Welcome to the Road Less Traveled
Published on March 4, 2010 By ScottTykoski In Elemental Dev Journals

As preorders are processed and new users begin downloading (and...gulp...playing) Elemental, I wanted to extend words of both welcome and warning to our fellow adventurers....

- You are possibly (or definatly, at the time of this post) downloading the 0.291 build from last Friday. You should be on the lookout for v0.295, which we will be announcing one we get one last bug squashed

- These are the last build of the Beta 1 cycle. This meens you'll be playing on the cloth map only, and the major features, while in, are still in a sate of infancy. Beta 2 will bring new content and a maturing of these mechanics.

- These build are prone to crash. We've chipped away at some of the memory leaks, but 100 turns in don't be suprise if your computer is begging for mercy on it's delicate silicone. Autosave is your friend

- You won't have fun. Anything emotions that girgle forth that even resemble enjoyment are either the anticipation of fun or straight up gas. And 9/10 times it'll be the latter.

The game, at this stage, is something most companies would desperatly keep under wraps. What we're hoping is that the player input we get at this point outweighs the lack of fun you'll have to wade through for the next few months.

Enjoy!    Feel free to post any comments, concerns, or questions...Brad, myself, and the rest of the team will be around!


Comments (Page 4)
5 PagesFirst 2 3 4 5 
on Mar 05, 2010

Nosrick
I've got a slight problem.

My wallet was stolen last week, and I only just got my new card today, so I couldn't change the details (I honestly don't know who to contact, either). Am I going to have to wait until next Beta?

I've been excited about this game since its announcement, but I can wait if need be.

Just got an e-mail that told me the transaction failed.

support@stardock.com can deal with that.

on Mar 05, 2010

Everyone here is crazy, the beta is not fun at all. I know you're probably thinking that Boogie is over exaggerating, and that his  smiles mean that he is joking, but I will say it again, he is not. The beta is not fun, and will not hold your interest. it should only be for those who have incredible patience and wish to maybe one day go into game design. If this is not you? Then forget it, I promise you, you will not enjoy this experience....

on Mar 05, 2010

1. select "register serial". it will only auto register serials that have been pruchased from within impulse after the game is available for download (from my past experience). If you preorder you need to manually input the serial (which you got with the email). you can also do look up serials first.

2. check "show prerelease versions"

3. select check for updates.

this should allow you to download.

on Mar 05, 2010

I hate to break it to RisingLegend, but I'm enjoying testing Elemental in it's current state.

 

To be fair, I've always enjoyed the early phases of testing though - when a game's mechanics are threadbare and the stability of it is questionable at best.  It's a lot of fun - and very educational - to keep up with a game's progression from an early build to a retail release.  That's just me, though.  Furthermore, as someone who has worked with Indie games for awhile, my eyes are nowhere near bleeding.  In fact, this game is already goregous by comparisson to some of the games I've worked with.

 

All in all, excitng stuff!  I'm looking forward to seeing this progress, and participating in the phases left before release.

 

My favorite moment thus far:  This morning I loaded up the game with a custom made sovereign.  I added all the enemies possible to the map and started it up.  All of the sound - and apparently the controls - were working properly, but my entire screen was beige.  I realized I was still able to DO things.  I could tell by the sound effects that I was clicking on what I wanted, even though I couldn't see it.  Good fun.  I'm still trying to recreate this to see if I can figure out if it was a fluke or a bug (and have thus far been unsuccessful at recreating it), but it was amusing.

on Mar 05, 2010

Okay ... I don't mind most of the psychological damaging pieces of the Beta ... however a way to scroll quickly across the map would be nice. For some reason the only way I can scroll is at the very edge of the screen, and only at a snails pace. It drives me crazy, and I have to use the "airplane effect" to speed up my cursor by doing nothing but make the map smaller. Please give an update with a faster scroller!!!

Other than that ... im having quite alot of fun actually, trying to figure out what is broken and what is not. Somehow building my second city cost 10 essence though ... odd. Therefore, Ive never had enough essence for spells, they are always used on my Cities . 3 cities the first time and 3 cities the second time.

