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| Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar Interview Part One by Jonathan Trevisani,Computer Games Online  Jonathan Trevisani presents an interview with Brad Wardell, President/CEO of Stardock, about the upcoming expansion to the popular turn-based space strategy game Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar. Players take on alien races and harsh universal conditions as they attempt to carve an empire out of the galaxy. In the first part of the interview, Mr. Wardell talks about the digital distribution of the expansion pack as well as the new storyline.Jonathan Trevisani: Galactic Civilizations II is highly esteemed by gamers due to its detailed game play and ease of access with no CD copy protection. What made you decide to exclude copy protection from the game? How has digital distribution influenced sales of the game? Brad Wardell: For us, it's just a matter of effectiveness. Piracy is a problem, but we don't see CD copy protection as being very effective, particularly in our demographic (strategy games). Instead, we focused our efforts on rewarding customers who bought the game, by providing them with free updates that added new features based on user requests. Jonathan Trevisani: Dark Avatar will be the first expansion to the popular Galactic Civilizations II strategy game, was this planned from the beginning or a relatively new development? Are you expecting higher expectations for the expansion following the success of the game? Brad Wardell: We had planned to do an expansion pack from the beginning, but a decision on the features in the expansion was left until we saw which features users were requesting. For example, users requested planets with different environments, requiring players to research specific technologies before colonizing them. We never could have planned for that. Similarly, allowing for computer opponents that players can design themselves came from the user base. Ironically, our favourite new features in Dark Avatar didn't come from us; they came from the fan base. Jonathan Trevisani: The expansion will be available exclusively through digital distribution, do you think that will limit the sales of Dark Avatar? Why not offer a retail version of the game? Brad Wardell: Getting into retail is very, very expensive. And the features we wanted to have in Dark Avatar were also very expensive. We didn't want to wait until some future sequel in order to have these features. I suspect you've noticed that many expansion packs in the past few years have essentially been just about giving out some new content? new units, new maps, etc.?and they still cost $30. Why is that? The reason is because retail is so expensive that the money that goes into getting that shelf space ends up coming out of the expansion pack's budget. For Dark Avatar, we didn't want to do that. While 75% or our unit sales are at retail, the majority of our actual revenue comes from digital distribution. The decision was made to develop the mother of all expansion packs, including features that go way beyond a normal expansion pack, and to have it available digitally. In essence, we were able to afford to include a lot more features in the expansion pack this way. Jonathan Trevisani: In the expansion, the Drengin Empire is the dominant race of the galaxy. Will the galaxy be a desolate place? Is there no hope left for humanity? Will the Terran "Bubble" be a tourist attraction in the game? Brad Wardell: Things are grim in the galaxy. But now, factions within the Drengin Empire are fighting amongst themselves. You have the faction that wants to conquer and enslave the galaxy?the good guys?and the bad guys who want to exterminate all non-Drengin life. Your job in the campaign is to help make the galaxy safe for oppression and domination. The humans, however, are protected from all this behind an impregnable force field. Those pesky humans are still a force to be reckoned with but won't play as much of a role in Dark Avatar. Jonathan Trevisani: Who are the Korath and where did they come from? What is the name of the player-controlled Drengin Warlord in the campaign? Brad Wardell: The Korath are a clan of the Drengin Empire which has gained power as the galaxy has come under Drengin control. The player gets to name the Drengin Warlord they play as. Jonathan Trevisani: In the Dark Avatar campaign, two races will be exterminated and two new races will come into power. Any clues on the departing or new races? Will players still have access to these races along with the two new ones outside of the campaign? Or have they been wiped off the face of the galaxy for good? Brad Wardell: In the sand-box mode, which is really the best way to play the game in my opinion (the campaign is there to give the back story but most people play the stand-alone games) all the races, including the doomed ones, are there to be played. But in the campaign, the Korath wipe out two races. They will still be available to play in the sand-box mode though. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Game News :: home page |