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Published on November 6, 2012 By Frogboy In Elemental Dev Journals

Fallen Enchantress at two weeks

Big_battleFallen Enchantress has now been out two weeks. So far, we’ve sold about 50,000 units (give or take).  This is somewhat below Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion but, obviously, far far ahead of War of Magic during the same time frame. 

The biggest obstacle has been reviews.  It’s hard for niche titles (and make no mistake, fantasy turn-based PC games are niche) to get coverage. There’s only so many reviewers to go around and the last thing we want is a drive by (i.e. rushed) review.

Tomorrow or Thursday we expect to release v1.01 which has a long list of fixes and tweaks that we’ve found. Probably the most obvious change will be performance which dramatically improved.

The Map Pack

We will be releasing our first-ever DLC for a Stardock game.  It’ll be an interesting experiment to see what the demand is.  Paul Boyer and I have designed a series of hand crafted maps that will be going up for sale in a week or two for $4.99.  If sales of this are strong, we’ll look at doing additional DLC packs.  A game like Fallen Enchantress lends itself to content centric DLC and so we’re anxious to see what people are interested in.

The Expansion

We have an expansion planned for early next year. I won't spoil it except to say that it’s going to re-design the way champions are handled in the game. We want the game to generally move towards the power of your champions be a reflection of the power of your civilization.

After the expansion, Stardock will look at where things stand.  We have 3 game development teams at Stardock.  One is on “Game X”, One is FE related stuff, and one is on mobile game development.   Since we’re not likely to get as many reviews as we’d like, we’re going to be relying heavily on word of mouth.

Version 1.1

We very much want to do a pre-Christmas update to FE.  That version will be heavily AI and balance focused based on player feedback. We’ll have more details of that as we get closer. Right now, we’re focusing on getting v1.01 out the door.


Comments (Page 1)
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on Nov 06, 2012


Fallen Enchantress at two weeks
Fallen Enchantress has now been out two weeks. So far, we’ve sold about 50,000 units (give or take).  This is somewhat below Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion but, obviously, far far ahead of War of Magic during the same time frame.

Is that sold as in -sold- or does that include the giveaways to us WoM early birds?


We have 3 game development tams at Stardock.

Alright, who cast Stinking Mud on your keyboard?

on Nov 06, 2012

Paul Boyer and I have designed a series of hand crafted maps that will be going up for sale in a week or two for $4.99.

Would these also include hand crafted map stamps? You know to make more random maps.

on Nov 06, 2012


I'd shell out $5 for a map pack. 

on Nov 06, 2012

Cool!  I am certainly inclined to consider any DLC favorably because I appreciate the way you guys handled the customer appreciation after E:WoM and I think you have a very good game here, which could turn into an all time favorite with continuing development.

 

edit:  although fwiw, map packs wouldn't have been my first choice (unless they were story driven or somehow provide a really unique experience like a scenario), because I generally prefer random maps in games of this genre.  

 

on Nov 06, 2012

i just want to say, if a DLC pack was only maps, i wouldn't buy it. To me, this sort of game is best with randomly generated maps, it being an unknown is the big draw for me. I've not even touched the built in maps, and i don't really care to.

 

I'm a big supporter of DLC though, there's plenty of things i WOULD buy. Like, rather than complete maps, new quests, wildlands, interesting encounters etc, that would appear in random maps. I get hugely for games with random maps because i like discovery, and having more possible permutations for them is something i'd pay for.

on Nov 06, 2012

Paul Boyer and I have designed a series of hand crafted maps that will be going up for sale in a week or two for $4.99. 

Keep 'em coming. I am willing to support this game and will personally buy the DLC. Stardock's conduct over the EWoM/FE affair has been nothing short of exemplary and will be rewarded at the very least in the case of one particular customer. It's not a matter of money, but rather a matter of principle. Keep up the good work. Besides, it's always good to support a local Michigan business .

on Nov 06, 2012


We have an expansion planned for early next year. I won't spoil it except to say that it’s going to re-design the way champions are handled in the game. We want the game to generally move towards the power of your champions be a reflection of the power of your civilization.

Whooa... Do we get the legacy system back? Nothing made me go to war faster than the AI taking out my Kin in WoM.

on Nov 06, 2012

You've got my $5, even if I never use pre-made maps.  I would hope there would be a little additional content besides the maps, but it doesn't really matter.

on Nov 06, 2012

Honesty Frogboy, I as a lover of FE wouldn't buy a map pack - especially at $4.99. I haven't even played the ones that have came with the game. I'd rather play random maps. If you added maybe a couple new civilizations that had their own special things that would be sweet and it would be worth $2.50 each.  

on Nov 06, 2012

To be honest I'm avoiding telling anyone about FE until the bugs are fixed - I figure I'm doing you a favour!

I tried playing a game of 1.0 and found that there were just way too many bugs - apparently I can tolerate them when I am beta testing but in the supposedly released version it just frustrated me, particularly as more than half of the many bugs I experienced were things I had already reported in beta.

on Nov 06, 2012


The Map Pack
We will be releasing our first-ever DLC for a Stardock game.  It’ll be an interesting experiment to see what the demand is.  Paul Boyer and I have designed a series of hand crafted maps that will be going up for sale in a week or two for $4.99.  If sales of this are strong, we’ll look at doing additional DLC packs.  A game like Fallen Enchantress lends itself to content centric DLC and so we’re anxious to see what people are interested in.

DLC that provide just tid-bits like map pakcs is not so much my cup of tea. But real (mini-)Expansions that push the game forward are the way to go  

 

on Nov 06, 2012

I'll grab the map pack since you guys gave me the game for free, but I honestly hope for something a bit more in a DLC, because the randomized nature of maps is what I feel make the game more interesting than hand crafted ones (even if they are good and LARGE - please at least be large) where you'll basically know the landscape before hand. I honestly don't think you'll be able to get a lot of sales for map packs except for the "just to support" types like me.

My ideal DLC would be something along the line of different graphical tiles for empire/kingdoms (and I don't mean just a redesign using the same objects in the workshop, as in with new objects that you can build on). I'd definitely be happy to pay for something of that nature.

on Nov 06, 2012


I'd agree with Xadie. Maps are randomly generated so i don't really feel the need to buy more. However, if you make a DLC that actually gives content/features, count me in!

on Nov 06, 2012

Sure I'm down for map packs. If it helps support making all those free updates easier for you and supporting other projects then yes go for it. (just don't go overboard like some other companies have with dlc ok) 

I thought you were going to announce game x this year... Maybe tell everyone around Christmas.   Lot of people will be happy with this announcement. 

 

Also down the road don't forget dlc multiplayer. (If you want to add it last and do expansions first I am ok with that). Some friends over on the Kerberos boards keep bugging me about it. Just keep it in the back of your minds. 

on Nov 06, 2012

Also would these hand crafted maps also include more Tatical Maps?

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