So yea, haven't tried Questing or Magic yet ,... looking forward to testing it tho.

on Mar 05, 2010

 I hate to break it to RisingLegend, but I'm enjoying testing Elemental in it's current state.

Then you sir are crazier than a shithouse rat  I hope to one day get into the art side of game design and so I am trudging through this beta as experience with games that are not finished. But I am a very impatient person, and so I'm learning to be better at that through this too! I just hope a few of my ideas for the game can get in, that will make it all the worthwhile  

on Mar 05, 2010

Yes, the Beta is hideous (for the love of god, can I get some UI that makes getting to things I care about easier), but the promise it holds is glorious.  Maybe the touchpad on my laptop is part of the problem...

It's too bad about the memory leaks; being able to Alt-Tab in and out would make note taking SO much easier.

Now I suppose I should actually read the wiki information.

on Mar 05, 2010

I know there are other threads on this, but I really dislike having to use the Sovereign exclusively to create cities; it would make sense to have settlers to at least build cities within the current nation boundary.  Shouldn't the people be imbued with some sort of life essence to be able to help the sovereign renew the land.

MoM had such rich terrain...

Do I really have to remember who started the stack in order to know who to click on to eject?  Maybe this is a bug?

I promise to find more appropriate channels for venting in the future.

on Mar 06, 2010

Okay .. so is ANY of the questing/ruins/dungeons implemented yet? or is it all semi-randomized popups??

in any case, I love the levelling up system, and Might I add that the Adventurer profession is AMazing

on Mar 06, 2010

RisingLegend

Then you sir are crazier than a shithouse rat

Well, I am a pianist for a living.  Musicians are all crazy.  Thankfully for us, this is a GOOD thing - an expected thing .

 

So twice now I've won through conquest, without ever meeting a single AI opponent on the map.  This amuses me greatly.  Apparently I am simply so naturally awesome that the AI cannot comprehend my existence and ragequits. 

on Mar 06, 2010

ABOMB11

Quoting Nosrick, reply 34I've got a slight problem.

My wallet was stolen last week, and I only just got my new card today, so I couldn't change the details (I honestly don't know who to contact, either). Am I going to have to wait until next Beta?

I've been excited about this game since its announcement, but I can wait if need be.

Just got an e-mail that told me the transaction failed.

Had a similar problem i just re ordered it through the link that the e-mail sent me. in the conformation e-mail should be a serial code, register that and make sure you have show pre release versions checked marked in impulse under preferences and restart... it should show up.

Good Luck

 

:sadpanda: Similar thing here, I placed the order on a rebate card I had and it was denied for some unexplained reason.  I re-ordered tonight on my real credit card but haven't seen a charge / beta key yet, did I miss the boat?  Was really looking forward to digging into the game this weekend.   Guess I'll email support but I'd be surprised to hear anything back before monday...

 

on Mar 06, 2010

So! much! crashing!!! .... bangs head against wall, floor, and ceiling. Its all the more frustrating since the tiny bits that *actually work* are quite fun "for now"

One thing that is super annoying though. There is a patch of fertile land in between some mountains, but plainly accessible. I tried to work my city towards it ... not "snaking" mind you, simply moving my buildings in that general direction. For SOME reason, my movement in that direction is HARD CAPPED!!!

now, if it was just # of square hard-capping, thats fine. I tried several different ways of accessing that farmland ... all to no avail. Well, it would of been nice especially since I researched refined farmland like 1 or 2 times!!!

Also, I had a strange feeling that instead of increasing research by 10% ... Sovereign staying in a city actually helps ALOT. I mean ... turtlers unite!!! but then again, a super beefed Sov (20 strength, 20 dex, 20 constitution) with the Adventurer profession doesn't  NEED to turtle ... his job is to go out and KICK SOME ASSS!!! hellz yea. WEll, it would be nice if my capital took quicker than 86 turns to build a company of UberMenchin 1s .... but then again I guess its my fault cause its a science city and not a military city.

