Still, he is as human (as far as a frog can be human, anyways ) as the rest of us.  Occasionally he gets a little melancholy and protective.  But I think the majority of people post on these forums because they care about Stardock, Frogboy and Elemental, and I think that is important too.

Often, the motives behind something someone does can be as important as what exactly they do.

Best regards,
Steven. 

I am not bitching, I do not take it as bitching. It might be, that my english is not as good as others so I can not express myself in polite manner. 

But as I said, there is always room for improvement and you should take it positively and not negatively. It should be something what can drive you further to improve your game more and more. That is what you have been doing until now, and its something what you are going to do for another few years. 

So why so serious? Nobody said, that the game suck, most of the people like this game so much, so do I. And most of the people find some things, which they prefer differently, but that is normal, because everyone is different. 

I believe you are really lucky, to have such a great community here. But if you get mad, everytime when someone pick one thing which they dont like, then you might die from heart attack really soon 

I don't think the goal of anyone here was simply to "whine", only to critique parts of the game we didn't like. I thought one of the points of a forum was to express opinions and offer constructive criticism. I am not a game developer and thus I cannot tell you I believe the game would be better if you modified x and y, but I can tell you of an aspect of the game I think needs improvement; not being a game developer, that is the way I try to help make games I like better, and in return I pay you for doing what I cannot. If I purchase your product that is my declaration that I support and enjoy your work. If you're looking for only endless praise of your work, you should stop calling us petty.

Hey, @all, relax

I think the devs are a bit under stress at this point, while gamers who have waited and debated over the game for so long understandably start to raise their expectations and notice every minor quibble.

Being pretty new around here and having preordered too late for the beta, I think I have kind of a fresh reaction to the whole thing (today's videos showed me what it's all really about for the first time!).

Frankly, the game looks terrific.

It's something totally new graphically, the UI looks good and serviceable (which is what I mostly care about), the strategic view oozes awesomeness. Sure it's clear from the intro and other minor thingies that the budget is not the same as Starcraft II, but who cares about that. I'm telling you, I don't ever care if it doesn't come out perfectly "balanced", all that matters to me is the fun factor.

And as an old MoM lover, this is the first time I get excited for a game of this kind. Even if it doesn't look perfect, it looks special.

Of course part of the excitement comes from knowing that the game will develop even after release, and hopefully there'll be even full, separate expansions that'll improve on the game significantly, if need be.

What I'm saying is: one step at a time! 

Thanks for showing great stuff in these walkthrough videos! During beta testing I was occasionally worried that the game would not be deep enough. But now I am convinced this will be a wonderful game. UI is certainly good enough. People who put a perfect UI as top priority when judging a game, well congratulations there's a lot of crap games out there with great UI but nothing of value beneath the looks.

i have to agree with frog on some points.  most people let fly on forums without abandon.  if you don't like something, you can be polite about it.  if your grandmother made a cake and it was good, but not great you wouldn't tell her it was "horrid", or laugh in her face.  i say this, if you don't agree on something then simply say i don't agree, AND then state what you think would be a better way.  honestly i am sometimes embarrassed by the gaming community because of their inconsiderateness. stardock is a great company and a friend to us gamers, show some respect.

The reason people say what they want on forums is because they are generally not held accountable for their actions.  It's pathetic and weak.

If any of you have made games/art you generally don't want to hear critics like "it sucks" that is not constructive at all, and generally not helpfull...there are ways to say things and get acrss your point in a better fashion.

I was the one complaining about the lack of UI scaling.  I didn't mean to make you crazy, Frogboy   It's just my one big complaint about what's looking to be a great game and I was surprised to finally see someone else mention it. 

Anyway, I've been in these betas since day one and I've been reading the dev journals ever since.  If it means anything, the in-depth look at Elemental's development has pretty much cemented Stardock as one of my favorite developers.  I'm liking the sound of Beta 5 as well, even though I probably won't get a chance to try it.

(BTW, if you value your sanity, stay as far away from the Blizzard forums as possible.  I've been reading them off and on for years and they're always a disaster.  Doesn't matter if the games are any good, it just comes with being a popular developer.

Which is precisely why I preordered this game before the first beta was even released, and upgraded to the LE the moment that became available. Almost all the other companies want to go for eye candy or fps/console type games nowadays. Nobody wants to work on games with the kinds of depth that this one possesses. Many of the games you cite for inspiration are the same ones I grew up loving and spending many hours of my life playing. There are not a lot of games anymore that can recapture the magic and wonder I had in playing those games in my youth. Elemental promises to be the best one in a long long time to do that.

It's time for you to go, ThinkProgress.

Nothing is more annoying than someone who argues that a person lacks some given quality while utterly relying on that very quality -- such as saying I am thin skinned but relying on me having a thick skin to not remove him.

We're pleased with how the game is coming along. We think most people will like it. Not all will of course. 

I think most people are conscious of how unusual it is for the actual developers to participate in these dicussions.  We enjoy interacting and working with the community. But at some point, some people seem to take that as an entitlement.  There are plenty of sites out there for people to participate complaining versus providing constructive criticism.

We're working hard, we're tired, and we hope people like what we make. And we won't let our forums become a haven for endless nitpicking. Go elsewhere for that.

Hes got a point some of you guys are whiny little bitches. Its the reason I quit going to the Sins of a Solar Empire forums (that and people can't seem to handle cold, brutal honesty.) The game will be good, if you don't like it or just want to moan. Then don't let the door hit you where the good lord split ya.

I appreciate your words. 

We love you guys. I mean that. What we're looking for is some awareness that we're 19 days from release and someone asking for a feature that is clearly way beyond scope at this stage is just incredibly demotivating.

Now, ThinkProgress says that people who are sensitive (or "thin skinned", which is something I think most people would agree is a pretty laughable assertion) to endless criticism shouldn't participate. But I have to ask the community, is that what you want?  Should the deveopment team, including myself, simply back off the forums entirely?

If the community wants the development team to participoate, a highly unusual event, in return we would hope that users can appreciate that and realize that this is a terrific opportunity to continue to make the game ever better between now, release, and beyond.

Thanks.  

The tactical battle UI needs a lot of work. The main UI area was where we had some new UI impleemnted. The tactical battle UI won't be in for another week.