Distant Worlds: Universe Announced!

[Erik Rutins]

No problem...

[Erik Rutins]

If you never got a chance to have a full-scale war against the Shakturi before, you will get more than your money's worth with the Ancient Galaxy storyline...

[Erik Rutins]

Two world destroyers under construction in the same system...

[tjhkkr]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Hi everyone,
There will also be a big announcement relating to DWU at that event, if not before.
We also have some AARs and a review of the new modding capabilities from one of our testers/modders in the works and we do plan on releasing the modding guide in whole or part before the release to help explain the new modding features.
Regards,
- Erik

[8D] [:)]

[tjhkkr]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Another curiosity...

The colors look much brighter...

[tjhkkr]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
If you never got a chance to have a full-scale war against the Shakturi before, you will get more than your money's worth with the Ancient Galaxy storyline...

Sweet SAVANNAH: anyone got a smart bomb, or maybe a death star or two...

[tjhkkr]

I was planning to turn the Shakturi into the Sith... that would be a kind of a frightening amount of ships!

[hewwo]

Cool new screenshots, and I'm looking forward to this a lot:)

[Icemania]

Shakturi on the rampage, cool!

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
First, there has not been a black hole of information. Universe has been announced, features posted with product page, press releases sent out with screenshots. There is information on what the release contains available to you.

We know what Matrix has announced.

There are more than a few of us that actively track games of interest. We watch what your competitors are doing and it is self-evident that you are being vastly outperformed ... but this doesn't seem to be recognised by Matrix.

For Stardrive there is recent news on IGN and PC Gamer and there has been a variety of news and reviews on various major gaming sites throughout. On the Stardrive website there is routine discussion with the community over features and video development logs.

For Galactic Civilisations there is a massive range of news on many major gaming sites, significant community discussion over features and a smorgasboard of materials available on their website.

Even my favourite mod is outperforming Matrix. With Star Trek Armada 3 for Sins of a Solar Empire I can go to their mod website and see screenshots every other day with development videos and various other hints in posts. They even scored a PC Gamer article.

In contrast for Distant Worlds, there is no news on major sites, there are no development logs and there is no discussion with the general community over features (beyond those few people you have supporting directly). All we have are some press releases/announcements that will do little to raise awareness as they have not penetrated any major gaming site / social media.

Until Matrix penetrates the broader audience I'll remain constructively critical.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
In addition, for over a month now we've had preview copies out and available to the press, but we cannot force a preview to appear.

I can find dozens of reviews for Stardrive, Galactic Civilisations and Endless Space all over major gaming sites and social media with large subscriber bases. For Distant Worlds there is very little in comparison (beyond the fantastic but not major Space Sector). Again your competitors are vastly outperforming you. You can't force it but clearly something is not working, this a core function of what a Publisher should be delivering.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
The "Home of Wargamers" event actually has a lot of mainstream press attending that love games just like DW and will give it good exposure and coverage. You should not assume that this event is focused on a niche audience. We're also promoting games like our upcoming Warhammer 40k release there.

Given the almost complete lack of mainstream coverage Distant Worlds has had to date and the comments I made earlier, some scepticism should be understandable. It would be interesting to know who you actually have attending from mainstream gaming media?

The niche title of the event is terrible if you want to promote this to a mainstream audience. Indeed in the promotional material for this event I can't even find Distant Worlds mentioned and as you have said it's only a couple of weeks away. I hope it's indeed more effective that it appears prima facie.

Why wasn't Distant Worlds presented at the Game Developers Conference? This seems like a much better opportunity to Network with the media.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
We've supported DW from the start with more than most publishers would provide. We care about Elliot as well and want him to succeed as much as possible. I hope you will all be a bit more patient and determine how we've done in terms of raising awareness once DW Universe is actually released. I apologize for the delays with this release, but while some of that has been on the development side, some if it has also been specifically to allow more time for the marketing to happen as planned.

Your support to help Elliot develop the game has been terrific.

If you manage to get in the ballpark of marking performance of your competitors and improve the effectiveness of your Marketing then I'll be the first to praise Matrix.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
The best thing you all could do is to help us spread the word among your friends and fellow gamers if you want DW to succeed, rather than discussing boycotts because you disagree with the promotion to date.

I object to any sort of boycott and strongly encourage the community to resist any such calling.

There are plenty of us that mention Distant Worlds elsewhere already. We would be more effective in helping if more than a handful of people in the mainstream community had even heard of Distant Worlds ...

[whiran]

ORIGINAL: Icemania

In contrast for Distant Worlds, there is no news on major sites, there are no development logs and there is no discussion with the general community over features (beyond those few people you have supporting directly). All we have are some press releases/announcements that will do little to raise awareness as they have not penetrated any major gaming site / social media.

It's tough to have an engaged and excited fanbase when all that is "released" are small tidbits and followed by "we'll be releasing more information soon." That soon turns out being a long passage of no information at all which drains the enthusiasm from the more ardent of fans.

