The problem that Stardock seemed to be having with releasing a demo for the action real-time strategy title was figuring out how to limit things while still giving players a good idea of what to expect from the title gameplay wise. What they've come up with is a demo with one map, four playable Demigods (Regulus, Rook, Sedna, and Lord Erebus), and all multiplayer modes.

Seems like an elegant solution to me. Allowing the player to experience multiple Demigods is key. The maps don't matter as much from a demo standpoint as letting players know that each Demigod they can pick offers them a completely different set of skills and powers to accomplish your goals in each game mode.

Check out my review from way back when - ignoring the now fixed networking issues - to get an idea of what to expect, or better yet, just head over to FilePlanet and download the damn thing.

Now that the vast majority of their networking issues have subsided, Stardock is making good with their promise of discounts on additional copies of Demigod. If you've picked up a copy and registered it, you might want to keep an eye on your email, as the coupons are only good for a limited time.

As a token of our appreciation to our customers who have waited patiently while we've addressed the on-line multiplayer difficulties, we present you with this 50% off coupon on purchasing a second copy of the digital version of Demigod for your friends or family. This will only be valid until early next week so this would be a good time to use it.

Now how much would you pay (duh, half price)? But wait, there's more! Next week Stardock is sending out another round of apology coupons, this time good for 20% off any game available on their Impulse platform, with the promise of more coupons for regular Demigod players in the future.

It's just Stardock's way of saying that they're sorry, and if you stop playing Demigod you'll be missing out on future bargains. It's a devious sort of apology, isn't it?

The early release and subsequent rampant piracy of Gas Powered Games' action real-time strategy title were just the beginning of the networking problems that Demigod has been plagued with since release. Some bad networking decisions and assumptions on Stardock's part caused the issues to drag on for weeks. It seems the way they had things set up initially caused far too many sockets to try to open at once, due to a late 2008 decision to have the network library hand off sockets to the game, rather than have all the connections handled by one source. Wardell's example almost makes it understandable.

...on launch day, Alice would host a game. Tom would be connected to Alice by the network library and then that socket would be handed to Demigod. Then, Alice and Tom would open a new socket to listen for more players to join in. As a result, a user might end up using a half dozen ports and sockets which some routers didn't like and it just made things incredibly complex to connect people and put a lot of strain on the servers to manage all those connections.

So what was happening? When I tried to play, two or three players would connect successfully and then the slow, agonizing wait would kick in. Brad explains why:

Alice hosts a game. In doing so, she sends a message to the NAT server (as well as our servers). Tom wants to join so Tom clicks join and it tells the NAT server to begin connecting them. But, it turned out that a relatively small number of people online at once would quickly result in a huge delay in messages being sent back and forth. For instance, when Tom clicks join it sends a message to the server to tell it to start connecting Tom and Alice. But Alice might not get that message for 30 or 40 seconds. That means, for that entire time, Tom and Alice are "attempting to connect" but haven't even really started because Alice hasn't even gotten the message. As more people tried to join the game, that delay could get worse and worse. If someone left the game, it could take that amount of time for the server to realize that player had left (meanwhile it was trying to connect them).

At this point, the people inside the room waiting for the game to start will have resorted to cannibalism, and most of them weren't even hungry. It's just that frustrating.

Brad goes on to detail the changes that have been made and will be made as they continue to polish the network experience, plans for downloadable content, and an eventual demo, but most importantly, his post leaves us with the important lesson Stardock learned from releasing Demigod.

We've learned that you can't treat networking as just another thing to plug in like you would a sound library or even a 3D engine. It's a whole different animal. With Elemental (our next game), it's single-player focused but its MP will be server based (and I mean we literally host the game). After Demigod, I don't ever want to hear the words "socket" or "port" again.

Demigod: So what the hell happened? [Brad Wardell's Impulse Blog]

Demigod has had less than and healthy start so far, with GameStop selling the game early, piracy running rampant, and of course, tons of networking problems, which can be a real killer for a game with a strong online focus. Wardell, posting as Frogboy on his Stardock Impulse blog, assures us that significant breakthroughs have been made regarding networking issues, and that the connectivity issues some users have been having will be going away this week.

