Galactic Civilizations: re poll: Would you pre-order on-line a Master of Magic 2?

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Do you still think GalCiv 1 is fun even with GalCiv II out?

758 votes

1- Yes

2- No

re poll: Would you pre-order on-line a Master of Magic 2?

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#125 by Citizen PherdnutChiken - 7/16/2004 3:03:06 PM

So where's that FrogBoy at? I'm wondering if we're just blowing steam here or not.

StarDock, will you help us find our MOM? Some of us haven't seen her in a decade.

#126 by Citizen vomitus - 7/19/2004 10:27:54 AM

After reading the reviews for Master of Magic here, I downloaded an abandonware copy and played it. I absolutely loved it. I originally answered the Stardock poll saying I wouldn't preorder a Master of Magic 2 game. I change my vote here saying "Absolutely".

#127 by Citizen kylevp - 7/19/2004 12:17:50 PM

I can think of 10+ people that would pre order if it ment the game would be made. (myself included, and I would buy 2 copies.)

#128 by Citizen PherdnutChiken - 7/19/2004 1:37:48 PM

Alright, tell you guys what. You decide to make this game, I will do PR for you pro bono. I've had a lot of indirect experience with the profession having written for Game Informer for four years and very quickly learned the difference between a good PR Rep and a bad one. And yes, I know that "review" is kind of sloppy and disorganized but I sat down and spewed it out in a couple hours. Didn't even spell check it.

#129 by Citizen ghost668 - 7/19/2004 2:21:54 PM

i think you all should do a good messenge

fram eddy

#130 by Citizen Tarvok - 7/20/2004 9:57:49 PM

You know, I'm not sure I would, now. I downloaded and played the Galciv demo, and it looks... dark. Things are kind of hard to see. I know it's a space game, and space games seem to be supposed to look that way, but MOO2 didn't look that way. I certainly hope MOM2 doesn't look that way if done by stardock. It's as if graphic artists, having billions of shades of colors to choose from, have forgotten the primaries completely.

Now, I enjoyed the humor in the game. If the visuals are the result of a lack of funding and/or personell (and that's what Stardock is referring to when they say a MOM2 would be more expensive), then perhaps they can do it. But the light level was simply too dark.

Basically, I want space to be illuminated like a Federation Star Ship, not a Klingon or Cardasian star ship. I want a fantasy world that looks like a Thomas Kinkade painting. *Maybe* you can mix the styles so you can have a better rendition of orc towns, or a Cathedral of Rjak, but look to the cartoons of the 1980's for inspiration. One who is "too cool" for either of the things I've mentioned is not worthy of doing a Master of Magic sequal.

#131 by Citizen nichog - 7/21/2004 3:46:25 PM

I would pre-order either, if stardock was the developer. Loved both MOM1 and SC2, 3 sucked, they tried to put too much content and the game play just got to involved to keep up with.

#132 by Citizen Norlion - 7/21/2004 6:01:20 PM

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?MoM2

Link

There is the MoM2 petition with 603 signatures at the time of this message. I bet most all of those with still valid Email address would pre-order MoM2 from you.

#133 by Citizen PherdnutChiken - 7/23/2004 7:41:48 PM

Yes.. yes... very true.

>cough< BUMP

#134 by Citizen EnPeaSea - 7/29/2004 2:03:06 PM

Here is another idea to throw around. If the license for Master of Magic proves overly expensive, then you might consider just doing an original fantasy strategy game.

#135 by Citizen Alstein - 7/29/2004 2:46:54 PM

Actually I'd prefer an original to a MoM clone.

Gameplay style- maybe an Ogre Battle style would work best. Disciples is too basic, and AoW has too much BS in it. (AoW 2 series has been a big disappointment)

#136 by Citizen Doomclown - 7/30/2004 7:38:59 PM

For Yall's Information: Steve Barcia's last software development project (afaik) was Metroid Prime (GCN), at Retro Studios.

#137 by Avatar Frogboy - 7/31/2004 10:59:08 AM

Well the main issue is purely one of cost. How much is the MOM name worth. $50k? $100k? $150k? $250k? $500k? $1M?

Game development is a strategy game too.

The big unknown variable is sales and revenue.

Let me give you an example. In The Political Machine, the developer's royalty is about $2.50 per box. On a AAA game like MOM, that royalty might go up to $8 per unit.

Now imagine the game development budget of say $1 Million.

Let's say, for simplicity's sake that we worked with MegaPublisher and our per unit royalty was $7 per unit. We would have to sell 150,000 units just to break even. And that's with no license cost to use the name.

Let's say your license fee on Game X (not talking MOM just generically now) is $140,000 (for easy math). You would have to sell 20,000 more copies JUST to break even on the name.

But it's really not that simple eithe because most licensing deals involve mostly up front payments. So the $140,000 example I just gave would come before the game's in the stores. That's enough money to pay for a developer and 2 artists.

GalCiv was developed by 2 developers and 3 artists. The Political Machine was done with 3 developers and 2 artists.

Imagine what we could do on a fantasy game if we had nearly twice the art resources?

Or more to the point, which would generate more sales? The licensed name or the additional features/content that would come with having a larger development staff?

Hence, we put up this poll on GalCiv.com and in about a month and a half, in which every MOM site has linked to it, we have about 1000 people who answered to it, 500 of them said they'd pre-order it. So to the person who thinks it's a no brainer that the MOM name would generate 20k in additional sales, don't be so sure.

So ultimately, it boils down to trying to figure out the demand for a fantasy turn based strategy game in 2006 on the PC. Game development studios don't usually have a long life (Simtex, for instance, is long gone). These kinds of decisions have to be made carefully.