Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar - Character Contest

Ooh... exciting development! It's still hard waiting though... Heh.

Yes, I've been refreshing every 10 minutes since yesterday to see when the announcement would be made. I enjoyed reading through all of the entries.

I've had my fingers constantly crossed for AGES. When I saw this post I almost exploded, until I read what it actually said.  

I can't decide which I'd be more excited about- getting a free copy of DA, or getting my character into it.

The tension is killing me.  

Some of the concepts submitted are so interesting that they've inspired some new features to be added to the expansion pack.

We like features!

For me it would definitely be getting my character in the game. I was disappointed that I went on vacation just after they made the announcement. I think my entry was still fairly good even if it was rushed. It was a fun contest!

Because there were so many good entries, we're going to expand the prizes beyond what we had originally said so that there will be more people receiving prizes. Also, because some of the ideas are so good and interesting, I'm seeing how much of the story can be altered and adding some new specific features in order to put them in. Some of the concepts submitted are so interesting that they've inspired some new features to be added to the expansion pack.

Sweet! After that math exam I just took, this is some most excelent news. More prizes, more features, more of our stuff going into the expansion pack. Just awesome! Also way to go us for inspiring our favorite developers!

Yes, I've been refreshing every 10 minutes since yesterday to see when the announcement would be made.

The tension is killing me.

Same here on both accounts. I can't wait! My eyes will be glued to the site for the rest of the night.

Because there were so many good entries, we're going to expand the prizes beyond what we had originally said so that there will be more people receiving prizes.

Always a good thing, really want to see who is picked now.

I have literally been refreshing the page every 5 minutes for the past 2 days...I cant wait for the results. Its always nice to be a contribution to a big game

Some of the concepts submitted are so interesting that they've inspired some new features to be added to the expansion pack.

OOH! I KNOW! IT'S ALL CLEAR NOW!

You've decided to incorporate the giant space-arse with tentacles that I suggested, right? I knew I was onto a winner there. Awesome!

You've decided to incorporate the giant space-arse with tentacles that I suggested, right? I knew I was onto a winner there. Awesome!

Aw man... Now why didn't I think of that.

You've decided to incorporate the giant space-arse with tentacles that I suggested, right? I knew I was onto a winner there. Awesome!

I think you got the idea from Megas XLR(tv show).
It wasn't arse shaped but its too close to be a coincidence.

I hope Lok'tar/Ik'tar wins.

Also, I am suspecting that in some of the characters, people have been
en-corporating their own names. Or anagrams of their names cuz some of them are jumbled Janes, Johns and Jims, etc.

Nah, it's based on a short story I wrote about my college lecturer years ago. He was a demon with penis-tentacles and the entrance to his realm was a giant arse. That's why in the comp thread I called it Bob. It's an old idea though, they did it in Shadow Raiders and the old Transformers movie too.

okay, that right there makes me hope they did NOT put that one in. My policy is, no tentacles, no furries

okay, that right there makes me hope they did NOT put that one in. My policy is, no tentacles, no furries

Unfourtionately we won't find out what they did or did not put in until they finally announce the winners. Which will hopefully be soon. They did say today at the latest.

Yeah, Its been even worse for me, the waiting that is. Im sick today, so ive had the 5 extra hours of mind-racking waiting to do...

Ouch. Hope you feel better though. The waiting is killing me to. They must be having some real discussion going on over the entries if they are taking this long. either that or they are concentrating on their work. Either way we will get the results. We just need to be patient, though it is hard at times.

So. When are the results gonna be announced? Its thursday and its 4:30 PDT already..

Tom Petty was right... the waiting really is the hardest part.

But it's easy to forget that Stardock is not EA Games. The GalCiv team is (IIRC) six or seven developers in the middle of a massive expansion, and probably already burning the midnight oil. And now reworking a storyline and deciding if new features can/should be implemented. A challenging task if ever there was one, especially with October looming.

But since we're all here (and checking the forum every 30 minutes or so ), I'd like to say that, after reading through all the entries, I was struck by how creative and intelligent the fan base for this game is. Everything entered was really creative and well thought out (in this layman's opinion). And good luck to everyone who entered!

Cheers,

Shane

EDIT: Ah... deadline changed to end of day Friday. That's cool... we'll know tomorrow.

But it's easy to forget that Stardock is not EA Games. The GalCiv team is (IIRC) six or seven developers in the middle of a massive expansion, and probably already burning the midnight oil. And now reworking a storyline and deciding if new features can/should be implemented. A challenging task if ever there was one, especially with October looming.

You make a very good point there, and I really don't blame our friends at Stardock for taking so long with the results. They have some big decisions to make and alot of work to do on Dark Avatar before it is ready.

The waiting will only make it all the sweeter once the results finally come in. For the most part I believe we have been pretty patient, though very very anxious, and refreshing the page every 5 seconds to see if the results are up yet. We may have been curious as to why the results weren't up yet, but never pushy or insensitive about it, and when they finally gave us an update it only made me more anxious. Just having the chance to help make Galciv2 a better game is a reward for me, winning would be nice too, but at this point I have no idea how things are going to turn out.

And good luck to everyone who entered!

Yes good luck to everyone!

Well, now we get to wait another day! Oh well, Its just nice knowing how much effort they're putting into these decisions

We have the winners pretty much finalized now. We've been discussing how these things can be incorporated and to what level they can be incorporated into the game.

But there may be some repricussions. How would players feel about a public beta of Dark Avatar even if that means delaying the official release? What if it meant more features?

For the record I would be all for it. It may delay the releace for a bit but if it makes the game better for everyone how could I said no. I believe I saw some others asking for a beta on another thread to.

A public beta would be really awesome. It would mean more features, AND it would technically hold us over until the actual release. So in other words, Im all for it. Now tell us who won!!

Take your time. In my years as a gamer, I've seen too many games rush to production, cuting important features or needing massive patches.

I have to agree. I'll always be happy to wait for a stronger, more robust game than one which simply hits its shipping date.

Additionally, a public beta tends to catch any bugs that manage to hide through playtesting (we players can do some seriously wacky stuff ), while allowing the testers to feel they've contributed to the project.

I'm all for it.