what about the future?

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

Buying the IP, and then throwing it out. Now that would be a design mistake. **** the code, the IP from dominions is worth the money. (With IP, I mean the backstory of the nations, the different nations themselves, the different sites, the magic system (spell names and effects), the images etc).

And why? Because with the IP comes a community of fans. (Yippy, that is you and me!).

It doesn't seem a stretch to me to imagine someone buying the IP with the intention of staying true to the game but then asking how to expand beyond a loyal, but niche, audience. Perhaps a few changes here and there to the nations might give a broader audience something they can immediately recognize and relate to. And what about that overly complex magic system - how about if that is trimmed down to make it more accessible. And if those changes succeeded in gaining them more sales than they lost from alienated players of D3 then it would make sense.

This is pure speculation of course and it's possible this wouldn't happen but think about various game franchises and how some installments of those franchises are viewed negatively. Perhaps because of changes in game mechanics, or UI, or the intangible "feel" of the game. I might be more surprised if a new version of Dominions by a different developer maintained the spirit of the game than if it didn't.

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by Valerius

This is pure speculation of course and it's possible this wouldn't happen but think about various game franchises and how some installments of those franchises are viewed negatively. Perhaps because of changes in game mechanics, or UI, or the intangible "feel" of the game. I might be more surprised if a new version of Dominions by a different developer maintained the spirit of the game than if it didn't.

A marketing move would be to
A) simplify it for the masses
B) make it a Windows game which would automatically fix lots of ui complaints
C) make it 3D graphics and upgrade the sound

Malfador would be a good example. His low-graphics high strategy game of Space Empires IV on Shrapnel became a hi-res candied shelfware SEV thru Strategy First. And then became a stripped down FaceBook app game.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

His low-graphics high strategy game of Space Empires IV on Shrapnel became a hi-res candied shelfware SEV thru Strategy First.

This actually made it a lot harder to play at my machine. Somehow the 3d-stuff gave me horrible frame rates, didn't work on my multi core machine etc. Eventually I just gave up...

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

This actually made it a lot harder to play at my machine. Somehow the 3d-stuff gave me horrible frame rates, didn't work on my multi core machine etc. Eventually I just gave up...

I wasnt thrilled either. The game ended up in sales bins, and the modding community never did catch up to what SEIV had. I own it but I still play SEIV and have deleted SEV from my machines.

It was also rather a setup. Malfador is beta testing his next game called World Supremacy and will be offering it thru Shrapnel Games Inc