Elemental: War of Magic

[Felch]

Stardock's newest game.

http://www.elementalgame.com/

There was some discussion of this in an old MoM thread, but I figured it's getting close enough to warrant its own thread.

[El_Cid]

close enough? i thought it was a few years off? but i've only been keeping a casual eye on this as i dont want to know too much of the game for when it does come out. Looking forward to it, and i'm sure Stardock will make something interesting.

[Felch]

Beta comes out in a couple months. If you've pre-ordered the game (it's Stardock, you might as well) you'll be able to start playing it by June.

Maybe I'm just a little too excited though

[Dale]

Yeah I've been watching this one as well. Looks good!

[N35t0r]

Beta 2: October 2009. (...)
It will be at this stage when we decide whether Elemental will make its ship date. We have February 2010 or August 2010 set aside for Elemental based on player feedback (we prefer February but we don’t want to feel rushed). Right now, we’re running slightly ahead of schedule.

...

[edit:]

I've been reading about it, and it sounds really promising. If anything, I'll play some MP with a friend just to build a world to play D&D in

[Felch]

Early beta is out, and if you want to see the game as it is developed you've got a few more days to pre-order and get in on the action.

I spent last night playing it. The game is nowhere near finished, but it's on the right track. If you can get past the instability, graphical issues, and unimplemented features, you'll find something with a lot of promise.

• Research is broken into subjects, and subjects unlock more specific/advanced subjects. Functionally it's similar to the classic tech tree of Civ, but the presentation is clever.
• Unit creation is modular like in SMAC.
• Towns grow organically, so that buildings exist on the map, and are placed by the player. So far they have only basic structures, like houses that increase the pop cap, and inns that increase trade.
• Combat isn't fleshed out yet, but it looks promising. Your in game avatar is pretty powerful and capable of holding his own in a fight, and can team up with troops to make an SoD. The avatar levels up, but I haven't seen any leveling amongst the mundane troops.
• Magic and Foreign Relations haven't been implemented yet, and the AI is crap.
• Bug reports are piling up, but Stardock has a well deserved reputation for ironing these things out.

The release date is being pushed back from Feb 2010. No word yet on how long it will take, but they've got a lot of steps to the beta before they're finished.

Frogboy posted this schedule on the forums.

Greetings!

Below is the status of where we are on the development of Elemental.

BETA 1

Initial Build: Basic Compatibility
Beta 1A: Initial Gameplay Skeleton
Beta 1B: Initial Economic system Implemented
Beta 1C: Initial AI system Implemented
Beta 1D: Initial Diplomacy system Implemented
Beta 1E: Initial Dynasty system implemented
Beta 1F: Initial Magic system implemented
Beta 1G: Initial Quest system implemented
BETA 2

Initial build provides basic multiplayer (player hosted – client/server)
Beta 2A: Persistent stat tracking
Beta 2B: Stardock hosted option.
Beta 2C: Stardock hosted persistent games
Beta 2D: Stardock hosted persistent universe game (persistent dynasties)
BETA 3

Initial Kumquat3D engine build of Elemental.
Beta 3A: Introduction to Dungeons
Beta 3B: Introduction to Magical Spells
BETA 4

Introduction to tactical battles
Beta 4A: New multiplayer mode: Arena
Beta 4B: Customized tactical battle options
Beta 4C: Super-Duper AI Update to tactical battles
Beta 4D: Polish Beta (extensive and ongoing)
BETA 5

Introduction to integrated modding
Beta 5A: Persistent universe mods
Beta 5B: Third-party Maya/3D Studio importing beta
Beta 5C: Modding group testing

[Stuie]

Great. Let me know when there's an actual game. /really crappy cynical mood.

[Felch]

Should be in about a year.