Along with the networking news , Wardell also detailed plans to get more players online and playing the game. He explains that the initial networking problems cause Stardock to halt marketing for the product, and that once the issues are fixed marketing will kick in full swing. He also reveals that a multiplayer demo is in the works, soliciting existing players for ideas on how to best limit a demo while still allowing demo players and retail players to play together.

Finally, in a move that should both pull in new players while satisfying the day-one adopters, every person who has purchased the game from the day it went on sale up until May 10th will receive a coupon good for half off an additional copy. So if one of your friends is looking into buying the game, tell them you'll pick them up a copy and can pay you back, pocketing the difference.

What?

Demigod: Breakthru [Skinning the Frog - Thanks Davis!]

Demigod is an action real-time strategy game with role-playing game elements that obviously takes a great deal of inspiration from the popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients. Instead of commanding armies and managing resources, players take on the role of a single demigod, battling against other like-powered beings for a chance at a promotion to full-on godhood. It's a fast-paced answer to the slow and plodding pace featured in many real-time strategy offerings, with a strong focus on online multiplayer.

Does Demigod meet its goal of offering a fresh, new experience to the strategy genre, or is the game suffering from delusions of grandeur?

Loved
Divine Gameplay: Much like the Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients, Demigod is not a real-time strategy game. It's an arena combat game with a real-time strategy feel, role-playing game leveling, and first-person shooter goals. When the game is at its best the balance that Gas Powered Games has achieved between the different elements truly shines through. Depending on the options chosen before battle and the payers involved, games can be quick and dirty or long and drawn out. There is no real resource management and no complicated troop commands to master. Just get in, level your demigod, and get the job done. Simple, elegant, and amazingly addictive.

A Varied Pantheon: While there are only eight different demigod characters to choose from, each has a wide variety of different powers to choose from, meaning that two different players using the same character can wind up playing it in entirely different ways. If another player tells you that a certain character sucks, odds are they just aren't playing them right. A great deal of the strategy in Demigod comes from knowing which powers to level based on the round's goals and your opposition.

A Wealth of Options: With only four game modes and eight maps, Demigod might seem a bit limited at first, but a generous set of match customization options adds a great deal of variety to the title. If the plain vanilla matches are getting old, you can always start off with large amounts of cash, increase the game's pace, or start your demigods off at maximum level to see how things play out across an even playing field.

Heavenly Presentation: Demigod looks and sounds absolutely beautiful. The action plays out fluidly from both a far-off top down perspective or zoomed in close to the action, and the arenas themselves are works of art. The demigods themselves have real character, from their voices and rumblings to their unique behaviors.

Hated
A Supreme Lack of Guidance: There is absolutely no tutorial mode for Demigod, and I mean none. Outside of the odd tip while games are loading, there really isn't anything that tells you how to play included in the game proper. Upon first starting up a single player tournament I expected some sort of hand-holding to ensue, but that simply wasn't the case. As a result, my first round of play ended with me losing horribly. A game that has the capability to be as engrossing as Demigod does could really benefit from some sort of demonstration showing players how much fun it can be once you know what you are doing.

Ungodly Broken Multiplayer: Stardock continues to work on stabilizing multiplayer, but as of this writing it is still pretty much broken, at least where I am concerned. I've never been able to join a quick match or participate in the game's ongoing online Pantheon tournament. My only success at joining an online game has come from joining a custom game, and even then I've had to wait in a lobby chatting while we watched other players fruitlessly trying to connect. Once you get into an actual game it's gobs of fun. Getting there, however, is no picnic.

Demigod has the potential to be a truly great game; it just isn't quite there yet. It's got a unique sort of gameplay that successfully blends aspects of several different genres into a completely compelling, suprisingly deep, and utterly addictive multiplayer experience. Unfortunately the focus here is on multiplayer. With very little offered in the way of a single player game, Gas Powered Games is obviously banking on Demigod's online aspect, and quite frankly that isn't working at the moment.

Once the online connectivity issues are sorted out, Demigod will be a force to be reckoned with. Until then, picking up a copy is akin to paying $39 to participate in a glorified beta test.

