Stormgate - sci-fi/fantasy RTS from ex-Blizzard devs - now on Early Access

[Dayyālu]

I heard rumor that they've been spending money like they are still at Blizzard.

I remember somewhere they presumed that their market would be "at least 50% of their previous product", meaning Starcraft 2. From what I see the devs were clearly delusional and working with the hysterical notion that they could essentially do the same as Blizzard in a different market, with different resources, and an untested IP just because "they did it before!". In before we discover that the "Blizzard Veterans" in Frost Giant Daughter's team were code monkeys or community guys.

I mean, they must see the player count of Age of Mythology Retold (between 10k and 8k daily) and weep blood tears. At least they did better than fucking Homeworld 3.

 

[Tyranicon]

How much of that supposed $45 million budget do you think they made back?

 

[ArchAngel]

I heard rumor that they've been spending money like they are still at Blizzard.

I remember somewhere they presumed that their market would be "at least 50% of their previous product", meaning Starcraft 2. From what I see the devs were clearly delusional and working with the hysterical notion that they could essentially do the same as Blizzard in a different market, with different resources, and an untested IP just because "they did it before!". In before we discover that the "Blizzard Veterans" in Frost Giant Daughter's team were code monkeys or community guys.

I mean, they must see the player count of Age of Mythology Retold (between 10k and 8k daily) and weep blood tears. At least they did better than fucking Homeworld 3.

Is that Steam player count for AoM:R?
Because game is on game pass on PC and console as well.

 

[ghardy]

I finally read the update document from 19 Sept (emphasis added):

"We had so much fun creating Kastiel - our angelic space vampire. We hope you’re looking forward to playing with him as much as we are.

Kastiel has been a treat to design and playtest. Culling friends and foes alike to empower his Nethersword makes being bad feel very good.

Kastiel’s an expert on using any resource to achieve his means, and the Arkhos Arcship is his Ultimate weapon. The Arkhos Arcship has an Affinity Link to Kastiel, giving it the ability to soar across the playing field at top speeds…for a massive warship. It siphons Animus from fallen enemies to power its Soul Cannon, which can fire globally across the map to deal devastating damage and heal itself. Not in the mood for a fight? The Arkhos can also transmute the Animus in corpses and trees into Therium and Luminite - anything’s a resource if you’re willing to do whatever it takes to live to fight another day. The Orphan of Wintros knows this better than anyone."

They sure do love playing with their Netherswords over at Frost Giant.

 

[duke nukem]

Heromarine had good video about this after the patch, i actually agree everything that he says and the game design section of the video is funny yet true:

around 8 minutes he talks about game design, if you dont care to listen about hotkeys, even though i think that was also interesting.
For me that hotkey thing is not that big deal, but i understand why its imporant for him and other professional players.

Its a shame that they lack creativity, because i just love feeling of gameplay, like this has the same blizzard feel in the controls, that other rts games dont really have. Still i have some hope for this game. Last update was well received and next big one arrives in october and that update will improve audio and has more art improvements. I have a feeling that early access should have been after october.


I love how official website say that:

The First Truly Social RTS​

Yet, it has 0 social features.

 

[ghardy]

I think their wild-eyed vision exceeds their grasp.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

The worst part about this is that SG's high profile failure will scare away investors from the genre entirely, despite there being a number of much more promising, original and better run projects.

 

[ghardy]

SG's high profile failure will scare away investors from the genre entirely

Yes, this is a lamentable possibility.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

I've chatted with a few people who naively look forward to the possibility of a Starcraft 3. Entirely aside from how godawful the story would undoubtedly be (what would it even be about? Amon's ex-girlfriend invading to get revenge? fuck that dumb shit), who would actually program it? Everyone who worked on the Blizzard RTS games has long since moved on. This has happened to every RTS studio. Most of the people working on the current crop of new RTS games are longtime RTS players who learned to code, introduced to the genre by classic titles like Starcraft, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, and Total Annihilation. This new generation of millennial devs are still untested.