GalCiv Expanded Universe Live Chat on September 16th!

I'm marking this one on my calender (I hope I can make it).

Good to know the GCX is due in 2 weeks.

Would probably not be able to join the chat due to work.

Any chance the transcipt of the chat can be made available after the event?
Maybe one of the loggers can help.

~SDC~

Oh, GOODIE! And just in time for my birthday! (Yeah, so that's supposedly a congrat sign, but it's really me with my birthday hat on.)

Exciting

Hmm. Maybe the 9/16 date should only be the first chat. How are folks who freshly downloaded the X-pack on that very day supposed to comment on all the neat stuff with so little notice? The people who already had the X-pack from the beta would be more than able to comment, but not the newer folks. Please consider a second date a few days later. Thanks.

If people have any questions before hand, post them here and I can start preparing answers.

I will certainly try to logon to the chat (work and family providing). I can't wait to see the expansion pack. Thanks again for a great game.

Good news, hopefully we will keep this tread alive to post posssible suggestion for the next expansion pack, I already got some new ideas.

My question:

What kind of new stuff would we be talking about if SD were to do a non-free second Xpack?

frogboy posted:


wait, i thought stardock promised a year of free upgrades and features? (i assumed the year started at the release date) i guess technically you could still provide more free stuff and also come out with the non-free expansion pack, and still have come out with a year of free features and upgrades, but it would not look good.

Sorry Russell but I don't agree with you, I think that after this first real expansion comes out, many new ideas and suggestions of how to improve the game will come to the light and the need for a secon upgrade pack will be not only justified but also needed. So don't shoot down the idea of a new expansion pack.

Brad,
are we allowed to add the whole question of Metaverse support? Perhaps an improved metaverse (possibly non free) could be added as an expansion pack?

Paul.

~SDC~

Sure.  Anything is up for discussion.

Stardock, as you have probably noticed, is pretty transparent in how it operates.

Metaverse budget-wise we're tapped out. So any significant updates would need to be as part of a non-free expansion pack.

Then the follow-up question would be how many units would it sell. Figure $100 per engineering hour (development, testing, supporting).  So if a given feature costs 50 engineering hours, would it sell $5,000 in expansion packs?

Just today we were talking about a GalCiv: Alternative Universes expansion pack that would include a map editor, scenarios, more ships, and possibly 2 new major races that we would sell for $19.95.  But it would only be worth doing if we could sell at least 5,000 units and it would be available only on galciv.com so we're not sure how well it would sell.

How well has Drengin.net done? That would give you a general idea.
[Message Edited]

Count on me Frogboy for one of those 5000 copies you need to sell, so now you only need 4999. I like the idea of 2 new major races and a map editor, and more ships, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!! LOL

Frogboy: Will the game info submitted by us to the Metaverse be used in the XPack to improve the AI (as it has been advertised), or will that be in an future expansion?

Hmm...that sounds kinda rude. I actually mean is there a timetable for the info we are submitting to the Metaverse to be used to improve game strategy?

Brad,
Is it possible to use some form of 'pay for beta' system on such an expansion. If things like the metaverse are improved then they need to be free for all Galciv users to be of benefit and to increase the Galciv numbers. Drengin sort of does this in that our subscription helps fund future games. Obviously though it only stretches so far.

Perhaps a special donation section where drengin users can opt to donate money to develope an expansion and that expansion only gets worked upon when the donation is large enough. Obviously the donation is only taken from our credit cards when enough people have signed up. Donators can help beta the expansion and once the expansion is complete, then it is released to all Drengin.net users.

Obviously I would not want to see much work diverted from other projects. I'm particularly interetsed in Elemental and any future sequal to The Corporate Machine.

Paul.

~SDC~

are we still gonna get free stuff before/during/after the second expansion set?

I think this tread deserves a sticky, but I don't have the sticking machine with me.

I will certainly buy a $20 Xpack but not too sure if it will sell 5000 units.

How many units of Galciv were sold direct? I don't think it is unreasonable that 1/2 of those who bought direct would also buy the Xpack direct if there are cool new features.

Do Drengin.net subscribers get the non-free Xpack together with their 1 year subscription?

~SDC~

I think that any for-pay expansion pack should be available to Drengin.net members for free, or at least at a discount. I'd still buy the expansion pack in any case, but I'd never consider a renewal to drengin.net after having to pay for the expansion.

I'd pay for the 2nd expansion (I really like the idea of 2 more AI races).
Also as someone mentioned earlier, is there going to be a log kept of the meeting on the 16th as I have to work and won't be able to attend?

Thanks
Sincerely
Kelly

Any expansion pack would be part of Drengin.net. ALL of Stardock's games appear on Drengin.net unless there was a legal issue (i.e. like if we got to make Master of Magic 2 we couldn't likely get that on Drengin).

8pm makes it too late for most Europeans to participate . Not, I guess, many of us bought the game seeing how it was not distributed around here.
Please do a transcript of the chat afterwards!

It will be hard to say at the time if we'd like a second XPack since most of us won't have had time to play with the first.
I wonder about the proportion of unpaid royalties you have, since it looks like a big concern and what Brad thinks the chances are of someone building a game like he did GalCiv (OS/2) today.

I'd love a non-free XP. I've been advocating that since GC:EU was announced. I think we all have feature that would love to make it into such a pack, and this has been posted ad nasium. I'm not sure two AIs will really bring much into the game unless you added more diverestity within the game. I mean, there are only so many ways to differentiate the AI, and i think they are all as diverse as can be. I would focus more on features to enhance the game, such as fleets, designable ships, tactical battles, tech that can be added to ships (ie mines, planet destroyers, etc). Then it would be more obvious how more AI's can fit into the game. Although if you actually add this stuff, and revamp the AI to incorporate it, you may not have any extra budget to add more AIs.

As for the sales budget and what not, can't help you there, you have all the numbers. (or you should). Hopefully Galciv has turned enough of a profit to justify an expansion pack and a galciv2.