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Stardock responds to sexual harassment claims by former marketing manager against CEO
Stardock's former marketing manager Alexandra Miseta is now discussing publicly a 2010 lawsuit she filed against company CEO Brad Wardell for sexual harassment. Providing documents to Kotaku, Miseta's suit claims "repeated and near-daily comments, innuendos, advances, and other offensive conduct of a sexual nature" by Wardell.The suit preceded a recent lawsuit by Stardock against Miseta for over $1 million in damages, alleging she destroyed marketing materials and stole company property just prior to Elemental: War of Magic's launch and her leaving the company."It is our opinion that Mr. Wardell's lawsuit against Ms. Miseta for allegedly deleting files, etc., is baseless and was brought solely in retaliation for her sexual harassment lawsuit. We firmly believe that Ms. Miseta's leaving Stardock had absolutely nothing to do with any failures pertaining to Stardock's release of Elemental. It is our further belief that Mr. Wardell has publicly admitted that the failures of Elemental were due solely to his actions and/or inactions," Miseta's attorney told Kotaku.Miseta's sexual harassment lawsuit notes multiple incidents (Pg. 6-11). In a prepared statement sent to Joystiq, Stardock references one incident (Pg. 16 in Stardock's counter-filing) in which Wardell touched Miseta's hair during an after-hours company outing."It is unfortunate that feelings were hurt during this after-hours, non-work-related public dinner where several people were in attendance," the company stated. "This is a frivolous case against Brad Wardell that will be litigated in a court of law. That [Miseta] would choose to try to fight this in the court of public opinion versus the court of law only further demonstrates the frivolity of her case.""However, there is no excuse for her malicious behavior when she quit without notice and used her privileged access to destroy valuable company intellectual property which contributed to the loss of millions of dollars and affected the livelihoods of Stardock employees."The company statement continues, "Alexandra Miseta has been aware of the pending charges against her for the past two years. The claims against her were filed almost two years ago. They have recently been moved to federal court due to Stardock's discovery of a federal statute which directly addresses her unlawful actions. To suggest Stardock Corporation's actions are retaliatory to her personal case against Brad Wardell is absurd."Read the full Stardock statement after the break.
Stardock alleges former marketing manager impaired Elemental: War of Magic's launch, files suit [Update]
Michigan-based developer Stardock is suing its ex-marketing manager Alexandra Miseta for over $1 million in damages, alleging actions she made during her employment impaired the quality of Elemental: War of Magic.According to documents filed with a Michigan Eastern District Court on July 30, 2012, Stardock claims that when Miseta resigned her position without notice prior to the Elemental's launch, she destroyed and/or stole promotional materials, trade show information, and analytics data that the developer says was vital to supporting the game's release. The dev claims these acts occurred three weeks before the game's release. Stardock also alleges that Miseta, who is currently employed as accounts director at Chevrolet, refused to return a company-issued laptop and running undisclosed side businesses during work hours at the developer.Panned by reviewers when it launched in 2010, Elemental: War of Magic was riddled with bugs, a complicated interface, and a host of other problems. Currently the game's average review score sits at 53 on Metacritic.Following its launch, company CEO Brad Wardell said Elemental's issues stemmed from the disorganized nature of the developer. "If someone had an idea, we'd say 'Oh sure, go ahead! Throw that in!,'" Wardell explained during a GDC 2011 panel called 'Failure Workshop.' In a statement made in September 2010, Wardell placed blame for the project's failure on the entire Stardock staff, claiming a fair share of responsibility himself claiming that he lost objectivity acting as a programmer and the executive in charge of deciding when the game was ready to ship.%Gallery-94332%
Totem Talk: Procs for elemental shaman in Dragon Soul
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Josh Myers once only tackled the hard questions about enhancement but has recently expanded his sphere of responsibility to all shaman DPS specs. (And no, two-handed enhancement is still never coming back.) It's official. Arena Season 10 is ending in two weeks, and with it ends the reign of Ragnaros. We raiders will be moving on to bigger and better things, hopefully with a better color palette than endless red and orange. Deathwing's end and the saving of Azeroth as we know it awaits us ... but really, more importantly, so does the chance at more epic lootz. I know rationally that this loot will all be replaced within the first zone of Pandaria, but for the time being, I'm eagerly awaiting the last tier of gear of this expansion. Loot is cool, and Dragon Soul has some of the best gear we've seen this expansion. Trinkets are really some of the most fun items in the game. I hate how aggravating they are to get; I just got Necromantic Focus last night, and I still have nightmares from The Burning Crusade when I ran heroic Magister's Terrace 34 days in a row to try and get a Shard of Contempt. Dragon Soul has some excellent trinkets, and almost all of them look appealing to elemental.
