[GCiv] Hola! Introductions

[Draginol]

Greetings all. I don't know if any of you know me but my real name is Brad Wardell. I work at Stardock and am the designer and AI developer of Galactic Civilizations II.

So if you have any questions, I'm here.

 

[Thunderfall]

Welcome to the new forum, Brad!

I assumed you've already read GameSpot's review: 9.0/10!
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/galacticcivilizations2/review.html

Very impressive and congrats!

 

[Draginol]

Thanks.

Interesting factoid about that Gamespot review:

Gamespot has not given a PC game a 9.0 or better score since October of 2005 -- when it gave Civilization 4 a > 9 score.

 

[MjM]

Wow! The designer at our measley little subforum!

Thanks for making such a great sequel to a great game.

 

[ainwood]

Hi Brad!

Got my copy, and I'll write-up my first impressions / review over the weekend.

 

[Rik Meleet]

Hello Brad

Thanks for the review copy.
I've noticed you read the beginning of my review since you replied to it. I'll be spending my weekend continuing the review.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Hi Brad,

Thanks for taking the time to post here and to offer to answer questions.

You seem proud of your work and your being here certainly shows your willingness to go the extra step. Your creation looks to reflect this effort as well. Big thanks!

 

[woodelf]

It's great to see you on these boards as well as the OO Brad. That shows that you guys really want to listen to the players and that you're continually improving an already solid game.

 

[warpstorm]

Welcome, Brad.

 

[BlizzardGR]

Hey Brad!

It didn't even cross my mind that you will be posting here! You guys at Stardock are the most interractive game developers in existance and you did an excellent job with GalCiv 2. Congratulations!

 

[Duelingground]

Great to see you here, Frogboy!

Now that the first reviews are coming out, what are your thoughts/feelings on GC2's reception by the gaming community?

 

[insydr]

Thanks.

Interesting factoid about that Gamespot review:

Gamespot has not given a PC game a 9.0 or better score since October of 2005 -- when it gave Civilization 4 a > 9 score.

Coincidentally, the last game that I bought was back in October 2005, when I bought Civ4.

Looking forward to getting my hands on this one early next week. Congrats on the great reviews, and welcome to the (sub)forum.

 

[The 777 Hoax]

Hey Brad!

I'm definitely getting a copy soon! Either from amazon or Wal-Mart. I've read a lot of reviews about this game and it looks incredible. Awesome job!

 

[Secular]

Heya, love the game but one question about a bug that i never got answered on your own forum. Whenever i research The end mass driver, the black hole gun, the game crashes to desktop.. is this a known problem or is my version just corrupted?

 

[Zoot06]

Great Game Brad! (thats MR. to me....).
I think Ill play this more then CIV4...
You might like to know at the local Best Buy store yesterday they had 4 copies, after I left they had 3, today they have zero...

 

[Draginol]

Great to see you here, Frogboy!

Now that the first reviews are coming out, what are your thoughts/feelings on GC2's reception by the gaming community?

I've come to the conclusion that player word of mouth is incredibly powerful.

Galactic Civilizations I had a sell in number of aorund 9,000 units to retail. That was done through Strategy First. It took a few months to get past the 30,000 unit mark. Eventually, the game sold 75,000 units in North America.

Galactic Civilizations II had a sell in number of over 3 times that into retail and through sales and reorders had gone through the entire 40,000 first run in the first week plus an emergency 10,000 unit rush manufacturing run (i.e. using extra manufactured pieces from the first run).

Now it'll never touch Civ IV in terms of total sales. But all this happened before ads or reviews really even came out which means players really have the most control over the success or demise of a title.

 

[Draginol]

Heya, love the game but one question about a bug that i never got answered on your own forum. Whenever i research The end mass driver, the black hole gun, the game crashes to desktop.. is this a known problem or is my version just corrupted?

Yea it's definitely not known. I've not seen that. I'll keep an eye out for it though.

 

[Draginol]

Great Game Brad! (thats MR. to me....).
I think Ill play this more then CIV4...
You might like to know at the local Best Buy store yesterday they had 4 copies, after I left they had 3, today they have zero...

Cool. Actually once things calm down a bit, I look forward to getting back to Civ IV. My "best" score is just under 100,000 so far at it (though I tend to play small maps, plains, as romans). I just love it.

Firaxis deserves a lot of kudos for how much they're supporting the game. Lots of good updates and real dedication.

 

[Duelingground]

Thanks Brad, appreciate you taking the time to share that info with us.

Can you give us an idea of how popular the download option has been, and possibly a comparison of downloads to brick and mortar sales? This is one of the parts of Stardock, as well as Matrix, that I appreciate the most. Not only because of not having to deal with copy protection, but also for the pure convenience.

 

[Draginol]

Thanks Brad, appreciate you taking the time to share that info with us.

Can you give us an idea of how popular the download option has been, and possibly a comparison of downloads to brick and mortar sales? This is one of the parts of Stardock, as well as Matrix, that I appreciate the most. Not only because of not having to deal with copy protection, but also for the pure convenience.

The download only option has been pretty popular. But it never competes with retail sales in overall numbers.

Our "hope" for GalCiv II would be around 250,000 units sold worldwide in a box and then another 50,000 units purchased through download mechanisms.

So it's still no where near equal yet.