FE Status Report at 2 weeks

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

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.

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 7)

Emperor_Nero

on Nov 07, 2012

Leo in WI

reply 91

Quoting Satrhan, reply 88
Quoting enoeraew37, reply 76
oh can we call it a new years update..since some people not mark xmas on their caladar

For f*ck sake, you really want people to dislike you don't you? 'Look at me, I'm a muslim, I don't celebrate christmas, please don't mention it around me'. Even if you don't celebrate it, I doubt that there is anyone in the western world who doen't know when it is.

And no, you can't call it a new years update, because it's not the same. A christmas update is usually released just before christmas, when a lot of people have some time off, and might have some time to play the game. A new years update is usually released just after new year, when most people go back to work and have less time to play.

Actually I assumed he was Jewish, but still agree with the rest of your point.

In another post it seemed he claimed both, so it's a quandary. Probably just a troll.

Back to the DLC. I haven't played the campaign yet. Just not interested in it actually. I would reallyl ike something to add more items, more monsters, new game mechanics, or new factions.

rahal

on Nov 07, 2012

Most likely an antimuslim troll or 4chan reject.

athelasloraiel

on Nov 07, 2012

bbr91

reply 17

Make a quests, items, monsters, and random events DLC and people will buy it. The map DLC will mostly be bought by a few people who want to support the game no matter what, because I don't think people actually play pre-made maps. I wouldn't pay $5 for something I never use. You can get full on games for $5 on a Steam sale so... it's not really gonna be successful. You shouldn't judge how interested people are in DLCs for FE just by the sales an uninteresting DLC (map pack). Go directly to an interesting DLC with interesting content and see how it does, and just release the map pack for free as part of 1.1.

The expansion you're talking about should also focus more on tactical combat, because it is the most complained about aspect of the game. Perhaps implement a siege mechanic or something else to make combat feel diversified.

And please say Game X is GalCiv 3!

agreed

sweatyboatman

on Nov 07, 2012

Looks pretty unanimous

DLC = Downloadable Content

Content for FE is monsters, spells, items, & heroes.

riadsala

on Nov 07, 2012

Please avoid making the CivV mistake of releasing lots of poorly thought out DLC's with new factions! I'm much rather see a balanced* game with less content than a a big mess of lots of extra stuff

* balance: I mean, in terms of consistency. I don't mind if some factions are just plain stronger than others. That makes things interesting. But the relationship between the different factions and gameplay elements should all make sense. Rather than adding new stuff cause it's cool. .. Sins:Reb seems to suffer from this... from the couple of games I've played, and reading the forums, titans have knocked the game out of shape a bit.

Good work on the patch... I've beenwaiting for the initial bugs to get fixed before playing FE

Austinvn

on Nov 07, 2012

The existing premade maps are good - if anyone hasn't tried them you should, they're noticeably better crafted than random ones. That being said they're only worth about one play through each, once you've 'discovered' it you're back to randoms - it's good content but with very limited replayability. I just don't think maps stand well on their own as something one would want to pay for; they serve better as an extra thrown into a larger DLC/mini-expansion, along with other more lasting content (say a major scenario, or anything that adds to the random map games like new quests/items/techs/etc).

SOLOSOL

on Nov 07, 2012

It seems that SD is decided to go for a DLC map pack, so...

Why don't you first make a contest with scenarios created by the community? Get the 5 or 10 best and include them in the map pack.

Give a copy of the DLC to the winners, and this way everybody wins:

- you can get some money,

- the people get scenarios apart from the maps,

- more people might move into creating content/mods for the game

- the creators have a good incentive (not only getting a free DLC, but to appear into the official DLC as creators)

I know it is not good idea to use people creations to get money, as they are supposed to do because they want, and give it free for the community, but ...

IDK, maybe you might make a poll to find it out...

What I know, is that I'm not going not pay for a map pack that I'm not going to use, but for scenarios, may be (although I started the campaign, and left for the bugs...). But playing a short or a medium scenario can be interesting, apart from playing the random maps...

Spitz

on Nov 07, 2012

I'd like to agree with the above posters that, although I like Stardock and I like FE, a map pack is not the sort of DLC I'd buy. Think more along the lines of new scenarios or campaigns. New monsters, new spells, new sovereigns, new races would also be great.

Frogboy

on Nov 07, 2012

Spitz

reply 99

Map packs don't require as many resources to create. You can use its sales to judge the general interest in DLC.

100

KingHobbit

on Nov 07, 2012

But Frog, would it include this map. Set to Huge. Because this map is awesome.

101

onomastikon

on Nov 07, 2012

Frogboy

reply 100

Quoting Spitz, reply 99I'd like to agree with the above posters that, although I like Stardock and I like FE, a map pack is not the sort of DLC I'd buy. Think more along the lines of new scenarios or campaigns. New monsters, new spells, new sovereigns, new races would also be great.

Map packs don't require as many resources to create. You can use its sales to judge the general interest in DLC.

The day that additional spells, monsters, items, abilities, races or rulesets cost money to purchase after release is the day that I will stop being a dedicated fan of Stardock Entertainment. I honestly hope that this is not the path Stardock will take. I want to purchase a vision, an entire story, when I purchase a game, and do not want to spend money on microexpansions or things that simply didn't get done in time to make it into release. I am saying this as a dedicated fan of many years, and while I respect the opinions of those who differ, I do hope that my minority voice does not get shouted down.

102

Borg999

on Nov 07, 2012

Jythier

reply 89

I remember a Stardock where they would have said, "Hey, we made some maps. Here you go."

I was thinking this too. However I think there is a logical reason for charging for DLC's in FE unlike GC2. GC2 has a much bigger fan base and audience, thus they can potentially make more money from it, and can afford freebies. Also, a larger base, means more attention from the media, and more word of mouth advertising that FE may not be able to match.

Although I hope that the DLC's they release are fairly "meaty"...

103

blix2006

on Nov 07, 2012

im more then willing to buy DLC...but map packs...no never not for any game.give us real content and i will buy it.new quests,events,spells,enemies..stuff like that.

104

Woffle99

on Nov 07, 2012

Frogboy

reply 100

Is it really that good a guide though? Looks like many people won't buy this not becaue they don't want DLC, just that they don't want this kind of DLC.

105

athelasloraiel

on Nov 07, 2012

Hmm, can someone tell me are 50,000 units sold for cash or is within that number a certain number of free elemental:war on magic copies included?

of course I wish those were only sold for bucks...

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