Stardock + Gas Powered Games + Ironclad Games = Gaming Nirvana

from JoeUser Forums

Today Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced their partnership to develop and publish the much anticipated PC strategy/RPG game Demigod. Demigod is going to be a milestone PC game for a lot of reasons that will be made clear in the coming months.

What Gas Powered Games and Stardock are doing is not your typical publishing agreement. Just as Stardock and Ironclad teamed up in an unprecedented way on Sins of a Solar Empire, the three of us are teaming up in ways that, to my knowledge, have never been done before by independent developers in the game industry.

For example, Stardock, Gas Powered Games, and Ironclad are teaming up to build a unified multiplayer architecture. For years, PC gamers have struggled to get multiplayer games going. And then, even when they get these games up, the on-line experience can be, how shall we say, less than ideal at times.  With our experiences in this area, we are collaborating on a multiplayer architecture that will make the PC strategy game experience much more enjoyable.

The first step of this will find its way into Impulse.  Impulse will allow users to browse through available multiplayer strategy games.  A player who has Demigod, The Political Machine, and Sins of a Solar Empire would, for instance, be able to see the available games for all 3 and join with Impulse launching the corresponding game automatically.  Moreover, all three games will share an existing account which will have ranking data, achievements, friends lists, kindreds (we'll talk more about this soon), and much more. 

From this start, we intend to allow others to make use of this architecture so that eventually, multiplayer gaming for strategy gamers is a seamless, easy to use, and enjoyable experience. 

And this is just the start. Over the coming year, the 3 indies teamed up will be delivering content and features to PC gamers that we hope you find worthwhile.

51,358 views 26 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Sweet I own so far Sins of Solar Empire, Supreme Commander, and Galactic Civilizations II so the fact that all three companies are cooporating with eachother is just frigging sweet.:CONGRAT:

Can't wait to see what you guys can cook up.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Glad to see you guys expanding an excellent business model and finding new revenue streams. What impact, if any, does this have on Stardock's own development schedule? While I enjoy a good RTS, adore RPG's, and Demigod looks interesting, I have to admit I'm far more interested in your future turn based offerings.
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

I have to admit I'm far more interested in your future turn based offerings.

Same here any chance that were going to get at least a name of you little fantasy turn based game that you keep hinting at but never reallly reveal anything about?

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Sweet!  I'm excited now!

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My question:

What will happen with the TG.net token system? For me, it's a great incentive to keep buying everything possible through Stardock's distribution rather than elsewhere.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

The screenshots look awesome.  I can't wait to get my hands on this.

 

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

What will happen with the TG.net token system? For me, it's a great incentive to keep buying everything possible through Stardock's distribution rather than elsewhere.

The token system will probably fade away. I.e. you'll still be able to use it on our stuff and select other publishers stuff but Impulse itself won't use it.  A lot of gamers hate it and nearly every publisher we've talked to hates it.  Obviously we like it but we can't support it on our own.

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sweet I own so far Sins of Solar Empire, Supreme Commander, and Galactic Civilizations II so the fact that all three companies are cooporating with eachother is just frigging sweet.
Can't wait to see what you guys can cook up.


Supreme Civilizations of a Solar Empire (with snathi)!!!!

Oh yes.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Supreme Civilizations of a Solar Empire (with snathi)!!!!Oh yes.


That could actually be a very, very interesting prospect in a few years...

Combine the massive unit totals and vast battles of Supreme Commander, the incredible strategy, roleplaying and deep combat of Sins of a Solar Empire, and the unit customization, technological tree, tactical and strategic focus, diplomatic options and so on of Galactic Civilizations II and beyond, and you'd get something that would be so massive, so utterly incredible, that it could only bear one name...

UNIVERSE.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The token system will probably fade away. I.e. you'll still be able to use it on our stuff and select other publishers stuff but Impulse itself won't use it. A lot of gamers hate it and nearly every publisher we've talked to hates it. Obviously we like it but we can't support it on our own.

Then I hope that Impulse will allow somehow to buy the download only version of a game. Currently, only the DVD version of Sins of a Solar Empire is available through Impulse. And this means that you MUST pay the S/H costs, which can be important when you live in Europe (20$ for S/H with possible custom taxes).

Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Good luck Stardock et partners!
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I am not very interested in Impulse i have to say. So I see no need to buy Demigod. If you gave me Warp for it we could talk...