ORIGINAL: Icemania
The niche title of the event is terrible if you want to promote this to a mainstream audience. Indeed in the promotional material for this event I can't even find Distant Worlds mentioned and as you have said it's only a couple of weeks away. I hope it's indeed more effective that it appears prima facie.

Why wasn't Distant Worlds presented at the Game Developers Conference? This seems like a much better opportunity to Network with the media.

Because Matrix / Slitherine doesn't seem capable of maintaining multiple effective marketing campaigns. I remember when Pandora was in development it caught my attention. I tried to find out more about that game and it was a void of information. Distant Worlds is clearly not a priority for Matrix/Slitherine. If it were they could have added it to the announcements of the line-ups for this "Home of Wargamers" event.

The Game Developers Conference would have been a perfect location for Distant Worlds (and some of the other titles in the Matrix/Slitherine stable) but... it's not something Matrix/Slitherine seems interested in doing. They appear to be happy with what they are doing and all the power to them for it.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
The best thing you all could do is to help us spread the word among your friends and fellow gamers if you want DW to succeed, rather than discussing boycotts because you disagree with the promotion to date.

Why would your core and most ardent fans do this when they are the ones who are getting upset and frustrated by your lack of attention towards them? Some of your die-hard fans are the ones who are getting to the point of suggesting a boycott. That should tell you something about your community management and marketing efforts.

Happy and excited customers spread the good news of a product.

Upset and frustrated customers spread the bad word faster.

You're breeding more and more of the latter with the significant lack of information and attention towards this product. These are fans who -want- to help and support and cheer for their beloved product and Matrix/Slitherine is actively working against that.

Take a moment and think about this. This is a game that people seem to fall in love with and many have spent over a hundred dollars on. That's GREAT! But... then you have these same people getting more and more upset, frustrated, and annoyed over time instead of getting more and more excited. That's a total and complete failure on the part of the publisher.

You are turning your greatest strength into some of your most vocal detractors instead of harnessing all of that incredible goodwill and having them champion the cause. All because you, as a publisher, are failing to provide them with what they want: more information, news, and attention about the coming.. whatever it is. I'd say expansion but it doesn't really seem like it will be one. Large pay-for patch-like thing for modders maybe? Or maybe for one modder since that appears to be all there is for the game. I don't follow the game -that- closely so I'm not sure. From what I have seen I am only aware of one modder so this uhh.. extra cost element of the game is for him. Or something. I don't know. There's not enough information to really judge.

[ASHBERY76]

Can we have a separate sub forum for matrix marketing and steam topics?.This whole subject is too dominant in these boards and frankly a boring waste of time.

[feygan]

Part of the issue of information delivery over DW:U is also to do with timing. It may well be just bad luck and pure coincidence, but for the majority of all real information given out on this forum there has been a disturbing pattern.

1. Forum members ask questions and get at best a passing remark about "we will have more information soon"
2. Soon passes and gets left behind in the horizon.
3. Forum members begin throwing accusations of bad publicity and terrible marketing around directing them at Matrix games going up to and including threats of boycotting the company and telling others to do likewise.
4. Matrix Games offers up some new information that seems to have existed for some time based upon previous Matrix Games statements.
5. Repeat steps 1-5.

If this was a first time thing and a new company with a new game then it would just get considered teething issues. But when things follow a pattern like that it starts to look like a deliberate thing and then when such claims get denied it starts to annoy folks, no one likes the feeling they are being lied to. I honestly hope it is just sheer coincidence but when something quacks and walks like a duck a majority of people will say it's a duck.

Leave reacting to bad situations after they happen to inept governments and satanic firms like EA. Start taking a proactive approach and the ill feelings will fall like moths at a BBQ.

[Simulation01]

I thought this was real nice and, I posted it on the forums for M.O.R.E. a few minutes ago. If it were accompanied by links to images and content information that would be fantastic.

[Simulation01]

I would caution my friends to recognize that this is the last expansion in the line and is a nod to modders and would be modders.

This is clearing the way for Distant Worlds 2 I'm assuming and, I think a lot of your requests for information should be directed at that target now.

"Old soldiers never die....they just fade away...." So it is with Distant Worlds 1.

[tjhkkr]

Did anyone see the screen 'desolate moon project'...
That could be anything from the DW version of Death Star, or maybe even something like the DW version of project Genesis...
Kind of cook![;)][:)]

[Baleur]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

I respectfully disagree. You guys are jumping to all kinds of conclusions based on limited information. It's fair to criticize constructively and suggest a different approach, but this is getting over the top. First, there has not been a black hole of information. Universe has been announced, features posted with product page, press releases sent out with screenshots. There is information on what the release contains available to you.

In addition, for over a month now we've had preview copies out and available to the press, but we cannot force a preview to appear.

The "Home of Wargamers" event actually has a lot of mainstream press attending that love games just like DW and will give it good exposure and coverage. You should not assume that this event is focused on a niche audience. We're also promoting games like our upcoming Warhammer 40k release there.

