PAX Hands-On: Stardock

The big focus for Stardock this year was the unveiling of their Gamer’s Bill of Rights, a declaration of rights that every PC gamer should have. Some of the key tenets include the right to return games that don’t work, the right to a game that is actually finished, and that publishers refrain from installing harmful DRM measures. While other publishers have yet to sign on to Stardock’s bill, it will be interesting to see how this affects their business.

The publisher also had a few of their upcoming games on display at their booth, and I spent a few minutes with Gas Powered Games’ Demigod and the Sins of a Solar Empire microexpansions. Read on for my thoughts.

Demigod

In Gas Powered Games’ new RPG/RTS hybrid, you take on the role of a demigod who seeks to seize the power of a full-blown god. While Demigod is still fundamentally a real-time strategy game, it plays more like a Diablo-style RPG. You have troops that support you, but generally can’t control them. Instead, you focus on moving around your demigod and gaining experience while capturing strategic map points. To win, you must protect your troops and lead them to the enemy’s stronghold.

There are a total of eight demigods that you can choose from. In the demo, I played as the Archangel Regulus. Regulus is an extremely powerful sniper. He can also lay fields of explosives. Some of the others have powerful area-of-effect abilities. A few of the other demigods that we spotted include the Rook (a giant golem), Torchbearer (a fire mage), the Unclean Beast (an oozing hulk), Queen of Thorns (Poison Ivy on drugs), and an unnamed vampire lord.

Demigod has put a major emphasis on the multiplayer, and the entire game can be played in co-op. To facilitate the multiplayer focus, the developers focused on quick matches. The average game will take fifteen minutes, and the longest level is an hour long. There are a total of eight maps for players to choose from.

The controls were pretty easy to pick up, and the focus on quick, frantic games made for a great multiplayer experience. While playing, I felt like one person thrust into a chaotic battlefield, which is an interesting change from the typical detached RTS experience. Anyone looking for a cool new RTS experience should give Demigod a look when it hits in the first quarter of 2009. Those of you who are really excited about the game can get their hands on a beta this month by preordering through the official website.

Sins of a Solar Empire Microexpansions

Sins of a Solar Empire has been a stunning success for Ironclad and Stardock, having passed the 500,000 unit mark a couple of weeks ago. A large part of that success? The attitude that Stardock has towards players. Rather than treat every potential customer as a criminal, the publisher made the decision to not include any DRM measures on the game. The pirates still stole the game, but end result was that Stardock made more money from grateful customers.

Now, the developers are putting out a series of microexpansions based on ideas submitted by the fan community. The first includes new starbase units that can protect planets. These starbases are gargantuan structures that will completely change how both the builder and the opponent approach a battle. Some of the other features that we will see in the microexpansions include new turret types, long-range upgrades, space minefields, and new ways to create defense bottlenecks.

All of these should be welcome additions for fans of the game. All three microexpansions will be available through digital download for $10 each with an eventual retail release of all three on one disc. The first microexpansion, Entrenchment, is scheduled for a late November release.