SEIV dying?

[Ruatha]

I agree that Posts has been dropping, hut as previusly stated. People do tend to have other things to do now.
Let's see how many Posts there will be dec 24 and 25. I don't think one can say that the forum is dying even though there propably will be very few Posts then.

[Arkcon]

Lots of people will be away from their computer for the holiday. Some people can only get Online at school. That's part of the drop.

People usually wait for the latest patch to do serious work on their mods and shipsets.

What I'm thinking is ... how many people will get a copy of SE4 for Christmas. Is SE4 the sort of game you suprise someone with? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

If so, there will be tons of Posts soon of tihe topics "My colonies are empty", "Sphereworld components don't fit on my baseships", "How can I play Klingons"

[mottlee]

LOL DEAD! BLastfeamer! (spell it right?) LONG LIVE SEIV (III, II, Gold etc)

[Stone Mill]

Rather...

Not too many games have this kind of longevity! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Ruatha]

Originally posted by Arkcon:

What I'm thinking is ... how many people will get a copy of SE4 for Christmas. Is SE4 the sort of game you suprise someone with? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I don't exactly think many people will find SE4 under the tree. It's the kind of game you buy yourself.
Has anyone here got it as a gift???

[Atrocities]

You should never messure a game by how many Posts are being posted at its forum. If that was the case, than a great many games would have been viewed as dead long before they were. (Armada, Tribes, Dark Forces, Rebellion, BOTF, Wing Commander, Decent, Freespace, Soldier of Fortune, DeusEx, Elite Force, Half Life, Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft, AOE, Civilization, SimCity, etc.) Each of these games had forums that died off or slowed down long before the games were ever considered dead. And in fact many of these original games are still running very strongly with sequals, or in original forum. BOTF is still being played and discussed actively on some Trek Game forums, as are many other games.

No, SEIV is no where near death yet. It still is drawing in new fans each and every day. As for DO, well, it was a fun first game of that type from MM, and my nephews love it. In fact, my neighbor even bought a copy because his kid was over and played it and liked it.

Periodically throughout the year, the forums die down a bit, that is natural. But they always pick up when nothing is going on. People love to chat about things they enjoy doing, and SEIV is damned enjoyable IMHO. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[javaslinger]

Don't get me wrong! I love SEIV gold, etc.

I wish I had more time to play. For some reason I have some kind of attention span problem and I spend vastly more time discussing and reading Posts about various games than I ever do actually playing them.

Hell, I've never actually played more than 3 complete games vs the AI of SEIV or 2 games multiplayer. I've never built a ringworld. Never played a game using any of the mods. Well, I take that back, I've used modded races, but nothing like Proportions.

Yet I check this board every day to read up on the latest evolution of mods and design theory. I can't wait for updates. But I never really play them.

I have a sickness. Lurker syndrome?

Well, I digress. As you can imagine I wait with baited breath to buy SEIV. But will I ever actually play it??? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Ken

ps. I was that guy that took a 6 hour round trip to drive to Raleigh NC to buy SEIV gold because I didn't want to wait for shipping.

[Arkcon]

The games are long, I'll give you that. Sometimes I start one, play past mid game, and then stop playing -- real life does creep in on me from time to time. But you never know when something will just jump out at you. Observe the following evolution:

I never made a ship set, I never wrote an AI. Didn't think I wanted to do it, other people are better at it.

I tried my first PBW. I was the stock Jarenar. Someone else wanted to be the Zorians, but switched their shipset, probably to avoid shipset confusion with me (same ships Zorians have blue markings where the Jarenar have red). Unfortuately, the switch was set to Allbion Race, which was the same as someone else. And now I really can't tell them apart.

Simple statement -- there aren't enough unique shipsets on PBW. YMMV. I simply had to create one unique for myself to use.

I thought of a machine race, yes it's been done already, so I decided they might as well have a unique set of characteristics, hence my selection of the emotionless trait. Now I must conduct experiments to see how to use it.

