Raising The Bar...

[Arboris]

First let me say that I think SE IV is the BEST conquer the galaxy game that I have ever played. However upon close inspection there are a myriad of things that need to be fixed in order to make this a time tested classic.

Having purchased the full Version of SE III years ago and watching the development of that game I am sure MM will make the corrections necessary and advance the present game beyond our hopes.

However I do think that MM needs to raise the bar on customer service. Now before MM or the loyal SE IV community take offence, please hear me out. I fully understand the obstacles that need to be overcome when operating a small business. For the Last two years I have had a struggling enterprise that for the majority of that time was staying afloat barely on a month to month business. However when the Last half of 2000 put us firmly in the black I invested that profit into adding more value to my existing product line and services.

As I stated in an early post ..when MM decided to take a short break during the Christmas holidays I felt that it was probably a long overdue and well deserved rest. I would also not be surprised to find out that MM probably could not enjoy their entire break without occasionally thinking about their product and the many things they would like to improve and enhance.

SE IV has apparently done very well. Selling out is always a good sign that a product is in demand.

SE IV was sold to us at the average going rate for a full commercial/retail software product. However they did not have the expensive of a pretty box and box art, nor did they invest much in their manual. Nether MM or Shrapnel has had to invest much if anything in advertising, and MM does not have the typical 12+ man crew for R&D. In a nut shell I would guess that financially things must be looking pretty good for all involved.

This is why I think that MM and Shrapnel need to raise the bar in regards to customer service and support . MM came back from their rest on the 4th and here it is the evening of the 10th and we have not heard a single word from them. I know that they are under staffed and working hard on the ongoing development of SE IV but , how hard would it be to drop by once a week and just give us a short progress report and answer a few of the questions that the people on this board have had.

In addition to this they need to get a better service provided that will not shut down their ability to receive emails. These are all things that are the cost of doing business. They need to take some of their profits from this game and invest it back into the company. Perhaps hire some help. I am sure they could get some inexpensive help from some people right here in the community. As much as I love SE IV and I think the team at MM is great. They need to start thinking big and expand their horizons. SE IV could be a runaway hit if they had a box with great cover art and a decent manual. I need not point out how fantastic the cover art for upcoming "Stars: Supernova" looks and thus gives the impression of a fully fleshed out and professional product. Just for the record I hated the original "Stars" game.

As it stands only the most dire hard fan of this genre will take the time and energy to pour over this game and absorb the vast wealth of material that is needed to be learned in order to have a satisfying experience.
Have I not played SE III and thoroughly read their wonderful 300 page manual for that game. I would be totally lost. There are many things that are not answered in the hard copy manual and the Online manual. Too many things are left to be learned from these message Boards and by trial and error. I would be willing to pay extra for this manual even though I feel we should have been given it in the first place.

There have been many positives reviews of SE IV and that will give the potential of many new sales for MM & Shrapnel. However since this is a mail order only product, many people will visit this board and others like it and I'm afraid that the number of unanswered issues, lack of a decent manual, occasional inability to email MM,and lack of timely progress reports, may hold back potential customers and leave the visitor with a negative impression as to what they can expect.

Nigel Wulf

[Atrocities]

I must say, that is one of the most professional post I have ever had the fortune to read. Very well stated.

[Mephisto]

Well put. I totally agree. Some more information given to us would be real nice, too. How about a list of known and worked-on bugs?

quote:

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Originally posted by Atrocities:
I must say, that is one of the most professional post I have ever had the fortune to read. Very well stated.

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[Tampa_Gamer]

Very well put. I made a suggestion to SG and MM back in early December to let registered Users have "read-only" access to the SE4 beta forum so that we could learn from all the trial and tribulations of the past 6 months.

[Elmo]

Guys

Whenever I have sent email to MM I always received a timely reply from Aaron. When I had a problem with my SE IV order I received prompt attention from Shrapnel. So my experience with both have been excellent so far.

Elmo

[Richard]

But I think this is where reality and fantasy diverge...

The problem is that YES the game is doing well but you know what as well as it is doing Shrapnel only has one full time employee and me as a part timer. Even with the sales we have not made enough money to have me quit my day time job. Neither has it made enough for Aaron either. And yes we have spent quite a bit of money on advertising for the game. The problem is folks do not understand how expensive most advertising is. Web advertising is not that bad, and that is where we spent the most money.

We respond to each and every email we get and Aaron does, I get tons of good email about how well Aaron responds to his community. The problem is since this is STILL not enough for us to quit what we do full time Aaron is still doing this after he gets off from work. Because of that the patch process is slower, at the same time though can you even get close to this much feedback with the lead programmer of any other game? If so I would like to know because I doubt it.

As far as access to the testing forum we discuss things that are trade secret in nature in there and thus we could never open it up for read only access. As it is I think we are fairly open and honest with you guys and so far have listened to all input.

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Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com