Still no November game » Forum Post by trcanberra

In a previous forum post Frogboy did make an 'official/unofficial' response.... Frogboy posted this in reply to the question of 'Where is the November Game?'

"We have the games, don't worry they're going up.

We've already put up The Political Machine (August), Robin Hood, and now World War II. We're just trying to catch our breath. The good news is that the games themselves are ready. It's an infastructure issue. So they will be coming!
...There have been updates to Galactic Civilizations also during this time and we have other games coming out in the next several weeks on TG.NET. We've already delivered several new games onto it this year...."

And that seems to be as much as were going to hear until after the New years break (at least I assume Stardock employees are among the majority of western world human beings who have leave from work around this time?

Successfully updated karma reason!

Have patience. In my experience with Stardock (and Frogboy) they stick to their word. The games will come, it's just a matter of time.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Thanks all, missed the post from the Frog man, looks positive.

Happy New Year to all

Successfully updated karma reason!

Looks like we are back 2 months now (no novemember or december), can you give us any eta or any hint as to what the next game may be?

Successfully updated karma reason!

yeah and January is going strong already too... makes me anxious for any new games.

Successfully updated karma reason!

I'm wondering too.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Maybe the original publishers backed out?... I'm wondering too - thought there were going to be at least a couple more games.

Successfully updated karma reason!

I am also getting a little...dissatisfied with this. At the time when Stardock introduced totalgaming.net I thought it was a great idea and I joined immediately, because it is (or perhaps was) a very attractive offer. Unfortunately, it seems that Stardock cannot deliver what they promised.

Some delay in delivering games is not a problem, as long as you communicate this to your subscribers. However, even communication won't help when you haven't published any new games for 3 months already!

Successfully updated karma reason!

I am still happy with the service but have now stopped recommending it to people and I think it is now time for someone to explain

1. what is going on ? Infrastructure issues was a nice comment, but the whole stardock central thing is the infrastructure so we were left assuming it isnt up to the task for Totalgaming, so why use it in the first place.
2 What can we expect to sweeten our renewals deals if they cant even keep with the intial promise of a game a month in our initial signup ?
3. where are the GAMES ? A beta of GC2 just wont cut it at this point

I am sure I can say if this continues, very few people will have any incentive to recommend or renew this service which had such great promise in the begining.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Not to pile on here but I thnk its important that every TGN subscriber that is a little dissatisfied with this should speak up and be heard. My feelings are still as they were when I posted in this thread a month or so ago : http://totalgaming.stardock.com/forums.asp?MID=5&CMID=5&AID=36704#206859

I would rather they say nothing at all than to have all these empty promises floating out there (yep I said it again because that is what they are, promises made that have not been fulfilled) And I quote,

"Reply #9 By: Frogboy - 12/4/2004 12:18:48 AM

I think it's a bit harsh to use the phrase "empty" promise. (..)We have other games coming out in the next several weeks on TG.NET."

Its been almost 6 weeks now....

Successfully updated karma reason!

I remember Strategy First was facing some financial issues that perhaps could have contributed to this delay. However, it would be nice if StarDock actually *told* is this instead of keeping quiet. I believe my subscription expires in February, and it's likely that I'm not going to renew unless I see a new game by then. I seriously would have no problem with this situation if we weren't actually promised two more games for the last year.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Like most of you I work for a living. At work we have a theoretical culture and what actually happens. In theory all customers are dealt with quickly and efficiently. In practice customers are so devious that they manage to stump me and mine on a daily basis. You can't train away every eventuality. What I've told my people is to just... and this is solid gold.... tell people the truth. If you don't understand the question then tell them you don't, and if you understand but don't have an answer then tell them that too. We're not big enough to sweep stuff under the carpet and pretend we didn't know about it, so we're as honest as we can be. If we weren't honest we'd get sued for sure. Now here is where it gets interesting, We have seven seperate departments, each of which is responsible for very different projects/products. These departments are about 80% compartmentalised with some staff that float (this looks weird when I re-read it but I'm sure it's pretty normal) between departments. We've got things pretty much sorted now but here's what used to happen.

You start several projects and allocate staff appropriately.
Each project matures at a different pace.
Crikey! Now some projects are almost sorted while others are still dragging their heels.
Re-allocate staff.
Slow projects get more staff, established projects lose staff.
As a consequence the best people from fast projects have moved on so there goes the knowledge base, the drive and the brains of the whole operation.
The "easy" projects wither because there's no-one left to MANAGE them.

This is pretty simplified but I've got nearly 70 projects under my belt as a consultant (v. important - consultants don't know how to do things but they've a good idea how NOT to do things.)

I'm still pretty happy with what I've gotten from Totalgaming but it's unfortunate that there may not be a TG.NET to buy strategy games off later this year IF nobody re-subscribes because Stardock are neglecting it. I can almost see the faces screwed up, juggling whether to address customer complaints or to do the thing on the current project that their manager is demanding results for. You just get that head in the sand attitude. Nobody is willing to answer existing customers because they now have new job goals that can distract them. What's easier? Achieving A or Fixing B?

I'm not defending SD, I'm just saying you're witnessing a small company ethos at work. Believe me, it could be worse.

Successfully updated karma reason!

You know, considering how drunk I was when I posted that, it still kinda makes sense. Apart from being a consultant or this fictional company I work for.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Don't drink and post, the sense you make may be your own....

Successfully updated karma reason!

Now winding into the second half of the month and we have ...... Nothing, except a nice quote in another thread refuting the infrastructure claims

"As I look at Stardock's massive IT infrastructure I realize something - we are well suited to make a massively multiplayer online real time strategy game." and
"The time has come for us to make a MMORTS. Details will follow once we have more code in place. We have a really cool design and we have the infrastructure."

I for one would prefer them to do something with thier current product lineup.

Successfully updated karma reason!

My account just expired yesterday and I'm not sure I want to renew. If they made an announcement either in the positive or the negative I would be much happier. When a company stops talking to the customers I get worried. If a game comes out within the next few weeks, I'll most likely renew, but right now just pre-ordering GCII looks better to me.

Successfully updated karma reason!

The people at stardock are really busy with writing about GCII in these forums or even other games, however they actively ignore this thread. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? As it looks now, I won't renew my subscription either..

Successfully updated karma reason!

Well, I have just bough the TGN subscription (upgrade option from Galciv) to get:
- all stardock games (I have already Galciv)
- Disciples II

So I will look at the renewal in one year, and see what happen during this year.

Successfully updated karma reason!

My thought is Strategy First went bankrupt and SD bought the rights to the games to release them here and did so one per month until they ran out. I didn't expect the one per month thing to last forever, and I certainly got my money's worth already.

Successfully updated karma reason!

I didn't expect the one per month thing to last forever,

Neither did anyone else. However when Stardock anounced Totalgaming they said that they would release 1 game a month for the rest of the year.

Stardock then plans to add a new game each month for the rest of the year starting with The Political Machine in August.

Link

Stardock is a great company. I personally really enjoy the games they produce and the ones they have added to totalgaming so far. I think they are an extremely customer focused organization for the most part. However they did make a statement that many people took into consideration when purchasing the totalgaming.net subscription. At the very least they owe the subscribers an explanation and some sort of regular communication on what is going on. I mean hey it's not as if we are asking them to eat dirt or something. Link
***Edited because I can't spell***

Successfully updated karma reason!

This is getting silly. I have never said anything even remotely bad about SD but this whole silence from them on this matter, SUCKS. If SD for whatever reason cannot follow their plan on the release of games, they should inform their customers about it, especially since it is such a long time since they last released a game according to the original plan. And since I am one of them, jus say something Stardock. The price of the subscription is good for the games that we got, no question about it, but, it is irrelevant. I expect better things from Stardock than ignoring us to this extend. Come clean damn it!

Successfully updated karma reason!

Yarlen

Join Date 01/2005

+367

Greetings all,

My name is Brian Clair, I've recently been hired (last week) by Stardock to manage TotalGaming.net. For starters, I'd like to point out that World War II: Frontline Command was the November game. You can see in Stardock Central it was added on 11/5/04 (I've confirmed this with several people here).

With that said, let me assure everyone that I am working on evaluating and getting new games added to the service. I would ask that everyone be patient for a while longer while I gain my bearings on things and work on more content.

Successfully updated karma reason!

It is nice to finally get some sort of answer on this front however, if you want to claim Frontline command as the November game that means you need to find out where the October one went then.

August - Politacl Machine
September - Robin Hood
October -
November - Frontline Command
December -

I am just happy someone finally pulled thier head out the sand and that we can look forward to a growing service.

many thanks for the reply.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Yarlen

Join Date 01/2005

+367

Yup, I'm going to need to talk to Brad about that one.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Finally an answer! I am not really unhappy with Stardock / Totalgaming's releases, I was very unhappy with the lack of communication. I hope things are going better from now on...good luck, Mr. Brian Clair!

Successfully updated karma reason!