Dominions 3, in Computer Games Magazine: Most...
 

I my computer games magazine arrived today. I start reading it and get to the section of Most Anticipated Games of 2006. I read a bit and come to the list. The third on the list(in no particuler order) is Dominions3!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif WOOT

What Computer Games magazine wrote:

(Picture of two armies facing off, I can't tell what the units are, theres a big lightning bolt which looks mad cool striking the army on the left side"

Dominions III
Developer Illwinter Design
Publisher Shrapnel Games Release Date Spring

Why?
A niche product whos predecessor, Dominons II got great accolades from hard-core turn-based strategy fans.

1500+ units 600+ spells 300+ mmagic items 50 different playable sides.

New music from Erik Ask Uppmark and Anna rynefors, who did the great Dominions II music, and who have been awarded "Musicians of the Realm" by the swedish Zornmarkeskommite.(Er, not sure what or who that is...)

Turn andy image into a map. Battle over the bridge of the starship Enterprise or Jenna Jameson. Endless possibilities.

Much more extensive mod support than its predecessors

Enhanced UI, and more transparaent game mechanics to help n00bs.

Why not?

Can the old-school, hard core turn-based fantasy strategy game withstand another round before succumbing to antiquity.

And thats the end!

Also on the list, Battle for Middile Earth 2, Dungeons and Dragons online and many other games!!!

Re: Dominions 3, in Computer Games Magazine: Most...
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Thanks for sharing this with us! Now, I just have to get it somehow! This is just so COOL! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Dominions 3, in Computer Games Magazine: Most.
 

Awesome news! I checked it out, and they gave Dominons II a 90%. That's great exposure, especially considering CGO/CGM is a mainstream magazine and 2006 is shaping up to be an epic year for games; maybe the best since 1997.

But hooking 100,000 readers does nothing if there is no website to reel them in... *cough, cough*...

...Well, really that's my self-interest talking, but it sounds convincing, right?

Re: Dominions 3, in Computer Games Magazine: Most.
 

I'm convinced. I've been playing strategy games for years and I only just heard of Dominions a few days ago [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif[/img]

Re: Dominions 3, in Computer Games Magazine: Most.
 

No need to take our words for it, when there's a really nice demo! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif The Dominions II demo is more complete than almost any other game demo. 40 turns (most games last 30 - 80), a level 4 of 9 magic research cap, and not all nations are playable... but otherwise, it's essentially the whole game (not patched to the lastest version, though).

The developers have been very quiet, but aside from massively more stuff, a substantially better interface, many game mechanical changes and additional features, I do not expect Dominions III to be substantially different. Dominions I -> II was more like Warcraft I -> II, or Zelda I -> III, or Metroid -> Super Metroid than, say, Master of Orion I -> II or Zelda III -> 64 or Super Metroid -> Metroid 64... in other words, the fundamentals will not change, just everything will be massively better http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif My speculation, of course.

...and... welcome aboard!

Re: Dominions 3, in Computer Games Magazine: Most.
 

Yes, I played the demo, enjoyed it very much!
Though initially it was a bit overwhelming and unruly.
Played some more today and feel like I'm getting a handle on the basics. Actually about all I've done the last two days is play the demo lol. Very impressed with the deep yet fun gameplay.

I think your right about Dom3. I don't think a whole lot needs to be changed! Ofcourse I haven't even scratched the surface of this demo!

Thanks for the welcome. Thrilled to find a great strategy game. Feels like it's been ages since the last one lol.

Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

I think instead that having anticipated so much time in advance the upcoming of DomIII has generated only frustation.
The developers should have keep a developers diaty to keep the afictionados close.
Some months ago the forum had about five times (if not ten) daily posts, a lot of the historical members are now gone and so on. And the DomII support is gone too (a handful of very important bugs have not been patched, and some of them are already corrected in dev version)
It has been a terrible marketing move.
Two choiches: you anticipate, and tell us the advances (this can be very easy, some screenshots every now and then would be enough) AND tell a date, or you stay quiet and continue support the old version.
By now Dom2 community is starving.
And if a poor affected playeer makes a post with the legitimate "some news?" question some come to answer "dont' make hurry to the devs! I enjoy a lot waiting! I know this will mean a better game!". Hmpf. This can be right for a free game (i.e.Nethack), NOT for a commercial game.
I thank the devs for this wonderful game, but I think they made a very bad move with DomIII anticipation in conjunction with their absebce fron the forums in these last times.
Sorry for my bad english, my two cents.