Totally crazy, totally canceled indie games, and the people who made them
From World of Goo dev Kyle Gabler to Plants vs. Zombies director George Fan (and everything in between), GDC's "The Failure Workshop" panel was full of thrills. Each of the panel's developers brought a project that never managed to make our acquaintance, offering a detailed explanation of what went wrong. Gabler, of 2D Boy, kicked the chair out from under his studio's robot-based sidescroller Robot and the Cities That Built Him when he and his cohorts finally decided that it simply wasn't very fun. After months of mock-ups and brainstorming, the game was finally turned into a fairly basic prototype (playable here) that sealed the project's untimely fate.
GDC: Stardock's Brad Wardell explains the failure of Elemental and how he's making it up to fans
"Unlike the other examples you've heard tonight, this game shipped. It's at the store right now. At Walmart. Yeah." -- Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock. That ominous statement was slipped into the middle of Brad Wardell's "Failure Workshop" speech this afternoon, where the Stardock head discussed a project he now considers a full-on failure: Elemental: War of Magic. He was just one of five separate developers detailing a project that went awry. "If someone had an idea, we'd say 'Oh sure, go ahead! Throw that in!,'" Wardell explained, describing the disorganized nature of Elemental's development. "That works okay if you have seven guys," he said, continuing, "It doesn't work so well when you have 18 guys."
Stardock's Brad Wardell hopeful for recovery after Elemental shakeup
Our sister site Big Download cornered Stardock CEO Brad Wardell to talk about the troubled title Elemental; War of Magic and the future of the company. Things are apparently looking better than they did after a "disastrous" launch: most employees are back to work, either at Stardock or elsewhere. But Wardell also says that Stardock is doing so much work on the title that by the second quarter of this year, it will "cross the line from being profitable to having lost money." Wardell expects to lose money on the game just to try and save Stardock's name on quality. Wardell also said that the company is not done restructuring -- it recently hired both game designer Jon Shafer and writer Dave Stern, and Wardell plans to step away from lead development and move to a more executive role. Wardell remains mum on any future titles, but said that the company's Impulse digital distribution service doubled in third-party revenue in 2010, and expects "even greater growth" and increased staffing throughout 2011. If everything Wardell hopes comes to pass, the Elemental launch may have been the best worst thing to ever happen to his company.
Stardock hires Civ V designer Jon Shafer and fantasy writer Dave Stern
It was odd to hear about Jon Shafer leaving Firaxis a couple weeks back, what with him being an avid member of the Civ community and lead designer on the latest iteration, Civilization V -- a game our own Alexander Sliwinski called "a 'friendly' strategy game." During an interview with our sister site Big Download, Shafer once again stated he'd left Firaxis on good terms and will help Stardock on its newest title, Elemental: War of Magic, as well as an unannounced project he'll be overseeing. Stardock also announced it has hired acclaimed fantasy author Dave Stern to "oversee creative storytelling and lore implementation in all future projects." Stern, who has penned various Star Trek works and novelizations of the Tomb Raider and Blair Witch Project movies, will get right to work on enriching the world of Elemental: War of Magic, which Stardock CEO Brad Wardell admits was "one of the things we felt was weak." Specifically, Stern will "head up all further integration of the Elemental: War of Magic lore" in the game, which will see two upcoming expansions where "lore implementation will be essential."
Elemental: War of Magic v1.1 heralds new beginning
Elemental: War of Magic's version 1.1 patch notes -- reportedly 19 pages long when printed out -- represent developer and publisher Stardock's attempt to forget the game's horrific launch and bullishly move forward. According to Stardock, the free update reimagines the use of mana in the game, adds new spells, overhauls the user interface, rebalances the game and improves the AI. The takeaway: this is a "new" Elemental. Stardock has been on a quest to reanimate the game (and potential franchise) from its D.O.A. state. The company hired grassroots talent and slowly turned sales around by offering free expansions. The publisher also announced that anyone who buys the game by the end of this year will receive the first expansion pack for free. We're currently contacting LL Cool J to find out when we can officially give Elemental "comeback" status.%Gallery-111453%
Elemental sales improving alongside the game
Elemental's campaign of redemption appears to be working, with sales up 30 percent in October. Speaking with Big Download, Stardock didn't share any specific sales figures, but noted that Impulse purchases are up and retail stores are increasing shipment orders. The company probably got a nice boost during the month by offering the next two game expansions for free to those who purchased the title before All Hallows' Eve. Stardock has been doing a pretty solid job so far of turning the strategy RPG's "disastrous" launch around. Elemental may have been born prematurely, but with proper oversight from the game's new senior producer, the franchise might just grow up into a respectable member of society.
