Join Rob, Nate and Oliver as they discuss the Interstellar Space: Genesis review. We discuss what was left on the cutting-room floor and where this game is headed. Come and listen to what we think about the first try from Praxis Studios.
Music for eXplorminate by Mangadrive
Show Notes:
- Interstellar Space Genesis Steam page
- Interstellar Space: Genesis Review
- Master of Orion 2 Steam page
- Endless Space 2 Steam page
- Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition Steam page
- Stellaris Steam page
- Galactic Civilizations III Steam page
- Stars in Shadow Steam page
- Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars Steam page
- Endless Space Steam page
- Bejeweled 3 Steam page
- XCOM 2 Steam page
- Thea 2: The Shattering Steam page
- Age of Wonders: Planetfall Steam page
- Civilization 6 Steam page
- Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War Steam page
- Endless Legend Steam page
Unless there is another way I am not seeing, increasing the difficulty of colonizing other planets is probably only going to be achieved by increasing the military requirements or by slowing down early production rates on new planets. The first will end up becoming just another form of slow start. The second will result in a crawl feeling to expansion.
I don’t think the solution to a slow early game is making if more difficult somewhere else. The only possible solution is just making it faster.
However…
I dunno… I have yet to play IS:G. And hearing that this would have been a blockbuster some 10 or 15 years ago only makes me want to play it more, because frankly between then and now nothing has improved whatsoever other than those gameplay features not related to the 4x genre — like aesthetics or rich lore. To this day, I still adhere to Oliver’s last year article. Like in 2018, nothing really changed since then.
So what bothers me is knowing that the developer is listening to complaints about a slow start, or aesthetics, or lack of factions and promising to address them. What I would really like the developer to listen to is the fact that maybe he needs to make a 4x game that tries to be more than that. Because THAT is what everyone else is doing.
What about victory conditions revamping, or remove them entirely? What about gameplay progression events and mechanics that ensure you are always playing a strategy game from start to finish? This is where I would like the pressure directed at developers was.
My second to last paragraph reads the wrong way. Let me rephrase:
[…]What I would really like the developer to listen is the fact that maybe he needs to make a 4x game that tries to be more than just those things. Because those things is what everyone else is already doing. And no benefit to gameplay came out of it.
Yes, I share your views.
I wasn’t totally content with there we landed during this episode. I think it came across as a little negative – which from a certain point of view I think is justified. But at the same time – for me – fancy graphics or “asymmetry for the same of asymmetry” that wrap around pretty bland gameplay (MoO: CTS) or easily exploited gameplay (ES2), doens’t matter to me much at all. For others, they will.
Look at it this way – from a pure mechanical system design, I’ve had the fewest actual complaints about ISG than any other space 4X game of the past many years. The game works and is bug free, and every system is frankly at or above average from a design standpoint. The pacing issue is a concern of perception and initial impression, but it goes away when you figure the game out more.
If you can look past the pacing and rougher aesthetics, the question then is really if sticking close to a traditional 4X game design is going to be of interest or not. If it is – then ISG is a great fit. If you’re tired of the traditional design – as i suspect Rob and Nate are (and me to some extent), then ISG might be a miss.
Rob or Nate, if I can put words in their mouth, might advocate that the game needs to be more aesthetically engaging or have more “content” or make itself different by being weirder or having more asymmetry or varied factions in order to properly “hook” them. For me, it’s all about the refined and innovative mechanics – and I’d really love to see the game tackle some grander mechanical issue that expanded the core gameplay.
Hey guys, thanks a lot for putting up the Audible eXtension and for your time, I really appreciate it.
I’ve listened to all of what you have said, and first of all I’d like to thank you for the kind words. Having our game recognized by a 4X authority like you as a worthy spiritual successor to MoO2 and a “well done” and “great” 4X title, for our debut game made by our humble and tiny indie dev team is great to hear. The community on Steam also seems to appreciate the game, from what I’ve been reading there and the review score. So, I’d say that we accomplished our mission to develop a worthy spiritual successor for MoO2.
Of course, we are aware that not all is good and you identified the things that you think could be made better, identified some deficiencies and what you would like to see the game evolve to. To put it simply, the major issues I see you identify are: presentation, content (or lack thereof) and that you’d like to see a couple of outstanding and unique features on top that may blow out people’s minds or at least help turn some heads.
I can assure you that the game will receive new content (new races, leaders, events, techs, etc). We also foresee a big improvement in the presentation. Seems like the colony 3D view did not appeal to some, and I can understand that. We just run out of time to polish it further and I can assure you that we will offer gorgeous terrains in the near future, and much better looking 3D buildings. We will also improve the ship 3D models, and a lot of polish will be done to the galaxy map, system view, space combat, ground combat, etc. The UI will also have another polish pass too. The cutscenes will also improve and much more.
As a new and tiny indie team comprised of two developers you have to make choices. We decided to start solid, with good gameplay and AI, and embellish afterwards or as time allowed. When time has run out, we think we ended up in a good place mechanically and from a point of view of design, but we are aware the presentation isn’t there yet, and we also want to offer more content. Patches will be constantly released for everybody (1.0.4 should be up today) and the expansions will bring new, meaty and unique features.
So, you had your turn on the crystal ball on the future of ISG, so let me do my try now. I envisage that the Interstellar Space series has the potential to be the best and most comprehensive turn-based space 4X strategy game experience in the market after its 2nd expansion has come out. I know it’s a tall order but that’s what I believe it can be. From where we are at the moment, and what I know we’ll be able to accomplish, I think you can expect great things from Praxis Games in years to come.
Thanks again for your time.
Adam Solo
Praxis Games