Joystiq

Sins of a Solar Empire sells 500,000 copies

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

Stardock has revealed that its sleeper PC hit Sins of a Solar Empire has sold over half a million copies. The company's CEO Brad Wardell tells Gamasutra that 400,000 units were sold at retail, while 100,000 in sales came from digital downloads. Not bad for a full-bodied PC strategy game that cost less than a million dollars to make.

Wardell is certainly becoming an interesting character in the narrative of this industry, with relatively small publisher Stardock really stepping up. He explains part of Sins' success is that it was designed to run on a "four-year-old video card" and still look good. He says there might be a "piddly super-mega effect" that gets missed, but the result is more sales for the game, a strategy which sounds similar to Blizzard's take on being a PC developer. Sins' first mini-expansion, Entrenchment, will be available for $10 later this year.

[Via Big Download]

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Stardock reveals Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment

Justin McElroy — 2008-08-29T09:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Strategy

Did you ever finish a six-hour long match of Sins of a Solar Empire and think, "What I really want is more"? If so, you have some serious, clinical mental problems. But, you've also got some good news coming your way: Today Stardock announced the first expansion to the game: Entrenchment.

We're not even going to try to decode what the $9.95 expansion (due late this year) adds to the game, so here it is straight from the space horse's mouth: "Entrenchment promises to bring fans a Starbase defense platform for each race (extremely powerful and armored bases housing a variety of weapons and other upgrades capable of defending an entire planet), turret upgrades for each race to make them more powerful mine fields and a Subspace Inhibitor platform that will slow enemy ships within its range."

...Umm, great?

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Demigod releases first trailer, confirmed playable at PAX

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-07-29T02:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Action, Strategy

Publisher Stardock has released the first trailer for Demigod, its upcoming "team-based action game with RTS and RPG elements" being developed by Gas Powered Games. The title will support one-on-one battles, but the game apparently shines in team play. The idea of a "team-based" RTS is still something we're wrapping our brains around; as multiplayer RTS is nothing new, but Demigod sounds like something different. For those who really want to get some hands-on time with the game, we were able to confirm the title will be at PAX.

Gamespot recently spoke with GPG and Stardock about the development of Demigod and we're definitely looking forward to learning more as the title continues its crusade for an early 2009 launch. We're still keeping our fingers crossed for an announcement that the game will make the leap to consoles. Check out the trailer after the break.

Gallery: Demigod (PC)

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Sins publisher Stardock keeps piracy 'in perspective'

Jason Dobson — 2008-06-24T22:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, PC, Strategy, Business

Piracy. It's an dark cloud that prompts many companies to employ draconian measures like DRM or electric shocks (coming soon to a game near you!). One notable exception is Michigan-headquartered Stardock, which refuses to include copy protection in its games, a policy that interestingly hasn't kept its most recent release, Sins of a Solar Empire, from putting up respectable numbers both online and at retail.

As Stardock CEO Brad Wardell explains it, piracy is an issue that "has to be kept in perspective," and in a recent Big Download interview he further played the common sense card, stating that "the people who actually buy games don't want to be inconvenienced or treated like a criminal." Wardell adds that while Sins "definitely" would have sold more had piracy not been an issue, "everyone who buys games knows they could easily have gone out and stolen it if they wanted to." It's a perspective often trumpeted by the gamer community, but it's even more refreshing to have it come from within the industry itself, and gives us one more reason to keep Sins of a Solar Empire sitting on our desktops.

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The Best Of Big Download: June 15-21, 2008

John Callaham — 2008-06-21T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Meta (about Joystiq)

It's yet another huge week here at the Big Download news site. For a "game" that's not really a game, Maxis' Spore Creature Creator generated more buzz than most true PC game titles. But that's not all we had. Take a look at the highlights from the past week.

Exclusives

Spore Creature Creator: Not only did we chat briefly with Spore's executive producer Lucy Bradshaw, we launched a Spore Creature Creator contest that will give the winners some cool prizes.
Interview: Brad Wardell of Stardock: We chat with the CEO of Stardock about The Political Machine 2008, Sins of a Solar Empire, their new Impulse game delivery system and lots more.
Interview: Randy Stude of The PC Gaming Alliance: We quiz the president of the non-profit organization on their plans to promote and improve PC gaming.
Freeware Friday: Our latest free game spotlight goes to the sci-fi action strategy game Battleships Forever.

Downloads

Spore Creature Creator demo: Need we say more? Download the free stand alone creature editor from Maxis and EA in PC and Mac flavors.
Team Fortress 2: Meet The Sniper trailer: The latest in-game engine cut-scene from Valve centers on the long shot character in their multiplayer shooter.
Project Origin trailers. We have not one but two trailers showing off more of Monolith's upcoming horror shooter.
The Princess Bride demo: Check out a portion of this casual game based on the classic comedy fantasy movie.
Diablo II patch: This patch for the classic Blizzard action-RPG finally removes the CD check.

News

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Stardock launches Impulse digital distribution system

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-06-17T17:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC

The future of mass digital distribution inches ever closer, as Stardock throws its hat into the ring with Impulse. Although Impulse does have Sins of a Solar Empire, The Political Machine '08, Penny Arcade: OTRSPODE1 and touts "more than 100 games," many of them are currently third-tier titles.

