Comparing notes

from JoeUser Forums

This week our friends from Ironclad were visiting to discuss strategy on an assortment of future projects.  One of the fun things was showing Elemental and comparing notes on different engine techniques – ways of doing cool stuff on screen without having requiring crazy hardware.

One of the things the team here has spent some time on is on fonts.  It’s amazing how crappy font handling is in Windows IF you’re not putting it on a dark background.  DirectX 11 apparently will fix this but then, how many of you have DirectX 11 video cards? So in 2015, we can look forward to easy to have nice fonts.

If you look at some of the early Elemental screenshots that show UI, the fonts are awful looking.  That’s fixed now. W00t.  But it’s amazing how much effort it took to create a font system that works on a light background.  Next time you look at a text-intensive game on the PC, look carefully at the background. How often is it a light background? Ironic given that outside of games, that’s the norm.

Cleaning things up for the alpha

Elemental_Es_10-22-08 copy Another thing we’ve been working on is getting things ready for the alpha.  Now, originally the alpha (beta 0) was going to come out in June.  Then Demigod happened and I had to pull a bunch of people off Elemental and put them on Demigod to help get things to where we wanted them to be (at least in the areas that we could help on).  So we lost easily a month, possibly two.

Fear not, this doesn’t mean we lost 2 months off the overall schedule.  What it means is that we lost 2 months from the time we start taking the technologies developed and assembling it into a game.

To make up for those lost 2 months, I assigned myself to the project.  I’ve even moved out of my nice corner office and am in the lab area with the rest of the team to help focus on assembling the techs together to make a cohesive game.

To put it in perspective, for a game with a 1Q release, I don’t normally get intimately involved until 4Q.  So in this case, getting involved in June let’s us move into the iterative development process earlier.

That said, on Tuesday I’m heading out on a working vacation up north. I’ll still be around but I won’t be in the office.  I have a lot of overall Stardock stuff to work on (the annual business plan and lots of legal/accounting and other boring stuff is what I work on during July traditionally and I try to do that from somewhere that involves swimming or other distractions in between mind numbing balance sheet projections, updating the standard contract agreements, reviewing the latest tax statues, and this year investigating the difference between Python 2 and Python 3 and seeing if I can get Visual Studio 2005 to work with Python 3 as opposed to just Visual Studio 2008.  So that’s what I do in July.

The downside is that that means that the alpha version of Elemental won’t pop out until August. The current working release day for the Alpha is August 6 with the public beta being September 2 so mark your calendars. :) No promises but that’s what we’re aiming for.

Jobs

BTW, we are hiring right now across the board at Stardock.  Particularly for game developers, animators, and artists to work on Elemental and other game-related projects and even general software.  Email [email protected] if you’re interested. Must be willing to relocate to Michigan (Plymouth area).

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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Thanks for the update!  Great to hear that things are moving along.  Enjoy that working vacation!

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

That's awesome, so it sounds like despite the setbacks, That Q1 2010 is still the ultimate target.

Too bad about alpha being bumped again, but that's life.

As far as jobs...is there any possibility that you would hire someone on a piecework basis with no benefits? I would love to contribute and could easily put 4 hours a day in doing anything that would be helpful. All of my programming experience is in obsolete languages (IBM 370 Assembly) but seriously if I can proofread or help with documentation, artwork or anything else that would be of use that I would not have to relocate - I would love to help.

I would gladly work a for month doing (whatever) for free and you could then evaluate if I was worth paying. I do have a full time job, that's why I could only do 20 or so hours per week.

One suggestion of what I could do is be a focal point for alpha and beta so you guys dont have to re-read the same issue 20 times. I could go thru all the bug reports and then pass on a "cleaned up" version with all the duplicates removed, etc.

 

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

meh, I hope I get in the alpha then, 'cause Champions Online will (supposed) come out on Sept 1.

Everything I see about this game makes me more impatient, I may actually break off playing CO to play with the public beta if I don't see an invite to the alpha. But who knows how time will pan out.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

https://www.stardock.com/about/jobs.asp looks like it needs to be updated. Any ballparks in regards to salary and benefits for game developers?

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I don't suppose that IC mentioned anything about the next Sins expansion when they were there?:drool:   We haven't heard anything about it since you posted a couple months ago saying it was delayed to late summer (delayed from when?;P )

Is there any chance you'll be hiring in about... 5-6 years? Please?:grin:

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Have a nice break! Do try to seperate "work time" from "family time". I know things can get ugly if you don't.

Shame the alpha/beta starts later now. Hoped that I would be able to put some time into that in my vacantion. Still totally valid reaons and shows you guys care about the project.

Please don't make the Q1 launch next year to much of a fixed deadline. Demigod has shown how important it is to have a good launch. Rather well polished in Q3, then half baked in Q1!

As soon as you open an europe office let me know. The Netherlands are a great spot for an internetbased company. (hint) Not even going to propose relocating to Michigan :)

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Jobs

BTW, we are hiring right now across the board at Stardock. Particularly for game developers, animators, and artists to work on Elemental and other game-related projects and even general software. Email [email protected] if you’re interested. Must be willing to relocate to Michigan (Plymouth area).

 

Gaaaaaaaaah!  You couldn't have waited a year until I finished my degree?