Elemental purchases before Oct. 31 to receive first two expansions free
Elemental: War of Magic's road to redemption is being paved with free stuff -- for those willing to take the ride. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell announced today on the game's forums that anyone who purchases (or already bought) the game before October 31, 2010, will receive the first two expansions to the game for free. The company has been working to turn around the game's "disastrous" launch by showing it plans not to abandon the 4X strategy title. A major sign of support came earlier this month when Stardock hired Derek "Kael" Paxton as the studio's senior producer. Paxton is the creator of the popular Civilization über-mod Fall from Heaven. Stardock plans to begin the beta testing of Elemental version 1.1 in early November. Owners of the game have the option to opt-in and find out how Elemental is evolving. [Thanks, Chris P.]
Stardock hires 'Fall from Heaven' creator to lead ongoing Elemental development
Everybody loves a comeback story, so let's hope this one starts for Stardock's Elemental: War of Magic with the hiring of Derek "Kael" Paxton as the studio's senior producer. Paxton, who's best known for the popular Civilization series Fall from Heaven (über mods he created using the game engine), will be in charge of Elemental's ongoing development and expansions. The welcome news comes as Elemental tries to right itself from the consequences of a "disastrous" launch. Stardock's PR rep Stephanie Tinsley Schopp told Joystiq, "There will be a lot of news coming from the studio in the next few months, don't count us out." With Paxton joining Stardock, it will be interesting to see if the company makes use of Fall from Heaven, perhaps turning the Civ mod into a standalone game running on a proprietary engine. Though no plans have been announced, it's an intriguing possiblity.
Elemental update due this week, enables multiplayer and other fixes
Stardock founder Brad Wardell (a.k.a. Frogboy) has announced on the official Elemental forums that this week will bring patch 1.08 for the game, which will finally implement multiplayer, as well as more performance optimizations and bugfixes in the wake of the game's troubled launch. Elemental's multiplayer was one of the game options that had been pushed back due to all of the other issues, so stalwart fans of the game are looking forward to mixing it up with others. Wardell also says that the content connected with the Random House-published tie-in novel will be unlocking soon, so players who've bought the novel will get that. And Stardock is also planning to reveal some of the work going on for the mod community, "along with easier in-game submissions of mods that aren't maps." Wardell says that's scheduled for the next few weeks, so it seems like he and his team are still working hard to win back players disappointed with how the launch went.
Elemental launch results in Stardock layoffs
The "consequences" of Elemental's "disastrous" launch were swift as Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has confirmed layoffs at the company. Shacknews reported yesterday that those let go included developers, designers, and salespeople working on Elemental. Wardell stated in his post on the subject that these are the first layoffs to the company since 1998, while elaborating, "Elemental's revenue was anticipated to provide the revenue both for our main games team's next project as well as a second team. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen so we've had to start laying people off." Wardell contacted Joystiq to say, "We obviously have had technical issues on launch that we are paying for in reviews and weakened sales, but as anyone in our QA can tell you - and I've interviewed them post-launch - we thought the game was ready which merely shows, I think pretty obviously, that we will need to change the way we do QA on major new releases as well as how we handle our own betas." The executive concludes, "It aggravates me to no end that there's often very little connection between the myriad of poor decisions made at the executive level - including myself at the top - and the people who end up losing their jobs. But my job isn't to dispense economic justice. My job is to try to keep as many people employed as possible and make sure our customers are taken care of." Update: Added official statements.
Stardock CEO calls Elemental launch 'disastrous,' promises to do better
Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has spoken out again on the troubled launch of his studio's latest game, Elemental: War of Magic. Taking to Stardock's forums, Wardell (aka "Frogboy") said, "I don't think people yet fully realize the completeness of Stardock's fail on Elemental's launch. I'm going to write more about this, but not only did we think v1.05 was ready for everyone, but we felt v1.0 was too. That's the level of disconnect/poor judgment on our part we're talking about." And while he places the blame on Stardock as a whole, he takes a full paragraph to account for his own mistakes. "EVERY competent software developer knows that the programmer must never be the one deciding whether the program is done. Yet, my love of Elemental broke my self discipline and I began coding on the game itself in vast amounts and lost any sense of objectivity on where the game's state was. I normally only program the AI on our games so I can keep a level of distance from the game itself to determine whether it's 'Ready.' On Elemental, I was in love with the world and the game and lost my impartiality." He finishes his screed with the promise, "We'll do better," and in a separate post lists off the many changes and additions coming to the game (including free expansions and an intended v1.1 patch in September). Both pieces really are worth reading in full. You can grab them here and here.
Elemental multiplayer delayed another week
Stardock is delaying Elemental: War of Magic's multiplayer capabilities as the developer continues working out issues from the PC 4X strategy game's rough launch. A company spokesperson noted on the game's forums that the "[multiplayer] enabling patch has been put back to next week as the priority was to first resolve" performance issues which could impact single player and multiplayer. The company has also posted a master to-do list of fixes that the game currently requires. Elemental has come a long way in just a week since release, but the post-launch drama is a case study in the advantages of the "when it's done" approach to a game launch.
