@frogboy
Hey frogboy, thanks for the response. In your first response we are pretty much in agreement. Your response does support the core point that there is a lack of good modern RTS in the market today. Taking on harder projects legitimizes you as a serious developer in the eyes of many kinds of gamers.
There are forums (rpgcodex being the epitome of this) where clueless gamers talk about how crappy this game or that game is and how this game or that should have the features of some game they want not realizing that they are totally out of touch with what people actually want to play.
Oh I've seen them. I do and have done for the past 6 years my own hands on version of data mining as many websites like these as I can for interesting Ideas that mesh well with my existing set. The idea that crops up quite frequently is the one I first posted in this thread. Naturally the details on precisely HOW to do this is far more relevant then just a simple comparison of existing games. Right now as I type my drafting table is swimming in highly detailed notes. The goal is to let conceptual feature creep occur massively and out of control while I just simulate the game in my mind, then find ways to simplify the process before actually allocating any resource other then my personal time. I just do this at work constantly to keep the mind stimulated, but really it's an obsession 6 years down the road from my navy days. Most MMORTS games take the word MMO and add RTS. That doesn't work for very long, staying power is the main issue. It takes a lot of research to find another way, for me it took about 3 years(starting from knowing 0 about game design).
Hence, I'd rather make a game that *I* like that also will sell well than to cater to some cynical hard core group.
These cynical groups are quite the norm(wasn't stardock catering to this target group for sins of a solar empire? lol).
Also, I would consider market data for video games to be inaccurate and largely to blame for the lack of satisfaction gamers are receiving nowadays. The "intelligent" gamer is largely ignored because catering to them is harder to design and projections are woefully inadequate. The game industry accepts this reality because it has embraced indy as the new thing, so as to say "we don't really know what you want, so tell us". That is a perfectly healthy dialog for this industry, one that excites all of us gamers and developers to no end. Are projections getting better? I'd say yes, slowly. Is that the kind of speed you want to base your development cycle on? Well I sure wouldn't, but then i'm a competitive bastard.
Nobody wants this kind of game until it is built. This path is along the same vein as the total war series. Projections won't tell you, but my mass market analysis of ideas on these websites doing things the old fashioned way has proven to me that this is the next kind of great game.
But if you look at the stats on games that some people we should "be more like" you consistently find that they just don't have the staying power of say Legendary Heroes.
Quoted for convenience:
Fallen enchantress, Sins of a Solar Empire, Civ 5 Brave New World(way better than the basic game), Warlock 2, Mount and Blade. Technically mount and blade isn't fantasy, yet its attempts at realism could and should be implemented into a fantasy game. Real time game play or bust, I always discredit all turn based games as second rate to well designed real time mechanics(thank you Sins for showing me this). A game with a core design something between mount and blade with an over arcing game with similar mechanics to sins of a solar empire, with some of the fantasy elements of Fallen enchantress, in a persistent world with well implemented RTS elements would be EXACTLY what people want. You need to be able to fight over territory, to own it. 64 bit OS requirement, no more pandering to 32 bit.
You would have my attention and support.
Lets do a breakdown of games with staying power mentioned in these posts of the basic concept that was being thrown out here:
Mount and Blade: Still sells well, great mod support. I can and will easily predict that the next mount and blade game will make waves in the game industry. If you haven't seen this then I would recommend watching out for it.
Sins of a Solar Empire: I still see this game bought like crazy every time there is a sale. Good job RTS makers.
Fallen Enchantress: Yep we agree, great game, deserves even more attention and 
.
RTS: Seemingly out of fashion, yet the roots of many great companies stem from these games. Stardock/Ironclad, you guys made an RTS putting you on the radar of many more players....
Persistent world: Persistence thy name is MMO, these make money, almost every time.
So ya this idea was put forth with an understanding of both staying power and what does well in the marketplace. To not do so would just be a waste of everyone's time. Dear reader remember, if you choose to read that is not my doing, that is yours, I am blameless. I applaud you for reading, you are in the 15% of people that do(if you live in the USA). Bravo!
