A request to the developers: raise the unit limit!

lch · #1 November 15th, 2007, 08:53 PM

So, it'd be like a regular update, but this time you pay for it? I don't think you'll find many fans for that idea...

HoneyBadger · #2 November 15th, 2007, 09:20 PM

No it wouldn't be like a regular update. Regular updates are called "patches". If you read what I wrote, I'm saying, *specifically* "And it's not a patch".

Sombre · #3 November 15th, 2007, 11:28 PM

So you get some more nations and units from KO (like the stuff in the patches) and you get 20 mod nations as well?

...

These things are already free. I'd pay a bit of money to get a bunch of modding stuff put in the game, but only if everyone can use it.

HoneyBadger · #4 November 16th, 2007, 12:51 AM

Which is what I'm saying-you'd pay for extras, like extra unit-space in the game, which (the theory apparently is) would otherwise cramp up the kinds of computers the Devs want the game to run on, and that people with those kinds of computers don't want to have to pay extra for, in a game they then wouldn't be able to use anyway.

You'd also get the mods-which are indeed otherwise, and should stay otherwise, free-packaged conveniently in one download for whomever wants to pay for the service. Or not, it's just an idea.

And-here's the kicker-if something like this could show the Devs a strong (and profitable) interest in material for more powerful computers, it *might* just get them interested in creating Dominions 4 sometime in the forseeable future.

Yes, we all know it's not about the money, but sometimes, money spent can represent how we feel about a product. How much we appreciate it, and want it to stay alive.

Sombre · #5 November 16th, 2007, 03:55 AM

What makes you think the description and sprite limits have anything to do with keeping the game running on older computers? They seem more like arbitrary values left over from Dom1/2 to me.

The limit to the total number of units on a map is a different story. I have no interest in getting that increased because I'm never going to run into it.

lch · #6 November 16th, 2007, 08:31 AM

Problem is, will this mean that it's a branch of the game? People who don't have that extra pack won't be able to play (extra) games with those people, right? So it's a mandatory update, for practical reasons? Will there have to be separate patches for the normal main game and the extra version? How do you want to do the serial number authentication on the web site? Look at Illwinter's homepage for a comparison of how much care goes into the web sites.

I think your idea is never going to get realized just because there's way too much work involved with not too big a payoff.

HoneyBadger · #7 November 17th, 2007, 12:20 AM

I'm just suggesting a solution to a problem that other people have posted about. If it's a hold-over and can be fixed with a few taps of the keyboard, then by all means.

People with Starcraft who don't also have Broodwar, still play Starcraft, and that's a 10 year old game, so obviously a "branch" as you call it (I'll be referring to it as an "expansion-pack" so as to not confuse this with other, more agricultural, issues.) isn't by itself an automatic game-killer. The big question here is how *many* people?

Ofcourse, I'll have to consult my psychic voodoo 8-ball, but I'm willing to bet the release of Broodwar didn't thrust Blizzard into bankruptsy like a plummeting meteor?

Same thing with patches-this isn't alien technology we're talking about, nobody is sitting in a secret laboratory in Nevada, trying to decypher the complexities of a patch system for games with expansion-packs. The most common process is to, yes, have two separate patches, when a single patch would affect two different versions of a game, adversely.

Finally, Stardock did a fine job of serial number authentication. Hell, *I* could probably write a working, secure-if extremely archaic-serial number authentication program in BASIC, from memory. Not that it's all *that* necessary.

Yes, piracy is upsetting and immoral, but it's a problem that throws people into a panic of somewhat greater proportion-for a great deal less reason-than Communism in the McCarthy era. I personally sought out Dominions based on a half-remembered photograph in, possibly? Dragon Magazine. I not only bought my copy of the game, but I also ended up purchasing a copy of Disciples 2 (another game with like 4 expansion packs), because I thought it *was* Dominions. Spending money on advertizement is way more important than any money thrown away on halting piracy, for a game like Dominions.

And if you don't believe me about the viability of expansion-packs, ask the creators of the Sims.