Hey I am new here and a bit angry. How the heck have I never heard of this game nor seen the game name? I only know about you because of a Steam friend (Davor) who loves Master of Orion as much as me. I have for years, or more decades, seaarched for a game with Master of Orion feel. Stellaris fails, Swords of the Stars fails as do Galactic Civilization and all other games who think these games are about GRAPHICS! I took one look at the game Video and I was sold! Then I see your development.... You have: A roadmap, with details. not just word junk like Star Citizen are masters of Updated 2 times already and got more updates in the works 2 Expansions planned, which you give details about 2 DLC planned, which you give details about Your devs, puts in their dev diareries that you will keep updating the game with CONTENT, thats free. You answer direct questions from players. (Last time I saw devs do that, was Eve Online). I have not even played the game yet, and I can see that not only have you succeded in evolving Master Of Orion legacy. You improved on it, focused on game mechanics and left graphic for last.....since graphics can always get upgraded. Idiotic core base game, can not. I am a serious gamer, I read game news and I follow stuff on steam a lot. WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF YOU OR THIS GAME?!!?!?! The game AND the development company are both exactly what I have been looking for, for a long time. I happen to know the IT manager of the company that runs Stellaris. I am gonna call him in 30 mins (8:30 am swedish time) and ask why Stellaris devs cant do half the things you guys are doing. This is the first time I ever say this. Thanks for a great game I am buying right now! And havnt played yet!
Well, probably because there's almost no sites that cover 4x games, and the one that did, Explorminate, basically lost interest in 4x games and started covering everything but 4x games. They seem to have gotten better, but are still seemingly lukewarmish about them, in favor more of stuff like Stellaris.
I hear ye. But this is a company who should brag! They actually do stuff they promise, and look at the steam reviews.....vastly possitive.....Steam reviews are normally negative by default. HEY YOU Company dudes! Tell journalists that you are the next Master Of Orion! You succedeed where so many have failed!
It would have more impact if they discover that on their own, or others tell them... but I understand the spirit of your compliment... and I agree with you. Compliments on your signature by the way, it is unfortunate that today many have lost sight of that fine principle.
Thank you sir. It's been my signature since I Was in school and read about freedome of speach. I have gotten in troubble more times then I can count, for defending that. =) -------- Game journalists today does not discover anything on their own. They follow twitter and others, to know what to write about. This company needs to do the discusting thing that all sales people been doing for 1000s years. Brag. You are the best. In this case, its true! The description about the game, whats it is inspired by and at launch, you shows proof what you deliver. And Im one of those nerds who attually check what devs promised in Beta, and what exuce the management has, for making liers out of the devs. (My experience is that devs dont lie as much as people think. They simply get overruled by the businesside. Often for very short sighted reasons I work as an IT solution provider and have done so the past 20 years.....which is why I claim to know things. The steam area for the game is awesome! Postings there are daily, and the game pops up on several steam store "features" now. What I am missing, if I may be so bold? This is news. Its released. The roadmap looks awesome. Steam reviews are good. The base game have nailed several things that people all agree you succeded with. The only negative, is the graphics people been whining about. However, the graphics is very items based, no? Every ship, button, whatever, is an image that can be replaced, yes? So when you start earning the money you deserve, I bet you even got planned to hire one of two of those magicians who can create fantastic pics, from nowhere! What I just said, I wanna see on https://www.pcgamer.com/ https://uk.ign.com/ And most importantly on: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ Notice how they ripped apart several 4k games, with the comment "They focused all on graphics". The only really good 4k game out right now, is Civ 6. No surprice, they both sell tons and got tons. But its not space! I know that its 10000 things we have no clue about regarding a developers buisiness. I am selfish here and wants you to sell a lot more, so your investors gives the go to give more cash to the game = awesome for us players. Will I get kicked out here if I simply email specfic game journalists, and point them here? I mean, you made it easy to see proper info. What you promised, what you delivered, what you plan to do. Oh, and you have proper forums. These are outstanding. Paradax got simular forums, but not as good as these. Sorry for the wall of text, lol. "-64kb ram is enough for everyone"
Ummmm.... what? We haven't gone anywhere, nor have we lost interest in 4X games. The weekly exchange podcast continues every week and has been without missing a week for like 3+ years. Articles have slowed down mostly as a consequence of staff getting busy with IRL stuff. But we just posted a review of ISG on launch day, had done Q&A's with the developer, did a preview gameplay article. Etc. https://explorminate.net/2019/07/25/interstellar-space-genesis-review/ Yes we do, and will continue to do, small reviews/articles of non-4X games. These tend to be still within the strategy/tactics realm. I have a running tradition of reviewing FPS games for April Fools.
@Kurnn, it is great that you have such enthusiasm for ISG. It definitely has a MOO2 feel in it. I couldn't find a predecessor of MOO2 for years. Graphics for me doesn't matter, real time combat doesn't matter. What matters for me is if the game is addictive, can I play it over and over again from the beginning and does it have A.I. that it smart enough. I am curious about you opinion after you spend couple of days with ISG Please share it here, as I am not using steam and never will.
