We have many ‘Negative’ Lists...Let’s Start a Rollicking Roll Call of what you guys Enjoy in Elemental
Published on October 25, 2010 By ScottTykoski In Elemental Dev Journals

One of the things people like about our office is the hallway-long whiteboard wall that the games team uses for a variety of purposes. Right now there are several to-do lists for 1.1 and beyond, a rundown of sales for our various titles, and a HUGE ‘wish list’ of Elemental features/tweaks players and press have requested. In fact, we’ve switched from writing the suggestions down and now simply print out feedback lists and tape them to the wall.

My request today is in a similar vein, but with focus turned on the parts of Elemental that you LIKE. With Derek and Toby joining the team to be our ‘eyes in the sky’, various areas of the design are going to be heavily scrutinized, and I want to make sure we focus on the real problem areas and simply polish any features that you guys are already enjoying. I foresee several spots where the baby could easily be thrown out with the bathwater, and to combat this I’d like to print a healthy list of ‘what you like’.

So, if you could make a note of any feature/gameplay situation/etc that you truly enjoy, along with one suggestion on how to polish that up, we’d be most grateful!

And here’s a sassy, preemtive ‘zerbert’ emoticon for anyone that wants to post “I like nothing about the game redo it ALLLLL!1!!1!!”

Thanks! The floor is yours! 


Comments (Page 4)
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on Oct 25, 2010

I like your ambition and vision.

on Oct 25, 2010

I like the tech tree, both how it changes for each allegiance and how your order of research affects game play. Now you need to balance the depth of each branch (e.g. Kingdom Diplomacy has 12 techs while Warfare has 28) and add even more diversity between allegiances. Ideally it should be near-impossible to research every single tech (not counting 'Refined ____') in the average-paced game. Maxing out even two trees should be hard; this forces the player to pursue a tech goal and then replay to try different goals. Can my focus on Diplomacy stand up against my opponent's focus on Warfare? Can I win a game with 0 Civilization research? And so on.

I like all of the customization options pointed out in above posts; just need many, many more options.

I've come to like the way spell books are implemented, though it took me awhile. I'm coming from years of Master of Magic and wanted Elemental's system to mirror it. Once the elemental books are picked through tech research maybe we could go one further and create subsequent techs that focus your abilities for a certain element; like Fire Book -> Advanced Fire Book -> Pyromancy -> Refined Pyromancy. Bonus points to the devs if pursuing a path like that then 'locks out' pursuing a different elemental path beyond a certain point. On the other hand we also need spells that require multiple books to learn.

I like the dynasty system, more than once it has kept me playing a game longer than I needed to win just to see how the kids would turn out. You should add a Sovereign talent 'starts with spouse' for single player. Or a talent that increases the likelihood of found champions being of the opposite gender. Or a talent called 'pure blood' that makes your talents pass on to all children regardless of gender, and/or increases the base stats of any children.

I like the resource tile system. I would suggest changing horse/warg tiles to generic 'mount' tiles, or else make a spell that switches their production. It is the only non-researched tile that is flat-out useless if you are the wrong allegiance. I would also advocate coming up with a system to make basic land tiles provide some minimal use (like a labor bonus from forests/hills or an economic bonus from coasts) but I realize the engine wasn't built for that.

To be honest I love most everything, otherwise I wouldn't be working on a 50+ page strategy guide on gamefaqs. But keep the improvements coming!

on Oct 25, 2010


And here’s a sassy, preemtive ‘zerbert’ emoticon...

I believe that's a "raspberry."  A "zerbert" involves two people.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=zerbert

 

on Oct 25, 2010

Well, for me it's building my city first, turtle a lot, improve technologie and after conquer if I feel so. So, my positive will touch mostly city building:

 

1) I really LOVE the way your city grow. It make sense that your city expand and take more tile as it grow. No suggestion for this one.

2) I like to see that you can only expand in your AoI and your building must touch the other. What i'd like to see is why sometime I can't build a building that consume only one tile. Sometime, there is nothing to block a building (forest, mountain,etc) to be built but I can't...

