Steam & Fallen Enchantress

from JoeUser Forums

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Fallen Enchantress got top billing today on Valve’s Steam despite not using Steamworks.  I plan to write at some length our experiences with Valve over the past year.  The short version is that Valve behaves with the kind of enlightened benevolence that earns the respect and trust of those who work with them.

My personal opinion is that the independent nature of Valve (they’re privately owned) has allowed them to foster a company culture whose ethics and earnestness are several steps above the average in our industry. It’s been a real delight to work with them.

 
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Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

Privately owned businesses work for the owners.  Publicly owned corporations work for the profit.

TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

:thumbsup:

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Congratulations, Brad and Crew.  You should get top billing!  That's awesome.  

Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top

Are there very many bug reports coming back, or is it pretty stable?

Reply #7 from LittleTinyFrogs Forums Top

There are plans to do a demo.  FE's nature lends itself to that.  We just want to catch our breath first. ;)

Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top

I guess if there's a demo, then I don't need someone to come answer my questions on the differences between FE and GC2!

Although I am a bit excited to buy this one now... get in on the ground floor...

Is there anything like the Metaverse for this one?

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Mmm, Impulse says Steam client is required to install and play.  Is that the case or not?

 

If not, you might want to get them to fix that.

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting jwdR1, reply 11
Mmm, Impulse says Steam client is required to install and play. Is that the case or not?

They're probably just reselling Steam keys. The game doesn't use Steamworks.

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting kryo, reply 12

They're probably just reselling Steam keys. The game doesn't use Steamworks.

 

Impulse sure isn't what it used to be... I've considered uninstalling but I've bought a fair bit of games on it already... :(

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Sarudak, reply 14



Quoting kryo,
reply 12

They're probably just reselling Steam keys. The game doesn't use Steamworks.


 

Impulse sure isn't what it used to be... I've considered uninstalling but I've bought a fair bit of games on it already...

Yep, that sure is a problem with dedicated clients like Impulse and Steam. If they decided to do something you don't like, you have the only chose: Lose all your software or EAT it.

Phew...glad I don't use those types of products.

Reply #15 from LittleTinyFrogs Forums Top

Quoting Jythier, reply 9
I guess if there's a demo, then I don't need someone to come answer my questions on the differences between FE and GC2!

Although I am a bit excited to buy this one now... get in on the ground floor...

Is there anything like the Metaverse for this one?

GalCiv: Space ships

FE: Wizards!

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 16

GalCiv: Space ships

FE: Wizards!

Insert appropriately inappropriate WarCraft:StarCraft analogy. :P

Reply #17 from Elemental Forums Top

I got a free copy but I will be buyign a steam copy sometime in the future as the game is pretty awesome (:

Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 15
Quoting Jythier, reply 9I guess if there's a demo, then I don't need someone to come answer my questions on the differences between FE and GC2!

Although I am a bit excited to buy this one now... get in on the ground floor...

Is there anything like the Metaverse for this one?

GalCiv: Space ships

FE: Wizards!

 

If that's it... bah.

 

I bought it anyway 'cuz I'm a fan of Brad.  Hope I end up finding enough added-value here.

Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top

I see little room for comparison between the two games.

Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top



Fallen Enchantress got top billing today on Valve’s Steam despite not using Steamworks.  I plan to write at some length our experiences with Valve over the past year.  The short version is that Valve behaves with the kind of enlightened benevolence that earns the respect and trust of those who work with them.
My personal opinion is that the independent nature of Valve (they’re privately owned) has allowed them to foster a company culture whose ethics and earnestness are several steps above the average in our industry. It’s been a real delight to work with them.

 

Congratulations! :grin:

 

See? It does work without forcing Steam on people who dont want it.  ;)

 

I hope this will make you consider offering future games without Steam being forced, too. For example the next Sins?^^

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting psychoak, reply 19
I see little room for comparison between the two games.

 

They're both turn based strategy games made by Stardock with customizable units that include out-of-planet/city resources that improve your civilization and also outposts/starbases that extend your influence, and minor threats (minor races vs. wilderness) that can be exploited for in-game advantages.

 

So, what are the differences besides ships/wizards?

Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Jythier, reply 22



Quoting psychoak,
reply 19
I see little room for comparison between the two games.


 

They're both turn based strategy games made by Stardock with customizable units that include out-of-planet/city resources that improve your civilization and also outposts/starbases that extend your influence, and minor threats (minor races vs. wilderness) that can be exploited for in-game advantages.

 

So, what are the differences besides ships/wizards?

The RPG elements of FE are much better developed - champions and quests give the game a lot more "personality" than I ever got out of GalCiv.  Combat is played out on a tactical map in FE, requiring a small amount of strategizing.  City development is much more sophisticated than planet development in GalCiv; there are distinct paths you can go down with many options along the way for your cities.

That's a start.

Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top

I'm finding in the beginning that clearing the land is a completely different experience, as in space there is no land to clear.  It's just space.  So here, where there are things lurking everywhere, it really gives you something to do to start everything off.  In GalCiv, I feel like I'm always pressing 'next turn' and here I feel that I'm doing something every turn - again, this is the beginning of the game.

Mid game in GalCiv I'm still just pressing next turn.  I play boring settings, which is probably the problem... but when I'm in a war there's always something to do.

We'll see what happens here.

Reply #24 from Elemental Forums Top

Maybe not the place,  I just hope future Stardock TBS games aren't doomed to mandatory Steamworks.  hearing about the growing pains of SDC scares me some in that regard.

 

Note: I don't hate Steam, I just don't want to be forced to run Steam to play a game because it's been problematic at times- when that happens I want to just be able to run the game executable and play it.

 

Reply #25 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Alstein, reply 25
Maybe not the place,  I just hope future Stardock TBS games aren't doomed to mandatory Steamworks.  hearing about the growing pains of SDC scares me some in that regard.

 

Note: I don't hate Steam, I just don't want to be forced to run Steam to play a game because it's been problematic at times- when that happens I want to just be able to run the game executable and play it.

 

Agreed. I really hope GalcivIII will be released the same way FE was.

Also hope that it's 32-bit compliant too...but since Derek already mentioned that FE was going to be the last game made by Stardock to be 32-bit compliant, I'm not expecting miracles.

Maybe I should just spool up my XP to run in 64-bit. XD