Your wish.....is my.......command! I will most likely say exectly what you just said. Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars, was pretty damn good. But the company sold a DLC then took off. They left modding very open and that games only been surviving on the shoulders of 2 modders. I say so far Interstellar Space ticks the boxes that MoO lacked. However, MoO has a few things that neither endless space, Stellaris or I can see here. Races with unique personality and AI. AI reacting to situations and more races. What MoO lacked, is the combat and choices in tech for ships. This game Ticks those boxxes better then stellaris. Regarding steam, Its been so good to me that I only use that. Their forums are not good, but all my games in one place. No need to keep a cd, and the install/uninstall is muuuuuuuch better then what most games sends with as installer themselves. And, steam is pretty damn good at spreading game names to quite a lot of gamers. Win-Win for steam and the company. I will get back to you!
No sir, you are free to do as you please, You are a fan expressing an opinion, if the devs do it... it could be looked upon cynically, if we mods/volunteers do it, the same. In a sense I envy your freedom of choice. We have certain constraints, chains if you will, they may be made of silk, but they are chains none the less. ROFL
This and more... you personally offered invaluable help and suggestions along the way, you helped shape this game with just as much passion as the rest of us. You as a reviewer deserve the same praise that Adam is getting as a dev imho... and a big thank you!
Hi @Kurnn, thanks a lot for the kind words, I appreciate it. As for why you haven't heard about this game, as @DiscoJer has said there are very few sites covering 4X games. We used to do it in the SpaceSector.com days, then eXplorminate.net appeared and is the current go to to all things 4X, there's SpaceGameJunkie.com but not much else. I agree with everything you said. We answer directly to our customers, we're open and transparent, those are things we value deeply as a company. We have a solid base game. Steam reviews are great! Many people agree that this is MoO2 2.5, what MoO3 or MoO4 should have been for them (which is what we have proposed to do, so mission accomplished!). We have a plan (extensive post-release support, DLC, expansions, and everyone benefits from all the improvements made to the game). The graphics can and will be improved in several areas. And, there's lots of potential to expand and enhance the game to make it one of the best turn-based 4X games ever. So, why haven't you heard of the game before, and what can we do? As @Konstantine has said, I think the impact would be far greater if the big press realized how great the game is by people outside the development sphere, and the direct community around it that has been contributing to the game for years. People like you can make a world of difference. Your enthusiasm can really help capture their attention. If you say that you have contacts in the industry, then by all means please spread the good word, because I believe the game really deserves more exposure, so that people like you, old-school gamers, who loved classic strategy and 4X games could enjoy playing and being part of this community for many years to come. We did our homework and hired a marketing agency that sent (very good) press releases to the press. I myself have contacted many people in the industry, including the sites you mentioned (e.g. PC Gamer, IGN, RPS, and several others), but I didn't hear from most of them and the few that replied said that they didn't know if they had the staff to do it, etc. I was sad about that but I understand that that's just the way it is. We're 100% indie, new and tiny. We say we're releasing a "MoO2 spiritual successor". We know how the press reacts to these sorts of things these days. Personally, I think the "oh no, yet again a MoO2 clone/spiritual successor" statement is deeply flawed. I don't think there were space 4X games that have come out since MoO2 that really scratched the itch of the classics, of what made Master of Orion great fun. I know because I played, reviewed or followed most of them in the SpaceSector.com days, and I think ISG is that game, and more. That said, I understand 4X gamers come to 4X games for different reasons, and that some may prefer graphics, immersion and stories over deep gameplay. However, I'd argue that you can generate immersion and stories, even more powerful ones, from a sandbox 4X game if the gameplay is deep, fun and offers you many interesting decisions. Graphics can always be improved very fast after the gameplay is good, but the opposite not so much, as I think we can all agree. So, I guess we're in the hands of the fans now. People like you and your friend Davor, which I understand is also a huge Master of Orion fan. We need your help to get the good word out to other places where the game isn't reaching because people dismiss us too easily without giving us a proper chance. It's the fans that will dictate the fate of Praxis Games. We did this game to the fans and we intend to keep doing the games that the fans want us to make for many years to come. We want to offer a community-driven "games together" friendly and mature approach to games development, where gameplay is the focus (graphics can and will come later) and where people feel they take part in the shaping of their favorite games and feel their voice is heard. Our focus is strategy and 4X games with RPG elements. I believe we accomplished our primary goal with the release of ISG, and now we'll keep expanding the game and start to work on game 2 at the same time (budget allows - depending also on the game's financial success). I hope the game is picked at some point by bigger influencers and outlets. In one way it's good they didn't pick us up at release because the game needed a few patches before it could stabilize and be enjoyable for everybody (e.g. people with higher resolution monitors seem pleased now). So, I'm sure when they will pick up the game it will be an even stabler and polished build, so I think everything will happen naturally and I'm confident ISG will be a great success. I believe that after the 2nd expansion the Interstellar Space series has the potencial to be one of the best turn-based space 4X experiences in the market, if not the best.
