What the hell is up with Dominions 3???

[Tim Brooks]

Dominions 3 is on track, in beta, with alot of effort currently going into getting marketing up and running. Shrapnel Games has a signed contract with Illwinter to publish Dominions III. With a game of this scale, we can't guarantee a release date, so we have been waiting until we are closer to completion, and can at least give a reasonably close schedule, before we announce.

Now, having said all that, look for more infromation, MAJOR information before the end of March.

Has not anyone wondered about the Awakening ads?

See you soon.

[Endoperez]

Now, that's some news. I'd just like to hear the rest of them as well...

Other than that, I don't really have much to say. There have been no news in these forums to post, unfortunately. Except that the developers have been (somewhat) more active lately - encouraging comments on mods, on certain threads, etc.
Oh, and Illwinter site isn't a polar desert - last update is "only" from the end of December. That's actually moderately active for that one...

[Tyrant]

Tim Brooks said:
Dominions 3 is on track, in beta, with alot of effort currently going into getting marketing up and running. Shrapnel Games has a signed contract with Illwinter to publish Dominions III. With a game of this scale, we can't guarantee a release date, so we have been waiting until we are closer to completion, and can at least give a reasonably close schedule, before we announce.

Now, having said all that, look for more infromation, MAJOR information before the end of March.

Has not anyone wondered about the Awakening ads?

See you soon.

I saw the Awakening ads and took them for an Omen!

But...you guys really do need to be more forthcoming. The post i have quoted above is perfectly sufficient. Put up a sticky thread and have someone post "there, there, it's ok, we are making progress" every two weeks just so we are reassured.

We live in the Age of Noise, there are 15 gillion new entertainments coming out every week and ADD is epidemic.
Out of sight is out of mind. Your hardcore fans will wait, but you will lose casual customers if they check in once and don't see something. Everyone who plays these type of games has been burned by vaporware at some point, (Matrix ticked me off so badly I won't even buy their games anymore) so you need to be carefull.

Thanks for your post Tim!

[DominionsFan]

Tim Brooks said:
Dominions 3 is on track, in beta, with alot of effort currently going into getting marketing up and running. Shrapnel Games has a signed contract with Illwinter to publish Dominions III. With a game of this scale, we can't guarantee a release date, so we have been waiting until we are closer to completion, and can at least give a reasonably close schedule, before we announce.

Now, having said all that, look for more infromation, MAJOR information before the end of March.

Has not anyone wondered about the Awakening ads?

See you soon.

Finally!!!! I cant wait to see the update! thx!


Oh Tim btw....can you tell us..will there be diplomacy in singleplayer? I really missed it in Doms 2. :-) I know that this is a real wargame but it would be a nice feature.

[Saber Cherry]

I think a lot of the reason the world went crazy over GalCiv 2 and Oblivion were the huge amount of pre-release exposure, and constant trickling of exciting details (even if they were the same ones that trickled the week before, and the week before that). Oblivion, of course, can't be compared since they had a multi-million dollar PR budget, a guy (Pete) that did nothing but fly around the world pimping the game at the offices of every magazine and website that would let him in the door, and a team dedicated to making content for previews. But Stardock is an indy company, and their constant info trickle (aka "hype") netted a massive community and incredible launch...

I don't know how much of this is luck, how much is due to the specific game, how much is due to being slashdotted or penny-arcaded, and how much is due to netting big interviews and previews with big-name magazines. But all together, they worked very well... since the world has been craving 4x-ish games recently. CivIV largely satisfied the Civ fans, GalCiv2 largely satisifed the Master of Orion fans, and now there are just the Master of Magic / Age of Wonders fans looking for a deep Fantasy TBS... especially when HOMMV has Starforce, and only a 50% chance of being good; and isn't quite in the same genre.

Maybe Dominions 3 can fill the void and become huge, with enough hype. Making one of these purported beta testers into a liason for the forum might allow limited dissemination without interrupting busy people who are doing real work. As for netting magazine interviews and previews... I don't really know the process for that, but it would be great if it happened

To quote Dijkstra: "That was back when I still believed the success of a product had some relation to its quality." (<-with regards to the IBM 360)
Good products fail without hype.

[Tyrian]

For French people, there are an interview and an article about DomIII in the cybertratège magazine. There are some screenshots.
http://www.cyberstratege.com/

For the infos, they talk about:
*subterrean races and castle
*the system of era
*the random map generator
*the awakening system (the pretendant can be in sleep at the start of the game)
*better IA (more castle construction)
*lesser powerful drain life
*lesser "micro-gestion"

(sorry for the bad english)

edit for Dominionsfan: in the interview, they clearly say no diplomatie for the moment

[Saber Cherry]

Neat, a magazine that takes hardcore strategy seriously! Thanks for the translation.

[DominionsFan]

Tyrian said:
For French people, there are an interview and an article about DomIII in the cybertratège magazine. There are some screenshots.
http://www.cyberstratege.com/

For the infos, they talk about:
*subterrean races and castle
*the system of era
*the random map generator
*the awakening system (the pretendant can be in sleep at the start of the game)
*better IA (more castle construction)
*lesser powerful drain life
*lesser "micro-gestion"

(sorry for the bad english)

edit for Dominionsfan: in the interview, they clearly say no diplomatie for the moment

I see!! Can you post these screenshots? I must see them!

[Tyrian]

DominionsFan: I'm not sure it's totally legal... But you can't have this magazie so...
Wait a couple of minutes.

[DominionsFan]

Tyrian said:
DominionsFan: I'm not sure it's totally legal... But you can't have this magazie so...
Wait a couple of minutes.

Thanks ... sure you can post the scans its legal, ive seen pcgamer scans etc on many sites before..