Demigod, developed by Gas Powered Games, published by Stardock, released April 14th for the PC. Retails for $40. Completed single player tournament with multiple demigods on normal difficulty, played multiple single player skirmish rounds, and several cutom online multiplayer battles. Was unable to connect for multiplayer Skirmish or Pantheon modes.

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A status report on Stardock's site lets us know that while for an unfortunate few the online-only game is effectively broken, for "most people" things are "working pretty decently". Which isn't a clean bill of health, we know, but it's also good enough for people to at least dip their toes into the game's cold, icy depths.

While it's easy (especially if you actually bought the game) to get angry at Stardock for such a sloppy launch, try and remember that a big reason it was so sloppy in the first place is because the company shipped the game without DRM. Which really is something that should be applauded.

Demigod: Day 6 Status Report! [Stardock]

In a post on the game's forums, Stardock's Brad Wardell has revealed that the game's servers have been flooded with users trying to play the game. More users than they would have anticipated going by sales, as Wardell says internal data shows that while the game has been purchased by 18,000 people, there have been around 120,000 people trying to play the game over the past week.

So, yes, mostly pirated copies. Come on PC gamers. You wonder why companies decide to saddle you with crap like SecuROM, regardless of how ineffective and unpopular it is? It's because of statistics like that.

Update: We contacted Stardock reps to clarify the "legitimate" versus "warez" figures posted by CEO Brad Wardell on the game's official forums, who told Kotaku that concurrent connections from Demigod players do not necessarily equate to sales. According to a statement, the "18,000 figure is the [number] of concurrent users at the peak – not sales."

"[Demigod's] infrastructure was designed to handle up to 50,000 of these connections," said Wardell. "But on day 0, there were around 140,000 concurrent users of which 18,000 are validated. Pirated users can't get updates or play multiplayer but they still touch the servers."

That crush of users, most of them not-legitimate (read: pirated) copies led to what Wardell called a "terrible experience."

Stardock and Demigod developer Gas Powered Games then "[scrapped] together a doppelganger of the infrastructure dedicated to Demigod's multiplayer network needs" and issued an update to legit players, essentially keeping the pirates from crashing the multiplayer party.

Demigod: Day 1 Status Report [Demigod]

GameStop was selling the real-time strategy PC game from Gas Powered Games as early as last Friday, days ahead of the planned April 15th street date. Those wondering why street dates are imposed need look no further than the post on the official Demigod forums, which details a ruined Easter weekend for many Stardock employees.

it was Easter weekend. And many of us had just finished a good solid 8 weeks of massive crunch and were looking forward to the weekend to recover. Instead, we found ourselves back at work having to turn on and configure the multiplayer matchmaking servers (we had enough for a beta but not for thousands of people).

The post also raises concerns that the early release maximizes piracy, as the game was only available through the one retail channel for several days, but Stardock looks on the bright side..."The good news, however, is that we'll get to actually see the effects of piracy". When life gives you lemons...

To help ease players' pains, Stardock released the game on their Impulse early, so the game is now available for purchase online.

Demigod is early [Demigod Forums]

It's nice to get a feel for how the game actually plays, after pouring over screenshots for the past year. While the screens have certainly been impressive, they've never quite given me a good idea of how a round plays out. For the most point it looks like your standard real-time strategy game, only confined to arenas rather than spread out over a large playfield, basically capturing the essence of the genre without having to deal with long, drawn out battles.

Demigod finally sees the light of day on April 14th.

I still maintain a fair amount of excitement for Demigod, and these screenshots once again punctuate the reason why - scale. The sheer size of the creatures tromping through the unique battlegrounds of the game is still extremely impressive. While I've yet to actually get any hands-on time with the title, at least I know that if it winds up horrible it will still look good running on my monitor while I am off doing more interesting things.

Taylor will also be appearing with Dr. Michael Capps and David Perry at a "Best Selling Games" panel on Tuesday of the conference, where they will discuss...best selling games? Hey, at least I gave you a pretty trailer to look at.