Much like the upgrades to Steam, Impulse will support online save game data, multiplayer matchmaking and game rankings. Also, if a publisher takes advantage of the service, Impulse allows users to tie games to their accounts -- even if they weren't purchased through Impulse -- meaning they'll be available to re-download at any point in the future without hunting for discs or activation codes. There's plenty of other information for PC users to scour over on the Impulse website.

It's good for consumers to see more competition in the digital distribution marketplace and we're more than happy with the new features Impulse and Steam are adding. Now Impulse just has to grow its library so it doesn't get lost in the haze of Steam.

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Sins of a Solar Empire releases today in UK

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-06-13T03:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Strategy

Although we're sure plenty of Europeans have already pirated Sins of a Solar Empire -- and really, we can't blame you -- the game officially launches in the UK today. The surprise PC hit will cost £30 in the UK and, although the press release speaks about the "European retail box," we can't seem to currently find a release date or price for the rest of the continent.

Sins of a Solar Empire has no disc copy-protection, but supports those who purchased a copy with patches, which have greatly improved the game since launch. UK gamers who got the game through nefarious means, please feel free to support this excellent strategy game with a retail purchase. You want a Sins of a Solar Empire 2, don't you?

[Via Big Download]

Gallery: Sins of a Solar Empire

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Joystiq interview: Demigod, Sins, and the death of PC gaming

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-24T12:25:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, RPGs, Simulations, Strategy, Casual

With publisher Stardock's rise the last couple of years and the announcement that it'll be publishing Gas Powered Games' next title, Demigod, it was time catch up with the two companies. We spoke with Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell and Gas Powered Games' founder Chris Taylor and asked some niggling questions on our minds ... and fired a few total shots in the dark which yielded results (like Demigod on consoles?). Find out more about Stardock and why Gas Powered Games decided to hook up with the little-publisher-that-could for its next title in our interview.

OK, let's get right into it, what's Demigod?

Chris Taylor - Demigod is a frantic team-based action game with RPG and RTS elements mixed in. If that doesn't sound familiar, it's because we're sort of inventing a new style of hybrid gameplay. The player selects a Demigod, and fights for a place in the pantheon of Gods in these incredible arenas. Each battle puts the player in command of either an Assassin Demigod, or General Demigod. These two types gives the player a choice of whether they command just the single Demigod, an Assassin, or whether they take command over every single unit in the game, like a traditional RTS, a General.

Gallery: Demigod (PC)

Can you explain the Assassin and General Demigods a little deeper? Have we seen what they look like in the released screenshots? Can you explain some of the characters we've seen in released screenshots?

Chris Taylor - It's hard to see the difference by looking at them in the screenshots, because the difference is in the functionality, not the visual design. The Assassin Demigod is all about focusing the control on the single character, and letting all the other units in the game flow around them on the battlefield. It's great for players who don't like micro-management, and often have a hard time playing traditional RTS games. On the other hand, Generals are just the opposite, and are made for players who love to manage lots of units at once, and the General Demigod gives them a great RTS experience with all the pandemonium and chaos they can handle, all at the tip of their fingers.

There's a lot going on in those screenshots, but one of the easiest to pick out is the Rook, a huge Assassin Demigod, who is pretty easy to pick out of the crowd as he towers above all the others with the massive castle like structures on his shoulders. Other units you might easily identify are the Unclean Beast, the dog like creature with the long tongue that oozes pestilence, another awesome Assassin Demigod. There are many other units in the screenshots, like the minotaurs, who take a lot of abuse on the battlefield, and often get crushed under the feet of the massive giants who are also featured in many of our early screenshots.

OK, that sounds like something we'd need to play to understand. You've described the game as having RTS and RPG elements. Where's the RTS and where's the RPG?

CT - If you sat down to play the game, you'd immediately be most comfortable if you were familiar with the latest crop of RTS games, but that's not to say it's required. The overarching control schemes that we use are very similar in style to those used in most RTS games today, but that's only the beginning. As the game progresses, the player's Demigod can be upgraded with bigger and better skills, and this is where the RPG elements come into play. The player can also visit a shop in which potions and other familiar RPG items can be purchased.

Tell us more about the public beta plans for the game this summer? How can our readers join?

Brad Wardell - This summer we're going to open up the beta to players who pre-order the game. This way, the feedback we get comes directly from players who are interested in the game already and gives us time to implement the feedback.

How simple are Demigod's controls, could it be played with a gamepad?

CT - I think it's fair to say that the game could in fact be played on a gamepad. With our latest work on Supreme Commander for the 360, we have packed a ton of functionality onto a 360 controller, so there is very little we can't do on a console. I think the real question is, will the game be a ton of fun on the console ... and the answer is, absolutely!!

So, does that mean you're confirming a port of the game for consoles?

CT - It's a discussion we have been having for quite some time, but no final decisions have been made just yet.

Is Demigod for the PC being designed to allow gamepad controls, specifically could someone take their Xbox 360 controller and plug it into their PC and have a solid experience without mouse and keyboard?

"We have no plans to support the 360 controller on the PC, but I admit it's an interesting idea!"

CT - Not really, we are focusing on creating an awesome experience on the PC, and if we were to take the game and do a version for the console, we would design a new interface specifically for that platform. On any platform we develop for, our goal is to play to the strengths of the control system. We have no plans to support the 360 controller on the PC, but I admit it's an interesting idea!

You talked about translating the Supreme Commander controls to Xbox 360. Can you explain some of the innovations or breakthroughs you feel the team pulled off in bringing -- or translating -- an intense RTS experience to consoles?

CT - The biggest innovation was the new interface that completely replaced the old way that it was done on the PC. You will probably have to experience it to completely understand it, but believe me, once you have tried it out, you may not want to go back to the old PC way! Simply put, the player selects a structure and brings up a big wheel, and then by rotating a joystick, selects a units, it's very fast and efficient ... and the learning curve is short. That single innovation, in combination with the strategic zoom (zooming out all the way to see the whole map, then in again to any specific location) really changed the way RTS games could be played on the console. And I have to give props to the incredible work of Hellbent, the studio that did the work, on designing and developing this incredible new interface.

Did you know when designing Supreme Commander that you'd have to give PC players what they expected from an RTS, but still leave a door open to translate the experience for consoles?

CT - Nope, we had absolutely no intention of trying to develop the game at a later date for the 360. It was a total afterthought, and if it wasn't for the incredible processing power of the 360, we wouldn't have been able to do it. It's all worked out really well though, and who knows, one day we might be able to see a version on the PS3 too!

When we see Demigod at E3, will we be able to feel confident that it'll make its Feb. 2009 release?

CT - E3 is not too far away, and you will be able to draw your own conclusions soon. But let me say, our confidence is very high.

Chris, little heart to heart time. Why Stardock as a publisher?

CT - To make a point, Stardock really "gets it." I am only sad that I didn't get to know Brad a long time ago. Him and I are two of a kind. If he starts a sentence, I can finish it, or vice versa. We're on the same page on almost every issue that faces PC gaming today. And now that we have teamed up, we're well positioned to do something about the things that trouble us, and it's going to be fun doing it ... together!

Brad, seriously, Stardock seems to have come out of nowhere. Galactic Civilization and Gal Civ II were fine games, but Sins of the Solar Empire is a better game than we expect from mega-publishers, and Demigod is generating some strong buzz. Where do you see Stardock in two years? Five years?

"Fundamentally, the PC game industry is broken. The business model is hostile to gamers, damaging to developers, and robs the innovation from publishers."

BW - Fundamentally, the PC game industry is broken. The business model is hostile to gamers, damaging to game developers, and robs the innovation from publishers. What we aim to do is build partnerships that allow us to create great software and content that makes gamers happier, game developers more secure, and publishers more profitable.

In two years -- or less -- most new PCs will come with Stardock-developed technology and content. In five years we expect to be one of the major PC, and possibly major console publishers, and the largest digital distributor of PC content.

Brad, with Arnor we close the door on Gal Civ II. When can we expect to hear about Gal Civ III being in development?

BW - Oh, I don't think we'll be seeing Galactic Civilizations III any time soon. I love Gal Civ II, but we have a fantasy-strategy game in development, as well as some other game projects that must go first before we can revisit Galactic Civilizations. That's one of the reasons why we went so crazy with Twilight of the Arnor. We wanted to leave the series in shape to last for years to come as something people would want to play.

Brad, Sins of a Solar Empire, by your own admission, has done very well. The support and tweaks to the game have already redefined the experience since its launch. When should we expect an expansion?

BW - We're still working out the best timing in terms of marketing and distribution as well as development. If I had my way, it would be out this fall. But with Spore and Starcraft 2 looming, we have to take that into account. Plus, we have to make sure there's enough time to do the kind of expansion pack that does Sins the justice it deserves.

Brad and Chris, Demigod won't have copy protection and the assumption is that it'll be supported the same way as Sins is currently. Can you talk a little bit about the decision not to copy-protect?

"That kind of kills the argument that you need to put CD copy protection on your games to sell in quantity."

BW - Our "copy protection" is to give players more of a reason to buy the game. As was recently reported, Sins is still at the top of the PC retail sales charts (according to NPD) here months later with no sign of slowing down. That kind of kills the argument that you need to put CD copy protection on your games to sell in quantity. I don't like piracy, I work hard on this stuff and it is frustrating to see our hard work pirated. But at the same time, my emotional satisfaction at trying to thwart pirates can't come at the expense of the people who pay my salary - my customers. The best system in my opinion is one where my intellectual property is protected but is invisible to my legitimate customers.

That's why I think platforms like Impulse are the future. A user buys a game at the store, doesn't need the CD, doesn't need an Internet connection to install the game and the game is great out of the box. But when they get free, meaningful updates that add new content and features, those updates belong to the specific user who gets their own free account. Moreover, by doing that, a user, even five years later, can come on and re-download the entire game they bought from Wal-Mart, or Best Buy, or EB, or whatever, so their purchase is protected.

What's your response to the belief that PC gaming is dying?

BW - Oh absolutely. It's not just dying, it's already dead. Totally. In fact...all game developers that feel that way should quickly flee to the, um ... console market, right now. Don't worry about us, we'll guard you're back while you retreat. Nothing to see here. We'll shut the lights off when you're all gone. No, no, no need to thank us at all. We just want to make sure the developers who think PC gaming is dying are safe to flee to greener pastures. We're just that selfless.

CT - (Laughs) Okay, so I'll give a slightly more "serious" answer. I've said that PC Gaming "as we know it" is dying, but there is a new kind of PC gaming being born out the ashes. Brad is definitely leading this charge with his innovative approach, and I am 100% in support of this. It's like what Sam Walton once said when asked how to succeed, he said, "Do what everyone else isn't doing." And this is exactly the case here. Remove this awful copy protection, and give your customers the great experience they deserve. Brad has a model which bucks the old system, and it's time to buck the old system, because the old system wasn't working ... it is, in fact, dead.

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Galactic Civilization II: Twilight of the Arnor invading digitally April 30

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-23T03:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC

Forget what you might have heard, Galactic Civilization II's final expansion, Twilight of the Arnor, releases digitally April 30. There are no plans to release the title at retail and discount bundles are available of the whole Gal Civ II saga on the game's website.

The expansion adds unique tech trees for the 12 major civilizations, various new ships and weapons, a new victory condition called "Ascension" and various game tweaks. So, prepare to "finish the fight" April 30 ... wait, that might already be trademarked.

Gallery: Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

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GalCiv II expansion Twilight of the Arnor coming April 23

Jason Dobson — 2008-04-08T22:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Strategy

Galactic Civilizations II remains one of PC gaming's best kept secrets, something that has more to do with the game's single player focus than its ability to lurk in shadows. Now the game is set to get its second and last expansion, dubbed Twilight of the Arnor, an addition that publisher/developer Stardock has confirmed to us will be released as a digital download on April 23.

The expansion details the final chapter of the game's Dread Lord wars, and builds upon last year's acclaimed expansion, Dark Avatar. Like that game, Twilight will introduce numerous improvements and tweaks to GalCiv II, from new technology trees to map and campaign editors. Could this finally be the game to pry us from Ironclad's Sins of a Solar Empire? Ask us on April 24. Until then, check out a partial list of additions promised by the expansion after the break.

Gallery: Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

New campaign detailing the final chapter in the Dread Lord wars
The star destroying new unit, the Terror Star arrives
Unique technology trees for all 12 civilizations
Unique planetary improvements for each civilization
New 3D engine powered map editor
New Scenario Editor for creating highly detailed custom games
New Campaign Editor for players who want to create their own custom epic campaigns for themselves or to share with others
New Metaverse Tournaments: Specific Map & Scenarios recorded to the Metaverse with prizes for top players
New Ship Component: Atlas. Makes ships in a fleet more lethal
New Ship Component: Fortitude. Gives ships in a fleet have more hit points
New Ship Component: Driver. Makes ships in a fleet move faster
Unique weapons per civilization
Updated Planetary Invasions
New Enhanced textures and graphics for planets and ships
New Galaxy Size: Immense (vastly bigger than current galaxy sizes)
Extra alien portraits and logos
Legacy of the Telenanth: Detailed back story of Galactic Civilizations

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Stardock publishing Demigod, praying for domination Feb. '09

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-07T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Strategy

Demigod, Gas Powered Games' team-based RTS/RPG, is expected to launch in February of 2009. The company announced today it has reached a publishing agreement with Stardock, which also prominently stated in its press release that the game will feature no on-disc copy protection.

Gas Powered Games is best known for its Dungeon Siege series, but most recently released the hardcore RTS Supreme Commander (recently delayed for consoles). Publisher Stardock recently found more mainstream success with the best-selling -- and surprisingly scalable on older PCs -- Sins of a Solar Empire (the company's Galactic Civilizations II isn't bad either). Sins sports no copy protection and, despite that fact, the game has found success at retail -- plus, it's only $30. Demigod will have a public beta this summer and we'll be sure to post more about that when details become available.

Gallery: Demigod (PC)

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The Political Machine returns for '08 election

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-03-26T23:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Strategy

Stardock's political strategy game returns for this year's election with The Political Machine 2008. The full retail product puts players in charge of a national campaign for President of the United States; tasking them to control their candidate, raise cash, hire spin doctors and win endorsements. TPM 08 releases in June for $20.

The game is the follow up to 2004's The Political Machine, but with a whole new engine and style -- the candidates are depicted as "bobble head" dolls now. Stardock says the game mirrors real-world events like answering questions on "Colvert Report" and "O'Malley Factor." Players can also play a campaign from history or create their own future election. Publisher Stardock has really upped its game the last couple years; bringing us solid expansions to Galactic Civilizations II and the exceptional Sins of a Solar Empire.

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Sins of a Solar Empire finally gets demo treatment

Jason Dobson — 2008-03-21T21:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Strategy

Sins of a Solar Empire might just be the best game you've never played. Then again, maybe you have, considering how well the PC game has been selling since its early February debut. Still, if there's one thing that's been missing from the experience, its how to court those players still on the fence, with a demo for the 4X strategy hybrid being noticeably absent. Until now that is, as Iron Clad and publisher Stardock have finally pushed out a demo, which is currently available for download from Gamespot.

The news is great, really, but the question as to why the demo took so long to produce had to be asked. So we did. We broached to topic with Stardock president and CEO Brad Wardell, who told us that "when Sins of a Solar Empire was released, Stardock and developer Iron Clad felt that our first priority had to be to existing customers...once we released v1.03, we were able to spend the necessary time to put together a quality demo." Quality is a word people throw around too easily, so those of you who pick up the demo, drop us a line below and let us know if Wardell's comments are justified.

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Ironclad's Sins sells more than 100,000 in less than a month

Jason Dobson — 2008-02-29T01:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Strategy, Business

4X strategy games are usually doing good just to get noticed. The titles are by their very nature an acquired taste usually appreciated only by a select few, reason enough why we imagine that the devs at Ironclad Games are breaking out the good glasses this evening, patting themselves on the back for a job well done while finally uncorking that bottle of 1995 Chateau Margaux that's been gathering dust in the cellar.

The reason for the celebration? It turns out that the studio's debut 4X game, Sins of a Solar Empire, has sold more than 100,000 units since its release on February 4, making it the top selling PC game in North America for the week based on sales data compiled by Gamasutra. It's anyone's guess how long PC gamers' love affair with Ironclad's space epic will last, but for now at least it appears that in the kingdom of the keyboard and mouse number crunching and micromanagement are king.

[Via press release]

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Joystiq interview: Ironclad talks 4X strategy with Sins of a Solar Empire

Jason Dobson — 2008-02-01T18:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Strategy, Interviews

PC strategy games come in a variety of flavors, from casual to hardcore, though it's those dubbed 4X that are the most exhausting, and arguably the most fun of the lot. The term 4X has some interesting roots, having first been coined in a magazine review for Microprose's classic Masters of Orion, the label is now used to call out an entire sub-genre of strategy games that exhibit four underlying goals: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate.

Traditionally, though not always, these games are played in turns rather than in real-time, though it's extremely rare to see a title subscribe to both schools of gameplay, something that Ironclad Games' upcoming 4X release Sins of a Solar Empire takes to heart. With the game set to be released on February 4 by GalCiv publisher Stardock, we decided to sit down and speak with Ironclad's producer and lead designer Blair Fraser to get some added insight into what appears to offer an unique take on this particular class of PC strategy.

Gallery: Sins of a Solar Empire

First, we've gotta congratulate you all for coming up with what is possibly the coolest name for a game in ages.

Thanks! We had a lot of fun brainstorming that one but I don't remember any specific spark of inspiration. I do remember very clearly being on the phone with my brother Craig in Nova Scotia when the final form of the name was first spoken and everyone listening just knew it was right. I guess if anything is to be considered a source of inspiration it would be the titles of the science fiction novels and short stories that we immersed ourselves in as teenagers.

4X strategy games have traditionally been home to a rather niche following, but have begun to gain traction in mainstream press recently, especially with titles like Stardock's own Galactic Civilizations II. To what do you credit the growing appeal of the genre?

It's likely the combination of a number of factors. I think when RTS's supplanted 4X in the 90's they didn't take along a lot of great strategy game elements. Now that the prototypical RTS game has been done to death, people are looking for what was left behind (albeit with some modern polish), or perhaps they are looking for something new - something perhaps a bit more strategic and a little less twitchy. The added bonus is technology has improved so much since the original 4X games that now we can afford to run both the sophisticated strategic simulation and the cool graphics - 4X games can look just as great as games in other genres. Finally, there have been superb games out recently (like GalCiv2) that have really helped bring the genre back into the mainstream.

There's something to be said, though, for maintaining a niche appeal. How do you as developers strike that balance between appealing to a large segment of gamers while simultaneously staying true to what makes 4X games so appealing to the existing community of gamers?

I think the most important thing we did in this regard was to keep the core 4X gameplay but present it in a new way so it was easier to pick up the basics, was more immersive and visceral, and was more multiplayer friendly (no more waiting for turns). RTS games already provide us with a solid decade of experience on how to solve these three problems, so we opted to move 4X into real-time, include real-time multiplayer (with the ability to save multiplayer games!) and to render the entire galaxy from the smallest fighter to the largest star, in full, high quality 3d.

Whether you are a mainstream gamer or not, I think most people really like seeing the living/breathing universe unfold in real-time where everything in it is actually something they can view at the flick of the mouse wheel and almost all of it they can control. When you are told there is a battle with hundreds of ships involved going on at some planet, you aren't forced to a new screen or menu and you aren't just watching numbers crunch.

You can actually zoom in and refocus your camera from anywhere else in the galaxy to watch the battle play out and control it if you like (all while the rest of galaxy continues in motion). It's also just as much fun for me to watch the little trade ships travel their routes, or the sub orbital traffic zip around the planet as it gets more developed. It's this sense of 'alive-ness' that keeps it prevents it from feeling like a spreadsheet and will appeal to a wider variety of players. But at the same time, the depth of the simulation behind what they are seeing and the complex inter-relationships between simple gameplay mechanics is more than enough to appeal to the hardcore players.

