Sins, Demigod, Brad Wardell and Stardock

Ive been looking over some of the recently released and up and coming games that are being published by Stardock, and there are some really impressive titles. For those of you who don't stop by often, I have frequently talked about the publisher/developer relationship and how it makes it very difficult for developers to survive.

To that end, Brad Wardell could be one of the most important people in pc gaming today. Though Stardock is small compared to Activision/Blizzard or the upcoming Square Enix/Eidos (yes, that merger is going through) they put a considerable effort into what they publish. Along with things like the Gamers Bill of rights and their digital distribution service Impulse, Wardell wowed the industry buy publishing Sins of a Solar Empire and selling 600,000 copies on a budget of one million dollars, 100,000 of those being delivered via Impulse. This allowed him to develop a better long term relationship with his clients, along with Ironclad Studios getting a far better deal than the 9% cut that EA would have offered.

This attracted the attention of Chris Taylor, a veteran developer and the CEO of Gas Powered Games, who broke with Activision and went with Stardock for his upcoming rpg/rts title Demigod. He actually wanted to shift all of his business over, but Stardocks infrastructure couldn't handle all 3 of his titles at once. If enough developers start seeking options likes this, hopefully larger publishers will begin to re-examine their approach.

Anyway, I did want to mention a couple of games:

Ironclad Studios did a fantastic job on Sins of a Solar Empire, a space based empire builing real time strategy game. With truly stunning graphics, excellent gameplay and a game that is scalable (based on map size) to last either hours or as short as twenty minutes. It also won several games sites Game of the Year award. I mention this because they just released an expansion called Entrenchment, which is exclusively available through Impulse for a price of $10, a welcome change in itself. Anyway, here is a video with actual in game footage. Yes, it really looks like this.




I also wanted to mention show off Demigod, which is coming out next month. Here is a description taken via their site:

"Demigod is a real-time, tactical strategy game that includes extensive role-playing elements. Choose from several Demigods, each poised for battle with their own unique capabilities and awe-inspiring powers. Vanquish other would-be gods as you gain levels, increase in power, unlock the power of mystic artifacts and slowly battle your way closer to joining the Pantheon."