Raising The Bar...

[Atrocities]

I just wanted to re-address what this thread was about.

quote:

---

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

---

Again, very well stated.



------------------
"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Patric Stewart as Captain Picard
UCP/TCO Ship Yards

[pathfinder]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Richard:
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.

---

The only other game I know of who has the programmer and such reponding to the board like this is Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord, a wargame by another indie company. The support by both companies has been superior to anything I have seen at other game developers/publishers (pathfinder gives a raspberry to Microprose/Hasbro).

Could it get better? maybe....*shrug*

Just thought I would put in my 2 cents.

Now back to the game.



[This message has been edited by pathfinder (edited 12 January 2001).]

[Derek]

You know, as much as there are many improvements that could be made to SE4, at least it is not Reach for the Stars, a game in which the designer unequivocably stated that was designed so that people could NOT modify it in any way, not even changing artwork, is still buggy after being out6 months, and has very little, if any, designer support.

I'll stick with SE4, thankyouverymuch

Derek

[Tomgs]

Unfortunately I bought Reach for the Stars because I loved the origional (on my C64) and Version 1.2 (on my Amiga2000) but the new Reach for the Stars is in no way comparable to either of those classics. I would rather break out my C64 and play the origional. Yes it still works . Oh no the theme music from the origional is haunting me Da da, da da, da, dot dot da.

[This message has been edited by Tomgs (edited 12 January 2001).]

[Nyx]

Empire of the Fading Suns has comparable support from Holistic Design. They've given out parts of the source code to the fans in order to allow better modifications. They even gave one guy permission to create a completely new display window that shows "EFS Version 1.5 Nova Version 2.6" Where Nova is the fan mod Version number displayed in the game. They also shared the sub routine they used to create the game maps, and are still patching the game even though it's three years old.

Blizzard also did an above average job of patching StarCraft and BroodWars to tweak playbalance between the races. Even going so far as to get input from the top tournament players about what needed fixing and how much to tweak things to get them fixed.

Now, to give credit where it's due, Aaron is much better about feedback and replying to e-mail than any other game designer I'm aware of, and he puts out patches way faster than anyone else. But there are a few companies that care enough to try.

I think more of them would be willing to if they could only get permission to engage in what their bosses will consider a non-profit activity.

------------------
Compete in the Space Empires IV World Championship at www.twingalaxies.com.