3)I like to see some change when your AOI touche the barren land and change. Suggestion: why can't I interact with the terrain and have some one time bonus? The first example is the forest: why can't I chop some tree to make some space for my city AND having some material for doing so? I would goto say why can't I grow my own forest if I want to? We can research such thing in the tech tree (oh, tree again ) and build a forest so we can gather some wood AND make a buffer between us and the ennemy.I can go to culture too and field of food and other thing like mining a mountain but let's keep it simple first.

4)I like the choice of building in the game. Suggestion: make some defensive. Why can't I have my cauldron full of hot oil over my fort? Why can't my watchtower be upgrade with archer when I discover archery? Why can't I garrison some archer IN my fort? Why can't I have my superdupper machine gun magic turret at the entrance of my castle?

5)I like the way you can constantly upgrade your tech (+10%bonus). I would also like to see more tech for research.

6)I like the diplomacy tech tree. I would love to see an implementation that can modify the perception of the PEOPLE too (like master of orion 3)

When you have a lot a diplomacy, even if you are a human player, and the people love your ennemy, you should have some sort of backfire if you break alliance or declare war to them, maybe revolt if they have a REALLY good diplomacy skill. Same thing with your skill. If the people with whom you deal declare war for "no reason", then they have a penalty.

 

Edit: What could be really cool is a system like Railroad by Sid meyer. What I mean is when a building has a lot of opporunity and business, it grow. The city level, why not the building?Why can't we improve some building with some champion ala Civ 4 with their legendary character (Socrate, platon, newton).

on Oct 25, 2010

Very  much so enjoy the cloth map, really enjoy the empire building. The overall feel of the game is lovely, it has everything a good 4X should. Expand, Exterminate, yatta yatta Research trees are massive and in depth, and even if you finish a branch you can keep researching for cumulative benefits (MOAR OF THESE!) Dynasties are an absolutely unique feature (So i've found) and I hope they keep getting more support. Also-Magic is lovely. Nothing like having a giant ice golem slamming into a platoon of infantry.... Good stuff.

I love it all, and I'm glad you guys are so dedicated.

on Oct 25, 2010

1. I like the Graphics.  The towns are pretty cool looking.  I just had a thought of something that would look totally cool but maybe impossible? Weather.  Imagine a nice little (3D) thunderstorm rolling across the ruined landscape!!!! How pretty that would be! Just for eye candy. Maybe a little rain or snow every now and again.  It would make the landscape seem less static.  

 

2.  I like the complexity.  Lots of spells, lots of different unit possibilities.  I like the idea of being able to recruit spiders etc... think there could be a lot more variety and possibilities with this.  I a bit confused about the purpose of questing, it seems a bit shallow to me.

 

3.  I really like being able to design my own units.  If there is enough advantages to taking the different weapons and armor combination that is.  It would be a shame to always have to make the same kind of units because the really pointy sword (for example) is the best value all around. Not saying that I have seen this yet, just hoping it isn't so.  Maybe the pointy sword is good, but the heavy mace is good against armored troops. Pointy sword good against lighter armor?  Dunno, but I do like the possibilities.

 

4.  I like the idea of different races.  But I don't really see too much race specific troops?  Would be so cool to have undead type units, or maybe a Dark Elf race with giant lizards.  I suppose this is Mod territory .  So I guess what I am trying to say it that I like the possibilities for modding,

 

5.  Sort of holding out for 1.1 before I start playing again.  Happy with the future possibilities in store, and the attitude of Stardock is great.  Knowing a game is broken, but dedicated to fixing the mistakes.  Making mistakes is one thing, but owning up to them and tackling them quickly and with a positive attitude is very hard.  Great job so far guys!  Having access to the Dev's is priceless. 

on Oct 25, 2010

Adding a spell resistance statistic would be nice. Currently having spells miss for no reason is a bit of a bother.

on Oct 25, 2010

I like the tactical battles. Not for what they are currently, but for what they seem to be evolving into. I think the suggestions about them already gained is on track.