We've supported DW from the start with more than most publishers would provide. We care about Elliot as well and want him to succeed as much as possible. I hope you will all be a bit more patient and determine how we've done in terms of raising awareness once DW Universe is actually released. I apologize for the delays with this release, but while some of that has been on the development side, some if it has also been specifically to allow more time for the marketing to happen as planned.

The best thing you all could do is to help us spread the word among your friends and fellow gamers if you want DW to succeed, rather than discussing boycotts because you disagree with the promotion to date.

Regards,

- Erik

Or, as something i've made several posts the past years on these forums about, you could do something yourself to promote the game other than noname press releases that nobody except people who subscribe to the Matrix Games email newsletter will see..
It's your game, it's your success (or not, depending on sales). It's not our job to do this, we're fans yes, but we're also the customers.
It's ridiculous to rely 100% on your paying customers to do the PR work for you as well.

I've said it a thousand times on these forums already, and it has always been met with hostility (which is baffling to me considering how much i praised the game!).
1. Get the game on Steam. Period. There are awful shit games, literally scams that manage to get on steam. I find it very hard to believe that this game could not get on steam if you actually tried.
2. Do something, anything, to promote the game OUTSIDE of Matrix Games fans. Send preview copies to popular youtubers (those covering strategy games). Ask them to make a video on the game. Doesn't cost a dime.
3. Run some youtube video ads, target users who already searched for "4x space" games and the like. It's quite simple and doesnt cost a fortune if you narrow the target audience.

In short, do SOMETHING! I love this game to death and imo it's pretty much the best 4x space game to ever have been released, period. Far better than X Rebirth (can we agree on that?), even surpassing Galciv 2 and Moo.
But nobody will know this if you don't do something YOURSELF (as in the company) to promote the game. It's not our job. Don't chill back and rely on your fans to do the work.
Don't you want the game to sell even better? Heck if it was on steam and had a little 10% release day sale, DWU could possibly sell more than it already has up to this point since the first initial release!
Don't you want that? You don't want to secure more funding for the sequel and grow the community and fanbase?
As an indie developer you MUST have a clue about the modern climate we live in where a single popular youtube video or twitch stream can result in thousands upon thousands of extra sales. Surely? Surely you are aware of this?

You don't want that? Because i don't see any other reason for why this game has been sitting on such apathetic shoulders for the past years.
It's not a niche game that "not many people like". This is 2014, if the developers are actually gamers themselves they would know this.
It would sell like nuts on Steam, because many mainstream gamers (who DO love 4x space games) have never ever heard of this game, and its appearance on Steam would spread the word and success faster than it has since the first release, guaranteed.
It feels like Dwarf Fortress, honestly. An incredible game that is just sitting idle because the developers don't understand what they are sitting on, don't understand the potential success or perhaps simply don't have any ambition what so ever to grow it further.
It makes me sad. It makes anyone sad to see a complete and utter gem being neglected by "parents" who don't realize the potential and don't have the ambition to capitalize on it.

[feygan]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Well that pretty much nailed it and did the job of Matrix Games for them, that alone should earn him/her free Romulan ale for life with the amount of potential revenue they generated for the company.

[Spidey]

No offense, but while I'm not so far awed by the marketing effort of Universe, I really don't care much for that whole "if it was on Steam then everybody would buy it" line of reasoning either. It being on Steam, in and of itself, would not do much to hype the game. The game still needs a popularity driver. People wouldn't buy the game at its current price just because they see that now there's game number 3147 called "Distant Worlds" which they don't know the first thing about.

There has to be some event that triggers interest in the first place, and right now I'm not sure what that would be. But something is needed and I suspect that's why some of us are poking at Matrix every now and again, offering friendly (and occasionally not so friendly) encouragements.

That aside, I really wish Matrix would put together a video of that Shakturi fleet we've seen in those screenshots getting into a fight with a similarly sized alliance fleet, with torpedos and beams lighting up all over the place, and possibly with a significant third party caught in the periphery. Maybe with an orchestral build-up and some cheesy Rammstein - Feuer Frei during the fireworks? I mean, wouldn't that be a hilarious youtube video? Is there any better way of showing "epicness" than by having fleets with hundreds of ships and scores of capital ships tear each other apart?

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76
Can we have a separate sub forum for matrix marketing and steam topics?.This whole subject is too dominant in these boards and frankly a boring waste of time.

Great idea ... a one stop shop to quickly find all the most controversial posts in the Distant Worlds Forum! [:D]

ORIGINAL: Simulation01

I would caution my friends to recognize that this is the last expansion in the line and is a nod to modders and would be modders.

This is clearing the way for Distant Worlds 2 I'm assuming and, I think a lot of your requests for information should be directed at that target now.

"Old soldiers never die....they just fade away...." So it is with Distant Worlds 1.

We recognise that but DWU is not released yet. Are there any signs that we will not have the same discussion for Distant Worlds 2? Doing a better job raising awareness could mean more modders and more quality mods for DWU, more interesting forum discussions and the larger base might justify a higher budget for Distant Worlds 2 development.