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I have done a lot more looking and David is correct. If Malfador has confidence in SFI, then so do I. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: (Shocking) News!!!!!
 

I originally found SEIV through one of the game download sites (CNet or ZdNet?). I like strategy games and found the demo on the site. After a game or two, I went to Shrapnel and ordered the game.

In my opinion, free downloads of the demos is the best way to reach those who like this type of game.

Re: (Shocking) News!!!!!
 

I agree Greybeard. I found out about the SE series by doing a search on the internet for "space strategy games". Found the demo for SEIII, got it, bought the game. That's why I bought SEIV, because I liked the genre and had previous experience with the game. And to be honest, how many people actually like 'space strategy games'???

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I bumped into SE II shortly after going online for the first time. Took a while to figure it out then spent a lot of late nights because I was sure that tem more turns would win the game. Then I bought a full copy and spent a lot of sleepless weekends because I just knew that 10 more turns would win the game. Any of you been around long enough to remember resolving combat between two really big SE II fleets on an old 75 MHz system? When SE III came out I quickly bought a copy and spent way too much time with it. Soon after I stumbled across the old Borg Forum, and have been addicted to multiplayer ever since. When SE IV came out, it took me a long time to warm up to it. I think the missing right clicks really took me a long time to accept. And the first release had a lot of problems running on the systems I had back then. It actually seemed to run more reliably on my older SDram systems. And I never really got a good with SE4 as I did with SE III.

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I think that MOO3 proved, by all the hype and anticipation it generated, that there is a good market for a deep, well developed space strategy game.

Unfortunately, MOO3 certainly wasn't that game. I'm cheering for SE:V to fill the void. Hopefully, it can generate enough good press to build anticipation and (re)build the market.

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Marketing.
Marketing.
Marketing.

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If you're keeping score that's 3 for marketing and 0 for dumb luck.

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http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

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I found out about SE by seeing my older brother playing SE III (unregistered) and asking something along the lines of "What's that? It looks interesting." I have no idea how he found it.

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Well, I can't find a user "marketing", and dumbluck hasn't even posted to this thread. I think it's a bit unfair to be keeping score against him when he hasn't even posted! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I think what the Shrapnel folks are trying to get across is that it's better to make it easy for people *looking* for a game to find at Shrapnel. This works infinitely (or at least, a great deal) better than Grand Spamming people who couldn't give a damn. It's better to quietly release playable demos to free download sites, and anywhere that will offer free or subsidized bandwidth for hosting mirrors. It's better for them to create the atmosphere they did in the forums, effectively making an army of salespeople and tech support. And although the games might not get huge recognition (ie, front page) in any of the game review publications, Shrapnel games ARE in those publications. So, invest a lot of time into making contacts within the industry, slowly spreading awareness of a game for "free", instead of investing a lot of money that could be better spent making more games.

And really, in the end, it looks like the strategy is to market the games in a way that makes everyone *think* they stumbled onto a treasure trove by... *drumroll...* Pure Dumb Luck. Very sneaky devious, and I like it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Hope I didn't give away too many secrets! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif