The post-Twilight road map

Where should we go next?

Published on May 6, 2008 By Frogboy In GalCiv II News

The final expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations II has been released! And we're very happy with how much people like it.

At the same time, we're not done. Let me share with you some of our plans:

Right now, we're finishing up The Political Machine. Once that is finished, part of the team will be shifted to the SDE-2 team which is working on the "fantasy strategy game" and the other part will return to GalCiv.
The plan is to release a v1.92 in early June. v1.92 will be mostly bug fixing and balancing. There's two particularly annoying issues that have cropped up. The first one is that on some Vista systems, some "string now found" issues come up. No idea yet. The work around is to run the game as administrator but we have no idea why that fixes it as none of us do that. The other annoying one is the Alt-esc issue - it doesn't always come back when you try to return to the game. On top of that, there's various balancing and house cleaning that we will want to do.
Then, probably in July or maybe early August we will be releasing Galactic Civilizations II v2.0. This update will affect all versions of GalCiv II but mostly Dark Avatar and Twilight. The biggest change will be the enhanced espionage system for DA and ToA users. There will also be additional graphical improvements in ToA to continue "future proofing" the game. The Metaverse will also be getting some much needed love with v2.0.

After that, it'll depend on you. Our budget post 2.0 is largely based on sales at that stage. Most people will be transferred to working on the fantasy strategy game so that we can announce it later this year. Other parts of the team will be working with Gas Powered Games on Demigod.

So that's where we're at. Cheers!

Comments (Page 1)

pndrev

on May 06, 2008

Sounds great!

Especially the Metaverse updates, a lot of people have been waiting for that.

Any information about the 'enhanced espionage system'? Will it be as different as the current system is from the original DL?

flovlien

on May 06, 2008

Fantastic!
And I am really looking forward to what the espionage changes will be. A sort of hybrid that combines the two different models would in my opinion.

marioflag

on May 06, 2008

I'm also curious to see what 2.0 will contain about espionage.I hope there will be missions which have a percentage to fail associated like what we saw in Alpha Centauri or Civ4: Beyond the Sword.

Neilo

on May 06, 2008

The Metaverse will also be getting some much needed love with v2.0.

Absolutely awesome news!!!!!

Asmodean_dk

on May 06, 2008

I like the fact that espionage is part of the plan. So much coulb be done wth that, and the current solution, while good, is not perfect. I will be following developments closely

Morten

Philocthetes

on May 06, 2008

Our budget post 2.0 is largely based on sales at that stage.

Nice to see a sofware shop making plans to respond to customers' spending choices instead of trying to force them into some bureaucratically annointed "life cycle."

Most people will be transferred to working on the fantasy strategy game so that we can announce it later this year.

I felt whiny when I first saw the long dates for NotMoM, which I really want to see. But I can tell I have a long way to go before TA feels played-out for me, especially with the new tournaments and the "much-needed love" coming soon to the MV.

jonwilles

on May 06, 2008

I love the game... but where are the professional reviews? I can't find a single one. Metacritic doesn't even have a post for it

Zydor

on May 06, 2008

Our budget post 2.0 is largely based on sales at that stage.

With the reputation you have stacked up, I reckon a GalCiv III @ $39.95 upgrade, and @ $49.95 for a new user would sell well. Whether there is the space and capacity (current or expand the Team) for that only you will know - and clearly at the moment people need a break from developing it to refresh the brain.

However at a "basics" level, I believe you will only have to crank up a minor marketing effort to focus people on a "V3", and sales, frankly, would be a given - just depends on the post 2008 Road Map and internal motivation to do it (aka Spring 2010?).

TA & Sins have racked up such amazing well deserved support - GalCiv III Sales would be a given ....

Regards
Zy

di55ec7ion

on May 06, 2008

Then, probably in July or maybe early August we will be releasing Galactic Civilizations II v2.0. This update will affect all versions of GalCiv II but mostly Dark Avatar and Twilight. The biggest change will be the enhanced espionage system for DA and ToA users. There will also be additional graphical improvements in ToA to continue "future proofing" the game. The Metaverse will also be getting some much needed love with v2.0.
After that, it'll depend on you. Our budget post 2.0 is largely based on sales at that stage.

How could you dare destroying the last bit of hope i will ever get out of this addiction soon?

REALLY great news. I thought that ToTA would be the last major improvement to the game but i seem to be wrong. I dont know what you guys plan for the espionage system but thinking about the suggestions made by players in the forums i get really excited...

So to the others: Read the note it will be sales dependent? If you didnt yet: BUY IT!!!!!!!!

Diviator

on May 06, 2008

[...] There's two particularly annoying issues that have cropped up. The first one is that on some Vista systems, some "string now found" issues come up. No idea yet. The work around is to run the game as administrator but we have no idea why that fixes it as none of us do that.

Well, as far as I know I'm playing with the Admin-Account. I actually don't have an other account. (Yes, I know that is stupid, unfortunately I have problems or better would have them with a normal account ...) Can you be a bit more specifically?
- Is this also the same problem that the game crashes sometimes to the desktop when you try to restart the mission?

The other annoying one is the Alt-esc issue - it doesn't always come back when you try to return to the game.

Alt + Tab has a similar effect.

On top of that, there's various balancing and house cleaning that we will want to do.

Yes, it is really annoying to see how I'll run out of money in the campaign due to these extreme expensive arnorian ships. The Mission Conflagration is unplayable, even with an economy bonus, unless you sell the big one.

About the whole new:
Thumbs up, I wish some other companies would talk to their community like that and keep them up to date with what the actually do. Good luck with the future projects, I can't wait to see some of them.

Frogboy

on May 06, 2008

The team would love to do a GalCiv III but it won't be for awhile. The fantasy strategy game is going to take some time to finish and then we can look at where to go from there.

Ragnar1

on May 06, 2008

Updates, espionage improvements, cranking out NotMoM, Gal Civ 3 later maybe: All great news. Thanks for the quick roadmap.

on May 06, 2008

I think even if GCIII could be started right away it's really better to take some time and come back with fresh eyes and new ideas for the series, I'm sure SD have heaps of great ideas already but sometimes after you take a break you see things in a new way.

Looking forward to V2.0 and more details of the fantasy strategy.

NorsemanViking

on May 06, 2008

I'm so excited about the news of greater attention to the fantasy game now. Of course I love them to make GC2 perfect, but for a moment I feared that the fantasy game was being abandoned.

Loupdinour

on May 06, 2008

What's being tweaked in the espionage system?

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