What the hell is up with Dominions 3???

[PDF]

Pocus said:
are you sure PDF you had the right to disclose these screenies? I thought Theo had it from IW, but just for the mag.

I asked KO and Théo permissions before, don't worry Pocus !

[Gandalf Parker]

NT Jedi said
Since Dominions is one of your top selling games it should definitely have an advertising strategy which grows upon getting closer to the release date.

Dont go wishing advertising on them. The developers might not want that.
Unless you mean more PR releases

Annette said
In case you guys don't already know, Gandalf loves tshirts!!!!

Ok then, how about a mug with the keypress chart on it. Im thinking that when this game is released Im going to NEED a mug for all of those long late nights.
Please.... just.. one.. more.. turn...

Gandalf Parker

[Annette]

Gandalf Parker said:
Ok then, how about a mug with the keypress chart on it. Im thinking that when this game is released Im going to NEED a mug for all of those long late nights.
Please.... just.. one.. more.. turn...

You know I love you, Gandalf!

As to the question of when to begin the "hype"...too soon, is no good...too late, no good...I feel like Goldilocks. We don't hold Illwinter, or any of our developers, to a schedule. When it's ready, it's ready. Illwinter does not need the pressure of delivering on some arbitrary timeline, nor are we inclined to request it. We want to minimize the chances of the developement and testing process to be pressured by the "is it ready yet?" mindset. So we begin the "hype" when we feel the time is right. I hope that explains our point of view; we've learned through experience

[NTJedi]

Annette said:
As to the question of when to begin the "hype"...too soon, is no good...too late, no good...I feel like Goldilocks. We don't hold Illwinter, or any of our developers, to a schedule. When it's ready, it's ready. Illwinter does not need the pressure of delivering on some arbitrary timeline, nor are we inclined to request it. We want to minimize the chances of the developement and testing process to be pressured by the "is it ready yet?" mindset. So we begin the "hype" when we feel the time is right. I hope that explains our point of view; we've learned through experience

No need to set any specific timeline, we care more about the game being good than being done fast. Gamers are more curious about the content, improvements of artificial intelligence of computer opponents, and new game features. Dropping small pieces of information or screenshots is enough to get word of mouth working. Giving almost zero information for the last 10 months WILL NOT work as well as giving small pieces of information/screenshots for the last 10 months. In fact too much silence is bad because fans become worried or upset as seen with Triumph Studios.

Gal_Civ_2 was(is?) the #1 selling software at Walmart... not just games but all software. It's not enough to only examine what's worked in the past for you, but to examine what's working for others.
That last sentence is true for almost any type of business.

[Kristoffer O]

The 10 month silence is more of a IW silence than a shrapnel silence (and 10 months is a bit of an exaggeration). Unless we give them screens and info they can't give you any info. I've been quite bad at writing dev diaries as I said I would. Probably because I mostly write when I'm in a good mood and have little work at school (this fall was a tough one and dev diaries were not my top priority, but now everything is brighter).

But there has been some info leaking. The most anticipated game at the start of this year for example.

I hope you haven't lost faith young prophet

[Nerfix]

But do we get new battle formations or were those neat columns of C'tisian chariots just an illusion?

[Gandalf Parker]

I think that GalCiv is released under a different publishing plan. It doesnt work well for comparison. I know alot of game developers that dont want to go the big-layout/long-wait route.

[NTJedi]

Kristoffer O said:
...because I mostly write when I'm in a good mood and have little work at school (this fall was a tough one and dev diaries were not my top priority, but now everything is brighter).

But there has been some info leaking. The most anticipated game at the start of this year for example.

I hope you haven't lost faith young prophet

Definitely haven't lost faith... no hurry either... if you need an extra 6 months to add more content and better computer AI, let the fans know and we'll all support the delay.
What information about the game you pass to us fans we'll be able to use for 'word of mouth' and topics in other forums which in the long run makes us happy and increases game sales.

[Olive]

Does anyone go sometimes to the main shrapnell homepage instead of using direct links to the board ?
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/Dom3/1.htm