TNTTony TNTTony

Dear Frogboy....

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Dear Frogboy....

from Stardock Forums
Dear Frogboy,

I am writing this letter to you to express my appreciation for your continued service. You have shown to be a unique individual with a unique team of programmers. You and your colleagues have shown devotion to all of your customers. I have not come across a single developing team which REGULARLY updates games. Not only with bug fixes but ENHANCEMENTS, FREE TECHS, FREE SHIPS. You absolutely do not need to do this. Repeat: There is no reason for you or ANY developer in this universe to continue supporting the game in this manner....BUT.....you do. You actually do. That is the beauty of the whole thing. You have no reason to support this game but you do. I can't believe I have finally met a developing team that actually cares for their customers.

But... such is life. Many people still complain. Why use SDC central? Where is the standalone patch? Give us more features! We want it now! To these people, I suggest patience. I suggest we give them the same support that they are giving us.

This is a big THANK YOU letter.

Frogboy, please remember this: For every (crazy) dissatisfied customer there are at least 50 who are very HAPPY with the way you are supporting your customers.

Sincerely

TNTTony...a happy customer.
1,158 views 44 replies
Reply #26 from Stardock Forums Top
Frogboy and team... GREAT JOB!

You've got a great product. And you give great support. I think most of your GalCiv customers are very, very happy. There will always be a few people that will complain, and there will always be people that think your product should be something else. And there are always some people that don't do well at making constructive suggestions.

Don't let the negative stuff get you down. For every one of those here, there are 10 saying 'great job!' and 'we love this!'. Keep that in mind. You guys are definately doing a great job!
Reply #27 from Stardock Forums Top
Froggie-

There has been only a few games that I've enjoyed playing as much as GalCiv, and one of the biggest reasons for that is this forum and the constant developer-play relationship. Unlike the depersonalized relationship that prevails between the corporation and the consumer, these forums reinforce the idea that who makes these games are as human as we all are, and that they have the same worries and the same hopes as we all do. Just seeing that you react positively to the posts here in this thread makes it all the more worthwhile.

and yes, I'm quite drunk right now - celebrating the early weekend, and the brief spite that I've got from all the papers that are due in monday. (two to be exact.)
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #29 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks a ton guys.

Hey, new update: 1.03.54. I think we've got it pretty nailed for now. Lots of good tweaks and fixes in it.

The Arceans got the nasty tactics put into 1.03 but it introducd a cheese tactic, it was trying to hijack the trade ships to use as defenders which caused trade route revenue to fluxuate wildly between turns.

I think the Arceans should have their metaverse account removed. LOL.

Anyway, thanks again for all your support guys. Heading out to bed now. The birds are starting to wake up. ;)
Reply #30 from Stardock Forums Top
Plus he already has 1.03.54 out..and he was talking about this a few other ago.

What a team.
Reply #31 from Stardock Forums Top
Let me add to the pile of appreciation. This is a level of support the rivals, and may even exceed that which I have seen with Bioware and Neverwinter Nights. I do applaud your efforts.

I will say that when I speak my mind about an issue with the game, I'm not attempting to take away from the fabulous effort you guys put into this great product. I always frame my concerns in constructive, considered and diplomatic ways.

Great job, Frogboy and crew!

~SDC~
Reply #32 from Stardock Forums Top
"The thing that struck me when I first subscribed to Drengin Net (and continues to strike me more and more every day since) is that for the first time I've run into a software company that is being run the way I would run it myself."

Just the words I needed, thanks Elrikk, you hit the nail right on the head there!

Stardock is such a fresh breath in the softwareworld. The dedication and support for GalCiv are unsurpassed.

The fact that Brad (and a few other Stardockians) spent his Easter weekend behind his computer to give us another update and a few important bugfixes alone is more than some companies would support their entire game. (Hmmmm, bad sentence but I hope you get the picture ;))

Keep going Stardock! And this upcoming weekend, just enjoy and relax will you all? I just woke up to see all the updates I've missed yesterdayevening so this weekend should keep me more than busy. Seems that 1.03.054 has quite a few improvements in store which should give me a good chance to finally take on a huge galaxy (shiver...).
Reply #33 from Stardock Forums Top
*BUMP*

Stardock RULES! Truly the standard against which all lesser dev shops will be judged for years to come!
:CONGRAT:
Reply #34 from Stardock Forums Top
Hmmm. If you want good game support, it seems you need to buy from the "smaller" names -- Battlefront (of Combat Mission fame), Illwinter (Dominions), A-Sharp (King of Dragon Pass), and Stardock, for instance. All of those companies have devs who frequently, fruitfully conversed with customers, be it on csipgs or web forums, and all provide pretty darn good support. (e.g. KoDP came out in 1999; the 1.7 update came out in October 2002! Dominions goes back to at least October 2001; the most recent patch came out in Feb. 2003.). For the opposite example, take the Paradox/Strategy First combination, which brought out EU in Feb. 2001 or so, and EU 2 in Nov. 2001 (and with numerous glitches and nonsensical issues that, apparently, remain unresolved as of HoI).
Reply #35 from Stardock Forums Top
You put in alot of work to improve Gal Civ and genuinely care about the quality of your game. In this case, I'd say that actions speak louder than words.

