I haven't said otherwise... this is probably , in the technical sense, the perfect job for Kael. But the sucess of his work will probably depend far more of cleaning up the bad taste Elemental troubled release brought, that is not a dev task directly, than of his devs skills in coding the game and stuff for the game... In certain aspect , his sucess is a lot in the hands of the PR team :/
I don't think Elementals success is going to be PR and marketing driven. Kaels task is to realize, and expand upon, Brads existing vision for the game. And Kaels success will be built upon the talented work that Brad Wardell and the Elemental Team has already brought to the game. The potential for the game is obvious as stated by reviewers and users alike. Look past the construction debris and see what they have been building!
The brand new gaming engine for which Elemental is built upon needs fine tuning. At this point it has already received significant overhaul with the majority of the system issues having been resolved. Game flavor needs additional fleshing out. And core mechanics are in need of increased depth. But the groundwork for the game is already well established. It may be hard for some to see, but it is there. Don't underestimate the potential of what has already been done.
Despite Kaels creative ability, the most powerful tool he brings to the shop is skills and experience towards project and people management. Stardocks CEO was in distracted position to run a multi-million dollar software development and publishing company, code the AI, manage the workforce, and more. Kael is an experienced and talented project manager who is placed in a
dedicated role. This is going to make a big difference. Now, Kael clearly has design and creative skills which will also be an enormous asset to the games continued development. Those creation skills are going to add much to what already exists. But it is still his project management skills, applied in a dedicated role, which is the real money here.
Once complete, and the game will be complete, word will spread virally. The Fall From Heaven mod had no marketing drive. It's success and popularity was viral. Word of its greatness spread from one gamer to another. Culminating in some impressive media awards and industry recognition. So to will be Elementals success. Once something has gone viral it becomes news. Press will begin picking up on it here and there. A few more will follow and there will be a brief moment in time when Elemental gets the constructive exposure it was eventually meant to have. Elementals success will be based on people digging the game to tell others. So Stardock and Kaels job is all about making the game great. They are past the marketing spin stage. And Stardock doesn't seem to put much stock in overblown campaigns anyhow. Which suits me fine! I put more stock in what my peers have to say than some sales motivated marketing rep anyhow. I think the trend in press reviews and publisher hype is turning people back to peer reviews anyhow. We'll see. But one thing I am certain of, an Elemental success depends upon people digging the game. It has nothing to do with PR and marketing.
