Jason
chasing a bee
<strong>[ Announcement ]</strong>
<p>In a mostly unrelated thread at <a href="http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?p=939846#post939846" target="_blank">Quarter To Three</a> (about Atari's financial troubles), <a href="http://www.galciv2.com/" target="_blank">Stardock</a> main man Brad Wardell dribbled out some of the <a href="http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=939846&postcount=33" target="_blank">first details</a> about Stardock's upcoming fantasy 4X. You know, the one that was almost <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=16143" target="_blank"><strong>Master of Magic 2</strong></a>.</p><blockquote><p>1) Character building. The player is a character in the game. Nearly all magic in the world actually flows from the player. If you've ever read The Silmarillion (Tolkien) all the magic in Arda basically comes from the spirit of the things created by Eru. So in this sense, the player is a kind of Valar of sorts who can choose to invest their growing power into their creations/minions or into themselves (or a bit of both). That's an over simplification but the point is, part of the game mechanics is having to choose between making your forces more powerful or actual character.
2) The game is very spell-centric. The 3D engine is being designed so you can do Populous style spells to the world. Since it's turn-based (as opposed to real-time) that also means you can have some ridiculously fancy spell effects.
3) Very distinct magic schools.
4) You cannot build heroes. They have to be recruited and there's no Inn. Ones ability to attract heroes is one of the game mechanics and "interesting choices" players have. Those heroes can be wimpy or powerful depending on how the player chooses to use and invest in them.
5) There is massive scaling in this. At the beginning of Fellowship of the Rings (the movie edition) you could see just how powerful Sauron is. In this, if you manage to get a dragon, that dragon can wipe out hundreds of units. And by scale, we mean there's thousands and thousands of troops. One ancient dragon is taking out hundreds of troops.
6) Cities are built and improved and local geography matters. I won't say more on this right now.
7) Multiplayer will involve all players moving at the same time.
8) Battles zoom in so that tactical combat can occur which is also turn based. </p></blockquote><p>Not being able to build heroes doesn't sound all that great to the obsessive control freak in me, but on the other hand, trying to "attract" heroes might have its own replay-boosting appeal: "Next game, Shmanky The Devourer will be mine. Oh yes, he will be mine."</p><p>Also, turn-based tactical combat is in, something Stardock has avoided for GalCiv. Interesting. </p><p>Spotted @ <a href="http://flashofsteel.com/">Flash of Steel</a></p>
<p>In a mostly unrelated thread at <a href="http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?p=939846#post939846" target="_blank">Quarter To Three</a> (about Atari's financial troubles), <a href="http://www.galciv2.com/" target="_blank">Stardock</a> main man Brad Wardell dribbled out some of the <a href="http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=939846&postcount=33" target="_blank">first details</a> about Stardock's upcoming fantasy 4X. You know, the one that was almost <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=16143" target="_blank"><strong>Master of Magic 2</strong></a>.</p><blockquote><p>1) Character building. The player is a character in the game. Nearly all magic in the world actually flows from the player. If you've ever read The Silmarillion (Tolkien) all the magic in Arda basically comes from the spirit of the things created by Eru. So in this sense, the player is a kind of Valar of sorts who can choose to invest their growing power into their creations/minions or into themselves (or a bit of both). That's an over simplification but the point is, part of the game mechanics is having to choose between making your forces more powerful or actual character.
2) The game is very spell-centric. The 3D engine is being designed so you can do Populous style spells to the world. Since it's turn-based (as opposed to real-time) that also means you can have some ridiculously fancy spell effects.
3) Very distinct magic schools.
4) You cannot build heroes. They have to be recruited and there's no Inn. Ones ability to attract heroes is one of the game mechanics and "interesting choices" players have. Those heroes can be wimpy or powerful depending on how the player chooses to use and invest in them.
5) There is massive scaling in this. At the beginning of Fellowship of the Rings (the movie edition) you could see just how powerful Sauron is. In this, if you manage to get a dragon, that dragon can wipe out hundreds of units. And by scale, we mean there's thousands and thousands of troops. One ancient dragon is taking out hundreds of troops.
6) Cities are built and improved and local geography matters. I won't say more on this right now.
7) Multiplayer will involve all players moving at the same time.
8) Battles zoom in so that tactical combat can occur which is also turn based. </p></blockquote><p>Not being able to build heroes doesn't sound all that great to the obsessive control freak in me, but on the other hand, trying to "attract" heroes might have its own replay-boosting appeal: "Next game, Shmanky The Devourer will be mine. Oh yes, he will be mine."</p><p>Also, turn-based tactical combat is in, something Stardock has avoided for GalCiv. Interesting. </p><p>Spotted @ <a href="http://flashofsteel.com/">Flash of Steel</a></p>