 

Now I really hate the year-long delay in transfering from city to state!

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Awesome news. Thanks for the update FB!

 

Have a great time off (? - actually try and take some time off!). Too bad about the relocation, I know an artist who would be splendid for your company/ type of work. But not able to move.

*writes the 2 key dates down in pencil in his blackberry* ;)

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Jobs eh? I wish. If you were in Portland, OR, and I knew Windows C++ instead of Java, and game dev salary was anywhere close to business software salary, and I had any game dev experience, then I'd be all over it :)

Learning C++ would be easy enough. Used to use it 10 years ago and after 15 years of programming all languages sort of feel similar in ways. The hard part is I'm a middle tier guy and not much good at developing anything graphical. I can design and code engines/rules/servers like nobody's business though.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Well, I might break a few minor labor laws, but I DO need communtiy service hours for school and I REALLY don't want to have to mow any more lawns........ *_*

Tough news on the alpha (looks like it will be released riiiight when I go back to school :annoyed: ), but I would rather have a good quality alpha in a month than a crappy alpha right now.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Thanks for the update, Brad!

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

I’ve even moved out of my nice corner office
Oh, the pain. ;P

 

:fox:

Reply #13 from Demigod Forums Top

Thanks for the update :) Poor alpha keeps getting pushed back :( But it'll be worth the wait, I bet!

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Feature-wise what are the expected differences between the alpha version and the beta version?

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

The plus with working on DX11 IMO (even if you don't do it at launch) depends on how you plan to expand the game later.  If you do plan to keep working on the game, then you'd have a more future proof 'platform'.

I plan to get a dx11 card right away though, to replace my 8600GTS :)  I'm sure the first gen dx11 cards won't be as spectacular as the later ones, but they'll sure as heck be better than my 8600GTS!  Hee.

But hey, I'm sure you've all already thought all this through anyway, so keep up the good work.

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

I have a few more years to go for school! Agh... well at least we know when the alpha is!

Reply #17 from Elemental Forums Top

The steady march of time continues and Elemental's development along with it.

Reply #18 from Elemental Forums Top

I'm curious to hear what Ironclad is cooking up for the next main project (or perhaps as the next major part of the Sins project?)

 is the alpha the same as beta 0?  I thought they would be different (adding yet another stage), oh well.  I guess August 6th really isn't that far away.  Only problem is it means my current job may be going into overtime to get release in time for christmas, and I'll have less time to chat about the alpha.

 

speaking of jobs. I know I'm willing to relocate to Plymoth Michigan, I hear its nice there.

Reply #19 from Elemental Forums Top

Thanks once again for the nice updates. It's good to know where the game stands.

 

Enjoy your vacation :-)

Reply #20 from Elemental Forums Top

Well, honestly, given the quality of Stardock stuff, and the promise of patching, they could release it March 31, 2010, in a beta form, and people would probably think it was a well polished first attempt that needs some patching, which Stardock has a rep for providing.

Right now, Stardock is reaping the rewards of its good reputation, and deservedly so.  Many other publishers with the delays, we'd be worried, gnashing teeth, and possibly there would be some blood on here.  Stardock's transparency also helps here as well.  The fact that things are peaceful here is largely the result of Stardock's business strategy and customer service, and other companies can learn from this example.

 

Generally, gamers are ok with delays if they know the reason for them.

 

One suggestion I would make though: consider an "open alpha?".  No idea if that would have any cost on your end though.

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

I gotta say I really admire you guys that can do both game development tasks and run the business end at the same time. Once you wrote 'balance sheet projections' I had to avert my eyes from the screen... I wish that there could be time in life for everything, but the thought of doing a whole month of that kind of stuff terrifies me! I bet you never get to just sit down and play a game?

Reply #22 from Elemental Forums Top

One suggestion I would make though: consider an "open alpha?".  No idea if that would have any cost on your end though.

Given Alpha and Beta are only 1 month apart, opening the alpha seems sort of pointless. Sounds like they want essentially a sanity check in alpha. Is it running on multiple systems/video cards, is the install not mangling things, etc. You don't want to open a beta and have 80% of the problems all be the same identical show stoppers.

Reply #23 from Elemental Forums Top

Yeah, at this point the alpha will largely be a "does it actually work on a wider array of configurations then we have in office?" type of check. :) People who get that should expect a lot of bugs and things not working terribly well, not a fun game.

Honestly if you're just eager to play and don't want to deal with problems, alpha is not good for you anyway.

Reply #24 from Elemental Forums Top

Hi all!

Sorry to be maybe nitpicking the first time I post here, but...
Brad, could you please, please, have someone change the home page for elemental?
Having it say
"Elemental is scheduled to go into public beta by June 2009"
is a bit unsettling.

Especially when you try to 'sell' the game to friends...

i know, I know... but not everybody does know stardock...

Anyway, keep up the good works! I trust it will be more than worth the wait!

Reply #25 from Elemental Forums Top

@plang:  That is why I don't let friends see the homepage when I'm trying to 'sell' the game to them.  ^_^

 

I just point to the forum and say "it should be here soon, play here until then" and most of them say "ah, I'll look into it when the 1st round of betas are out."   And I really cant' argue wit their logic   I've gotten a number of people excited about it.