Stardock CEO apologizes for lashing out over Elemental pre-launch criticisms
Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has apologized for statements he made on the Quarter to Three forums, which PC Gamer subsequently referenced as evidence that folks should wait to purchase Elemental: War of Magic. In the statement to Joystiq, Wardell expressed that after a "lengthy and heated debate" over issues in the pre-launch version of the game, he spoke hastily and says, "As a result, I want to apologize to our fans for speaking so harshly. It should be said that some of the issues in question from the PC Gamer UK article, in fact, did not appear in any of our beta testing. We were surprised by these issues and, after working days on end with little sleep, I was very frustrated. I should not have engaged in an online debate about these issues, as my haste to defend what we feel is a great product only served to hurt the fans who have supported us and the team who has been so dedicated to this project." The PC Gamer piece urges its readers not to purchase Stardock's latest release. "We've held off from finishing our review because of the launch problems, but felt this warranted an early warning," PC Gamer's Tom Francis says, claiming the launch version of Elemental "on two very different machines with the latest drivers for everything ... crashed or hit a game-breaking bug every ten minutes." It should be noted that while our staff experienced similar issues in the game's beta version, we never encountered those bugs in the retail copy. A large patch issued last night is said to have fixed the frequent crashes, though it allegedly made tactical battles unplayable. Additionally, multiplayer servers are said to be running, but the mode won't be turned on until sometime next week due to "team exhaustion," a rep on the game's forums said. "The early release meant a lot of people who were expecting this weekend off to rest from the grueling last few weeks had to come in. So we're going to let them get a couple of days off later this week and open up the MP next week." With that in mind, it may be a few days before another patch arrives for Elemental. We've placed Wardell's full statement to Joystiq after the break, along with a poll asking for players to let us know if they've run into these bugs.
Preview: Elemental: War of Magic
Stardock's Elemental: War of Magic is already extraordinary, smashing genres together that may have been too big on their own in the first place. At its heart, it's a 4X game in the style of Civ or Galactic Civilizations, but it's also a fantasy RPG with a deep and long story, and a tactical battle game. It has a huge singleplayer campaign, a sandbox mode that creates gigantic maps at random, and even a multiplayer mode. It's vast and confusing and intricate, and while there are certain gamers who just won't vibe with all of the numbers and how open the gameplay is, there are others – probably old-school strategy types – who will love it for everything it is. Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell is one of those for sure -- as he showed me the latest beta of the game earlier this month, his enthusiasm for the game he's built was quite clear. Elemental: War of Magic, like all of Stardock's titles, is as "homespun" as any video game can be, and Wardell's personality and preferences shine through almost all of its (sorry) elements. %Gallery-94332%
Elemental: War of Magic slated for August 24
It seems like just last Friday we were showing you new screens and video from Stardock's latest PC strategy title, Elemental: War of Magic -- we were -- and today we're able to tell you that the game, which had originally been scheduled for February 2010, will launch on August 24. Elemental will be available at retail, as well as via Stardock's own Impulse service, for $49.99. Hey, you even get to choose your purchasing strategy ... how about that? %Gallery-94332%
Stardock explains Elemental's basic elements on video
Originally slated to arrive this past February, Stardock's latest strategy offering, the 4X title Elemental: War of Magic, is in beta and headed for release by September. To show off the latest build of the game, its developer/publisher summoned up the above video, which serves as a walkthrough of its basic stages -- starting out on a barren landscape and ending in ... marriage? Stardock has also delivered a new batch of screens from Elemental, which we've rounded up in the gallery below, as if by magic. %Gallery-94332%
Stardock CEO going on modding sabbatical after Elemental ships
Stardock CEO Brad Wardell will take a "sabbatical" after shipping Elemental: War of Magic later this year. It's not unheard of to take some time off after shipping a major product in the industry (horrible example), but Wardell isn't traveling the world. No, instead he's having a full-on geek out: he's goin' modding. Wardell explained to Joystiq, "It's more than a vacation. For the past year I've been doing multiple jobs at once -- running Stardock, managing external game development, coding on Elemental, building a house, and writing a book. I typically start work at around 8am EST and work until around 11pm and do this every day -- seven days a week -- though recently I've been getting in some Starcraft 2 time. But it has averaged around 80 hours a week overall." The executive explains that he wants to mod Elemental to make all kinds of other games and get as much out of the Kumquat engine (the company's new game engine) and Impulse Reactor as possible. Then take those lessons and show it to other developers. He also plans to work on Civilization V mods, which uses the same mod program as Elemental. Wardell expressed the time off "won't affect Stardock's product scheduling at all," he'll still be working on stuff. A lot of that stuff just happens to be modding. [Via Big Download]