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

Good point Beorne. It's funny but I notice most devs that are really good at making games are really bad at marketing and community interaction and vice versa.
I'll take the kind that make good games over the other kind 9 times out of 10 though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

If you do a search on Kristoffer you will find that he as posted about 25 times in the last three and a half months or so, not sure what your standards are here but I believe that that is still a reasonable amount of interaction compared to most developers. As for diaries etc. all the usual stuff with JK and KO having real bread winning jobs still applies. Ideally they should also perform round the globe marketing tours with elephants and dancing midgets to hype dom3, unfortunately that is not going to happen either.

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

> I thank the devs for this wonderful game, but I think they made a very bad move with DomIII anticipation in conjunction with their absebce fron the forums in these last times.
Sorry for my bad english, my two cents.

The anticipation business is not our business. Shrapnel are the marketing guys and magazines write what and when they like to (mostly).

I do agree that i should have written more dev diaries, but I have been somewhat preoccupied with my regular job the last couple of months. Spare time has not been directed to the fan base. My public contacts have mostly been in the developer forum.

Re: Dominions 3, in Computer Games Magazine: Most.
 

EDIT: Deleted.

What I really wanted to say was: I can and will wait anyway.

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

Ok, i remebrer times (around Norfleet) that the forums were crowded. Daily posts level similar to SEIV. And you know how important is the fan base to a niche game like this. I think announcments has put a lot of players and fans in stand by. KO told that markenting is not their job nor their decision, so the bad move is not due to them. Pleased to hear this.

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

Frankly I think the drops in posts are mostly a factor of time passing, I guess lack of recent patches etc might have been a factor as well though. Dom2 never had quite the following that SEIV appears to have, nor did the dom2 forum deal with quite that range of topics or appear to have quite as much personal relationships between the posters, perhaps due to the better modding capabilities of SEIV, but who knows. Either way the decline of number posts in the dom2 forum is pretty natural, most threads are rehashes of old subjects, I guess many of the old players have moved on to other games, or felt that the topics they feel like discussing have allready been dealt with, or just don't have the stamina to go over them again.

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

Was the picture from Dom III?

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

Damn, I really have to try and find that magazine! Where in Finland can you get it? Book shops in big cities? Or was the picture online?

BTW, here are some statistics:
89332 posts total (more when you are reading this, of course). The first posts that appear are 27 months old. This gives us average of (89332 posts / 27 months) 3300 posts per month, or about 110 posts/day. The real number is little less, probably, but even with 28 months the post count is 106/day. Not bad at all. Today, there have already been about 40 posts, in two days there have been 86. So yes, there aren't nearly as many posters as there used to be... but the Old Ones will return. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

How many of us even remember Saber Cherry? She took a pause of at least half a year. And she is one of the most mathematically productive people I know of. Besides that, she did the Battle Simulator, which gave lots of raw data on units and their combat effectiveness. I never used her statistics, but they were very interesting to read, and were quite informative.

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

I think Johan O. has it right. I still read the forum regularly, and contribute fairly often, but not so much as I used to (not that I was ever one of the top contributors). This is mostly because it has all been said already...

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

Maybe everyone is just out playing CivIV http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

I think many fans are just taking a break while waiting for Dom3. Personally, I'm enjoying vacation from Dominions. Playing so many MP games was quite stressful, and it will be good to come to Dom3 refreshed http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

Apparently I'm not a rare case, taking a bit of a break from Dominions and just checking the forums every now and then for any new tidbits for Dom3. When it comes, I'm sure to buy it. And maybe get back into the habit of getting regularly beaten by Alexti. Hope not, bad for morale. :>

It's just that most discussions in the general forum feel like "been there, done that, at least several times", and I never caught on that modding stuff.

