Everyone give Stardock a big THANKS!

THANKS!

I gave it to 'em by deciding to pre-order as soon as I heard they were making the game (the fact that my pre-order game a month later had more to do with finances than anything else).

The only other company I'd behave in that manner for is blizzard... and them only barely (I didn't care much for war 3).

What about Poland? I mean Ironclad! They are actually the ones making the patches and all...

THANKS IRONCLAD!

omg delete this already, Yarlen might see this and thinks he can relax...

Haha, naa they are the best id say the way both companys are working with its userbase is evolutionary (if thats the right word).
I think more companys should do this kind of stuff, where the users has some saying into how a game should be.
They would have alot more happy customers.


THANKS IC & SD

Wow, guys. How does it smell all the way up there?

Yes, yes, yes, this is a good topic

THANKS IRONCLAD & STARDOCK

You guys have worked very very very hard to give us this great already-release-quality game

Now get back to work!!!! Praise doesn't come without its consequences

i know what multi and kosc might be smelling... and heres a hint, its brown and sticky.

(its a stick of course)

YAY FOR LAME JOKE!

AND THANK YOU SD AND IC

AND WC3 WAS PRETTYFUN!

all this randomness makes me hungry

*grabs a klondike bar*

Thanks ironclad

Thanks Ironclad and Stardock

love your work

THANKS IC & SD

You're very welcome, everybody!

We greatly appreciate all the feedback and comments that people have been posting. It's really nice to see the community support our method of development, since we know it's unorthodox in the industry and requires you all to make a commitment as well in order to participate. So, our thanks right back to all of you!

Group hug?

My thanks was NOT directed to you....... YARLEN

*runs off to sulk*

if you hug me kosc... if you even touch me...

*big uber pwn gay hug*

i call that sexual harrasment. ban him plz

you wish...

I'll take a hug...

*huggles everyone*

Thank you!   

yay i feel loved

  Thanks guys! Much appreciated as we head into tackling all the Sins upgrades!

It is very rare that I actually see a company actually listen and respond to their customers. I think it's very brilliant that you guys take the time to read everyone's comments and suggestions and actually listen. Very few beta tests I have ever been involved in have done that. I loved GC2, and am looking forward to the final version of this, I know it'll be amazing...can't wait for the beta to finish downloading.

I've been a customer of Stardock since the beginning of the GalCiv 1 beta, and I cannot conceive of one single negative comment to express concerning Stardock. Also, its business model of deeply involving the customers in a long, beta development-and-testing process is "eventual" (in Stephen King parlance*).

In what concerns Ironclad, I only know about it since I downloaded its beta 2, on 21 June. I was then extremely impressed that the state of the beta, about 7 months before the final gold-master version, was already very beautiful and playable. Some games are now prematurely sold in a state that does not match the quality of Ironclad's mid-July, beta-2 condition. I can only wonder what this game will be like on next 21 January!

Involving the pre-order customers for so many months is an "eventual" move.

But most game developers & producers don't do that : they build a game in secret, they test it with a limited number of people who won't rock the boat, and they prematurely release buggy games with unsatisfactory features. My hypothetical explanation is that most developers & producers want to dominate & control their biased model of how a game should look & play : input from dozens (if not hundreds) of gamers, during a long-drawn beta-process, would make them lose that total control.

I think of Nival Interactive (Russian) when I say that, for example : in the development of "Heroes of Might & Magic 5", Nival imposed its model of a HM&M game, without caring to listen to the fans who had been HM&M experts since 1995 (Not that HM&M 5 is a bad game : it took about a year after the initial release to fix it to an "eventual" level of quality. But Nival is developing & testing the 2nd expansion in secret, as usual.)

It is refreshing to see that Ironclad & Stardock are not caught in the steel grips of cryptocratic, totalitarian control-freaks.

Oh, yes, before I forget : merci beaucoup .

* In the short story "Everything's eventual", the word is used by the main character as a synonym of "awesome".

Indeed, Stardock and IC (although I haven't heard of any of IC's games other than SINs, are there any?) are the only gaming companies I actually put trust into when concerning games.