[tinkthank]

Originally posted by licker:

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Originally posted by tinkthank:

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Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

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Originally posted by tinkthank:
I can only imagine what UI coding is like, but who knows -- if I gather correctly, Dominions II is not something the people at Illwinter are doing in their spare time, but is a commercial enterprise complete with post-sale support, client binding and customer relations management

Then you would gather incorrectly, since I don't think anyone has ever said anything other than that the two programmers do it all in their spare time.

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Are you serious?

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He is serious... don't confuse (or merge) Illwinter with Shrapnel, they are entirely different entities

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This is news to me. It is certainly not the impression I get, or feel I am supposed to get, but perhaps that is because I feel that a 50 dollar price tag lends the impression that the product isn't to be treated like shareware. Ditto for the purchasers (clients) of the product (company).
Well hats off to a bunch of blokes who made this great game in their spare time. And ok for them for getting a publisher too. But boo! on Shrapnel then, because somebody is doing something with some money which should be going into post-sale client support, and I suspect it is Shrapnel. When I purchase software -- also from a small publisher or firm -- for 50 dollars, I expect at least some tacit agreement between buyer and supplier common in the game industry, and it seems to me if what you folks are saying is true that this is not the case here. Maybe I am a conservative boor (probably), but I find that irksome. I don't think it is right to put out a game and expect whomever (whether two guys sitting in their garage or 40 people in a well-furnished office) to bring out patches in their spare time or out of the goodness of their hearts. I think the game (like *any* software release) needs some work, and I feel it is the right of the customer to be able to say that without putting poor programmers under pressure who would rather or who have to do something else. Well I am sure no one here agrees with me, but unless you are joking with me I think this situation is not right.
Well this has nothing to do with the endgame issues, sorry. (They are secondary.) Hmpf well excuse me I think I just ranted there. But tell me honestly and as objectively as possible why I am wrong, if so.