Brad Wardell Interview, Part 3

DanQ · February 10, 2003, 11:14

Brad Wardell is the Project Lead on Galactic Civilizations. He is also the Founder and President of Stardock Systems, the company that has employed a dozen full-time staff for the past one-and-a-half years developing the follow-up to its original game release of the same name in 1994. This single-player, turn-based strategy game set in outer space is being published by Montreal-based Strategy First.

In the third and final installment of this interview with Apolyton CS, Wardell first touches upon different purchasing venues for the game. He then offers his views on Drengin.net's current status, Stardock' post-game release plans and obstacles to introducing alternative development and marketing models in the gaming industry. The final inquiry Wardell addresses is on his own recent foray into multiplayer gaming.

GalCiv becomes commercially available on March 25th. Comments are welcome in this thread.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

Harry Seldon · February 10, 2003, 12:01

Good article. I'll have to check out some of the other games on Drengin.net and see if I'd be better served with the subscription.

ammt603 · February 10, 2003, 15:07

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moomin · February 10, 2003, 15:51

Brad seems a little... defensive about the whole Drengin.net thing. Understandable, if discouraging. It's not like this industry doesn't need new fresh revenue models, after all.

I think that a factor that may be easy to overlook in estimating the difficulties of internet sales being an American developer is payments. Americans are pretty unique in their unlimited willingness to part with their CC details online - we're a fair bit less casual about that in the old world.

Harry Seldon · February 10, 2003, 16:46

Quote:

Americans are pretty unique in their unlimited willingness to part with their CC details online

I'll admit I'm not too worried about it as long as proper precautions are taken. It would be nice if they set up an alternate method, though.

notyoueither · February 10, 2003, 17:25

They do. You can send a check/money order.

notyoueither · February 10, 2003, 17:28

I wonder if... I buy the game in the store so I can have the CD and whatever other materials come with it, can I still subscribe to Drengin.net to get the updates and be part of the meta-universe? Well, duh... sure, but do I get a break on the subscription?

How long does a subscription last, anyways?

Draginol · February 10, 2003, 17:39

I'm pretty sure it works as follows:

When you get Galactic Civilizations at the store it will come with a serial #.

That serial # will be able to be pluggined into Stardock Central which will in turn let you download updates to GalCiv as they become available as well as provide you with demo access to other things on Drengin.net.

Example:
http://draginol.stardock.com/images/beta5/sc.jpg

notyoueither · February 10, 2003, 17:51

Demo access would be different from full access in which ways?

Harry Seldon · February 10, 2003, 20:07

And, would we get a discount on the drengin.net subscription after purchasing GalCiv separately?

Draginol · February 11, 2003, 00:56

Harry: Not sure, that's a sales decision which I'm not directly involved in.

Not: Demo access would mean demo versions of games.

MarkG · February 11, 2003, 07:10

hey Brad, how do you like your new avatar?

pg · February 11, 2003, 07:31

i don't quite understand dregin.net... if i just buy a subscription(the $70 1 yr version) instead of purchasing galciv at the store, i then get to download all the games offered. i know that much, but i really need to know all the details. do the games stop working after my subscription runs out? do i get to download an iso to burn to a cd? would i still get all the patches/upgrades if i just bought galciv in the store? do i get an electronic manual(instead of a paper one i'd get from the store)? i looked on your websites for more information but couldn't find any. i'm confused.

MarkG · February 11, 2003, 07:50

Quote:

What happens at the end of the year? Do I get to keep my games?

Yes, you can keep whatever you have at the end of your subscription - you just can't download new versions or new games.

Quote:

So how does this work?

When you subscribe you get access to the Drengin Component Manager which lists all the currently available games on the Drengin Network. Stardock.net's servers basically act as a gigantic virtual CD ROM drive and the Drengin Component Manager installs the games from the server onto your local hard disk drive. You can install, uninstall and add new features to your games from it.

http://www.stardock.com/products/dre...?product=prod2

see also
https://store.stardock.com/sales_faq.html

pg · February 11, 2003, 08:19

i'm still confused!

drengin.net doesn't seem to have any advantages that i can see. unless, you don't get free patches/upgrades if you bought galciv in the store(this doesn't seem likely though)! if at least one game(that i'd want to play) came out a year, then i could imagine paying for the subscription but i don't see that happening.

MarkG · February 11, 2003, 09:07

well curently you can get 5 games (http://www.stardock.com/products/dre...asp?page=games) and any updates on them for the next 12 months for $70

after the first year, you can get any new Stardock games and the updates to the existing ones

as for galciv, i'm not sure about it, but perhaps more important updates(stuff that could be in an expansion pack) will not be given away for free(as patches)....
Brad?

Harry Seldon · February 11, 2003, 09:17

I'd need to be able to download the games and install them myself. I have a POTS system and can't leave my machine connected for days at a time while the manager installs components. I have access to a high speed connection so if I can pull it down, burn it, and take it home it would be a great plus.

Draginol · February 12, 2003, 14:54

We plan to have an expansion pack but it'll be free.

Harry Seldon · February 12, 2003, 17:59

You guys rock! If you keep providing all these wonderful services you may have cult worship on your hands.

Draginol · February 12, 2003, 18:38

LOL. There's actually a business case to be made for a free expansion pack: Reduces piracy.

On our non-game software (Object Desktop, WindowBlinds, etc.) the piracy rate, while somewhat high at times, is much lower than other products of similar popularity because of all the updates.

There are two kinds of pirates:
1) People who pirate because it's convenient.
and
2) People who would never buy your game no matter what anyway.

The first category is probably the largest (based on our experience) so if you can keep updating your product where it requires a valid, non-pirated, serial # to get it, then you'll get a lot of those people who originally pirated the product to buy it.

I suspect I'm not the only one who doesn't feel a terrible amount of sympathy for game companies that release buggy games, then throw a patch out a month later and then abandon it. No wonder there's so much piracy in games.

Harry Seldon · February 12, 2003, 20:23

That's why I usually stick with consoles these days. I only spring for PC games when they're really good or a series I've followed for a while.

TaGirl_Keri · February 26, 2003, 23:06

Hey Brad, Glad to see a ex-Boneyards player. TA is still alive and kickin. The fans have built their own online server with Galactic Warz. Similar to BY, but much better, even down to the irritating drone. Play me there and lemme see ur mad TA skillz. Core still rules tho. www.gamingbattleleague.com

Sorry to the Apolyton regulars, I'm a bit off topic