Elemental Answers

...it begins...

from Elemental Forums

We are so excited to finally be able to talk about the "fantasy strategy game".  Here are some answers for questions we suspect will come out.

Regarding the title...

We wanted to just call it Elemental but but trademark reasons we needed to come up with a sub-title. We wanted to give it a sub-title that was a bit corney to harken back to the classic 4X days when game names were a little more generic.

Screenshots...

The graphics seen in the screenshots are still very early on. The lighting and such aren't really in yet. The idea is to convey a general style and show a bit what the game would look like.

Persistent Multiplayer...

So one of the things we will be doing is hosting the multiplayer games ourselves. That is, when someone launches a game, it will all be supported by the Impulse Reactor back-end. Your game will effectively exist on the Impulse cloud so that you can access it anywhere anytime and make connecting with other players easy.

Modding...

The idea is to allow the game to expand itself through user created content (all optional). Our own content will be submitted in this way in order to make sure the system is very robust. 

More to come...

54,512 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

So one of the things we will be doing is hosting the multiplayer games ourselves. That is, when someone launches a game, it will all be supported by the Impulse Reactor back-end. Your game will effectively exist on the Impulse cloud so that you can access it anywhere anytime and make connecting with other players easy.

That sounds really nice - especially for those long drawn-out games with friends who live in a different time zone.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Wait, is this TBS or RTS?

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

TBS.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting kryo, reply 3
TBS.

The description text that comes with a web shortcut for the forum page had the word "real-time" when I made my bookmark. Maybe it needs an edit, or we need to understand that the tactical might be real-time?

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Looking forward to getting my hands on the beta! Pre-ordering tonight :D

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

 Question on  Persistent Multiplayer...

      Will  Multiplayer LAN also be available?    I hope so.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting NTJedi, reply 6
 Question on  Persistent Multiplayer...

      Will  Multiplayer LAN also be available?    I hope so.

"The game will come complete with several different multiplayer modes, including classic skirmish and a persistent universe mode that will allow players to develop long-term open campaigns."

From the gamespy preview. I would assume this means standard multiplayer along with the persistent universe.

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Use cel-shading? Graphics like a comics. :(

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting szaki2, reply 8
Use cel-shading? Graphics like a comics.

It's been mentioned in several places that the graphics are very early.  Still 8-9 months until the first beta.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Everything about the basics of the game seems so cool! This could definately turn out to be a MAJOR fantasy game. There seems to be a lot of Dominion-esque ideas in the game, which is wonderful. Also, the possibility to add content like in Spore (yes, I know you were first! :)) seems very promising.

I must also say I really like the title. Both "elemental", and the add on "War of Magic". Since there are so few games like this around it works well also to use such a simple subtitle.

My only fear looking at it now would be that Stardock just tries to do a 3D graphics engine with good zooming effects that will be just to difficult to really get right so that it looks both good and in line with the game atmosphere. Too early to tell today of course. But personally I think it is really important also what it looks like, a  game like Dominions 3 is just too ugly looking, it takes away too much of the pleasure from even the best game mechanics.

 

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

how is the combat going to work? similer to the CIV games, Heroes of Might and Magic, GalCiv (screen that details the battle - though you get no controll), or even a Total war take (turn based empire real time combat)?

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

I heard that there's a total war dichotomy between playable low-level tactical and the grand strategy (which sounds absolutely awesome, I'll need something to stop my upcoming crippling empire total war addiction :grin: ), with the tactics real-time with pausing to issue orders encouraged, which is also awesome

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Regarding the title, I would have used the sub in the plural sense. IE: Wars of Magic! :ninja:

Reply #15 from Elemental Forums Top

Any chance the tactical game will be something like the Total War series, or is it discrete turns displayed continuously (a la many of the D&D CRPGs out there)?

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Ynglaur, reply 15
Any chance the tactical game will be something like the Total War series, or is it discrete turns displayed continuously (a la many of the D&D CRPGs out there)?

Well, we don't really know since the battle system doesn't seem to be finalised yet, but a premature guess would be the latter. :)

Reply #17 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting NTJedi, reply 13

You probably want to contact  Gamespot  and tell them...  they currently list the game as Real-Time Strategy

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/elementalwarofmagic/index.html?tag=result;title;0

 
It actually still says real-time strategy. I'm going to see if I can't grab one of the devs at the IRC later today, and get it sorted. I hadn't noticed myself, until I set foot in this thread.
Quoting Spartan, reply 14
Regarding the title, I would have used the sub in the plural sense. IE: Wars of Magic!
Aye.