What do I need for faster units? Is it a combination of Barracks and Mines? do barracks/armories actually currently DO anything yet?? Peace out.

on Mar 06, 2010

Tasunke
So! much! crashing!!! .... bangs head against wall, floor, and ceiling.

... ... ...
What do I need for faster units?

 

To the first portion:  Yeah.  It crashes all the time   There are still a few memory leaks present beyond other reasons it could crash.  Thankfully, if you hit ESC during your game you can enable auto-saving and how often it will auto-save.

 

To the second portion:  I was wondering that myself on the last run-through.  Earlier today I played a straight up military warrior city and was creating people like mad.  This time I went straight magic for awhile, then Civic - and it would take about 250 turns to train a unit.  I'm going to do a lot more experimenting, but it may well just be that you need some military oriented buildings to train faster.  The wiki may have some information on that, I haven't worked my way through it yet.

 

Tasunke
... however a way to scroll quickly across the map would be nice... ... Please give an update with a faster scroller!!!

 

Hit ESC during play - there is a slider there for map scrolling speed   It's working just fine for me.

 

BreadMan017

  :sadpanda: Similar thing here, I placed the order on a rebate card I had and it was denied for some unexplained reason. 
 

 

The same thing happened to me.  I was totally bummed when I got an email saying the transaction couldn't be completed, and thought I'd miss the beta boat from having to re-pre-purchase.  Thankfully, the people at customer support were incredibly awesome and ensured everything went through as it should when I sent them a ticket about it.  I don't know if they do any custommer support on weekends, so that might be unfortunate, but I'm sure at least by monday you'll be good to go.

on Mar 06, 2010

To train faster you need barracks. Armories will speed up the process in creating the equipment needed.

If you create a swordmen, the game calculate that you need to : forge the sword, the armor and then train the peasant. All of that take time. And resources. If you have the resources, the forge and barracks you will speed things up.

on Mar 06, 2010

Roger, sirs, reporting my beta experience,

 

Version :0.295

Experience : very first time

Duration: ~30 minutes

 

As I start the game, I pick a soverign King

The next turn button unexpectedly seems far at the right and design to be the sysmetry oposite of the reaserch bar.I saw a spider so something and challenge it however, I lost...

 

around my gameplay of ~15 mins, I dont know where a girl come from but she seems love me very much and suddenly I got married ...lol 

 

Then I build city and start some research, graphic is "tasteless" but that is ok coz already being repeatedly informed. Then I grow older and suddenly I got a child at 45.

 

Thing are boring so contiinue to click next turns, many ant-like creature and men pass around, but they seems busy heading to else where and suddenly my wife give birth at 50+ and 60+ for my 3rd kids. I am concern coz she is aged, but still ambitiuos at building big family.

 

So I go into the dynasty screen, to see her. but she looks the same when she first come from no where at age 30+. I want to admire her beauty but the portrait seems to small. Then I continue, and to my suprise she give birth again at age 70+, the baby is with a name Raban or something (ugly name..lol) but I accept anyway and my eldest son already near to 30 at this same time.

 

There are 1000 and 1 things to research in the 5 areas and all need to start from very very begining. My city cannot grow, and then 2 of my peasants deserted I think no food. I mouse over and there is a messege say limitation of food. I dont where to look for food so I just change my research from warfare area to civilization and click the farming

 

As I am boring cannot admire my wife or play with my kid...haha, so I click next turn repeatedly.

 

Wow, my age become 176 and my wife also 170+, luciky she didnt produce anymore kid... and I eldest son is 130+ !

They all stay in my city and other monsters keep passing around like road traffics.

 

Since I have some basic idea what the game is about and I am too old ..lol I decided to exit the game.

My win XP seems to hang for 3 mins and become slowler and so I restart my computer.

 

End of report, roger.... sirs,

 

(thanks for providing the experience - is funny and I laugh alot)

 

 

 

5 PagesFirst 2 3 4 5