The post-Twilight road map

Where should we go next?

from GalCiv2 Forums

The final expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations II has been released! And we're very happy with how much people like it.

At the same time, we're not done. Let me share with you some of our plans:

  • Right now, we're finishing up The Political Machine. Once that is finished, part of the team will be shifted to the SDE-2 team which is working on the "fantasy strategy game" and the other part will return to GalCiv.
     
  • The plan is to release a v1.92 in early June.  v1.92 will be mostly bug fixing and balancing. There's two particularly annoying issues that have cropped up. The first one is that on some Vista systems, some "string now found" issues come up. No idea yet. The work around is to run the game as administrator but we have no idea why that fixes it as none of us do that.  The other annoying one is the Alt-esc issue - it doesn't always come back when you try to return to the game.  On top of that, there's various balancing and house cleaning that we will want to do.
     
  • Then, probably in July or maybe early August we will be releasing Galactic Civilizations II v2.0. This update will affect all versions of GalCiv II but mostly Dark Avatar and Twilight. The biggest change will be the enhanced espionage system for DA and ToA users. There will also be additional graphical improvements in ToA to continue "future proofing" the game. The Metaverse will also be getting some much needed love with v2.0.

After that, it'll depend on you. Our budget post 2.0 is largely based on sales at that stage. Most people will be transferred to working on the fantasy strategy game so that we can announce it later this year. Other parts of the team will be working with Gas Powered Games on Demigod.

So that's where we're at. Cheers!

150,292 views 53 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sounds great!

Especially the Metaverse updates, a lot of people have been waiting for that.

Any information about the 'enhanced espionage system'? Will it be as different as the current system is from the original DL?
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Fantastic!
And I am really looking forward to what the espionage changes will be. A sort of hybrid that combines the two different models would in my opinion.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm also curious to see what 2.0 will contain about espionage.I hope there will be missions which have a percentage to fail associated like what we saw in Alpha Centauri or Civ4: Beyond the Sword.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Metaverse will also be getting some much needed love with v2.0.


Absolutely awesome news!!!!!
:CONGRAT:
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I like the fact that espionage is part of the plan. So much coulb be done wth that, and the current solution, while good, is not perfect. I will be following developments closely :)

Morten
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Our budget post 2.0 is largely based on sales at that stage.


Nice to see a sofware shop making plans to respond to customers' spending choices instead of trying to force them into some bureaucratically annointed "life cycle."

Most people will be transferred to working on the fantasy strategy game so that we can announce it later this year.


I felt whiny when I first saw the long dates for NotMoM, which I really want to see. But I can tell I have a long way to go before TA feels played-out for me, especially with the new tournaments and the "much-needed love" coming soon to the MV.

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I love the game... but where are the professional reviews? I can't find a single one. Metacritic doesn't even have a post for it
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Our budget post 2.0 is largely based on sales at that stage.


With the reputation you have stacked up, I reckon a GalCiv III @ $39.95 upgrade, and @ $49.95 for a new user would sell well. Whether there is the space and capacity (current or expand the Team) for that only you will know - and clearly at the moment people need a break from developing it to refresh the brain.

However at a "basics" level, I believe you will only have to crank up a minor marketing effort to focus people on a "V3", and sales, frankly, would be a given - just depends on the post 2008 Road Map and internal motivation to do it (aka Spring 2010?).

TA & Sins have racked up such amazing well deserved support - GalCiv III Sales would be a given ....

Regards
Zy
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Then, probably in July or maybe early August we will be releasing Galactic Civilizations II v2.0. This update will affect all versions of GalCiv II but mostly Dark Avatar and Twilight. The biggest change will be the enhanced espionage system for DA and ToA users. There will also be additional graphical improvements in ToA to continue "future proofing" the game. The Metaverse will also be getting some much needed love with v2.0.
After that, it'll depend on you. Our budget post 2.0 is largely based on sales at that stage.


How could you dare destroying the last bit of hope i will ever get out of this addiction soon? ;)

REALLY great news. I thought that ToTA would be the last major improvement to the game but i seem to be wrong. I dont know what you guys plan for the espionage system but thinking about the suggestions made by players in the forums i get really excited...


So to the others: Read the note it will be sales dependent? If you didnt yet: BUY IT!!!!!!!!
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
[...] There's two particularly annoying issues that have cropped up. The first one is that on some Vista systems, some "string now found" issues come up. No idea yet. The work around is to run the game as administrator but we have no idea why that fixes it as none of us do that.


Well, as far as I know I'm playing with the Admin-Account. I actually don't have an other account. (Yes, I know that is stupid, unfortunately I have problems or better would have them with a normal account ...) Can you be a bit more specifically?
- Is this also the same problem that the game crashes sometimes to the desktop when you try to restart the mission?


The other annoying one is the Alt-esc issue - it doesn't always come back when you try to return to the game.


Alt + Tab has a similar effect.

On top of that, there's various balancing and house cleaning that we will want to do.

Yes, it is really annoying to see how I'll run out of money in the campaign due to these extreme expensive arnorian ships. The Mission Conflagration is unplayable, even with an economy bonus, unless you sell the big one.