Once shipset and racial characteristics are done, I'll have somethin new to do at PBW

I'll have to rewrite the AI, someone else may want to use them some time as an AI opponent. Ohh, and Neostandard images. So much to do.

[ December 19, 2002, 15:35: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[geoschmo]

People have been saying SEIV was dieing for over a year and it's still here.

Yes, the seaonal thing is a big factor, but all games eventually peak and then decline as people drift off to new games.

I guess if you keep saying it's dieing long enough, eventually you will be right. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Geoschmo

[ December 19, 2002, 16:15: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[The Canuck]

SEIV will not die for a long time comin, just for one reason, moddablility. every decent to amazing game that is moddable ALWAYS live for a long time. and even when a sequel to that game comes, the first game usually Last a years or two before the mod community moves on to the new game. take a look at Homeworld for example there have been soo many mod since the beginning and even when Cataclysm came out, people including myself still modded HW for about a year or so before really starting the move over to Cataclysm. and now more creative mods are coming out for SEIV, i know someone was creating a mod with systems as planets and everyone was so magical empire, and i am working on a WW2 mod, 2 of them actually, one primarily for ground and aircombat and maybe another for the sea battles. But i digress, SEIV will not die for a long time comin

[Baron Munchausen]

I think you are falling for the capitalist paradigm here. SE4 can't grow forever. Nothing can. Sooner or later it will reach a plateau of interest and sales will begin to drop off. But lack of growth doesn't mean it has to 'die'. People are still playing MOO 1 and 2 even though both are long obsolete.

And anyway, a mere slacking off in the rate of message posting here is not necessarily a very good indication of the level of interest. Various people have been working on FAQs and other newbie help for months. Maybe this work is succeeeding and the number of repetitive questions is dropping?

[mottlee]

Originally posted by Ruatha:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Arkcon:

What I'm thinking is ... how many people will get a copy of SE4 for Christmas. Is SE4 the sort of game you suprise someone with? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I don't exactly think many people will find SE4 under the tree. It's the kind of game you buy yourself.
Has anyone here got it as a gift???</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well my brother gave me a copy of SEIII demo and I went from there http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[David E. Gervais]

Originally posted by javaslinger:
..Yet I check this board every day to read up on the latest evolution of mods and design theory. I can't wait for updates. But I never really play them.

I have a sickness. Lurker syndrome?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">hmmm, So, If you check these forums every day, why haven't you dropped by the 'Avatar' thread to put in a request or adopt an avatar? ..and I thought I had found the perfect blend of eye-candy to lure you lurkers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif (I guess you're a 'chip' person, who stays away from sweets!)

LoL,.. I'm so funny!

[Wardad]

Sure the message traffic is down on the forum.
There was a drop when the stickies and Newbie FAQ threads were added.
There was a real rise in traffic after the GOLD release.
Lately there has been fewer adavnced technical discussions.

Maybe the game is getting repetitive with a race for best combat sensors (bonus), ECM (bonus), and large weapon mounts (ships), and of course a large economy.

Just my 2 cents

[Raging Deadstar]

haha i prove you all wrong as i'm getting space empires gold for christmas. *gloats evily* http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

[Ragnarok]

Originally posted by Raging Deadstar:
haha i prove you all wrong as i'm getting space empires gold for christmas. *gloats evily* http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's one person then... Out a possible say 4 million? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[capnq]

One also has to consider that only a small fraction of the people who read these forums ever post. The most common estimates I've seen say that there are usually 10 lurkers per poster.

Then consider that the posters and lurkers together are only a fraction of the total that play SE IV. Shrapnel recently announced that SE IV had hit $500,000 in sales, which implies over 12,000 units sold, while the total registered members for all of the forums is still under 4,000 (AFAIK).

[Hank]

=== delurk ===
For me SEIV will be actively used as long as PBW exists. Oh and SEIV will die for me if SEV is released. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif
=== lurk enabled ===
what was that fleeting glimpse?

