Quote:
Kristoffer O said:
> Exactly, I wish the devs would have spent whatever time they did on making the two new races on UI improvements instead (and fixing the awful temple dominion rate spreading bug). Every hour they spend fixing one thing could have been spent fixing something else.
As Gandalf said, we have different roles. JK is the code-guy and I make sprites and descriptions etc. I can fixe smaller bugs and change stats, but I can't code one bit (almost true). So every hour spent on new nations I could have spent on reading my students work or at quaffing beer  .
> I personally would get infinitely more value out of a better UI then two more races.
That's OK. I personally like nations and content more than UI, but I have given up on games with lousy UI's. I would probably not get into dominions unless someone helped me. When I was 20 I wouldn't mind, but I think I'm growing ever more lazy.
> That isn't to say that Dom 3 isn't a great product. I think it was worth the money I spent on it, but I still bought it. I expect the game to receive support just like any other software product. Bug fixes, revisions to the code and interface.
We do fix the game occasionally with patches, but it is a matter of time and engagement. JK works full time as a computer engineer and I wouldn't expect him to work hours when he returnsd from work. After release we were a bit tired and prefered not to think about dominions too much. Important bugs must be fixed of course, but a bit of vacation from dominions was needed. Now we work on weekends when we don't have anything special to do, so It is mostly a matter of priority. Should I see my friends or should I add a new nation. At times friends get the longer straw, and vice versa.
> I read somewhere that the devs didn't know what to do with the income they were getting off the game. Well I have a suggestion. Hire someone else to help them code the parts they really don't want to. I think it would be easy enough for them to partner with a third party (who could be located anywhere internationally with the miracle of the internet) that could help them with the drudgery of UI improvements, while they focus on maintaining and improving the core of the game.
We don't get enough money to pay a full time job for one of us, so it unlikely that we will find another free programmer willing and able to get into the quite jumbled code of 10 years of ongoing programming. I don't think the cost of hiring a new programmer would be covered by possible sale increses.
About not knowing what to do applies to my normal salary as well. I sort of dislike money and don't like to do much, apart from games that is. I'm quite content with what I have.
I wouldn't mind to see a dominions totally remade by someone else (paying me for it perhaps). It would be fun (and possibly agonizing) to se a graphics heavy simplified RTS version of dominions
> Jazzepi
So it is unlikely that there will be big and ongoing UI-changes, but there might pop up things from time to time.
It might have been fair to go to greater lengths to let you and other customers know that we are a small company that have limited resources. Many on this forum and old dom2 players are probably aware of this, but new players might not know it and expect quick and ongoing work on the game. I think there is some info on the matter on shrapnels site, but I'm not sure if what is said there translates to how much ongoing support you percieve that you recieve.
Hope you are OK with this.
KO
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Honestly, if nothing was ever done to Dominions 3 from this point on out I'd be pretty happy with the product I purchased. I'd even venture to say I'd go buy the next incarnation of the series when/if it came out. I was always a huge fan of Master of Magic, and this is the closest thing I've ever seen to it since then. The 4X games always were my favorite. Dom 2-3 have a thriving multiplayer community, and that's what really interests me.
Besides that, have you thought of trying to tap into other markets? I think that you could bring in a lot more people if you put your game up on Steam for distribution. I don't know what kind of deals they make with developers, but you'd be opening yourself up to a huge fanbase. I know they had a small company 4X space expansion style game on there a while back called Space Empires 5. I don't know how well it fared, but I checked just a moment ago and it's still up there for sale.
Anyways, I'd love to see you all earn enough profit from the game that you could farm out programming tasks to other people. Finding new methods of distribution besides just Shrapnel Games might be the way to go.
Oh, and I'm very happy with Dominions 3, it's a rich engrossing game and I've recommended it to a few of my friends. Most of them don't have the patience for the slow paced style games, so it's difficult to get them addicted, but I think I have one who might be susceptible.
Jazzepi