Every developer, no matter how devoted, has detractors. Gamers are a fickle bunch that way. Even I have been a vocal complainer on one or more occasions, and I am generally a live-and-let-live type of person. The trick is to remember that you can never please everyone and that the wonders of the internet will ensure that you hear every gripe clearly.

I'd say that this forum is pretty positive, by and large, as were the last couple of patches. Most of the things fixed to date were either bugs or obvious game imbalances.
Reply #36 from Stardock Forums Top
I have had GalCiv since early April (me thinks). There's one thing I have to say about it: I love it!!!

I'm a MOO2 vet., and I have played a lot of Civ3 (in my opinion GalCiv seems to be sorta a combo of them both, but better). Well MOO2 was much better than Civ3 (once again, just my opinion), and when I heard from a friend about GalCiv, I was reluctant to buy it, but I got it anyways, and I am VERY impressed with it. I haven't got MOO3 yet (so I can't compare GalCiv to it). Yet the exictement, the excellent support, and even Brad comes here to talk to us, just blows every other game I have played (in the TBS 4x space game category) away.

I am posting this as well to show my token of appreciation and gratitude to Brad, and all of the other developers of GalCiv. You all have made a very awesome game, and if I am correct, I think it will even break the record of how addicted I was to MOO2 (I can't even remember the last time I played MOO2).

Once again, thanks for such a great game! It seems like most ppl here like it as well. I am looking forward to the many changes, and even though I am still new to the message board here, I am looking forward to meeting many of the GalCiv fans here. :)

~SDC~
Reply #37 from Stardock Forums Top
Just a note to say thanks to you all I'm also a M002 vet, but not anymore.

UNBELIEVABLE SUPPORT, EXCELLENT COMMUNITY

and EBZeroMatrix, moo3....don't do it, I waited for years for that game, I felt like commiting suicide It was so bad!!!!!

~SDC~
Reply #38 from Stardock Forums Top
I'll add my big thanks for the Team.
Just one thing though: Dont't blow up your holidays working, Man!
There's gonna be one year of improvemenets, you said. A few days more for the big June update won't be that bad.

We like you to enjoy it as much as we! :CONGRAT:
Reply #39 from Stardock Forums Top
Frog- You hace done an awesome job with this game. And I am very likely to buy the next game whatever it is from your company. Congrats yours is the best after-game release support I have ever seen. Two thumbs up.
Reply #40 from Stardock Forums Top
"Frog- You hace done an awesome job with this game. And I am very likely to buy the next game whatever it is from your company. Congrats yours is the best after-game release support I have ever seen. Two thumbs up.".

He wrote some remarkable things about internet business and how to succeed with the business. Nice to read, but much more important, HE APPLIES his own sayings and this shows off in the support, improving the game and future games in dev (I would add etc here, so much things he's doing, it's unbelievable. Have to admit, though, he has a wonderful devoted team around him, the cheers are for the whole team of course) . Since he is only 31, we can expect tons of good things in the future in normal circumstances, but to be absolutely sure we now all have decided he will have to be the first human to live for ever LOL
Reply #41 from Stardock Forums Top
Just wanted to add my thanks to the list. The gaming industry has been sliding further and further away from any kind of meaningful support these days. And it is so refreshing to see there are still developers out there who care about their game after it hits the shelf.

And always remeber, for every 1 person who posts a negative post, there are at least 10 people having to much fun with the game, to even visit the forums. :)
Reply #42 from Stardock Forums Top
As I've said before, Frogboy is the reason *why* I bought this game. I saw the kindof helpfulness and support that he was giving in answering questions even before the commercial release of the game, and so I bought it the day it came out, believing that he and his team would still be putting forth that same effort. I haven't been disappointed.

So thanks to the entire GalCiv staff for their good work.
Reply #43 from Stardock Forums Top
I will throw in my two cents to Frogboy and his team. You guys are outstanding to say the least. The initial post that I am replying to has said it all no need to say any more. The game itself is excellent, the support just blows me away. I had been modding for civ3 and was dismayed how they refused to fix problems or listen to the community. I am dedicated to GC now it just is such a great game backed by a great company. GC has a great community of dedicated players and mod designers. I thank each and everyone of you. I feel right at home here, aside from stupid things I posted of course. I really like the stardock browser software. I am so pleased with your work I am thinking about purchasing some of your other fine products. Thanks again Frogboy! :d

~SDC~
Reply #44 from Stardock Forums Top
I completely agree as well. Just yesterday, I received an e-mail from one of the developers that helped me fix the problem that I had with the trade sliders and I didn't even e-mail anyone. I had merely placed my message in bugs portion of the forum and Cari Begle replied. Extremely excellent customer service.