Rather disappointing

no Founder's edition through your website

from Elemental Forums

I'm disappointed and saddened that Stardock is denying longtime Founder Edition alum from such a chance with Elemental. I bought early founder-ship editions of Gal Civ III, Star Control, and Centauri, a gem of a game that mostly exists due to the contributions of Founder's.

I bought Early Access Gal Civ IV on the Epic gaming platform in the first week it was available.  I bought each iteration of Elemental on Stardock's Store page. Why is there no Ealy access for longtime fans of the series? Even with the radical changes each newly named game in the franchise was an immediate purchase out of trust and loyalty to the brand. I can't be the only one who did as I in those early days when Stardock was a gaming platform, with in-house games and non-Stardock games...darn...did as I did. That is mainly dive right into some of the most well-made games. I even was an early adopter of, pre-Demi-God, Gal Civ II. Heck, I even became a mostly digital customer because of that platform.

Simply adding the placeholder "coming soon" in my Wish List makes me feel naught but despondency at this denying. Of course, I wish-listed within the first day of my introduction to this new iteration from my over-a-decade subscription to Stardocks' monthly recap and prospectus.  I rather looked forward to Brad Wardell's commentary. I've also been a user of their original Object Desktop for something like twenty years. I gladly renew my subscription without fail, as I find life without the Ingenius changes that the suite of software provides, far too boring. 

Please consider somehow making Early Access a reality for Elemental.

elemental reforged
10,571 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Yes please. Consider early access for this new iteration.

Reply #2 from GalCiv4 Forums Top


I'm disappointed and saddened that Stardock is denying longtime Founder Edition alum from such a chance with Elemental. I bought early founder-ship editions of Gal Civ III, Star Control, and Centauri, a gem of a game that mostly exists due to the contributions of Founder's.

I bought Early Access Gal Civ IV on the Epic gaming platform in the first week it was available.  I bought each iteration of Elemental on Stardock's Store page. Why is there no Ealy access for longtime fans of the series? Even with the radical changes each newly named game in the franchise was an immediate purchase out of trust and loyalty to the brand. I can't be the only one who did as I in those early days when Stardock was a gaming platform, with in-house games and non-Stardock games...darn...did as I did. That is mainly dive right into some of the most well-made games. I even was an early adopter of, pre-Demi-God, Gal Civ II. Heck, I even became a mostly digital customer because of that platform.

Simply adding the placeholder "coming soon" in my Wish List makes me feel naught but despondency at this denying. Of course, I wish-listed within the first day of my introduction to this new iteration from my over-a-decade subscription to Stardocks' monthly recap and prospectus.  I rather looked forward to Brad Wardell's commentary. I've also been a user of their original Object Desktop for something like twenty years. I gladly renew my subscription without fail, as I find life without the Ingenius changes that the suite of software provides, far too boring. 

Please consider somehow making Early Access a reality for Elemental.
Quoting OliverFA, reply 1

Yes please. Consider early access for this new iteration.

They are considering EA go select it the game on your Wishlist 

Just adding it to your Wishlist will not force you to buy just lets SD know how much interest there is in the game

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Hello guys, we appreciate the passion for our game!

At this stage, we need to see, what's the interest out there for the game, to determine the scope of what we can commit to. And we are here to listen to your feedback, so your request has been noted ;)

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

We are really honored to see people wanting to see Early Access for this game.  

I admit, I may have let my personal biases come into play here as I've gotten really sour on early access over the last few years and assumed, perhaps wrongly, you guys felt the same.  

I feel like too many developers are just using early access as a way to make quick money without delivering on the game. 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 4

We are really honored to see people wanting to see Early Access for this game.  

I admit, I may have let my personal biases come into play here as I've gotten really sour on early access over the last few years and assumed, perhaps wrongly, you guys felt the same.  

I feel like too many developers are just using early access as a way to make quick money without delivering on the game. 

  I can fully understand the reticence of using EA in these days.  There truly is a bunch of garbage out there that is likely to never see a Ver. 1.0. But I have purchased early access on numerous titles that have all come to a true, and typically fun, Ver. 1.0.  One of the most recent, as well as a game I'd sunk a couple hundred hours in prior to Ver. 1 is the recently (well, a few long months now) release of Soulstone Survivors. An amazingly fun twist on the Hades-style while (unlike about 30K other games with such a claim) actually provides a unique and engaging experience. I was an EA player on Epic platform for Hades, as well. Hades II is in my collection of EA games on Steam. I even sponsored the original Divinity Original Sin when it was on Kickstarter oh so very long ago. Oh, and, even though it was almost two years before I got my physical property, I was an early Kickstarter for Heavy's Headphones (designed for those of us who, even in our 60s, still listen to extreme metal music).

And perhaps that is part of it: my age. I am 60. I do not post here on this or frankly on almost any Forum/Discussion boards, or to any social media at all. I don't engage with Twitch or X/Twitter or Instagram or any of it. I just can't be bothered when my precious time can be spent enjoying life. So, maybe I don't read about or hear the horror stories surrounding those who have been duped by bad actors. I've been exceptionally careful in curating what games are deserving of what little money I have.

I'm handicapped and am extremely limited in my mobility. Fortunately, I can still use both of my hands, but not my left arm or everything to the left of my spinal column both posterior and anterior. only my hand was spared. So, I can only use my right hand to type because my left arm cannot elevate or separate from close to my torso without great pain.

Trust me, there are games I've passed on EA because they just didn't look to be honorable businesses. But I think not a single one I've put my money down on in EA has failed to come to Ver. 1 and keep on going. There are good actors out there and certainly Stardock is one of them.

I hope your in-house discussions should take a turn for the EA accessway. I still load up Sorcerer King here and there. tough little bugger of a game, but not nearly so as any Gal Civ, which I love, too. Heck, I'm part of the 0.5% of Gal Civ III players to earn the Revenge is Ours achievement (Snathi victory), and part of the 1% who have the Drengin Supremacy achievement. Those achievements, esp. the Snathi, can always make me smile. And to think I was a Founder... ;-)  Being part of founding a game (like Slime Rancher, which I did), can be a great deal of fun and allow you to see how things grow and progress. It's a special feeling.

May peace and prosperity be upon you and all those you hold dear, 

        Steven

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Zabik_2, reply 3

Hello guys, we appreciate the passion for our game!

At this stage, we need to see, what's the interest out there for the game, to determine the scope of what we can commit to. And we are here to listen to your feedback, so your request has been noted ;)


It makes sense that you need to see which is the level of interest for a new Elemental Iteration. Hope the wishlist has grown a lot those days!

I think that even after 15 years, there is still no game like the game that Elemental wanted to be. The only one that comes close is Age of Wonders 4, but even AoW4 is not what the original Elemental was supposed to be.

Each Elemental iteration had interesting and innovative things that remain innovative nowadays, like the monster zones (sorry don´t remember the official name) that spawned enemies or the leader charisma to explain the increase or decrease in population. Now that those items are developed, you "only" need to put them together and polish them. For that reason I think that your approach of putting everything together is the right one. Elemental + Fallen Enchantress + Sorcerer King would be an awesome version 1.0 as long as all those mechanics work well together and are (mostly) bug free.