i check these forums daily to see if there's any news on any of the many updates the game is supposed to have received.  i wouldn't expect updates, but key features seem missing and the game had a TON of technical problems at launch.  unfortunately, i leave the page unsatisfied everyday, because the updates that were supposed to be coming may not even surface, at least not close to their tentative release dates.

GPG hasn't even released a demo, and the game still lacks replay functionality.  outside of communication from the publisher, there isn't a clear concern for finishing the game, certainly not for polishing it.  as someone who is interested in gaming, i value communication, but in the end, i buy a multiplayer game like demigod to play it and take advantage of the features illustrated by the communication from the companies, by the game previews, and by the information on the game's box.

i have to say this is the second time i've been burned within a year.  first by valve with its poor support for L4D (L4D also had problems and a severe lack of content, in addition a slow delivery of the promised content followed by a quick announcement of a sequel) and now by demigod and those involved with it.

WickedBear,

Your tone comes across as a smartass. You're too pugnacious, even though you have good points. Half of communication is knowing how to say what you want to say. This community fails at knowing how to do this. It's a skill that will help you for the rest of your life. Use honey instead of vinegar to catch your flies.

-Epiphenomenon

the only way playing a game helps is if u are toing to be a beta tester or a game developer or a publisher

I wholeheartedly disagree.  After reading through this thread, it seems like WickedBear is one of the few people posting who has the communication-level of a college graduate.  Just about everyone else... seem like young fanboys. 

My own DG experience has been pretty disappointing.  While I share the sentiment that DG is a great game, the online connectivity has ALWAYS been shoddy.  I rarely play anymore due to this fact, so I feel like my 40 dollars was short-lived in terms of utility.  Maybe some people can patiently wait for a successful game, but I unfortunately no longer have that luxury.  With DotA, there's about a 95 percent expectancy that I'll finish a game from start to finish.  In DG's case... I'd have to say it's about a 15 percent.  Just taking a step back, pricing, p2p, server issues aside, DotA is a VERY old game.  I'm just confused as to how a 6 year old game has better connectivity than a recently released game.  Apples to apples.  I understand that the p2p functionality is different than Battle.net's servers, but hey, Stardock made the conscious choice to go that route.  I do appreciate the ingenuity of the idea, but it really isn't quite there yet. 

Also, isn't it true that Stardock took on the multi-player aspect of the game?  GPG undertook development of the game-engine and all those goodies, while Stardock handled the online functionality?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I've heard from the grapevine.  I'm just a little confused when people are saying, "Stardock got the short-end of the stick."

On a tangent, I feel like Frogboy's reaction to this small thread is mind-boggling.  He should be ready for this kind of "treatment" on an internet forum.  Something along the lines of "common-knowledge" which someone mentioned earlier.  "Oh hey, you hurt my feelings, now I'm outta here."  This could slide if he was just another random member, but to be a Stardock employee (if I'm not mistaken) and to carry your emotions on your sleeve like that just simply does not reflect well on Stardock.  I suppose I'm expecting too much from Stardock, but what really sets exceptional companies apart from mediocre ones is the response to the community (e.g. Valve).  I have mad respect for Valve and their practices, so in a sense, I guess I'm a bit spoiled from their awesome service.  I'll end it there, so as to not sound like an advertisement for previously mentioned great company.

Stardock took over the part where people get into the lobby  - the initial connection. After that, it's all within Demigod.

Yea, make sure you pick up Left 4 Dead 2. Another $50 for a "sequel" to a game that was barely more than a mod of a mod of a mod.  Say hi to Gabe Newell in the Steam forums while you're at it. Oh wait, no, sorry I forgot, Valve doesn't participate in their forums. They just hide all the negative threads.

istari  u say that SD  did the lobby system  then how comes on release the lobby system was pretty  crap it took ages to refresh load and join

so what exactly was SD's part except distributing it to about 1/8th of america

I couldn't help thinking of this song.

As for the OP... agreed.... I have never experienced this kind of official communication since the cavedog days of Total Annihilation. I want to reward Star Dock to given incentive to continue this behavior.

As for Dow2... The new balance pretty much makes a completey different game, and there will be serious balance issues again.

eg: I play 'nids as HT in Dow2... I can tell you that the changes break Orkz vs Hive Tyrant very very badly at "I know how to play" gameplay levels. 

The HT could barely take on a slugga boy squad at the start of a match before the changes... now he is toast toast toast.

I'll chalk it up to most nid players and ork players being use to the strategy of Orkz vs Alpha Ravener.... but as an Ork, if you treat the HT as you would the Apothecary (kill whitey 1st mentaility:D ) and put him down, I cannot see how the HT can ever win vs Orkz unless the HT is a better player. The original HT is a mass and disperse kind of gameplay... but that dynamic has been completey broken vs Orcz... mass is a loss... and disperse is a fail.

That would be the QA and distribution of the patches, moderation of the forums and handling of the online connectivity network that was created when the third party one that was used at launch failed to meet their requirements.

they distrubted to 1/8th of america not the world  they got atari to do the rest    and  patches are done threw impulse so that isn't hard  moderating the forums anit hard either   the online connectivity  they started after launch

so  they didn't really haveto do much

Stardock is the North American publisher. That means both retail and digital distribution. It is also the worldwide digital distributor of Demigod.

Stardock also paid for most of the development of Demigod along with putting its own developers in to provide the initial connection between players which is then handed off to Demigod once the initial connection is established. Originally, this connection code was licensed but it was not able to scale with lots of players so Stardock took over and rewrote it.

Stardock also handles all the technical support, marketing, QA, and worldwide network infrastructure for the game.

Stardock also wrote the backend for accepting the stats the game submits as well as teh in-game chat and other elements, most of which were not expected to be developed until Elemental for 2010 but was brought up to increase the value of Demigod.

Gas Powered Games is the developer of the game. They own it. They designed and coded the in-game networking, the demigods, the modeling, and sound, voice, etc.

As publisher, Stardock has done and continues to do everything possible to make sure people have a good Demigod experience.  

If there are people who aren't satisfied, then we apologize to them and hope they can find another game that does satisfy them better.

i am not satisfifed withh  frogboy saying the demis will be here at this time and  them not here and yes GPG are doing them but it is the publishers job to know

it isn't too hard to get information i love this game but this no extra content is really annouying and there isn't even any info about a eta  except that they will be here soon 

this is what is  unsatisfing  about it  if there was a eta i would say ok ill be back then to see  but  it has been near 4 months  with no new content and it doesn't seem like  we will be getting any content for a while

there is sc2 coming out soon and soon we will be entering the christmas season as in the new game releases so  how long do we have to wait for the new  demis

Any ETA given is just that, an estimate.

If you kept up on the journals you would know that the target date for new Demigods is end of August / early September. But that is subject to change too. Life is like that.

end of august  earily sept  i will  be  playing marvel ulti aliance 2 by then so demigod will be off my list  and that  will be double the time of the second estimate

Too bad they don't revolve their devolpement around you.

You're setting the tone on the douchey side of demanding si1foo. Essentially saying "your job's easy, stop being bad at it!" whilst completely misunderstanding what their job entails is usually a bad sign. Then following up by telling them you won't be playing their game any more if they don't meet your vaguely defined demands to do better is always a bad sign.

That you got so many patient replies rather than a flat out warning seems like an exceptional kindness to me.

You can't have exact dates because updates are notoriously hard to predict a timescale for and no-one likes to be accused of deliberately lying about dates if things run over. You can't actually have it any faster because they're probably not factoring in any "slacking off time" into their estimates that they can cut out.

notoriously hard  it only seem to be hard when  it is GPG's job   SD is suppost to   keep intouch with the people so exactly how are they keeping intouch with GPG

frogboy set the standard for  keeping us uptodate and he has done a brilliant job  up until they have to talk to GPG

droopy i have found that being patient and waiting for them like a good little boy doesn't get anything done really one of the main reasons they realised it so earily is so that when the 1 year contract ends  for the new content they can  screw it and go to supcom2 is next year the 1 year contract for new content started about 3 and a half months ago

u say im being a douche  but i found that the game crashing didn't really bother me  even when it did crash i would just start it back up or go get some work done but  exactly why should we wait for GPG to do it

personally i think that GPG  will deliever 4 demis and 8 maps  at nov and april   but i think the majority of the good players who dont bitch  about the game have left  most of the people i talk to these days  dont like demi anymore they have found it predictable and easy

i dont want the game to revolve around me shade i just want it to actually  give when it says  instead of delaying and stalling  by saying soon 

it will be 4 months in 13 days  on that day ill be of demigod  proberly for good  espically if there is no new content i would rather buy a new game then waste anymore time  fucking arround  with this game  the majority of my firendlist have left  some sending me a nice add me on msn i wont be coming back some of them  just stoped but ohh well  let the new people play and bitch what does it matter if most of the nice players are gone

Nobody's asking you to hold your breath waiting. You can play whatever you like whenever you like. We'll still be here later.

I'd like to point out s1foo barely plays to begin with.

i would like to point out that i barely play now u iddiot  u do know that the stats only go back 30 days iddiot

Point is you don't really play now and you still complain.

Seems like we have several folks around here who don't play, the game they really like is forum trolling.

I really wasn't saying don't complain, I would never endorse trying to silence any complaints, but there's a way to complain without being rude.

If they're going to do something asking calmly and clearly will get the job done. If they're not going to do something berating and accusing them won't certainly won't change their minds and will usually just put people off hearing you out instead.

I'd imagine no developer would just leave bugs in out of some vague sense of malice or disrespect towards the players. Even if there's no lack of effort or resources, trying to make a good game just doesn't always work; because it's really quite hard to get right.

You don't have to pretend like you like the game but you shouldn't automatically assume it's not awesome because they don't care.

I haven't played anything except a couple of lans with my brother and nephews since the stat reset, I'd hate to be dismissed off-hand like that just because I've played my fill already and am waiting to see what the 1.2 brings when it's fully implemented.

Not talking about you.  There are just several people on here who love to complain about a game they don't play anymore, it is just odd.