improving Elemental, I am pessimistic that he will actually be given a free rein, given Wardell's marked arrogance, self-absorption, and refusal to heed constructive criticism throughout the beta process.

Yeah. I was actually hoping for an FfH mod for Civ 5. It would be a lot easier to do that from scratch than fix Elemental. I essentially put Elemental on the back burner and maybe will try it again after I'm doing leveling most of my alts in Cataclysm.

I think I played the game for just one to two days and managed around 15-20 crashes. I think Kael needs at least a year to fix that. Oh well, I have 5 level 80s and want to create a new Worgen one.

 

[notque]

Yeah, I really want an FFH for Civ 5. But it seems most of the modders with knowledge of it are moving to a new project.

I wonder if I just started building parts of it if others wouldn't come along to help. IDK...