demigod posts

Two years ago this month, developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Stardock released Demigod, a fantasy action-RTS game that got hit with multiplayer issues that made the game unplayable online for several weeks. However the game has retained a dedicated following and sequel plans have been hinted at for a while.

In a recent forum post, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell told forum members, "It's time to start thinking about (Demigod's) future." He asked questions like, "For a Demigod expansion, what would you do in that?" and "For a Demigod sequel, what would you do in that?". In a later post on the same thread, Wardell states, "Stardock is trying to determine its next-generation game lineup. A Demigod sequel is one possibility."

Developer Stardock has had a rocky 2010 thanks to the issues that surrounded the launch of its fantasy turn-based strategy game Elemental War of Magic. However in a new post this week, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell revealed the company's tentative future plans for development of its internal game studios. All of Stardock's future games will be based on its in-house Kumquat game engine.

As previously announced Stardock will continue to update Elemental while also making new stand alone games such as Elemental Fallen Enchantress and a third unnamed game. The roadmap also shows that Stardock plans to make an RPG game based on the Elemental universe at some point. Wardell states, "This year we will begin to reconstitute this team as we bring in a lead studio developer and some senior developers to help ensure that we don't have another War of Magic episode." The long-in-development MMORTS game Society is still in the works and there are other unnamed games that are scheduled for release in 2013 and 2014 that are not connected to the Elemental franchise.

Finally there's "Mod Layer" which Wardell states will be a way for anyone to make games using its Kumquat engine. He says, "The idea is to create a piece of middleware between Kumquat and future games that would allow people to make games using mostly Python." He plans to take his long mentioned sabbatical from Stardock to develop "Mod Layer and says that when its done" ... modders can easily create a wide assortment of games that are either 2D or 3D and potentially portable to (at the very least) Xbox Live Arcade and Windows Phone."

By the way this roadmap does not include third party games that Stardock might or might not publish. Wardell states, " ... this doesn't count future titles from our partner Ironclad who developed Sins of a Solar Empire nor does it address next steps in the Demigod franchise."

As promised, Valve has announced their plans for a stand alone sequel to the popular Warcraft III fantasy RTS mod Defense of the Ancients. The game is called DOTA 2 and is due out for PC and Mac in 2011. That means Valve will actually be releasing two stand alone commercial games in 2011 (Portal 2 is due out in February).

Game Informer's web site has the first details on DOTA 2 (the web site, as of this writing, is super slow due no doubt to high traffic). Basically the core gameplay behind the original mod version of DOTA will remain the same but it will be using a more advanced version of Valve's Source Engine with improved lighting and support for more realistic cloth animations. There will also be AI bots for skirmishes and training. Valve will also put in community features that will let players get in-game bonuses for things like participating in the game's official forums and there are also plans to allow veteran players to coach less experience players in some way. You can also expect DOTA 2 to be constantly updated with new content much like Valve's Team Fortress 2.

If you want to get one of the more underrated games of 2009, now's your chance. From now until October 17 you can purchase and download Demigod, the fantasy RTS-action game from developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Stardock, for just $5.99 via Impulse.

If you decide that you like the game after playing it you may want to consider entering into a Demigod community run online tournament. This is the second such tournament for the game run by Demigod fans. Registration is already open and will close on October 15. The tournament itself will be held on October 16 with a cash prize for the final winning team. You don't have to pay anything to participate in the tournament but the organizers are taking donations (kind of like church).

Download the Demigod demo at Big Download

2009's release of Demigod from developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Stardock got mostly good reviews but the release of the multiplayer action-RTS game was hampered by multiplayer networking problems that took weeks to fix. However it looks like there there might be a good chance we could see a sequel to the game.

Gas Powered's head man Chris Taylor, in a video interview for French gaming web site Gamers.fr conducted last week at Gamescom, admitted that sales for Demigod were not as good as the developer had hoped they would be even with the good game reviews. However he added, " we've got a lot of interest in a sequel to Demigod." He also said that the developer had spent a lot of money making the game and "we can make some of the money back that we invested in the core game and the core IP" if they do a good job on a sequel. Currently Gas Powered's only officially announced game is the fantasy RTS title Kings and Castles.

[Via VG247.com]

Download the Demigod Demo at Big Download (599 MB)

It's been a long time since players of the 2009 RTS multiplayer game Demigod got a new patch update but on Tuesday the Gas Powered Games-developed title got one via publisher Stardock's Impulse client. The 1.3. patch is mostly about fixing some bugs such as changing some movement issues and targeting bugs in the game.

Last year Gas Powered Games released two new free demigods for the game but since there there's been no word on any more content updates. Stardock had hinted it would like to see some new maps added to the game but there's been no movement on adding those maps.

It's just Tuesday but the folks at Impulse and Steam have some nice mid-week sales for anyone with a few dollars in their pocket. Over at Steam, the week-long Sega game sale continues with one-day price cuts for Stormrise ($7.50), Space Siege and Universe at War: Earth Assault ($5 for each). And of course the big Sega bundle is still on sale for $89.99 until Monday.

Over at Impulse they have put a number of games on sale this mid week. Ironclad's space strategy title Sins of a Solar Empire is now just $9.99 for a limited time while Gas Powered Games's strategy title Demigod is also $9.99 for a limited time.

Nearly a year ago, developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Stardock released Demigod. The multiplayer oriented RTS game got hit with some severe multiplayer networking issues that perhaps hurt its sales when it launched. However the developer has continued to support the game, including releasing two new free demigods to add to the title.

In a new post on the Impulsedrive.net, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell states he hopes to work with the game's mod community to "incorporate many of the community improvements into the game." He also hopes to put in the improvements in the just announced Impulse::Reactor into the game but "not for awhile because right now, everyone is just tapped."

As promised, the second of the two free new demigods is now available for use in Demigod. The 2009 released multiplayer strategy-RPG game from developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Stardock can now be updated for free to add the new Oculus demigod. If you own the game all you have to do is update to the latest version, log onto the game's multiplayer server and Oculus should be available for both single and multiplayer matches.

As you can see Oculus rides around on his own floating throne (although he can get out of it for special attacks). His main weapon is lightening but he can also recharge the mana of any friendly demigods in matches.

Stardock's Impulse PC game download service is trying something a little different in terms of its holiday sales this year. Instead of posting about special sales on the Impulse web site, the service will be using the Impulse downloadable client itself to alert uses to big one day sales cuts on games.

Basically if you download the Impulse client and keep it running in your Windows system tray and check on the Promotions section in Settings, you might see something like what's up above this post; a promotion for a one day sale of a game (in this case the original Galactic Civilizations for just 99 cents). At the moment the one day sale is for Demigod for just $7.50 and Dragon Age: Origins for $37.50. We will of course keep you up to date on any more sales that come down the pike.