As we reach the end of June we’re racing ahead towards trying to get an alpha out sometime in July along with the beta at PAX. Here are some screenshots of where things are (some old, some new): Note: Shadowing isn’t in yet so these are not representative of what the final game (or even the beta) will look like. Cities exist on the map itself. Clicking anywhere on the city will bring up the city menu.   Players can zoom in and out as they see fi...

Our friends in the Demigod community seem to like having journal entries that answer a lot of questions in one swoop so we've decided to do the same in Elemental. Q: What is Elemental? A: Elemental is a fantasy strategy game (turn-based) developed and published by Stardock Entertainment. In it, players take on the role of a powerful sorcerer known as a "Channeler" whose goal is to build a kingdom and restore the devastated world of Elemental back to its former ...

This week our friends from Ironclad were visiting to discuss strategy on an assortment of future projects.  One of the fun things was showing Elemental and comparing notes on different engine techniques – ways of doing cool stuff on screen without having requiring crazy hardware. One of the things the team here has spent some time on is on fonts.  It’s amazing how crappy font handling is in Windows IF you’re not putting it on a dark background.  DirectX 11 apparently will fix...

For those of you not familiar with game development, most of the development is spent designing the engines and technologies that will be used by the game. In our case, about 2/3rds of the time is spent on that kind of thing.  In many respects, this time is much like developing a traditional software application.  Elemental uses a graphics engine that has been developed over the past couple of years for Society . Our previous games used an engine called Pear that...

Today I spent a lot of time working on the story elements and timeline for Elemental to make sure it goes along with the book. There, I said it. There’s going to be a book that comes out at roughly the same time as the game.  There’s ten thousand years of history to work through, quite a big difference from what we’ve done in the past where we had just enough story manifested for the game (like in Galactic Civilizations) to proceed. Having the game and the book being developed at...

July is almost over and that means it’s time for another FAQ answer list! Q: What are channelers and how do they work? A: Channelers are beings who can harness the magic locked inside the elemental shards that are scattered across the world. When your faction (or an ally) controls a shard, you gain access from its type of mana (which is either earth, air, fire, or water magic). Channelers also generate on their own either life magic or death magic depending on the path they’v...

We’ve picked a tiny handful of the pre-order group to become alpha testers based on how many other betas they’ve participated in, forum karma, and a number of other criteria. Those of you not in the alpha, fear not, you’re not missing very much. The beta is scheduled to come out around PAX (Penny Arcade Expo). Be forewarned, we plan to close the beta shortly after PAX and it will remain closed for some months. Those who want to get the beta can pre-order the game. I am leaning tow...

Hi guys, last week I was out visiting the media and showed off Elemental and gave away a lot of tidbits that haven’t been public yet. Keep an eye on the news section here on ElementalGame.com as we’ll be linking to stories as they come up starting tomorrow afternoon EST. If you live in the Seattle area, we’ll be showing the full Elemental build (not the cloth map build) at the Stardock boot at PAX .

Now for those of you who know me, none of this will come as a shock.  For Elemental, one of our chief goals is to make a game where the community can keep it going forever and ever. That means automating as much as possible in game from our standpoint. We want people to mod and mod and mod the game. For instance, if someone wanted to make Carcassonne (I think that’s what it’s called) I want people to be able to do that with Elemental. What people don’t understand about Elemental i...

IGN’s Jason Ocampo has put up his preview of Elemental.  Stardock’s new turn-based fantasy strategy game isn’t due until 2010 but even at this early stage it’s pretty far along.

During Stardock’s recent preview to IGN, one of the closest kept secrets of the game, its diplomacy system, was finally unveiled.  In Elemental, diplomacy is not merely a matter of trading and treaties but involves family politics as well.  Each sovereign, while eternal, can have children who will, in time, grow up, have children, grow up, and pass on and repeat the cycle over and over.  Political marriages can strengthen ties and children and family members can become playable characters in the game world similar to “heroes” found in other games who have their own unique abilities based on their pedigree.

In addition, while the game will include a state-of-the-art 3D engine designed from the ground up for massive scale strategy games, it will also be fully playable as a 2D cloth map.  Players can zoom in to the full 3D experience and set in the options dialog how close they want to be before the transition between strategic view and tactical view occurs.

This was an early engine test. The guys made me promise to put a disclaimer that the final game will not look like this and that it’s MUCH better looking than this.

For those of you who have been in a Stardock BETA, none of what I mention is going to be a surprise. But for everyone else, stand back! See the screenshot? If you’re in the Elemental BETA, you won’t see anything remotely resembling that for MONTHS.  That’s because BETA 1 of Elemental will exist only with the strategic map (aka the cloth map).  Imagine playing Galactic Civilizations or Supreme Commander or Sins of a Solar Empire purely from the zoomed out strategic map. Wh...

Greetings! Today I’m evaluating the Elemental Alpha.  All the various “platforms” come together to start putting together a game. Next month, the Beta of Elemental will be released for those who have pre-ordered it.  Shortly after, we will Downloading… First, I have to download it from Impulse.  This is the version of Impulse that people will be getting by the time the beta comes out. It’s “Phase 4” and has a lot of new ...

Soft: 75   Soft: 100   No HDR.   Still working on lighting. I still worry it’s not…happy and friendly enough. But I’m not sure.  What do you think?

One of the things that will make Elemental different from anything Stardock has developed before is that we will view the release date of the game as the beginning of its life rather than the climax. The reason for this is that a big part of our objective with Elemental lies in the engine underneath it.  It is our dream to slowly evolve Elemental to be so modable that a user familiar with Python 3.x will be able to use Elemental to create virtually any kind of land base computer game. ...