Dev Journal #20: Preview of Beta 3

[p]Happy New year![/p][p]We have been burning the midnight oil over here at Stardock to get Beta 3 out. Your support and enthusiasm is what drives us and we have been making the most of it![/p][p]So what’s in BETA 3 and when is it coming out?[/p][p]Besides a massive list of bug fixes we have 3 main focuses:[/p]

[p]The long awaited art overhaul[/p]
[p]The campaigns[/p]
[p]The AI/balance update[/p]

[p]As many of you know, I don’t love early access. I no longer even buy games in Early Access. I wait until they’re released.[/p][p]That’s because Early Access games, imo, tend to either be a marketing exercise or a permanent sandbox for an ever growing scope. On the latter side, we are definitely guilty of that here.[/p][p]We blew up the scope on Elemental: Reforged. We have no regrets in that, but I would prefer that we finish the game and get it out there and then release a roadmap in which NEW things can be looked at to be added in free updates. Remember, we’ve been working on this quietly for the last 5 years. Even if we don’t sell any copies of the game, we’re going to be working and updating this game for years to come.[/p][p]So let’s look at what we’ve done:[/p][p][/p][h2]The New Graphics[/h2][p]We have left the PlayStation 1 era graphics.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]You don’t even need to create new characters to benefit from the new character models.[/p][p]I remember when I got the Diablo 2 remaster and thought “The graphics look the same as the original”. Blizzard was smart enough to have a way to instantly switch between old and new to make clear just how much better the remaster looks.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The increased visualization also gives hints as to why the Altarians in GalCiv have a blueish tint in their skin.[/p][p][/p][p]We still may need to upscale some of the clothing textures. Take a look.[/p][p] [/p][h2]The Campaign[/h2][p]The plan was to include:[/p]

[p]The War of Magic[/p]
[p]The Fallen Enchantress[/p]
[p]The Sorcerer King[/p]

[p]Beta 3 includes two campaigns: Fallen Enchantress and Legendary Heroes. We've not only ported this classic content but expanded upon it as well. The War of Magic campaign is coming soon and will be ready for our full release.*[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]So I admit, I really didn’t think the character model update would make any real difference in game. I mean, look how small they are? I didn’t think anyone would be able to tell the difference. But yea, I can tell. So yes yes I was wrong. You guys were right.[/p][p][/p][h2]The AI / Balance Update[/h2][p]It’s hard to take screenshots of smarter AI.[/p][p]The original AI design for Elemental was for the AI players to “Lose well”. In effect, they would throttle themselves to ensure that the player won but with some challenge at the start. It didn’t age well and was a misplaced design because the reality is that it results in good players absolutely wrecking the AI.[/p][p]The hubris after coming off of GalCiv II and thinking we could easily make an AI that would beat everyone therefore the real challenge is to make it smart enough to be a “Good loser” is breathtaking in hindsight.[/p][p]So it’s about watching the AI and pouring over lots and lots of C++ code.[/p][p][/p][p]For instance, AI players were blocked from taking quests and goodie huts if they thought the poor poor human player was struggling.[/p][p]We will be lowering the default difficulty as a result of all these changes but I am hopeful players who are really good at the game will notice the AI plays a lot better.[/p][p][/p][h2]The Bugs[/h2][p]The bug fixing has been monumental. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been so quiet lately. Just head down fixing little bug after little bug.[/p][p][/p][h2]Stay tuned[/h2][p]We have some surprises in Beta 3 as well. We will discuss soon, but after Beta 3, the plan is to move towards release so that we can start thinking about NEW things in post release based on the level of interest from players in seeing where they want the game to go.[/p][p][/p][p]*Updated 01/19/2026[/p]