Old ones (neither the great nor we the lessers) aren't gone, just sleeping. When the stars are right, when the stars are right... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Dominions 3 anticipation, a very bad move
 

Lobotomize yourself, with Mindless status you'll never fail a morale throw. :p

I guess everyone is taking a break then...
Me too, actually, I go over the forums once in a while when I have nothing to do (it takes less than a minute anyway :\), but don't actually play the game. (Unless someone sparks my imagination with a new strategy or idea)
Its probably because, knowing that dominions 3 is coming, people don't want to feel like they are "wasting" their time on a game that will soon be almost completely abandoned.

Re: Old ones are just sleeping, and now going OT
 

Sing that to the tune of ABBA!
"Can you hear our prayers, Cthulhu?
Deep in sunken R'lyeh waiting for the rightness of a star?
Where the Deep Ones worship Dagon, Mother Hydra in sea chambers built afar?"

Most of it fits into Dominions theme surprisingly well. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Old ones are just sleeping, and now going OT
 

ABBA? You sure do "carry on destroying without sanity or shame / Till the universe resounds with all the sounds of lost souls shrieking out in pain"!

Too bad the mp3 there had such a low volume, I upped the volume 100% and it still is quieter than my regulars...
Another theme-fitting advice. I might gladly take that option after ABBA, though. And here I thought I'd just need a little more practice and patience in playing the game...

Please excuse me while I push this sharpened pen through my eye to my frontal lobe...

Re: Old ones are just sleeping, and now going OT
 

A Google search on "Cthulhu ABBA" turns up 21600 hits, including this page, which has one that I wrote.

Re: Old ones are just sleeping, and now going OT
 

I doubt that I qualify as a veteran or an "old one" of this forum or even the game. Certainly this is true if I am judged from my rare postings and especially by my meager MP skills. That said, I do have the honor of playing in the MP game that busted Norfleet. That was good fun, yes? Come on, you know you had fun too ya'll! That got us all stirred up nicely.

Here is my take on the anticipation vrs. forum postings: I seldom read or post on the forum, but I check in from time to time because I love the game. Dom3 will be the first game ever with which I will act like a little girl at a Hello Kitty party. Suffice to say I will slap my cash down and thank the developers if all they do is change the title graphics. Sad I know. But I’d buy those guys a primo dinner and belly full of beer if they ever swing through Arizona. I owe nothing less for all the entertainment they have given me. (Now the wife and kids might not be so welcoming, since this game stole their daddy away but hey, every life has its hardships.) My point is that I may not be all that active in the community, but I care and I crave Dom3.

Re: Old ones are just sleeping, and now going OT
 

I came to this thread because I was reading the magazine in question (a fine publication and one that lead me to Dom 2 in the first place -- thanks Bruce Geryk) and I saw the screen shots of Dom 3. It looks nice! Any chance of posting some more screen shots for the fans?

If the developers have a moment, I'd love to hear what they wished the magazine published and whether any publications are planning a bigger scoop. Lastly, if this question has not been answered elsewhere, I'd love the developers to give us an idea how many other people have played Dom 2 and how many they guess are still active players. I know that these numbers would just be a guess, and there may be some reluctance to share this information, but I would still like to hear it so I have an idea how many friends I have in this world.

Re: Old ones are just sleeping, and now going OT
 

I know exactly what you mean! Of course, I have a Hello Kitty email account... but still, I rarely use it outside the context of Dominions http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Hello Kitty and Dominions 3
 

Yes we can discuss Hello Kitty and Dominions 3! Finally, someone who understands! Maybe there is still time to get the developers to add a Hello Kitty demon -- call it “CaioGato” to add a European dash and confound the intellectual property attorneys of the Hello Kitty Mega Corp. This demon should be able to summon a throng of slave girls willing to spread the faith.

Re: when will the stars be right?
 

One of the most anticipated games of 2006, what's not to like about that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif . I was very positivly surprised by that article. An extra article about our new cool doom horrors would be nice, but you can't get everything. We have made plenty of screenshots for Shrapnel Games, enough for a 20 page review. So I hope there will be another article somewhere, but I really have no idea. I'm a bit curious though, so I think I'll ask them if they have any plans with some magazine/site.

Re: when will the stars be right?
 

A dominions III site would be most welcome http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
I believe it will serve well for exposing the game.

