Supreme Ruler The Great War - Development Philosophy

[George Geczy]

It didn't take too long from some people to post the "Why isn't SRGW free with Ultimate" question on Steam, and while I know that most players here on BGForums understand our decisions to release Great War as a separate product, I thought I would cross-post my comments here as well for the sake of posterity:

As a development team we've been quite clear on our philosophy, both with regard to DLC and Updates in general, and with the Great War title.

With every release of our games, since SR2010 over a decade ago, we have offered free updates and new content for over two years after the release of the titles, sometimes even longer. Even when we release something new, we push back engine and content updates to our older game for 12 to 24 months after the release of the newer title. SRU received significant new updates last summer, and again in January 2017, and again in June, all for free.

Even our Trump Rising DLC, released last year, which included a number of new sandbox and campaign game elements, was released for free.

Many players have suggested that we charge for DLC or updates so that we can continue to fund ongoing development, much like our good friends Paradox do with their titles. The Paradox model has its fans and detractors, and we've generally gone a different route.

The Great War era was the most requested new time period for us to tackle "next", and on Steam and our BGForums there were many players requesting we take this on. There were also a lot of players requesting some way that they could help support our ongoing development - suggestions were made such as a Patreon or a kickstarter, but those are less than ideal. So when we announced SRGW we made clear a few elements it was based on:

1) It would sell for $20 US - this is a very reasonable price point for the amount of content and gameplay involved.

2) Sales of SRGW would also help fund continued SR Engine development, which would allow features and updates to be pushed back to SRUltimate. Some players who have no interest in the WWI time period have indicated they would buy SRGW just to help fund the continued development (although we hope that they give the new Sandboxes and Campaigns a try, we think they are surprisingly interesting).

3) We would also be able to tackle some new areas of high player interest - for example, the complete rewrite of our Multiplayer engine to improve stability and support Steam Matchmaking.

We've had a development team of 5 people working the past few months on SRGW and the updates to SRU, not including additional contractors for items like new music and sounds. We are also cleaning up and publishing a number of new technical documents and modding information to our gamepedia wiki, to help players extend the games even further.

So, that's what we've been up front about for what SRGW offers - great new content, new features and updates, and support for SRU improvements. And we're not forcing anyone to buy anything, if you enjoy SRUltimate you can continue to benefit from the free updates and the work that has been supported by our players that have purchased SRGW.

-- George & The BattleGoat Team.

[Fistalis]

I just want to note that when people mention the paradox model as an example they are using it as a base line for the other EXTREME. I think i speak for the whole community that Paid DLC in themselves are not bad.. it's when you split what could be one or 2 traditional expansions into 20 different DLCS and charge 15$ a peice for them that many take issue with. I would fully support some traditional expansions for sru (much how global crisis was for 2020).. which is how i view SRGW both in price and content.. i would term it an expansion more than a DLC.. and find the price point acceptable for that amount of work and content produced.
All that being said.. if possible i wouldn't complain if you converted SRGW into an expansion for SRU and charged a similar price for it at a later date.

I think much of the angst and confusion comes from the decision to release it as a stand alone when it seems perfectly tailored to be a paid expansion to SRU. Viewed as a stand alone expansion it becomes much more clear what SRGW really is.

Just my 2 cents.

[Balthagor]

Thanks Fistalis,

Just to add a bit to what George outlined above, I was working on a Post Mortem of our work on SRGW and compiled a list. Figure I'll share it here since people might find it interested and I might consult it from time to time myself

• 2 new Sandboxes for SP and MP and 5 new Campaigns
  + New Preview splashes
  + New borders/regions
  + Revised relationships
  + Revised military inventories
  + Revised roads/rails
  + Revised industries
  + Revised World Economy baselines
  + New events (640 Sandbox, additional 40-100 per campaign)
  Additional music tracks, UI sounds, Military sounds
  Additional "1914" era UI
  26 new models (more coming in updates)
  107 new leader pictures and game stats
  25 new flags
  28 additional technology tree items
  385 additional equipment pieces (Zeppelins coming in updates)
  Steam Matchmaking integrated into Multiplayer
  Performance improvements
  Trench warfare and leg infantry actions
  Garrison progression
  Chemical Weapons
  World Economy Trends
  And equivalent updates for French, Spanish and German

So that's what is involved in adding "a new era" to the game.

[Micheal Berg]

I agree with Fistalis 100%. I will support BG with new purchases indefinitely as this is a symbiotic relationship....in order for me to enjoy what is to me, the greatest games title i own, the team at BG must have the incentive and means to continue their work....after all, it is their livelihood.

I just bought SRGW and will be going to war within the next 15 minutes.

To all my fellow Generals and Statesmen....enjoy.

To BG, thank you and keep up the good work and congratulations with the birth of your newborn.

Thanks
MB

[russ1000]

Thanks to the team at BattleGoat Studios for SRGW. Already bought, already trying.

[SGTscuba]

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Battlegoat on the release and to thank the team at Battlegoat for allowing me to take part in the pre-release testing of the game and in turn help to provide a smooth and polished release of the title.

I also like that the submarine sea pier made the list