Any news on DOM-III

[Zen]

CUnknown said:
Yeah Zen--

You're definitely in the minority of the minority that is Dominions 2 fans. CivIII can't hold a candle to Dom2, despite the vastly larger budget and huge popularity.

I never said Civ3 was on par with Dom3. If you see the references it was considering the entire series (which you can see applies to games with sequels). I may not at this point say that Civilization or Civiliation 2 is as good as Dominions 2 *right now*. But I do remember when they came out and I played them, I enjoyed them very nearly as much as Dominions 2. Dominions just is more fresh in my mind since it's been a while since I've played them.

Or, actually, because of the vastly larger budget and huge popularity. Any game with such a huge budget is going to be marketed at a large audience so it can make money (or someone is getting fired, right?). Any game marketed at a large audience is going to be hindered by the "common-denominator" factor, therefore probably not as good as dom2 because it isn't limited in that way.

So let me see the arguement. Because a game is marketed to a large audience it is going to be hindered by that fact and won't be as good as someeone who doesn't have the kind of budget to market to a large audience?

If that is the arugement, how much money does it take to have a good game that does appeal to a large audience since it can be defined by monetary means? If a good team makes a good game that is marketed to alot of people or a good team makes a game that is a niche game, it shouldn't matter since it's not the money that is the determining factor, but the development. By what your saying it means that Dominions 2 will never be as good as it is right now since it doesn't take alot of money and would actually be better if it spent less money, especially on things that are considered 'fluff' (like graphics). So cut out Kristoffer O. and the money he gets from Dominions 3 (lets assume after taxes and work effort its something like $0.000003 an hour) will make it even a better game.

Also--most of that budget is going towards graphics, which any true gamer knows is mostly irrelevant to a good game-playing experience.

I didn't know you worked for Firaxis in it's financial department to confirm this. So the majority of what Civ4 will be from Civ3 will be graphical and it will be a total flop, in direct contradiction to what is being reported in interviews and the development journals.

Assuming that isn't what you meant but that if that is what is going to happen, I agree with you. Civ 4 will be a waste of a game and nowhere even close to Dominions 2, let alone Dominions 3.

So, mass marketed games are a large number of people making decisions about the game with regards more or less only to profits, not to a good gaming experience, and on top of that, they're wasting most of their money on a less-important part of the game (graphics). These games are just bound to be worse than a small project done by gamers for gamers.

Profit is a high priority in any business but depending on the business. The sacrifice of quality for profit is the balancing of the fine line as any business owner will tell you. And while I may not know the Gaming Industry like the back of my hand or all the ins and outs (if you happen to be one that does, then I'll take your word for it) developers work as hard as they can to make the best game they can in the amount of time they have to work with because it directly impacts their future.

Whether or not it is successful is entirely up to how they do.

I'm not saying they -have- to be worse, but if they're not, it's pretty damn awesome. Get me a copy of that game.

I agree with you. Maybe I just have more faith on this particular project because I've been following every worthwhile TBS I've seen lately (there aren't that many) to quench that hunger for it.


Edited for stupid typos.