Re: when will the stars be right?
 

Hmmm.... maybe I will buy the Hello Kitty toaster while I wait for the game.

Re: when will the stars be right?
 

Well I have had Dom3Minions.com registered for a year now.
http://www.dom3minions.com/
But there isnt much to put there yet http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Gandalf Parker

Hello Kitty
 

Pasha, I hear that Hello Kitty toaster can improve your game performance so maybe you should buy two or three. Actually, I was curious to see if such a product existed, and natually there are several versions for sale. For about the same price as Dom3, you could have yourself quality molded plastic with heating elements crammed inside. I attached a picture.

Re: Hello Kitty
 

A plastic toaster?
Isn't that about as useful as a glass made of sugar?

Re: Hello Kitty
 

not really, either heat resistant stuff inside or just heat resistant plastic

Re: Hello Kitty
 

Kawaii~

Good toasters are hard to find these days.

Re: Hello Kitty
 

Hmmmm.... maybe they can work out a Hello Kitty Toaster / Dominions III combo package!! That way, I could toast myself some ... um... delicious kitty toast... while my game improves, and then squarsh Dragonfire before he wakes up and um... smells the ... um... toast!

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon05.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon05.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon05.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon05.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon05.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon05.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon05.gif[/img] [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon05.gif[/img]

Re: Hello Kitty
 

That, with a Japanese translation, and sales would fly through the roof!
http://www.planetsmilies.com/avatars...okitty0002.gifhttp://www.mazeguy.net/cartoon/hellokitty.gifhttp://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...oKitty/HK1.gif

Alternately, they could model soil erosion and have Patrick Stewart voice Cardinal Carmont...

Look, a Tien Chi Immortal graemlin! http://www.planetsmilies.com/avatars...ogears0005.gif

P.S. NOOOO!!!! THE IMAGE LINKING CODE IS BROKEN FOR GOOD!!!! http://www.anikaos.com/0011-hellokit...llokitty07.gif

P.P.S. I figured out how to circumvent broken image code. Seems that a link in a post will break all the images. Now everything is better http://www.anikaos.com/0011-hellokit...llokitty05.gif

Re: Hello Kitty
 

The link that broke my images:

Re: Hello Kitty
 

See! Without more Dom3 information we are left to discuss such silliness. For the love of the gods, give us Dom3 screen shots!

Re: Hello Kitty
 

http://www.planetsmilies.com/avatars...vehina0016.gif

An evil bear that makes up the core of Pangaea's armies in Dominions III.

Re: Hello Kitty
 

That's a good example of "radiates power". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Hello Kitty
 

Is that a bear or a hairless mole?

Re: Hello Kitty
 

That's no bear, that's a naked squirrel! Yay! At last the squirrels are coming to Dominions! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Hello Kitty
 

Eeek! A evil nudist squirrel!

Re: Hello Kitty
 

trying to polute our adiction weakened minds! run timmy run. maybe the kitty could kick its *** for us?

Re: Hello Kitty
 

as long as they don't have a high resource cost...

i'd suspect some sort of nefarious mind control ability?

Re: Hello Kitty
 

that would be fun, a nation with units with a 2-3 ammo mind control weapon (maybe a special ryleh unit?)

Pangea
 

Wierd... The "Bear" looked like it was dancing to the music I was playing while reading that post...

And since this thread is full of nonesense anyway...
A couple of days ago I had dinner at a restaurant called "Pangea". The food wasn't really good, but the name was quite amusing.

Re: Hello Kitty
 

R'lyeh units already have Mind Burn. However, the Aboleth hero has Enslave Mind attack, and you've had to have heard the <font color="black">rumours</font>...

I wouldn't be surprised if Pangaea really had access to bears, maybe as summonable creatures, in DomIII. They mighn't be exactly as bald as Johan claimed, but I think most the devs are teasing us with little bits of truth they jokingly throw at us. Then they laugh as they see us running circles around it, like a pack of wolf puppies assaulting a naked squirrel (that froze to death in the -28 Celsius weathers we're having in Finland/Scandinavia).

Re: Pangea
 

lol, what did you have? were all the cooks hairy goat people?