Chris Taylor to Present the "Making of Demigod" at GCDC

LEIPZIG, Germany - July 29, 2008 - The organizer of the GC Developers Conference (GCDC) today announced that industry legend Chris Taylor will be the keynote speaker for Wednesday, August 20 at this year's event. Under the title, "The Struggle for Independence and the Making of Demigod," he will address the challenges of developing games today. Moreover, together with Dr. Michael Capps and David Perry, the other two keynote speakers of GCDC 2008, he will participate in a panel discussion on "Best Selling Games" on Tuesday. GCDC takes place prior to GC - Games Convention in Leipzig, August 18-20, 2008.

Chris Taylor will reminisce about his 20-year career in the interactive entertainment industry covering his budding years and the experiences that inspired him to form his own independent games studio. He will talk about how the industry has changed over the years, and how he has had to adapt his own mindset and the direction of his company to meet its new challenges. Taylor will also speak about the difficulties faced when delivering new, truly innovative games versus the typical sequels and derivative works currently plaguing the industry.

"Expect a surreal journey into my bizarre and twisted mind," said Taylor, adding, "Please bring your sense of humor with you."

For the past 20 years, Taylor has been one of the game industry's most imaginative and dynamic visionaries. The creator of the first true next-generation RTS game, Total Annihilation, has a well deserved reputation as an innovator who is able to push both technology and gameplay to their limits.

Taylor is the CEO and Creative Director of Gas Powered Games (GPG), which has released the Dungeon Siege series, Supreme Commander, and its expansion, Forged Alliance. In 2008, GPG will unleash its newest action/RPG, Space Siege, and in 2009, the company will launch the innovative action/RTS game Demigod.

"Our goal is to present keynote speakers that inspire our attendees, while providing valuable insight into the changing landscape of the games industry," said Frank Sliwka, project director of GCDC. "Chris Taylor's participation takes the already content rich conference program to a higher level and makes GCDC an absolute must-attend event."

Further information about the schedule and the speakers of GCDC can be found at: http://www.gcdc.eu.

To fully support a public beta that will launch this summer, the launch date for Demigod has been moved to February 2009. This will give the development team sufficient time to incorporate feedback from the beta players while polishing the game.

Stardock, Gas Powered Games Partner For Upcoming Demigod

- Demigod to Feature No On-Disc Copy Protection; Set to Launch February 2009 -

PLYMOUTH, MI - April 7, 2008 - Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced today that they have reached a publishing agreement for Gas Powered Games' upcoming PC game, Demigod.

Demigod is a team-based action game with RTS and RPG elements. Players take control of a massive Demigod with the goal of annihilating their opponent's position in a given arena while preventing the opponent's Demigod from doing the same to them. Although the game supports superb one-on-one duels, the title will truly shine in team play either with other human-controlled Demigods or with ones controlled by a sophisticated computer AI. As the game progresses, the player's Demigod will acquire items, attributes and experience.

Gas Powered Games, having become one of the leading PC game developers with hit titles such as Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander chose Stardock as its exclusive worldwide PC publisher in part because of Stardock's tremendous success with the award-winning Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations.

"Forging our new partnership with Stardock is a big deal for all of us at GPG, and we couldn't be more excited about it," said Chris Taylor, founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games. "Not only do we have a proven retail publisher, but we get to partner with a pioneer in the digital distribution space... a company that totally understands what kind of experience our customer wants and the quality game they demand. The whole proposition is truly refreshing."

Stardock's most recent release, Sins of a Solar Empire was the top selling PC strategy game at retail according to NPD, and the second highest selling PC game overall despite selling immense numbers of copies digitally which are not counted in sales rankings. The game has received universally high reviews in the media and many have noted how seamlessly Stardock and developer Ironclad worked together.

"We're very excited at the opportunity to work with Gas Powered Games," said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock. "By integrating our teams and working together, we will be able to create something that represents the best of both teams."

To fully support a public beta that will launch this summer, the launch date for Demigod has been moved to February 2009. This will give the development team sufficient time to incorporate feedback from the beta players while polishing the game. Like Stardock's other games, Demigod will be released without any on-disc copy protection and has been budgeted to receive many months of free post-release feature updates.

The official website for Demigod is in the works, but users who want to begin discussing the game can visit http://www.demigodthegame.com.

Demigod Revealed [1UP]