It's interesting that as you said the game boasts a mix of both real-time and turn-based 4X elements. Can you explain a bit more how these two different types of strategy have been blended, and what sacrifices had to be made in order to make these elements play well together?

We basically took the 4X premise of building a space empire, took out the turns and tried playing it in real-time. The blending process was essentially playing it for a few years and seeing what worked and what didn't. Do I have time to move my ships around? Do I have time to figure out what research I want to invest in? Do I have time to lay out my planetary defense? Can I still conduct diplomacy?

There wasn't near as much sacrifice as there was innovation. We really didn't want to lose anything so it forced us to come up with a lot of new ideas. One of the first ideas we had was that you needed to be able to view both the micro and macro aspects of your empire very easily; so we developed the concept of the epic zoom system. This involves being able to zoom in and out over massive distances and all the special features that go along with it. It's probably best described as similar to the system in Supreme Commander but it was developed independently, before Supreme Commander was announced in 2005, so it evolved in a slightly different direction.

Another key user interface innovation is the Empire Tree. We realized we needed a way to keep tabs on all our planets, ships, and fleets so we came up with a node based collapsible and expandable tree on the left side of the screen that tracks objects in your empire. It allows you to view important details and issue orders to anything in your empire without moving the camera. But even though we made things easy to view and control, we knew it would be impossible to micromanage everything once your empire grew past a certain threshold. In response to this we provided a lot of automation options (if you dislike automation, it can all be done manually).

Some examples would include auto placement of structures, auto-cast for almost every action a ship can take, auto strikecraft replacement and so on. We also added fleets which is a collection of ships that know how to work together and operate as a unit. This way you don't have your repair and flak frigates running all around when they should be sticking with the core fleet performing their support roles.

Even though we have a nice list of innovations there were a few areas where we did have to cut standard 4X material out completely. It proved way too time consuming to allow players to build up the surface of their planets in a detailed manner (building in orbit is still very detailed) so despite all the art and gameplay material we had developed for this, it was taken out and simplified to a purchasable upgrade system.

It also proved too time consuming to allow players to design their own ship models during gameplay. We even tried reducing this to a simplified "drag and drop" slot design system but it still proved unfeasible in a real-time environment. Ultimately, it was changed to the method we have now where you can name your capitalships and select upgrades for them which works very well in real-time. We hated to lose them but Sins development will continue well past the initial release, following the same pattern as the Galactic Civilizations series, so we hope to find ways to bring these sidelined elements back into play.

So walk us through a standard campaign in Sins. What's the basic setup like, and how is it different from say GalCiv, as you mentioned, or even Masters of Orion?

A 'campaign' in a 4X sense is not a linked set of missions that tells a story like it would be in a standard RTS. The campaign in 4X games is typically a sandbox galaxy where you usually begin with one planet and expand to conquer the rest of the galaxy; and it isn't really any different in Sins than it would be in Galactic Civilizations or Masters of Orion. In the standard Sins game you will start with a single world with some basic upgrades, a frigate factory, 2 construction ships and some nominal amount of resources.

Of course there are plenty of starting parameters to play with: you can generate your own random map, you can design your own map with Galaxy Forge, and you can choose from over 25 initial handcrafted maps some of which vary the starting setup (I suppose these could be called scenarios). We'll be adding more custom setups to some of the maps in our free bonus packs and modders are already busy creating their own that will be available for download. Ultimately, the setup is really dependent on how you've chosen to play.

Sins is billed as the first chapter in a larger franchise. This seems like a tall order for an as yet unreleased game in a niche market. Is there concern that the team could be putting the cart before the horse here, laying out plans for a series without knowing for certain how the initial volume will be received?

There's a horse? And a cart? You mean we don't have to be riding this crazed donkey?

In the beginning, we just had some really neat ideas we wanted to try out and we knew they would never get the go-ahead at most companies, so we decided to try them out on our own. We know how the game business runs and we were told by plenty of people in the know that what we were doing was commercial suicide (you have to do a sequel, you can only do a slight variant on game x, you need to latch onto an existing IP etc).

The question we just kept asking ourselves is "Well, then how does anything new get created?" This kind of talk can get you labeled as a loose bunch of artistic dreamers but we do have a solid business plan - it just has a few more intangible rewards listed under what we consider "profit." Luckily, Stardock understands and shares many of the same philosophies. It's worked out great so far and we see no reason to stop, even if the initial volume is poorly received - this is something we'd all be doing even if it wasn't our full time job.

With just three playable factions, we have to assume that each must bring something very different to the table, correct?

Yes, each of the three races has a unique package including its appearance, units, research topics, play style, various gameplay mechanics, abilities, music, and sound. While we've let them share the same basic mechanics at the start of the game to keep it from getting overwhelming, they gradually grow more and more differentiated as you progress through the research trees, unlock new features and upgrade their units. The units, abilities, research topics, play style and basically every aspect of each faction is also completely integrated with their lore. The Trader Emergency Coalition (TEC) is a group of independent human occupied worlds that have recently united to defend themselves from resource hungry aliens. These particular aliens are known as the Vasari and they are an ancient race that once ruled over a quarter of the galaxy until some unknown disaster forced them into an exodus.

