From technology to politics to video games; these are the random thoughts of a geek with too much time on his hands
Epic Fantasy Turn-Based Strategy, Coming in 2010!
Published on November 4, 2008 By Zoomba In Elemental News

Stardock announced its next major PC game, Elemental: War of Magic today. Stardock, the company that has released such award-winning PC games such as Galactic Civilizations, Ironclad’s Sins of a Solar Empire and is nearing the release date of Gas Powered Games’ Demigod has set the retail launch date of Elemental: War of Magic (www.elementalgame.com) for the first quarter of 2010 at $49.95 with a public beta starting next Spring.

Like all Stardock titles, Elemental: War of Magic will include no on-disk DRM and will be available for re-download and updates through the Impulse digital distribution platform (www.impulsedriven.com) regardless of wherever it is purchased.

Elemental: War of Magic is set in a world filled with magic and ancient lore. As the ruler of your kingdom, you must expand your empire through a combination of magical power, military might, diplomatic skill, technological advancement and bold adventuring. Your worlds will be of your choosing, or players are free to create their own.

The story of Elemental: War of Magic begins with an immersive single player campaign with you being the only person in your kingdom with the ability to channel magic through mysterious shards of magic that are scattered across the world. These shards, a result of a tremendous cataclysm that occurred a century prior when powerful beings waged war across the world, are the source of much of the world’s magic.

With the powers of old now gone, you now hold the key to the use of magic in your land. As ruler of your land and a channeler of magic, you must decide how much of your power to imbue into your heroes as you build new cities, explore dungeons, perfect spells of ever-increasing power and negotiate with friends and foes alike. Other channelers in the world, whether they be of the race of Men, The Fallen or the Beasts, are also able to access magic and may not share your vision of the world.

Harnessing the technology of ImpulseReactor™, ground-breaking multiplayer modes include traditional skirmish modes as well as a persistent universe mode. Additionally, integrated modding support allows players to submit maps, items, creatures, races, technologies, spells, buildings, environments and much more from right within the game and become available to all players of the game seamlessly.

A public beta is scheduled for the second quarter of 2009. For more information, please visit www.stardock.com or www.elementalgame.com.


Comments (Page 3)
5 Pages1 2 3 4 5 
on Nov 05, 2008

The way I see it, the art style is a good move. It does mean more can be done on screen without people needing to race out and buy another new graphics card. After all, look at Sins or Gal Civ II, which had an impressive art style, without needing the latest and greatest video card to run.

on Nov 05, 2008

Personally, I'm really hoping for 'rpg-like' hero-controls -- leveling, equipment, etc etc -- to go right next to my large-scale TBS fun.

Yes and yes. 

on Nov 05, 2008

I, for one, really love the aquarelle/cell shading picture art style.

The screenshots do look kind of sterile though - but i am sure that will change. (Can't wait for the announced squirrels in the trees )

on Nov 05, 2008

Besides which, Stardock is only now wrapping up the 2.0 update for GalCiv2. Give them a break, man! There's no way they'd go straight to work on GC3 already. Indeed, Brad himself has said on numerous occasions that the next GalCiv game is at least three years away -- probably later.

 

Exactly.  Diversity is a good thing and makes for happy programmers and computer game company owners. Brad has been thinking about this fantasy game for a long time. It's sort of like writing--sometimes you just have to give into the muse.

 

Being a fan of the old Master of Magic--I consider this no bad thing.  Really, Gal Civ II and SOAS will give me plenty of gameplay from Stardock until Elemental is done.

on Nov 05, 2008

BoogieBac

Personally, I'm really hoping for 'rpg-like' hero-controls -- leveling, equipment, etc etc -- to go right next to my large-scale TBS fun.


Yes and yes. 

Have I mentioned lately that I love you guys?

Sammual

on Nov 05, 2008

Hmm, this game could be interesting, I'll keep an eye out for it

on Nov 05, 2008

I am really looking forward to this game now. Definitely pre-ordering it as soon as possible.

EDIT:

Well I'll be. I can pre-order right now! *Purchases*

on Nov 05, 2008

Great, now I'm not gonna be able to sleep for years. I'll just lie in bed whimpering: "Elemental is gonna come out!", "Elemental finally came out!" or "Elemental won't run on my PC!". Darnit.

on Nov 06, 2008

This sounds promising, the graphics do look different but not neccessarily in a bad way, with bit more "darker" touch I think the game will look good. Looking forward to this one.

on Nov 06, 2008

Wow, I must really say that I absolutely ADORE the art direction this seems to be taking. Works of beauty rather than "MORE LENS FLARE!". Taking a step "back" to the kind of art fantasy gamers enjoyed, back in the day, with painted backgrounds and whatnot.

 

Rather than "on-the-fly" generated 3D-models. If people compare the graphic quality contra art direction of Neverwinter Nights/2 and Baldur's Gate/2, you'll have a fair idea of what I'm talking about. Age of Wonders is also a series with some really stunning beauty, rather than "moar lens flaer!".

 

Are there any details up? I just kinda stumbled into this, from the main page. I'd love it to be a traditional 4x game in the style of Civilization(s), or Galactic Civilizations (2), rather than a HoMM- or AoW-based gameplay. Like.. I can see that there's heroes and things, but is the focus on lone heroes leading armies from town-to-town, purchasing troops and the like, or large-scale invasions and troop control?

on Nov 06, 2008

BoogieBac

Personally, I'm really hoping for 'rpg-like' hero-controls -- leveling, equipment, etc etc -- to go right next to my large-scale TBS fun.
Yes and yes. 

 

Excuse me while I go do a joygasm!  (Combining that with my standard "built the uber empire" play style is just... wow.  Wow.)

on Nov 06, 2008

As I posted in the Sins forums, I really like the artistic style so far. It has that 70's fantasy graphic art pen and ink visual quality to it. A very elegant touch if done right to be sure - at least for an old timer like myself. It puts me in mind of the images of Alan Lee, Darrell Sweet & John Howe.

on Nov 07, 2008

I'm not 100% sold on the art style.  It works well in the interface, particularly the character drawing and minimap.  I love the world map, again with the hand drawn look.  The world view doesn't excite me though.  While I understand that it is an extension of the hand-drawn look of the rest of the game, it just looks a little too cartoony for me right now.  I don't hate it, but it doesn't do anything for me.  Maybe it'll grow on me, or Stardock will tweak it over the course of production, and if the gameplay is what we've come to expect from Stardock then the look will not be a deal breaker for me.

So call me 70% sold on the look and eagerly awaiting more information about the game.

on Nov 07, 2008

Eh, cartoony can be bad if taken too far -- but the way cartoons simplify / break down into the most critical elements a given image set makes them *very* clear, and this is a good thing.

on Nov 07, 2008

Wait, I can preorder? Done and done. Looks lovely and awesome. It'll be a great complement to galciv. Let's see if my "crash my economy to get tons of population and research done until I have 10 times as many people as anyone else and a ton of research I haven't sold to stay out of debt and use that to win" technique works here too.

5 Pages1 2 3 4 5