Look at the press releases

[johan osterman]

Go look aT the press releases

[alexti]

Great! The link is wrong though, but using the method of scientific guess one can deduce that "02" in the link should be replaced with "01".

[Edi]

One question for Illwinter? How backward compatible will Dominions 3 be with regard to existing maps and mods for Dominions 2? I would really hate to have to do the Faerun maps all over again...

Edi

[Chazar]

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif Umh, first, I was quite confused about that link (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/News/pr_01.htm), so why no refer to it right here?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Second, what's the fuss about? I mean, there just had to be a sequel! I thought that was crystal clear to everybody anyway...?!

/threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif Third, will that announcement mean anything with respect to further Dom2 patches...?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Injured.gif Fourth, does this mean that this forum gets flooded with uncontrollable hydra-wish-lists again? (If so, then please: replace 'renaming' by a proper sticky-note-on-creature-feature... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif )

[deccan]

Eh, what a teaser, there is really very little on what new features are planned...

[johan osterman]

the link is borked, try

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/News/pr_01.htm

[Truper]

Can't wait http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[johan osterman]

There will be more dom 2 patches.

[Pocus]

you... you!!!!! You are the most evil men of all world, universe, multiverse, and even more. Your evil scheme of transforming us into totally mindless zombies before our screens is so blatant. I hate you, o God, I hate you!!

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[johan osterman]

I just bought the Zombie Survival Guide so your threats leave me unphased.

[Endoperez]

Woohoo! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Kristoffer O]

Chazar: It doesn't mean much to dom2 patches. We have worked on Dom3 for a while. I hope you are not too dissatisfied with the patch releases of the Last five or six months.

[Truper]

Might be a new T-shirt idea in here somewhere... Dominions 3: I've lead so many zombies, I'm becoming one!

[Vicious Love]

Jesus Tiberius Christ!



That is to say, eagerly awaiting this latest offering. W00t.

[PDF]

Where are the betatest team application forms ? Where ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
(cast "Wind Ride" on Johan K ... doesn't work ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif Damn, is he size-6 ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif )

[Chazar]

Kristoffer O said:
Chazar: It doesn't mean much to dom2 patches. We have worked on Dom3 for a while. I hope you are not too dissatisfied with the patch releases of the Last five or six months.



http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif No, I were certainly not dissatisfied, and with respect to that recently unburied rumour-thread, I would not expect major changes in Gameplay like another added nation within a mere patch as well. Keep those for Dom3. Bugs & Balance is of importance, as well as any features that technically enhance gameplay (like the added commander-renaming feature for ease of micromanagement, or the BattleReplays fast-forward). Nevertheless, I have no idea whether an improved message-editor would be more feasible within a patch than adding another nation... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I also assume that the announcement merely indicates that some arrangement between Illwinter and Shrapnel has been made, rather than any actual change in current work, right?

[Kristoffer O]

> I also assume that the announcement merely indicates that some arrangement between Illwinter and Shrapnel has been made, rather than any actual change in current work, right?

Contract signed etc. Nothing that affects work other than you getting to know it. Unimportant stuff http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .

[Kristoffer O]

PDF said:
Where are the betatest team application forms ? Where ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
(cast "Wind Ride" on Johan K ... doesn't work ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif Damn, is he size-6 ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif )



Actually he's so thin he's almost ethereal. Personally I use Boots of the Behemoth. I hope they work.

[Pocus]

Where is this dom3 progress page on Illwinter site? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Kristoffer O]

Ha! It's secret.

Actually it is not in any good shape. We have been bad at keeping the change log up to date. Last post on our unofficial list says:

3rd sep
* New doom horror: Maker of Ruins
* Insanity

There has happened a lot since then, including the random map generation mentioned in the press release.

[WraithLord]

Great news.

I'm so very excited http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

A few question jump into mind.

Will it use the same engine? - in other words, will I need a new gfx card to play it? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Do you have plans of adding a new magic path?

Will we get many new great pretenders?

how about new spells, summons etc?

Oh, I could as a hundred more questions but guess I'll have to settle for stalking your site bits of information http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Zooko]

Great job on signing the Dom3 contract!

I feel kind of silly to say this, but I've always imagined that Dom3 would have dramatically improved battle graphics compared to Dom2. At least as dramatic as the difference between Dom2 and Dom1.

For starters, I would thrill to have "Myth"-style 3-D camera movement with multi-perspective bitmap critters. And then of course, nobody would complain if you went on and made full 3-D modelled critters a la "Myth 3". ;-)

I know that beautiful visuals aren't Dom's reason for being, but I would get great pleasure from more clearly seeing my little heroes rampaging around the battlefield. Also I imagine that it could widen your market beyond the hardcore fanatic gamers that you already OWN with your Imprint Souls technique.