;)
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmm, its better than Steam, but it doesn't interest me very much. I prefer to get my games from a store and have the disc. Sometimes I'm without any connection at all, and large programs take a long time to download anyway. It wouldn't be much good for me. It would definitely make a difference in my choice of purchases. I'd probably get a different product because it happens to be in a store.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Then I hope that Impulse will allow somehow to buy the download only version of a game. Currently, only the DVD version of Sins of a Solar Empire is available through Impulse.


Impulse does not yet have the full catalog added to it. I'd expect that the download option will be in its list by the time it is launched.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmm, its better than Steam, but it doesn't interest me very much. I prefer to get my games from a store and have the disc. Sometimes I'm without any connection at all, and large programs take a long time to download anyway. It wouldn't be much good for me. It would definitely make a difference in my choice of purchases. I'd probably get a different product because it happens to be in a store.


I'm on the other side of the fence however. I'd prefer to not have the clutter of trying to find the CDs for a game. I have a huge box already of old games that I must root through to find and install a game I haven't played in years. In my time in the MMO scene, if I could get a digital DL of an expansion or the original game I'd prefer that over a CD/DVD.

As for preference to the brick-n-mortar store vs online store. Often I like online better due to lack of the costs of sale tax (and shipping if I can DL it). It cuts my costs and the publisher gets the same amount (if not more) than if it had been sold to a store. Yes, I understand that our economy revolves around retail sales, but if I had a choice to help retail sales or put more money in the pocket of the publisher (as long as they aren't a greedy money corp like some electronic art companies out there...) to help with future publications/improvements into the game, I'm all for it.

BTW, I'm not saying your preference stinks or is wrong....I'm just putting forth my opinion on the subject and the thoughts backing them.
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What will happen with the TG.net token system? For me, it's a great incentive to keep buying everything possible through Stardock's distribution rather than elsewhere.
The token system will probably fade away. I.e. you'll still be able to use it on our stuff and select other publishers stuff but Impulse itself won't use it.  A lot of gamers hate it and nearly every publisher we've talked to hates it.  Obviously we like it but we can't support it on our own.


Ehh... I figured it would probably die with the larger catalog... But if I can still get Stardock games (and utilities too please?) with tokens, then I'm happy enough for now.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Peace Phoenix, even though I suspect the Impulse browser will eventually allow digital only purchases, what's to stop someone from going to store.stardock.com and buying digital only Sins that way? Once you get the serial, just add it to Impulse and go.

I wish I had actually done the research on the tokens business. I just looked all that up, and realized at $7 a token for the membership of $70, it really does come out cheaper to buy games that way (at least compared to the normal Stardock Store price).

Stardock: please always give the option of a box. I'm not ready by a long shot to give up DVDs and CDs (I normally buy in store, to be honest).

-HM
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sounds good to me.

My question, though, is will Impulse still give us the ability to re-download our purchases, or get our serial numbers like StarDock Central does? I have come to depend on that feature - it's like an insurance policy of sorts.
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My question, though, is will Impulse still give us the ability to re-download our purchases, or get our serial numbers like StarDock Central does? I have come to depend on that feature - it's like an insurance policy of sorts.


Of course :)
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I don't mind the token system, except for the required doses of 10.

If you could buy individual tokens, it would be a value- but otherwise, it's only useful if you can use up 8 tokens on things you'd pay for. GC2 + both expansions I'm pretty sure ended up 11 tokens. That's where the problem lies- you can only buy 10 or 20 tokens, not 11. Definitely worth the value in the end, but it requires too much foresight.

One request- I would like to see you try to get the Kohan series on SDC or Impulse- could there be any chance of that happening? Or maybe a new Kohan game?




Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you could buy individual tokens, it would be a value


If you could buy individual tokens, then we might as well just put a 30% discount on everything and drop the tokens entirely. Buying in bulk is the entire reason you can *get* the discount.
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ok, let me rephrase slightly. How about allowing people to buy tokens in amounts that are greater then 10, but no pre-set value, so I can buy 11 or 12 at the same discount I buy 10? I can understand the 10 minimum, as an individual game is 5 or 6 for the "big" titles. The problem is for example- no one can buy Sins+ GCII using the Token system, and games are going to go to 6 tokens.

I understand why you can't offer individual tokens.

Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Peace Phoenix, even though I suspect the Impulse browser will eventually allow digital only purchases, what's to stop someone from going to store.stardock.com and buying digital only Sins that way?

I have bought Sins through TGN tokens on the TGN website. I was just mentionning some problems with the current state of Impulse, as it should allows you to buy the things available on the stardock store. After, Stardock motto is to make things convenient for gamers. And for some gamers, having a download only version of the game to buy is a convenient thing due to all costs associated with shipping boxes ;)