Measter: Why did it take you so long to find a publisher for Sins in Europe?
CF: There was a lot of initial resistance to a space strategy game in Europe. We were told that there were a lot of recent space strategy titles that did not fare well in the territory. It wasn’t until our game was an immediate hit in North America that the top European publishers took serious notice.
Iwog: Why was there such a big media black-out before the game was released? Or, in nicer words, why was there no massive hype machine working for such an impressive release?
CF: Sins is a sleeper hit, without question. We relied a lot on word of mouth, beta testers, and building a community from within. Stardock, our publisher was not working with the marketing budget of the largest publishers, but they’ve more than made for that in customer loyalty, direct marketing channels, online sales, media interviews, and grassroots promotion.
There are many titles that come out with a splash but don’t do so well because they have no substance. I think the public is more intelligent than they are given credit for.
MathMarauder: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
CF: Griffin – strength, intelligence and agility
Cthippo: I'd like to know your thoughts on the future of gaming in general, and on big Crysis-esqe PC exclusives in particular. What do you see as the viable business model going forward?
CF: From my understanding they sold a fair number of units. Relative to their marketing budget and operating expenses I don’t know if that is a viable business model or not. It is not a model that would be desirable for Ironclad.
Veles: One thing I'd like to know is how hard it was to meld RTS and TBS together, what was involved, etc. It must have been incredibly difficult to do and taken a lot of play testing to get right, I know they had a big beta test for it.
CF: It was very difficult. We added and subtracted a large number of features to find the sweet spot in between. We didn’t want a title that was too daunting for an RTS player, but too twitchy for a TBS player.
Veles: I'd like to know about plans for expansion packs, sequels, etc. Or even taking the epic scale to a different setting, for instance, a WWII one or something, I think it could work quite well.[/b]
CF: I imagine we will take a break from the franchise and likely revisit in the future. We have to make way for our next title, which is expected to be something entirely new.
Blademrk: What’s your favourite ice-cream?
CF: Normally I would say strawberry, but last night I made a delicious sundae with French vanilla ice cream, crunchy peanut butter, and organic chocolate syrup.
Flibblebot: I'd like to know how much they actually got from such an extended beta and how much the game had actually changed by the end of the beta? Would they do such a long beta programme again?
CF: We worked very closely with our beta testers so it would be very difficult to try and separate beta contributions/iterations from our own. A small example that comes to mind would be the little icons that appear above an item that can’t be purchased. They give the player an idea of what is needed (i.e., a beaker for 'research required' or a coin for 'credits required').
Gas giants, various space anomalies, and phase jump inhibitor behaviour were also suggested by beta testers.
We expect to have a long beta programme again. It worked out very well. We were very fortunate to have such a stable and balanced release and our beta testers deserve a lot of the credit!
Cabe64: Are you going to try cash in on the name and make a sequel like a number of developers would or are they going to leave it and work on something else?
CF: We will likely take a break from the franchise next and possibly revisit it in the future. We have to make way for our next title, which is expected to be something entirely new.
Squadexodus: You owe me mentoes. Discuss.
CF: I’ll bring your mentos, you bring my diet coke, and great fun will be had by all.
We'd like to thank Craig for his time for this rather extensive interview. If you still haven't had your fill of Sins of a Solar Empire yet though then you can check out our review of the game, or even enter our competition and have a chance to win a copy for yourself. Or you can just discuss it in the forums, if you prefer.
CF: There was a lot of initial resistance to a space strategy game in Europe. We were told that there were a lot of recent space strategy titles that did not fare well in the territory. It wasn’t until our game was an immediate hit in North America that the top European publishers took serious notice.
Iwog: Why was there such a big media black-out before the game was released? Or, in nicer words, why was there no massive hype machine working for such an impressive release?
CF: Sins is a sleeper hit, without question. We relied a lot on word of mouth, beta testers, and building a community from within. Stardock, our publisher was not working with the marketing budget of the largest publishers, but they’ve more than made for that in customer loyalty, direct marketing channels, online sales, media interviews, and grassroots promotion.
There are many titles that come out with a splash but don’t do so well because they have no substance. I think the public is more intelligent than they are given credit for.
MathMarauder: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
CF: Griffin – strength, intelligence and agility
Cthippo: I'd like to know your thoughts on the future of gaming in general, and on big Crysis-esqe PC exclusives in particular. What do you see as the viable business model going forward?
CF: From my understanding they sold a fair number of units. Relative to their marketing budget and operating expenses I don’t know if that is a viable business model or not. It is not a model that would be desirable for Ironclad.
Veles: One thing I'd like to know is how hard it was to meld RTS and TBS together, what was involved, etc. It must have been incredibly difficult to do and taken a lot of play testing to get right, I know they had a big beta test for it.
CF: It was very difficult. We added and subtracted a large number of features to find the sweet spot in between. We didn’t want a title that was too daunting for an RTS player, but too twitchy for a TBS player.
Veles: I'd like to know about plans for expansion packs, sequels, etc. Or even taking the epic scale to a different setting, for instance, a WWII one or something, I think it could work quite well.[/b]
CF: I imagine we will take a break from the franchise and likely revisit in the future. We have to make way for our next title, which is expected to be something entirely new.
Blademrk: What’s your favourite ice-cream?
CF: Normally I would say strawberry, but last night I made a delicious sundae with French vanilla ice cream, crunchy peanut butter, and organic chocolate syrup.
Flibblebot: I'd like to know how much they actually got from such an extended beta and how much the game had actually changed by the end of the beta? Would they do such a long beta programme again?
CF: We worked very closely with our beta testers so it would be very difficult to try and separate beta contributions/iterations from our own. A small example that comes to mind would be the little icons that appear above an item that can’t be purchased. They give the player an idea of what is needed (i.e., a beaker for 'research required' or a coin for 'credits required').
Gas giants, various space anomalies, and phase jump inhibitor behaviour were also suggested by beta testers.
We expect to have a long beta programme again. It worked out very well. We were very fortunate to have such a stable and balanced release and our beta testers deserve a lot of the credit!
Cabe64: Are you going to try cash in on the name and make a sequel like a number of developers would or are they going to leave it and work on something else?
CF: We will likely take a break from the franchise next and possibly revisit it in the future. We have to make way for our next title, which is expected to be something entirely new.
Squadexodus: You owe me mentoes. Discuss.
CF: I’ll bring your mentos, you bring my diet coke, and great fun will be had by all.
We'd like to thank Craig for his time for this rather extensive interview. If you still haven't had your fill of Sins of a Solar Empire yet though then you can check out our review of the game, or even enter our competition and have a chance to win a copy for yourself. Or you can just discuss it in the forums, if you prefer.
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