After ten thousands years on the run, they eventually run straight into the TEC and become entrenched in a bitter battle from which they can't retreat until they've acquired enough resources to fuel the next stage of their exodus. All the while, an ancient band of humans who were exiled from Trader space some time ago have now returned for revenge only to find the majority of the Traders in the midst of a ten year war against the Vasari. They now call themselves "The Advent"; a new breed of human and a radically transformed society from that of their exiled ancestors. Having developed and mastered the use of PsiTech (psionic powers enhanced by technology), they are using it to ravage their brethren's undefended front.

Why would a player choose to throw their support behind the independent trader worlds rather than 'The Advent'?

I'm always partial to the good side and the more 'human' of the factions in any game, as I find the idea of being the good guy and defending mankind against the 'outsiders' fulfilling, but in Sins the situation isn't so clear. The Vasari weren't really out to wipe out the Traders, for the most part they just wanted resources so they could escape from a greater threat. The Traders aren't just trying to defend themselves, there are those in the coalition who are using it to further their own ends and are willing to do some pretty nasty stuff to their own people; and the Advent are also humans who were wronged in the past and not all of whom want to wipe out the Traders and are more interested in their unique form of evangelism.

Without getting into full detail, the motives are all gray enough that it isn't clear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are so I'd have to base my choice on something like aesthetics or play style. If you are interested in commercial ships hastily converted into desperate weapons of war, really nice economic bonuses (particularly with trade), crude weapons (e.g. nukes), rebellion, sabotage and starting out as the underdog you are probably interested in playing the Trader Emergency Coalition. This would contrast heavily with the Advent's elegant ships, their heavy use of energy weapons and shields, their extremely strong culture, martyrs, resurrection, and all facets of their deviant PsiTech powers.

How does Sins work in diplomacy and espionage, two elements that usually play a fundamental role in 4X titles? How are each of these handled differently depending on the faction being controlled?

Diplomacy in Sins is distributed over a few different areas. The main diplomacy screen allows you to select a player to offer/revoke/accept treaties with. These include cease fire, peace, declare war, trade, shared ship vision and shared planetary vision. In this screen you can also see how happy AI controlled factions are with you and you can check on the status of any demands they've made of you.

Completing these demands will help improve your relationships and failing to complete them will hurt them as will attacking their ships, structures, and planets and terminating agreements. An unhappy AI player may revoke existing agreements and will likely shift his strategic priorities in your direction. Although, if an AI player is really happy with you, you may be able to convince him to attack or defend planets of your choice. Another key pseudo-diplomatic feature we've added is the concept of bounties. In the "Underground" screen you can elect to place anonymous bounties on players of your choice that can be collected by destroying their units and structures thereby encouraging other players to "ally" with you in a sense.

Naturally, these bounties are anonymous so you could place them on mediocre allies you intend to backstab (the most entertaining part for me is when you are paying for the bounties against them with the profits from trade with them.) The other side effect of this is that by placing bounties you are effectively 'bribing' the npc pirate raiders to attack that player as well; they go where the most money is! It also provides a valid option for the economic player who needs to have some 'dirty business' taken care of. We've set it up such that playing the bounty game is an interesting and essential meta-game particularly when the pirate raid timer is nearly expired - the bounty process can almost border on an eBay-esque bid sniping frenzy.

Espionage in Sins is really a function of each faction's scouting capabilities of which they have a variety of options. The TEC for example can research a probe for the Arcova Scout that can be deployed on planets to monitor the local area for a limited amount of time. The Vasari Jikara Navigator can phase cloak to monitor the gravity well (or for defensive purposes) and the Advent's Revelation Battlecruiser can consume antimatter to reveal foreign planets.

I can't understate how important knowing what the enemy is up to is in Sins. It can take a fair bit of time to move your fleets around your massive empire (which is why I use multiple fleets to cover multiple fronts) so you don't want to be caught with the enemy moving towards your homeworld without you already having taken action to defend against it. Once your empire is large you really need to be thinking ahead, not merely reacting.

One of the most engrossing aspects of 4X games is the inclusion of a robust tech tree. Could you explain a bit about the tree the team has implemented, and how research is worked into the mix?

The research tree in Sins approaches the size and quality of a 4X research tree and dwarfs pretty much any RTS game I can think of. There are many different paths to take and the direction you choose will have a dramatic effect on the shape and future of your empire. Each faction has a completely unique combat oriented tree and a completely unique empire oriented tree that is designed around their lore and play style.

These two primary trees are then subdivided into faction specific categories which are also designed around the same criteria. In total there are just over 300 research topics (you should see the tech tree poster we made!), many of which are upgradeable multiple times (so instead of 3 Laser research topics named Laser I, II and III, we sometimes include this as a single research topic that is upgradeable 3 times) and this also doesn't include all the special research-y type things that can be discovered including special planet bonuses and artifacts.

Research topics fall into a wide variety of categories including unit specific upgrades, global upgrades, unlocks and so on. In order to begin researching a particular topic you must have the requisite number of labs that support the particular tree the topic is in (e.g. Military Research Labs for the combat tree), and you must have the requisite number of credits, metal and crystal. Clicking the topic will then place it in the research queue with the speed of research controlled by the particular game settings.

