Tending the Flock

[Evrett]

I can understand, though not agree with having a policy of not communicating with the customers. However I wonder about those saying they are too busy to post. It takes 5 secs or less to post a quick reply. And the devs have been active on other forums. So suggesting they dont have time I think is silly.

[ASHBERY76]

Most developers do not bother posting on forums much.I can only think of Paradox,Kerberos and Stardock to a lesser degree that regularly talk about gameplay

Matrix only seem get to involved just before a new product timeframe.

[WiZz]

Elliot - yes. But Erik wrote on forum quite often.

[Igard]

I know alot of people talk about Erik going missing for long periods, but he does have alot of other games to tend to. He's not solely DW, unlike Elliot who is the creator of DW. Although, I'm sure he's busy also, there is no reason anybody should be so busy that they can't spend 10-15 minutes checking the forums once a week, or even every other week.

I just want to see Elliot pop his head in and say 'Hi' from time to time. We can only guess as to why he doesn't.

Elliot, you're always welcome. Come back!!

[jpwrunyan]

Elliot's here at my house, guys. He says "hi".

[oxenshtrudel]

Well he is most likely on vacation or working on the expansion. I don't mind him being absent for longer times since he eventually shows up after with some great new patch/expansion. During a development cycle it is probably best to not get to much input since that can be distracting for the current task at hand.

When he do visit the forum he's usually very thorough and I think he spends much more than 10-15 minutes a week in average on the forums even though he is only visiting between cycles.

It will be fun to see what he will come up with next.

[scotten_usa]

ORIGINAL: jpwrunyan
Elliot's here at my house, guys. He says "hi".

Buy him a beer for me!

[Igard]

ORIGINAL: ScottenChi

ORIGINAL: jpwrunyan
Elliot's here at my house, guys. He says "hi".

Buy him a beer for me!

A pint of the finest Rephidium Ale from me!

[Haree78]

Nice post onomastikon.
If you have some suggestions for the game or concerns where you feel need attention for you to enjoy the game more then get it written down in the forum, don't wait for a 'direct line' to the developers. History will tell us that they do read suggestions and problems, all posts here, and that can be seen in the patch notes that get released each version/beta.

The testing team hasn't heard from Elliot in a while. Last time there was this amount of quite it was for months before an expansion was announced and then went in to beta testing for about 2-4 months if I recall correctly? This period of non interaction occurred before ROTS and Legends.
So not hearing from Elliot is probably a good thing, just enjoy the current version for a while [;)]

[Yskonyn]

Very nice post, Ono!
You touched upon the feeling and 'mood' I have with niche game communities exactly!

I wouldn't mind an update from either Elliot or Erik either, but as pointed out by others; these boards always went from rather active to pretty silent in a flow that is related to a release of a new expansion.
You just joined in the busy peak.

Still, as a member of the Dominions forum as well, I do agree that the sense of community as a whole is more prevalent over there. People are always talking tactics, gameplay and other topics. Here its much more quiet.
Perhaps one reason is that DW doesn't have multiplayer?

The AAR section of this board is rather active, afterall.

[ASHBERY76]

ORIGINAL: jpwrunyan

Elliot's here at my house, guys. He says "hi".

[Gelatinous Cube]

[Erik Rutins]

Hi everyone,

I hear you and it has been longer than I would like without news and that's largely on my shoulders. Elliot is hard at work on more than one Distant Worlds-related project and there will be some exciting news coming this summer, but I don't have information to share with you yet.

Elliot's absence reflects how hard he has been working and unfortunately the same goes for me (not just on DW, but on all our games). In fact, you will soon see a job posting for an opening that will hopefully help me return to my previous level of forum activity by distributing my workload a bit.

Regardless, I read everything that is said here about Distant Worlds and we will have good news for fans of the series. I truly appreciate your patience.

Also to respond to a few other threads that are similar to those we've discussed before, we are doing everything we possibly can to bring Distant Worlds as much success as possible and to make sure Elliot can develop games for us all for many years to come. I do believe, as do many of you, that Distant Worlds has a very bright future. Stay tuned.

Regards,

- Erik

[Kal Naar]

Thanks for the info,
I believe everyone was getting a little edgy with the lack of response.

I just hope some of my personal favorites are some of those projects.

- AI (Strategic, Ship Design, Diplomacy)
- A new Colony should be a drain on your economy (I really like SOTS2 take on this), both monetarily and resource wise.
- Weapon arcs on Ships Design
- Better management of resources
- Redesigned GUI for handling shortages of material (including the ability to redirect priority to certain projects).

Minor stuff

[Igard]

Great response Erik! Thank you.

The new project sounds intriguing, looking forward to hearing more.

However the best news there is that you're hiring new staff. Very good to hear indeed. [:)]

[feelotraveller]

Good to hear from you Erik. I hope that both you and Elliot can keep doing what you each do best for many years to come. [8D]

[Cauldyth]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Elliot is hard at work on more than one Distant Worlds-related project and there will be some exciting news coming this summer, but I don't have information to share with you yet.

[X(]

Thanks for the update. We're a needy, clingy bunch, aren't we? [;)]

[Leaddernoir]

Two DW related projects hmmm an expansion and DW II perhaps

[HectorOfTroy]

Good news [:)]. I reckon it's DW2 [X(]

[ASHBERY76]

I would bet he is working on the last expansion for DW1 and also started working on DW2 with a new 3d engine.