I assume that with one (successful) game out, it’s more about letting people know that he’s working on another game, which will get people who loved the first game to start following the development of the second one. It’s a bit of community building. While I’m not likely to give a brand-new developer much mindshare without a demo, I’m much more likely to get on board with someone who has already produced a game I liked, and now rolls out a cool idea with some well-developed information. I guess it’s cashing in on credibility, which is totally legit as far as I’m concerned. People are still playing AE, so why not get the word out on the new game while that first hook is still in?
If you make a great game, and then tell me that you are in the process of making another game, and well hey, here is the really cool idea behind it … I don’t need the demo in hand to start wanting it.
That’s a great point, and I thought of the same thing, and you beat me to it. I can’t fathom the idea of playing Stalin in Civ4, but a lot of people do, so whatever. “I wish I could play your game but the subject matter puts me off” is a completely legitimate post. “I think your game is immoral and I hope you get electrocuted by your keyboard” is a completely legitimate post as well. I’m more sympathetic towards one and less so towards the other, but then I’m not the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
I agree completely and that was the point I tried to make.
People should certainly stay away from subject matter that offends them, it’s when they suggest that Vic should pick other subject matter I get offended. Since their sensibilities could result in me being robbed from playing a subject matter I find highly interesting.
Playing Stalin in CivIV is no problem for me, neither are the Germans in HOI2*… but if slave labour, deportation and that sort of thing was an implemented tactic you could use, I’d probably say no thanks.
And I’d also say that DeathCampCommander is probably closer and more tangible and thus much more likely to offend many, than turnbased strategy set in Miltons hell.
*well, playing the Germans is a problem. Not because of morality issues, but because I suck at the game.
Your willingness to take on unusual and underused themes is great; and I would hope that you get more people willing to give your games a try because of that than you scare away. Looking forward to reading/seeing more about how the game will be.
Hey Thanks. I just finished this actually after seeing it in a books thread here. It was a great read. Of course SI will not have you turning dammed souls into bricks for your walls for all eternity…
The theme is baroque (medium?) fantasy and NOT creepy occult. And if you claim the Throne of Hell there is nothing stopping your from issuing some reform proclamations, or like a hostile takeover just carve it up and sell the assets off. On a similar note, it took me a while to get over my squemishness about running a “blood” economy in Dominions for my favorite nation Abyssia. Eventually, when I saw that blood virgin icon my mind just translated it as “pink resource icon”… time to go get some more of those.
That’s a big (huge actually) part of it. To be frank, with a game to sell already on my vendor’s table any interest for the new game might lead some potential customers to give AE a try… since there is a demo for that available. It’s also not that far away from launch i.e. maybe 8 months vs. 3 years (famous last words I am sure I will regret) and finally I wanted to be able to discuss it more freely on my blog. I’m really kinda proud of the design (more famous last words) and I’d like to be able to talk about it in the open.
shrug, be as insulted as you like. It’s what I’ve found in my life. Those who rant and rail about demons, gods, thugs, whatever in gaming tend to be the most religious.
People told me I’d go to hell and be a demon worshipper for playing D&D as a kid. They were all religious nut jobs.
People told me I’m teaching myself immorality and corrupting myself by reading various fantasy/sci-fi books. They were all religious nut jobs.
Was even told the devil “has his hand on my soul” because I listened to certain rock backs. More religious nut jobs.
Feel free to be offended, but my statement is factual as far as my personal experience. If I had a wider sample set, maybe I’d find differently. But I don’t. From what I’ve seen, it’s the religious types that can’t separate fantasy and reality. Any fantasy that threatens their own beliefs seems to rattle them.
Consider this. If it weren’t for someone with religious feelings having posted here in the first place, this topic wouldn’t have even come up for discussion. It required someone with beliefs in the supernatural (God) to post about their concerns with the theme, someone that had trouble separating the fantasy of the game from their internal beliefs.
I’m a person with “religious feelings”. I posted a response challenging the original notion, and suggested that it’s possible to enjoy fantastical themes that don’t correlate with one’s faith.
My issue with your remark was your offensive language, which you repeat.
From your remarks, should I conclude that all “non-religious types” making sweeping, bigoted statements?
No one is questioning that you’ve encountered morons who use their ‘faith’ as a weapon. I am questioning your position of calling me stupid, and telling me that I can’t distinguish reality from fantasy. That’s a tad bit offensive.
I think its quite normal for people to not like certain themes. If GTA was about a cop taking out criminals I’m sure there would be a lot less debate about it.
I really like to get into the faction I play and hence I dislike playing Stalin in Civ 4 (even if I play him in a “good” (we only kill the neighbours) way just because of the part he played in history. I’ve no problems like that with the Xenopods in AE, still they are by far my least favourite faction because the feeling/theme doesn’t appeal to me. I love to crush them though. If that makes me happy, who cares.
I won’t blame people for playing Brim… ehm SI, but while I greatly enjoy AE, I won’t buy SI because I simply do not like to be forced into an “evil” role and dislike the theme.
Can I see what’s fact and what’s fiction, I think I can. Do I think its important to play game the way you like and think its fun. For sure! If someone enjoys playing Stalin I don’t mind. If someone starts acting like him in RL I do get a tad concerned though.
This is a case of me being a little dense on release terminology… I’d like to get the game out sometime between 01 Jan 09 and 28 Feb 09… so I was calling it Winter 2009. What’s the best way to phrase that?
I said nothing of the sort. You’re imposing your own twist on it.
I said, and I quote “I’ve found it’s the highly religious whose brains have difficulty separating reality vs. fiction, since much of their world is wrapped in belief of an unprovable all-powerful superhero anyway.”
I’m not saying you’re stupid. I’m not saying you’re highly religious. I’m saying, simply, it’s those highly religious people that can have trouble separating fantasy and relatity. Neither am I saying “all” of them. I said “difficulty”, not “are incapable”. Some people manage to reconcile the conflicts of their faith with other items just fine. The ones that fail though are typically the highly religious types, rather than the non-religious types.
The fact you’ve chosen to take any of that as a personal statement is your invention, not my statement.
Again, I said, very simple, I found it’s highly religious types that have difficulty. My experience with a few dozen zealots over the years. I have no experience with you personally. I have no idea if you’d have problems or not.
Now, see, that’s a perfectly reasonable statement. I wouldn’t want to play a game about raping little girls either. It’s a representation of the potential real world. There are movies, fantastic movies, that I don’t want to watch because it’s too painful (e.g. Schindler’s List), where as there are gory movies I’m fine with because it’s so fantastical as to be detached from any real world association.