 

But I think, in addition to the auto resolve, you put into action a "movie" style spectator battle mode like GalCiv2 had. Sometimes I am not in the mood to go step by step through a battle, but still want to see the eye candy and hear the sounds. A "spectator" battle mode would be a nice added flavor for when you don't really want to go autoresolve either.

on Oct 25, 2010

I like the Music.

on Oct 25, 2010

I like my mother.

(sorry )

on Oct 25, 2010

-Like the artistic style.

-Like the Sovereign customization

-Like Champions (but not so many)

-Like Questing (especially finding unique artifact type items)

-Like random monsters

-Like shopping

-Like buying mounts for champions (totally cool looking)

 

on Oct 25, 2010

Timble
I like the tactical battles. Not for what they are currently, but for what they seem to be evolving into. I think the suggestions about them already gained is on track.

 

But I think, in addition to the auto resolve, you put into action a "movie" style spectator battle mode like GalCiv2 had. Sometimes I am not in the mood to go step by step through a battle, but still want to see the eye candy and hear the sounds. A "spectator" battle mode would be a nice added flavor for when you don't really want to go autoresolve either.

Via AUTO BATTLE option in Master of Orion 2

on Oct 25, 2010

I like that heroes have different talents, but there should be more leveling up abilities.  A merchant hero should get to advance or choose more talents once they reach a certain level.  Perhaps they could turn that +1 gold per turn to +5 gold, or maybe +1 gold for every marketplace owned.  You know, some unique traits that a person can pick from.  I also agree that hit points should automatically increase on each level up as has been suggested numerous times, otherwise the heroes don't keep up with the uber-armies.  Right now heroes just feel all sameish, and I don't really care if they get killed.

 

Overall, I like the game.  I just want more uniqueness each time I play.  I want each faction to have a unique look, unique heros, unique units, unique building, unique talents, unique quests, etc.

on Oct 25, 2010

I love the maps that have roads that connect the  areas with resources and have little to no value in between. These are my treasured random generated maps when i get them since i can meet my neighbors on the road but don't feel rushed to expand.

I love the RPG aspect that hero's and the sovereign have with leveling up, could use some more leveling up options but i  get lost in running around with my sovereign and some hero's having fun then 30 turns later go oh yea i have cities is should be looking after too.

I love the dynasty system, only issue is i want to see my opponents family trees too. On this note i wonder why if the king/queen dies does our game not pass to our heir? same for AI?

I also really love the elemental shard improvements, nothing better than the tower of colored light, they really add to a sense of power that come with them. Wish more resources looked as good as these do when built up.

on Oct 25, 2010

I would like to say this is one of the more enjoyable games I have played in a while.  I am also very excited Stardock is bringing Kael on to kick some a$$.  I wish everyone there the best of luck.

 

One positive, or upcoming (in v1.1) positive, of the game that comes to mind will be the ability to construct multiple buildings of the same type in one city.  It will allow for the cities to take advantage of the surrounding resources and make each city truly unique.  That being said, I would like to offer some suggestions along that line.

 

Instead of building 5 of one building in a city, how about implementing building upgrades,  which are unlocked through a combination of research, city prestige, other buildings, citizens, spells, or what have you.  Also along the same lines you could have building add-ons.  For example, you could add a forge and/or a smelter to a workshop.  Or a study and/or a library and/or a mage tower to an arcane university.  These sorts of mega structures could be graphically impressive and take a lot of maintenance (how about materials maintenance?) but could also give your citizens a lot of things to do.

 

I, as a lot of other folks have commented, love the unit builder feature of the game.  To make this feature better I would suggest having units level up and gain skills/abilities/promotions etc just like the heroes.  I would also love to give my existing units better armor or weapons (magic or otherwise), as long as I have the trained citizens, materials, and other funds, and of course I ought to have the right building in the city in which they are stationed.  And to go further (as if I haven't already gone far enough) I would love to design my own armor and weapons and imbue them with all sorts of magical goodness (or badness.)

 

Anyway, thanks for the forum.  Keep up the great work.

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