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by Hank:
Oh and SEIV will die for me if SEV is released. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">LOL. Did no one consider this, if new ideas and interest truly dried up -- the new Version, SE5 would add all new things to play with and mod.

[Skulky]

I think these forums are on overdrive. I ususally check 2x a day and i've usually got 25 or so unreads each time. I used to check once a day and only see 5 new Messages (that was april of 2002 i think).

SE4 will never die. Although the strategies are becoming pretty set in stone these days, which is why we have total conVersion mods to mix it up. And things like SE4 by comittee.

[Pax]

Here's a better anecdote for folks: Stars!

The thing was written for Windows 3.11 ... and it still has an active community, including a newsgroup and "AutoHost" (akin to PBW, but not as nice looking, nor as useful in general).

And Stars! isn't even moddable!!

[solops]

Originally posted by Pax:
Here's a better anecdote for folks: Stars!

The thing was written for Windows 3.11 ... and it still has an active community, including a newsgroup and "AutoHost" (akin to PBW, but not as nice looking, nor as useful in general).

And Stars! isn't even moddable!!<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yup...I'm a Stars! fanatic and that's how I got to SEIV - looking for something new. I have been playing Stars! since it was Version 1.0 shareware and still have several PBEM games going on Autohost. If I ever have time, I'll do the same with SEIV. SEIV has a lot more "stuff", which is nice, but that means more MM.

[Atrocities]

Then consider that the posters and lurkers together are only a fraction of the total that play SE IV. Shrapnel recently announced that SE IV had hit $500,000 in sales, which implies over 12,000 units sold, while the total registered members for all of the forums is still under 4,000 (AFAIK).
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think it was 500,000 in sales of the game, not actuall profit. I could be wrong though.

[javaslinger]

Just curious... The volume of Posts on this board had dropped way off. Richard has quit. No news of anything in the works has come for some time. Dungeon Oddessy appears to have flopped.

Is there a future for SE?

Thanks,

Ken

[dogscoff]

Yes there is. Posts always drop around this time, as ppl are busy with shopping/ visiting/ watching LOTR at the cinema.

A new patch is in the works and is due this or next month. MM is also said to be working on some Space Empires 3D combat thingummy which everyone thinks might turn into the combat engine for SE5.

So no, I don't think it's dead=-)

Even if MM and Shrapnel disappeared tomorrow, there would be planty of ppl playing and modding what we have now for a long time to come.

[disabled]

I love DO more than SE at this point, it's a nice excursion from being an evil despot! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ May 05, 2003, 16:10: Message edited by: Iggiboo ]

[Tenryu]

I expect there are many people that love the game and drop in regularly to see what's up, but rarely post. That's been my MO recently. Too busy to do much else for past year or so.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Pax:
Here's a better anecdote for folks: Stars!

The thing was written for Windows 3.11 ... and it still has an active community, including a newsgroup and "AutoHost" (akin to PBW, but not as nice looking, nor as useful in general).

And Stars! isn't even moddable!!<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I can do one better. VGA planets is still around, and its newsgroup opened on Jan. 15, 1993.

[StarJack]

Just to re-enforce what some others have said, I too, am usually too busy to do much other than quickly browse the forum. I drop in to find answers to a new question, or remind myself of an answer to something I'd forgotten (age'll do that to you!).
I'd rather be playing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif The only reason I stopped playing MOO II recently was because of the sweet surprise of finding SEIV. I'll probably break off from SEIV to play MOO III awhile, but I'm sure I'll be back to SEIV again and again. The only reason SEIV will leave my hard drive, or my next computers hard drive, is because SEV has been released http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Kamog]

Hmmm, I haven't particularly noticed that the volume of Posts have dropped way off lately... or maybe it's all those OT threads and polls skewing the numbers.

[PvK]

Bah. If you like a game, and care about it's perceived popularity level on forums, and even equate that with the game being "alive" or not, then I suggest not posting threads with titles like this.

