As most of you know, this means that the game has been shipped off to our publisher, Paradox Interactive, for production and publication. Here's a few things we know about the release dates:
- US Retail : should see it by mid-June.
- Worldwide Digital Download Sales : also mid-June.
- European English : has also gone gold, so should be June release as well, but we don't have full information on what countries get it when.
- German Release : We are waiting for USK age-rating results, and then it will go in to production as well.
We expect to have a Demo Version available approximately June 10th, plus or minus.
As we did with SR2010, we are also planning to continue development and support with the release of new features, new missions, new units, and so on, as part of regular free 'Updates'.
Over the next few weeks we'll also be changing this forum around a bit, making room for new SR2020 threads and topic-oriented discussions. And of course, we can now talk more openly about what's in the game
Did everything get in that we had hoped for? Of course not. Like Shakespeare's monkeys, if we had an infinite amount of time we could do everything we dreamed about and even more. But then you'd never get a game to play, because we'd never finish it.
Did we manage to create a strategy game with unmatched scope and depth? Yes, we most definitely did. We set our sights high - play the whole world, all at once, without limits on the numbers of units, facilities, or other elements. Zoom in to examine a single city, or zoom out to see the whole world. Trade, ally or battle with hundreds of real-world countries. It's all in there.
Will everyone be happy? Of course not. Some people will love the better, more-realistic map display. Others will hate the fact that we moved away from the more "cartooney" but easier to identify graphics used in SR2010. Some people will love the fact that the interface is streamlined and easier; others will hate the fact that we only show Military Approval in 2 places instead of 10.
We've added a host of exciting new interface elements - a 'Hotspot' military control system, easy formation movement, spies, the full zoom in/out functionality, on-map 'Enhanced Tooltip' information popups that make it easy to see what facilities and units are in a location, Enhanced Tooltip boxes that make it easy to get information on units, techs, and other elements.
Once the demo is out and we're released I'm sure there will be much spirited discussion about features - don't worry, we've been having those discussions here in the Studio for the past few months too. For instance, should a player be able to pause construction on a facility after he's started building it? This is a minor element that isn't even entirely realistic, and only serves to clutter the interface and confuse new players - on the other hand, it allows players that overbuilt things or ran out of money to pause some stuff and get their important facilities finished. Or should we have left it in "just because SR2010 had it"? The battle between making a game streamlined and playable and 'feature clutter' is a battle we had to fight pretty much every day on a game like this, and not everyone will be pleased with all the choices we made.
Yet even so, Supreme Ruler 2020 is a strategy game unlike any other. This isn't a C&C clone - in fact, it isn't a clone of anything. The scope, replayability, the feature set, the lack of limits in map size, units, facilities, and so much more - there isn't any other game like it.
Our hard work is done, (well, not really, because we're working on the Demo, and new scenarios and features for future free updates, and so on), and we hope you will all soon be enjoying the fruits of our efforts.
-- George.