[WraithLord]

While improved gfx are nice to have, I for one, really preffer more content to the game.

It would also be nice if some of the micro-managment aspects (site searching, choosing spells for battle script etc) would be more streamlined or automated.

[Zen]

I'm a little afraid if it does have dramatically better GFX. Because of the depth of Dominions the number of units and unique aspects of it. Over 1000 units with 3D (Extremely expensive), at least what (Any professional Digital Animators chime in here) 24 frames of animation for something like walking (not to mention fighting).

I would love to see it. But I don't want anything homogenized (more than it already is) in order to get it.

Also, just a note: Please use the Dominions 3 Wishlist thread for 'desired' features.

[Zooko]

P.S. Of course, fully 3-D graphics would be computationally expensive since you can have hundreds of units in a single battle. However, there may be some unique opportunities for optimization by pre-computation and caching, since the battle is completely deterministic. (Also, of course, optimization by sharing between units of the same type, since almost no battle would have hundreds of types of units.) It would be an interesting challenge in graphics programming.

[Gandalf Parker]

I will be thrilled if it (and its demo) includes a basic (easily improved on and maybe slightly punnish) set of pretenders, and a tutorial (or at least a game partially started). Maybe a newbie map where the border is a quick-key chart. But Im just a newbie customer service type of guy.

[Boron]

Cool. Late 2005 probably release date is though a long time to wait http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif .
Hopefully this means July 18th 2005 cause there my holidays start http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif .

2 questions :
Will the micromanagement of hoarding be much easier ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Hopefully the new lab has more then 50 slots for forged items as stockpile http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Can you maybe generate a monster in a monstergenerator after your likings ?
Spell should be a lvl 9 spell : Variable costs + requirements http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
E.g. : Add arm , cost +10 astral gems , +S to cast , Add 50 hp , cost +25 nature gems .... ?
Then with a empowered wishcaster to lvl 10 i could when i invest 1000 gems create a monster with e.g. 1000 hitpoints , 10 arms etc. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif .

[ioticus]

It would also be cool if you could forge your own unique magic items a la Master of Magic.

[johan osterman]

Splooger: That is an unlikely addition. And I think it would be bad, because in any competetive play it is very likely people would only make very route items. Somewhat paradoxically I think designing your own items would lead to less variancew amongst the magic items. As the SC issues suggests designability of this sorts lead to optimisation, but as it stands they are at least somewhat constrained in that the items do not allways fit perfectly into given SC designs.

[PhilD]

PDF said:
Where are the betatest team application forms ? Where ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
(cast "Wind Ride" on Johan K ... doesn't work ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif Damn, is he size-6 ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif )



More precisely...

How long do we have to learn Swedish until the betatest starts ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Nagot Gick Fel]

PhilD said:
How long do we have to learn Swedish until the betatest starts ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif



As long as needed for you to play with utrum and neutrum as easily as a true native!

[Kristoffer O]

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

According to my brother Utrum should be a new Doom Horror. Slurping brainy juices from the minds of linguists I suppose.

[Cainehill]

johan osterman said:
Splooger: That is an unlikely addition. And I think it would be bad, because in any competetive play it is very likely people would only make very route items. Somewhat paradoxically I think designing your own items would lead to less variancew amongst the magic items.



True - how about a "Create (random) Artifact" spell then? Somewhat like Wish - Construction 9, lots and lots of gems going in, and out pops a unique item. It might be bad, it might usually be a waste of the gems - but it might be great. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

A la Scrolls of artifact creation from various rogue-like games.

[Wauthan]

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Kelan]

Cainehill said:

johan osterman said:
Splooger: That is an unlikely addition. And I think it would be bad, because in any competetive play it is very likely people would only make very route items. Somewhat paradoxically I think designing your own items would lead to less variancew amongst the magic items.



True - how about a "Create (random) Artifact" spell then? Somewhat like Wish - Construction 9, lots and lots of gems going in, and out pops a unique item. It might be bad, it might usually be a waste of the gems - but it might be great. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

A la Scrolls of artifact creation from various rogue-like games.



That is a really neat idea Cainehill. Maybe it would have a high base cost of gems and allow you to add any combination of extra gems to influence the type/quality of the result. I have always enjoyed games that give you a random element to them and ones with surprises, even if some bad.

[Vicious Love]

It's a cool idea, but I'm inclined to believe randomality in turn based games should be kept to a minimum. It's about one's strategy, not a roll of the dice. This sort of spell should be potentially useful as a Last-ditch resort, but downright stupid if one is not far, far ahead or behind all the other nations.
Furthermore, there'd better be a damn convincing thematic rationale involved. Half the point of Dom 2 is the style.