I'd say it's pretty clear that if you ever want to play SE4 by PBEM, you'll be able to find a game for many years to come, even after SE5 comes out. After all, you can still find SE3 PBEM games, and SE4 pre-Gold PBEM games.

The main "danger" to SE4, it seems to me, will be SE5.

PvK

[Richard]

You know I seem to remember similiar threads popping up Last year when SE:IV Gold came out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

This game continues to be our top seller, every single day. That's after 2+ years selling it.

We always get highs and lows on the forum, and I would say that this one is more due to the holidays than anything else.

Also DO has done okay, and I think as time goes on and mods and such come out for it that it will have a strong community as well.

As far as myself, I'm still around. Just not officially.

[mottlee]

This game as in live has it's ups and downs however I know that once you start this one it's hard to go to anyother http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Richard nice to see you again! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Echo Mirage]

I am a new player so the game ain't dead yet!

[oleg]

There will be another surge in forum Posts once new patch is out. It may give a new live to AI...

[MacLeod]

Dude, Doom isn't even dead yet and it's gotta be more than ten years old, as I remember playing it while I was a 5th grade student.

SEIV will live until SEV comes out, when the SE series stops, the latest generations of the game will probably live on another 10 years.

Now that I've got two computers in my room I will spend a lot of time on SEIV, as I can play two games at once without windowing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

And yes, I was born with an 8086 lodged in the side of my head.

[Master Belisarius]

Originally posted by oleg:
It may give a new live to AI...<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm not so sure...
Some changes (fixes) will hurt several AIs, I think.

[disabled]

Does anyone know if Stars!Supernova will ever be released?

[ May 05, 2003, 16:09: Message edited by: Iggiboo ]

[Raging Deadstar]

Well i'm still into it, though my time has been invaded by playing black and white, but as soon as i get gold for christmas i'm ready for many beatings on pbw, ahh the fun http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[capnq]

SEIV will live until SEV comes out <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Or longer. SE III still has a following, from what I hear on these Boards.

[ December 21, 2002, 20:22: Message edited by: capnq ]

[disabled]

I doubt SE is dying, we got some big names gonna flop soon! let's exploit that!

[ May 05, 2003, 16:07: Message edited by: Iggiboo ]

[Gryphin]

Hadrian Tyrael S. Aventine
Remember Wolfenstien,
Yep, I always felt bad when I had to kill Rin Tin Tin.

[Kamog]

Yes, I remember Castle Wolfenstein, too. I have only played the 3-D Version once, but I have played the very old 2-D Version many times on the Commodore 64. That was a fun game!

[tbontob]

Originally posted by Richard:
You know I seem to remember similiar threads popping up Last year when SE:IV Gold came out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

This game continues to be our top seller, every single day. That's after 2+ years selling it.

We always get highs and lows on the forum, and I would say that this one is more due to the holidays than anything else.

Also DO has done okay, and I think as time goes on and mods and such come out for it that it will have a strong community as well.

As far as myself, I'm still around. Just not officially.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Still it is nice to see you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Instar]

Heck I recently played Doom I and II just for the heck of it
similarly I use SEIV as a strategy fix

[Rojero]

I too am a new player...which by the way i did request a new avatar theme with a tiger http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ( I was thinking more of the Kilrathi from Wing Commmander ..hint hint)
Anyway, this game is such an Underground hit that it is surviving. Just imagine if it had the same support and distribution as the big games Ie: Moo and Reach for the stars ( what crap that was!)
Anyways if we can spread the word...about MM to retailers then we can help support...it that way http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
Peace out oh yea i want that avatar http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[Fyron]

Retail is bad, unless you are Blizzard or Maxis. Retail is only profitable if the game sells millions and millions of copies. And even then, the game designer/developer doesn't make much money. Selling it how they are selling it is much more profitable for Shrapnel Games and Malfador than going retail would have been.

[Teleolurian]

Um... I just bought this game. Long live the new wave! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif