Countdown to GalCiv III gold: 48 hours

from GalCiv3 Forums

Greetings!

We're burning the midnight oil to make sure when we go gold we have the best game we can possibly deliver as 1.0.

I hope you guys have enjoyed the early access program as much as we've enjoyed working with you guys.  You've made a huge difference both in terms of making the game funner and helping make sure that what actually goes out is more like a v1.01 rather than the traditional 1.0 level of quality/stability.

Here's a run-down of the things that are on our hot-list that we hope to have to you either today or tomorrow as the last pre-gold build of the game:

1. We are testing a fix for a hang when players go to the battle viewer. It was tracked down to being the trails on the ships (oddly enough). For now, if you turn off trails in the options in your build, it'll probably go away even in beta 6.

2. We are playing a lot of multiplayer. We did a minor update last week that helped with MP but the next bulid will be a much bigger update to MP stability and just general user experience.

3. Campaign polish. I know most people don't really care about a campaign in a 4X like this. I'll be the first to admit that we mostly do it for ourselves so that our story, that we've been telling for 20 years, continues to move forward. 

4. Balance / AI.  They're the same thing at this point.  Trying to beef up the Yor and nerf down the Krynn (patriotic trait is OP). 

5. Anything that affects stability or user experience that has been reported by the fans.

On a personal note, having been developing games for over 20 years, it has been a real pleasure working with the community on this game.

I will say, candidly, that a game of this scope simply couldn't be made from scratch like this without it.  This isn't a knock on Unity based games (we're using Unity for two of our upcoming games, we're fans).  I'm saying that building a 4X strategy game engine where you can create your own players, create your own units, can support tens of thousands of units simultaneously with game sizes from tiny to figuratively insane is not a task done lightly or often...or sanely. ;)

After gold, we move directly onto 1.01 which will be mostly addressing requests that we've gotten but just couldn't get to yet and then 1.1 which will mostly focus on feedback from players on balance, AI, and Steam Workshop integration.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be here with you right to the day we release 1.0 and beyond. :)

115,314 views 49 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I hope this game does well, it deserves it, together with some major expansions :)

 

Don't make the mistake of working too hard short of release: major bugs can creep in that way.

 

As for post release: I hope you do slow down the patch cycles so i can finish a game on gigantic maps for once :)

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Thank you. for giving us a chance to work with all of you to make this the best game possible. :beer: :beer:

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I might be in the minority here, but I've actually been anticipating the release of the campaign. I want to see how the story develops. I want to see how Terrans from a pocket universe (where time passes at a different rate [I assume]), have built up an enormous armada with plans to liberate the universe from the crack of the Drengin whip. I guess I'm weird like that. I'm also a fan of being able to play Hotseat as well, but I digress...

 

 

 

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

To all the devs working on this game and they daily progress post made about it; your enthusiasm for this game oozes from each byte played and word you write about it!! Best of luck on the final stretch and I can't wait so see 1.0. 

 

 

 

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

My one issue is this.

Isn't it 96 hours as this is the 10th and its released on the 14th?

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Ryat, reply 5

My one issue is this.

Isn't it 96 hours as this is the 10th and its released on the 14th?
End of Ryat's quote


maybe they have to give it to steam/gog a day early or something lol

Reply #7 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

and some q&a

Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Many thanks to the all of the devs for the hard work and keeping us up to date.

I won't lie...I was a bit anxious about my Elite Founders purchase initially but with the game looking pretty solid now and the promise of a few years worth of new content I am really excited. I think the game is currently a great base to build upon.

 

Good luck with the release  ^_^

Reply #9 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting tesb, reply 1

I hope this game does well, it deserves it, together with some major expansions :)

 

Don't make the mistake of working too hard short of release: major bugs can creep in that way.

 

As for post release: I hope you do slow down the patch cycles so i can finish a game on gigantic maps for once :)
End of tesb's quote

Thanks and yes, we are definitely being careful to hold things back from 1.01 and 1.1.

The AI is the big thing I'm having to hold back on for release which bums me out but is something that could really harm the game if there's some bug.

Tonight's update is a pretty huge update to the AI but it will also be the last one before release barring some serious bug.

Reply #10 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Correct regarding 96 hours and not 48 hours.  We basically put it up 2 days early and just play and play it to make sure there aren't install issues or some other thing that got missed.

Reply #11 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 9

Tonight's update is a pretty huge update to the AI but it will also be the last one before release barring some serious bug.
End of Frogboy's quote

 

Looking forward to the patch notes, always a highlight in my day :P im odd i know hehe

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

I have tried this game in the beta and really like it a lot. 

One thing I miss and hope you implement soon is ship XP like you had in Gal Civ II.  It does not need to be as dramatic as it was in Gal Civ II, but it added a strong motivation to protect your experienced ships, and develop them further. 

A problem that I have noticed is that when I close the game I must go to Task Manager and close it there to totally get my memory back.

The game seems to lag if I try to run anything larger than a small map with more than two opponents.  But I do have only 4G of memory on my computer.

 

 

Reply #13 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Looking forward to the release a lot!  I've been busy making tons of custom races for my first "real" game on an insane map.   :drool:

 

While doing that I have noticed something I'd like to request:  A race editor to make changes to existing custom races easier.  I'd like to be able to change different race's starting credits, techs, etc without having to mod them in the XML.  But even as is, I'm having tons of fun.  :grin:

Reply #14 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

congratulations  and despite my reservations about if the game would be ready on time it has com on leaps and bounds in beta 6 and I'm  hoping  I was wrong to doubt

 

In any case thanks for all the hard work and dedication  I'm delivering a great game I look forward  to playing for years to come.

Reply #15 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Dual-Zero, reply 13

While doing that I have noticed something I'd like to request:  A race editor to make changes to existing custom races easier.  I'd like to be able to change different race's starting credits, techs, etc without having to mod them in the XML.  But even as is, I'm having tons of fun.
End of Dual-Zero's quote

The devs talked about this in the Dev stream. Apparently the issue is in connection to multiplayer side where they have to handle the custom races a certain way. They hope to have a work around by 1.1.

Reply #16 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

It's been a long road, surely much longer for you than us. At times I've been a fan boy, at others a harsh critic. I'm happy to see the tremendous progress you've made on this game, even if some things didn't go the way I wanted. I'm looking forward to the additional progress to come. Congratulations!

Reply #17 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Congratulations to Brad and the team!  And by team I mean developers and all the beta testers!

Reply #18 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Don't ever give up on the campaigns! It gives the game its special 'flavour'! I'm always looking forward to playing the campaign :)

Reply #19 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

A campaign is always good, especially for all those oldschool gamers.

 

I know you have a big list to work on until launch day, but please do me a favor and let me exit the shipyard/designer with ESCAPE and add arrow keys to switch through planets!!!

Reply #20 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Really hoping this makes some good dough for you guys.   :thumbsup:

Reply #21 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I would like to thank all the staff at Stardock and frogboy for their hard work and putting up with all us cranky gamers that wanted their own perfect version of GC3.As someone who was against GC3 having multiplayer I am a total convert and can admit when I was wrong.

Thanks guys keep up the good work :grin:

Reply #22 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

When I first saw that there was going to be a GC3 and that there was a founder's edition that I could buy into straight away to begin playing... I mean testing it I jumped at the chance without hesitation. I also got a friend of mine that I turned onto GC2 to do the same. As I watched the game unfold and evolve over this past year I must say that I'm not disappointed at all! It has turned out to be everything I hoped for and then some (though I'm anxiously awaiting some of the DLC and expansions that are on the road map to complete the vision) and I look forward to playing the released game, if only so that I can finally complete a friggin' game on an excessive map! You guys keep releasing updates too fast for me to finish a game. Anyway, congrats to all involved, it's been a fun ride and a joy to watch you guys do your thing and make the game evolve into a real winner. Be sure to have that bottle of champagne ready for Thursday! ;)

Reply #23 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Thanks for putting it out there for us to test and play!  Was fun and cant believe its that time again!  Looking forward to the next game to help test!  

 

My only question is if the battle viewer is getting any love?  My battles tend to still have ships leaving my view area and I would like a few more options like chase cam or what not while viewing them.  Just curious if thats even on the board.  

 

However, great job, congrats, and Space Frog cookies all around!!

Reply #24 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Campaigns are great, thank you for including one! 

 

Also - will the 'Large UI' option actually work in the release version of the game? 

 

 

Reply #25 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Dual-Zero and Ryat, am I looking at the changes to my custom civs wrong? I just make a copy, make the changes that I want and save. Then I delete the original.