That’s the kind of stuff I’d like to hear more of when you have developers on the show. I’m not saying be combative; just keep it real. Brad certainly seemed game for that type of question, and I think other developers would too, as long as it was presented with respect.

Anyway, so while I admit that I’ve had some fun with Demigod, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to single players as a good “single player” game. It is what it is: a good multiplayer game that you can play by yourself against the AI. For most single players, that probably won’t be very satisfying.

Also, good reporting there to press Brad on the story behind Stardock doing the MOM sequel. I would have loved to see a Stardock-made Star Control 4, but at the same time, I’m not sure Stardock has the writing/humor talent to really do it justice. None of their games really display strong storytelling skills (or effort), and that’s a big part of SC2′s greatness. (Though in any case, it’d still be way better than SC3). Ideally, though, Toys For Bob should be allowed to make SC4.

Elemental sounds interesting. I’m glad to hear they’re scrapping the GalCiv economy model, which was a mess. It always struck me as something where they looked at how Civ did it, then changed things around a fair bit, tweaking things by “feel”, without really understanding how to balance it all. So in the forums you ended up finding out things like your “50%” economy bonus actually has a square root applied to it or that the population happiness bonus percentage is applied to a non-linear base morale step function so that a satisfied population at 23999 citizens is in riots at 24000.

Sorry of all this sounds like I’m bashing Stardock – I really do like theem as a compnay and I do like GC2, but I have been disappointed with SoaSE and now Demigod.

Lastly, if Bruce happens to read these comments: I laughed at your Easter reference.

Personally, I admire Stardock as a company and own most of the games they’ve made, but I feel that all of their games are missing and element (or elements) that keep them from being classics. Gal Civ shares the problems of other 4X space empire games, in that the early game drags on at a very slow pace and late game you can steam-roller your opposition. Sins is fun, but multi-hour multiplayer games are hard to coordinate, and I find that the races are not differentiated enough.

Master of Magic and Age of Wonders (which is a great MoM rip-off) are some of my all-time favorite strategy games, so I hope that Stardock manages to find that perfect balance of single player and multiplayer experience this time around.

Kudos to you guys for setting that interview up!