Open Appeal to Chris Taylor and GPG

[TehMac]

hai guys, an appeal was written to GPG that I'd like yall to look at and tell me what you think.

http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=41115

Dear Gas Powered Community and Employees, and Mr. Taylor,
I have been eagerly following the development of gas powered games and its games production. I loved Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege 2, and sunk many hours into both games—even the demos were addicting (I was very sad when I reached the end in both, and then bought the game and became a happy panda).

I was excited when Supreme Commander came out because I know of Chris Taylor’s expressed enthusiasm in military strategy and how he wished to incorporate such a sentiment into his games with the aid of Gas Powered Games.

I played Supreme Commander, but I always felt myself wishing Gas Powered Games would go for a new setting. With the announce of Demigod, I felt hopeful that GPG was going to try new things once again, and I have a game proposal that I hope the community and GPG (and Mr. Taylor) will be interested in.

The setting would be any period in antiquity, from ancient or medieval times, to the Renaissance period etc. The point being that I feel a game using the SupCom engine would present these periods of time in unparallel splendor reminiscent of a work by Ridley Scott.

There is no doubt the SupCom engine is one of the most ingenious pieces of software code crafted in recent computing history, but to apply such a magnificent piece and use it to portray other periods in human history would only heighten and underline the abilities the engine and Gas Powered Games.

History also provides you with a panacea of units—you can be as creative with the units you like—the ancient greeks did not just use Hoplites, Romans had a variety of soldiers besides the Legionary, and the Egyptians did not just have a golden age of Ramsese, but the Ptolemy’s employed Jews, Sudanese, Greeks, Italians, Macedonians, and Elephants in their armies—and this is to name just a few of the civilizations (in the various periods of time they appeared in).

Think not just of the massive armies that could be created with this engine, but the strategic carry over could apply to the construction of empires! The map is more massive than that of any other real time strategy game—why not use such a map to convey and let players partake in the glory of previous people living in older periods in human history?

Thoughts?

 

[datalink7]

Engine wasn't built for that, and we already have the awesome Rome: Total War.

 

[TehMac]

What do you mean the engine isn't built for that??? It's a skinning issue.

Plus, RTW isn't real time.

 

[Craig234]

What do you mean the engine isn't built for that??? It's a skinning issue.

Plus, RTW isn't real time.

Any letter to Chris Taylor not referencing his great game (IMO), Total Annhilation, is a bit surprising. Have you played that?

I'm glad you enjoyed Dungeon Siege. I found it to get to be a grind, and agreed with the complaint of some that it had a certain 'plays itself' feel, but it had some fun.

Your note reminds me of the 'General' games. They made an engine for 'Panzer General', then came Star General, Fantasy General, and others.

Nothing wrong with your suggestion. You enjoy the engine, and would like this, good luck.

Who cares if there are other products? Did 'Call of Duty' mean don't make 'Medal of Honor' (or vice versa)?

 

[Mike Gayner]

Cliffs:

Dear Mr Taylor,
Please create the game I want to play, because that would be super awesome. Thx

edit: LOL at these two parts:

There is no doubt the SupCom engine is one of the most ingenious pieces of software code crafted in recent computing history

LOL, really? I mean....really? Hyperbole much?

History also provides you with a panacea of units

I think you may have used the wrong word there....

 

[TehMac]

I wasn't into "gaming" in '97. I didn't have a broadband connection and the big game then was AoE--for me anyway.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Likely never to happen. Total Annihilation (Not Kingdoms) was the best thing he ever made, and the first also.

Also, it's "plethora" of units when there are many of them. "Panacea" most commonly refers to a cure-all or miracle drug sort of thing.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

TA is the greatest RTS of all time. There might even be some mods for TA that might be what you're looking for.

 

[TheKub]

You had me up until "happy panda". Then you just looked silly.

 

[Maximilian]

+1 for the effort op

Dont think it will happen though Supcom 2 is due sometime soon anyways, likely with an entirely new or a heavily modified version of the originals engine.

 

[Cogman]

Summary

Dear Chris, I 4 want a game, make it.

Unless you are willing to
A. Pay for it
or
B. Make it

It will never happen.

Oh, and LOL for calling some of the buggiest and most bloated piece of game software ever released as being "...the most ingenious pieces of software code crafted in recent computing history..."

If you want to see REAL ingenious software, go check out x264's repos.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

GPGs jumped the shark with Total Annhilation (even though they didn't make it) imo. Demigod was a disgrace with how broken it was at release, and still was several months later. Don't know about now but it didn't look like any real progress would be made when I stopped. If you're going to make a game focused on multiplayer tournament style skirmish, you'd figure the first thing you'd make sure is working after the engine is the multiplayer, the second the matchmaking, and the third the stats tracking. None of that was remotely functional on release, and most of it still wasn't many months later.

 

[Ganeedi]

These days, you need explosions and laser effects for the "wow" factor to show the marketing suits the great graphics your game has. Historic time periods did not have this (except for minor exceptions like cannons i guess). So you would need to add magic into the game, which sounds like it would defeat your purpose.

Not saying it couldnt happen, but its a hard sell.

 

[TehMac]

These days, you need explosions and laser effects for the "wow" factor to show the marketing suits the great graphics your game has. Historic time periods did not have this (except for minor exceptions like cannons i guess). So you would need to add magic into the game, which sounds like it would defeat your purpose.

Not saying it couldnt happen, but its a hard sell.

Please explain then why AoE was one of the best selling games of all time.

Two idiots I know who need teh Lasers love AoE.

Oh yea, panacea works because uhh...Chris Taylor has a problem with making his factions actually distinct from one another--this was a major criticism with SupCom and why would you say"Your unit selection sucks, let me do it better."?

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Oh yea, panacea works because uhh...Chris Taylor has a problem with making his factions actually distinct from one another--this was a major criticism with SupCom and why would you say"Your unit selection sucks, let me do it better."?

No.

It's a very poorly written, overly casual letter if it's supposed to be some kind of real proposal. It's littered with grammatical mistakes, embarrassing hyperbole, and word usage problems, like the above-mentioned use of "panacea," a word which you apparently saw somewhere but failed to understand. If you actually sent this letter in, it's probably going in the "fan mail from disabled children" pile as we speak.

I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

 

[GaryJohnson]

meh, another historical strategy game. Do people really enjoy games without awesome lasers?