About the whole new:
Thumbs up, I wish some other companies would talk to their community like that and keep them up to date with what the actually do. Good luck with the future projects, I can't wait to see some of them.

Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The team would love to do a GalCiv III but it won't be for awhile. The fantasy strategy game is going to take some time to finish and then we can look at where to go from there. 
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Updates, espionage improvements, cranking out NotMoM, Gal Civ 3 later maybe: All great news. Thanks for the quick roadmap.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think even if GCIII could be started right away it's really better to take some time and come back with fresh eyes and new ideas for the series, I'm sure SD have heaps of great ideas already but sometimes after you take a break you see things in a new way.

Looking forward to V2.0 and more details of the fantasy strategy.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm so excited about the news of greater attention to the fantasy game now. Of course I love them to make GC2 perfect, but for a moment I feared that the fantasy game was being abandoned.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What's being tweaked in the espionage system?
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stardock's product support has always been superlative. Thanks for the update!

As one of the balancing / housecleaning issues that needs addressing, I'd like to draw Stardock's attention to this thread discussing how the Thalan cannot research MK1 Battle Stations for their starbases.

In short: without Mk1 Battle Stations, the Thalan cannot install any weapons on their starbases, and without weapons, their very-expensive Singularity Armor is completely non-functional - Thalan bases can be destroyed by virtually anything.

I'd be really happy to see this problem addressed in the next update.

Thanks again for all the support, and I'm really looking forward to hearing more about that Almost-Master-Of-Magic game in the coming months!

-Autistic Angel
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm looking forward to the fantasy strategy game. Galciv2 will hold its own, I'm sure, but a shiny new game is really something to look forward to. If it's using the same talent and creativity that gave birth and depth to Galciv2, it'll be a winner.  :) 
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Espionage, the enhanced way?
I mean, get real, this MUST be done in a hurry!

And since X-Worlds_Mod has in fact four new tech slots after Counter-Espionage (Interrogation, Abduction, Investigation & a triplet group of Sabotage items) which may just fit the developpers' choice of designs, hopefully... i can hardly wait any longer than early July as presently planned. :)

One thing is for sure, i'd love to have some Repair_Icon (Yellow Construction Helmet!) dropped on sabotaged buildings instead of the usual toggle to nullify back & forth endlessly. Plus a lot more that i certainly invest all of my trust into SD staff imagination & gameplay balancing concerns. Strategy IS Spying, anyway.

Oh, and please make us a HERO ala Bond, James Bond accumulating experience.

Great news overall, indeed.
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The team would love to do a GalCiv III but it won't be for awhile. The fantasy strategy game is going to take some time to finish and then we can look at where to go from there.


as much as we all would like to see a GC III I think a slow down and tweak GC DA and TA would be better for now !!! There room for improvement !!! Don`t get me wrong it is great the way it is but what is learned here will help with future games :)

I`m likely toget some smack for this post!!!

Nasty

Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have mixed feelings about this. It seems like all the existing bugs we have will be around for 3 weeks to a month. But when they get back to it then there will be some additional enhancement.
I guess I got spoiled when in times past there would be one or more major bug updates within the a week or so after release.
It sounds like they have a lot in the hopper and are spread thin which is to be expected, better that than not busy creating future revenue streams.

Bottom line, it is what it is, enjoy what we can.
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Looks fantastic, thanks for the update. Keep us in the loop on the Political Machine, there's a lot of promise there. :)
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
So, we as fans need to hop over to the online store and purchase copies of galciv2(GC DA TA) for a friend or ten. Stardock respects its customers/players enough to give us the complete run down of whats going on, and I think we should share this with our friends :)

I'm really looking forward to what you guys are working on for the fantasy strategy game. I'll be buying it for sure!

Thanks again SD peeps. You rock as always!
(soon as I get some extra cash, I'll be buying another copy or two of galciv2 and maybe even sins just to support you guys :))
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That's great news. The alt-tab bug is fairly annoying, but i'm finding games load much faster now so as long as i remember to save before trying it's not too bad.

Is there any chance of a new planetary invasion screen? This is the only change to ToA that I dislike. The original screen had some pretty ancient graphics but there was still some retro "kitch" appeal in it, plus i loved seeing the soldiers actually fight. When I heard that this would be improved for ToA I was looking forward to the same thing but with better graphics, so I was disappointed to find that it has been replaced by the flags. This seems to be a step backwards and if there is no chance of a different version i'd honestly like the old one back.
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Waiting for the fantasy strat game. Hopefully it SD quality, without being too similar to GC.

Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sounds great. There are, of course, still a few things that could stand to be tweaked. My personal #1 is still the constructor grind. I understand if you don't want to make starbases self-upgradeable, but would you at least consider making starbases automatically a really point as soon as they are created. I build lots of starbases, and having to build create and name the corresponding rally points for the constructors to find gets to be a pain, especially since the rally point into window still has that strange bug where, when you click on the rally point name, the cursor goes to the beginning and you have to move it all the way to the right and delete the generic name before you add your own.