An interesting strategy in Sins is to knock out people's research labs to deprive them of access to unlocked ships and structures at the appropriate tiers. In early betas we actually had it knock out all benefits of research at the given tier but this proved too punishing. However, when we didn't provide enough of an incentive to keep labs around, players would just research everything to the max and then scuttle all their labs to free up space for other structures. Over the course of the year long beta, the research system has gone through a lot of evolution and one of the key problems has always been managing the massive trees in real-time (although you can pause the game in single player). I'm happy to say this is no longer a problem.

Besides a complete graphical and layout redesign we also included some great suggestions from the beta testers. It used to be difficult for new users to find the research topic they needed to build something. Now, when you click to build that object, it will cause the specific research topic to light up in blue the next time you enter the research screen. Another improvement is when you are in the main view building up your empire, controlling combat or what have you, the research screen button will now pulse yellow when research is in progress, turn color when new research can be started, and turn gray when you can't conduct any more research. There are also appropriate graphical and audio cues when research is complete. Naturally, we'll be looking to add more research content to Sins for some time to come, but the number of topics, bonuses and artifacts included already will keep you busy for quite some time.

How is the multiplayer game working out?

Oh, we absolutely love playing multiplayer in the office and we've put a lot of work into making sure the multiplayer experience was as good as the single player. Out of the box you can play Sins with up to 10 players over LAN and over Ironclad Online (ICO) for free - there is no monthly fee. One of the coolest features with Sins multiplayer is you can save your game at any time and pick it up when the rest of the gang is ready to continue. There are a lot of options to help you configure the experience you want; setup a quick deathmatch or a weekend long campaign with multiple stars and tons of planets (which is where the multiplayer save games come in especially handy). Another really neat feature is if you create a map in the in-game map designer it will automatically transfer to all the other players.

These random maps are great for my personal favorite multiplayer mode where I team up with some human friends and take on a whole bunch of AI players. I just love cooperative play and Sins has a lot of mechanics oriented around working with other people including trade, faction synergies, being able to view your ally's units' orders, communication enhancements and so on. One of these enhancements is a smart ping. We have the usual ping system but there is also "Attack" and "Defend" pings that communicate to your allies exactly what you want to do at the location without any typing. And before I forget, I have to give my kudos to the beta community again; they've built multiplayer mods, designed new maps, and most importantly helped us weed out a lot of the technical problems and cheese tactics.

Thanks again for your time. Before we wrap up, do you care to describe a recent multiplayer battle you've taken part in?

The last multiplayer battle I played was a 3 v 3 office match on a map called "Foreign Invasion." Our team agreed to split up roles. My role was to provide strike craft support and I was TEC, so I chose the Sova Carrier Capital which grants a great bonus to all surrounding strike craft. Right off the bat I started tech-ing up to get early access to Percheron Carriers that would accompany my Sova. My allies sent me plenty of crystal and helped shelter me until I got a decent flock together.

Once we had colonized the key planets near our homeworlds we scouted out the enemy positions and hit the enemy's homeworld. I basically stayed way back along the gravity well so I could easily retreat and my fighters and bombers could strike anywhere in the gravity well anyways so I had no need to move in closer. Also by this point I had Embargo upgraded which hindered the enemy's economy at the planet (while improving mine) for the duration of the battle. Unfortunately, they beat us off and we were forced to retreat to the adjacent dead asteroid where we regrouped and hit a separate, less important world. Once again they beat us off though I could see my bomber runs were wearing their capital ships down as we weren't giving them much time to repair between strikes. The critical moment came when we saw that a high level pirate raid was impending. My ally had done special research to improve his dealings with the pirates so we sent him a whole lot of money and at the last moment he put a huge bounty against our opponents which they failed to counter in time.

When our scouts detected that the pirates had begun their raid we watched them divide their forces to deal with it. That's when we hit one of their lucrative terran worlds with everything we had - and by this time I had added a healthy fleet of Krosov Siege Frigates with Heavy Fallout (nasty radiation bombs) upgraded. Most of my strike craft were dedicated to protecting my siege and my allies helped tie up the bulk of the remaining enemy forces - most importantly they took out a lot of the enemies newly constructed anti-strike craft frigates and fighter carriers (which were obviously intended to counter mine). They put up a great fight despite being outnumbered and it was a nail biting, well coordinated battle by both sides for a good 6-7 minutes but we finally took the planet down, killed the majority of their forces and forced a rout. With the remainder of their forces split and heavily damaged we plowed our way through the remainder of their key defenses and happily accepted a surrender.

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Defender of the Crown is back, and ready for more jousting

Tony Carnevale — 2007-04-04T02:01:00+00:00

Filed under: Retro, Adventure, Strategy, Casual

Indie PC game developer/publisher Stardock has picked up a brand-new remake of the 1986 Cinemaware smash hit Defender of the Crown. Storm enemy castles! Win jousting contests! Make out with princesses! And now, experience all these things which would never be possible for most geeks (especially that making-out part) in glorious modern graphics that look even better than the original Amiga version (but only barely). This game is so old, you can legally get it drunk!

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