Elemental: War of Magic - New Producer Interview

Derek "Kael" Paxton is interviewed over at Gaming Nexus:

So let's get to the hard question. What's your take on the past, current, and future state of Elemental? How hard do you think it's going to be to turn around the perception of the game?

I love the concept of Elemental, I think it has the potential to be a great game. But I don't love the implementation. That's good news because if the concept was simply flawed it couldn't be improved. I believe Stardock has done a lot of work to improve the game since its initial release and Elemental is now stable and fun to play. But I don't think the job is done. Stardock is committed to making Elemental great, and we have everything we need to make that happen.

As for turning around the perception of the game, I believe that if you create a great game everything else will fall into place.

What are your first priorities when you start? What are some of the things you want to do long term?

My first step is to understand all the design decisions that have already happened. I've started getting feedback from the player community, next will be to interview the members of the Stardock team. Though I have a lot of ideas for the game I'm not a fan of suggesting changes unless you truly understand the system, so I need to listen before I speak.

But my initial focus is on improving the games pace and making the first 30 minutes more fun, because if players don't enjoy that then there is little chance they will check out the rest of the game.

Longer term goals will have to wait for later announcements.