Jon Shafer joins Stardock to work on elemental

[cf_nz]

Another is that he wanted to work wth a company that that the freedom to make the kinds of games he wanted to make.

I thought that was an interesting remark.

Anyway. Good luck to him. I'll be watching to see what his next (non-Elemental) project is.

 

[Celevin]

Shafer did not exist before civ5. Now he exists, and he will be remembered as the guy who destroyed a succesful franchise. That is the only resume I see.

Time will tell, of course. But you will see.

"Who is Jon Shafer?" I'm pretty sure that would be most people's responses.

Shafer did work on the expansion that many people currently hating on him regard as the epitome of Civ, BtS.

Nobody just pops out of nowhere and becomes a lead designer.

 

[arstal]

You know that's not true, so why act like you're the only rational holdout around here? Do you think you're gaining credibility or respect by belittling everyone else?

And yes, I'm glad Jon's joining the Stardock team. That probably means he'll be moving into my neck of the woods sometime soon, seeing as how Stardock is located about 15 minutes away from me. Wonder if I'll see Jon out at the bar someday? I'd still love to have a beer with him sometime.

Anyone know if Elemental has a demo version? I might have to check this game out at some point.

Congrats, Jon! And welcome to Michigan - hope you brought your mittens!

A demo of the patched up Elemental is going to be done in the near future, was supposed to be after 1.1. It's on Stardock's priority list.

1.1 Elemental+ Brad's AI patch is a decent right game now , seriously- though it needs improvements in some areas, notably UI.

as for Kael, his appeal to Stardock was that he was a project manager (which was the problem with Elemental according to Brad, he didn't have one) who happened to have some success with design also.
Jon's talents as a modder is what Stardock is going after, not his design necessarily either. Brad put out a forum post just now regarding this.

I just want a good Elemental. As for Civ, maybe Civ is following the pattern of Star Trek movies- only trust the even ones.

 

[Doctor Phibes]

Good for him. As long as he doesn't go mess up Paradox Games, I wish the fellow well. I'm not in his console-type demographic, though I understand some are. Bit sad that I've had to write off Civ5, but I'm thankful that people here pointed me in the right direction. The prob, now, is how to stop playing EU III - it has that one-more-turn factor, y'know?

 

[Jesus is Lord33]

If it were ALL Shafer's fault, it would be called JON SHAFER'S CIVILIZATION V.

 

[arstal]

Good for him. As long as he doesn't go mess up Paradox Games, I wish the fellow well. I'm not in his console-type demographic, though I understand some are. Bit sad that I've had to write off Civ5, but I'm thankful that people here pointed me in the right direction. The prob, now, is how to stop playing EU III - it has that one-more-turn factor, y'know?

If you listen to the EUIII forums, Paradox is messing up Paradox these days ^_^. Typical overblown remarks though.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Shafer did work on the expansion that many people currently hating on him regard as the epitome of Civ, BtS.

Nobody just pops out of nowhere and becomes a lead designer.

Yeah, but he was still pretty obscure at that point. I mean, I didn't know who designed BTS when I bought it, or after I played it for years. I only really knew him during the hype-up for civ 5.

 

[Aristos]

So you haven't played BtS ^^?


Let's see what will happen with elemental. Hoping for the fans that it will be a good change.

of course I play BTS! What else is there to play? Civ 0.5???

Shafer is not BTS, thank you very much! He did only some parts of it, and not the most beloved ones.

 

[Fistalis]

Yeah, but he was still pretty obscure at that point. I mean, I didn't know who designed BTS when I bought it, or after I played it for years. I only really knew him during the hype-up for civ 5.

*cough* CO designed.. mainly espionage and that one mod that came with bts *cough*

 

[Celevin]

Yeah, but he was still pretty obscure at that point. I mean, I didn't know who designed BTS when I bought it, or after I played it for years. I only really knew him during the hype-up for civ 5.

Most Civ fanatics knew Shafer's name well before Civ5. I'll repeat, you don't go from nothing to being a lead designer. He had a good resume.

of course I play BTS! What else is there to play? Civ 0.5???

Shafer is not BTS, thank you very much! He did only some parts of it, and not the most beloved ones.

2 people designed BTS. How many people designed Civ5?


I'll ask again. What would your opinion of Shafer going to Stardock be based on his work before Civ5? In fact, when Civ5 was announced with Shafer at the helm, what was your opinion on what the game would be like?

 

[Aristos]

Good for him. As long as he doesn't go mess up Paradox Games, I wish the fellow well. I'm not in his console-type demographic, though I understand some are. Bit sad that I've had to write off Civ5, but I'm thankful that people here pointed me in the right direction. The prob, now, is how to stop playing EU III - it has that one-more-turn factor, y'know?

You never stop playing EU3... you PAUSE it. For a while.

Now that game is pure gem. Shafer, live long! BUt live far away from Sweden, thank you very much!

Johan@Paradox, don't go nuts now and try yo steal Shafer from Brad's hands... or else you will end up with an AI that is multilayered, complex, advanced, and does... nothing.

Anyways...

 

[tylor]

Who said "Uve Ball"?

 

[Zechnophobe]

Most Civ fanatics knew Shafer's name well before Civ5. I'll repeat, you don't go from nothing to being a lead designer. He had a good resume.


2 people designed BTS. How many people designed Civ5?


I'll ask again. What would your opinion of Shafer going to Stardock be based on his work before Civ5? In fact, when Civ5 was announced with Shafer at the helm, what was your opinion on what the game would be like?

So, if you want to know my opinion on his work before civ 5:

Final Frontier was beautiful, but boring. Espionage is the worst part of BTS.

 

[Maniacal]

If you listen to the EUIII forums, Paradox is messing up Paradox these days ^_^. Typical overblown remarks though.

Yeah Paradox games are awesome, but they aren't great upon release. An expansion or two later and they are amazing.

 

[TheBladeRoden]

I'm glad I held off on buying Elemental, once again

 

[Beef Hammer]

At least he can't screw up Galactic Civilizations 2, god help us if they let him work on GC3.

 

[Zenstrive]

when shall we see 1upt and global happiness in stardock ?

 

[ranger999]

Yeah Paradox games are awesome, but they aren't great upon release. An expansion or two later and they are amazing.

While I enjoyed Civ IV vanilla by itself prior to the expansions, I did NOT enjoy Hearts of Iron III vanilla at all given its egregious lack of credible AI. No more Paradox games for me. SSI's Clash of Steel from over a decade ago was more playable than HOI 3.

 

[ezwip]

Another is that he wanted to work wth a company that that the freedom to make the kinds of games he wanted to make.

That one is funny.

Shafer told us he could give out any info on what his stand alone project will be for the company as Stardock is still concentrating its efforts on updating Elemental, including the release of at least two expansion packs.

So, where is the info?

"I approved the necessary budget in December to fund Elemental for both 2011 and 2011."

This one I love.

 

[Ayt]

Can someone explain what exactly his duties will be and how he's certain to screw them up?