It's for laptop users

Why did we put so much effort for low end systems?

Published on February 19, 2006 By Draginol In GalCiv Journals

Some of my friends who work in the game industry (you know who you are) have been teasing me about why we put so much effort into low end hardware support. That is, GalCiv II supports kind of ridiculously low end hardware.

I mean after all, who has an 800Mhz computer? What gamer has a really low end graphics card? Those people don't play games. They won't buy games. So why support them?

Our view is that it's not low end desktop users that we're targeting. Sure, they benefit from the work but it's LAPTOP users who play it. Our company's IP attorney, who is in his mid 50s, plays strategy games on his laptop when he travels (which he does considerably). His home machine is plenty powerful but his laptop isn't quite as powerful. And we think there are a lot of people out there who do this kind of thing.

Tell us what you think? Does laptop playability matter to you?

Comments (Page 3)

Aratur

on Feb 20, 2006

Well, I don't have a laptop at the moment, but I will be getting one shortly for college stuff, at which point it will be my main PC... So yes, it is very important to me!

Thanks for that,

Aratur

Zoomba

on Feb 20, 2006

It works out well since my parents want to play this game and they have a 4 yr old PC with a crap video card... so the low specs make the game available to them as well.

Airwreck

on Feb 20, 2006

Civ 4 only works on my three year old 1.8 GHz desktop. My personal two year old 2.6 GHz Dell laptop has video issues even after patching the game and updating the driver.

As a result, I'm haven't touched it in the past month since I don't like being "trapped" in the study. I prefer to play games while watching television elsewhere in the house or travelling.

DocDVD

on Feb 20, 2006

I always take GalCiv 1 with me on my labtop on business trips.

And I will (hopefully) do the same with GalCiv 2 - Civ 4 doesn't run because of some video issues (and getting new video drivers for a 2 year old notebook is nearly impossible).

DocDVD

on Feb 20, 2006

amaevis

on Feb 20, 2006

I only have a laptop, and it's a company machine. I only play when I commute or travel since my wife hates it when I "waste" my time gaming. My wife would never let me blow $1000+ on a gaming PC.

I am thankful that Stardock has made a conscious effort to include us road warriors. I would think that we tend to have more disposable income and be less likely to pirate, so we form a compelling market as well. Does Stardock or anyone else have any numbers on this?

imagiro

on Feb 20, 2006

I have a really powerful desktop and a fairly new laptop that is pretty decent. It frustrates me however, when I can't play games on it as it has a dumb-ed down graphics card. I'm really glad I will have the opportunity to play Gal Civ II on it. I'm not always home and having games while on travel is nice.

Urethramancer

on Feb 20, 2006

Sounds like your game industry friends only know hardcore gamers, Brad

I know more people with "crappy" computers than laptop users. Most people over 30
don't really upgrade, unless they have kids demanding the latest and greatest.
In which case they get the kids their own computers.

I helped cobble together a computer for a neighbour, and we scrounged up something
from the P2/P3 transition era. He plays games like HOMM3 and GalCiv, so he's a
potential buyer of GalCiv II. His current system doesn't meet the official minimum
specs for it, but we can always find some cheap, "old" hardware. He doesn't want to
spend as much on computers as a modern FPS/MMO gamer, but that doesn't make him a
second-rate customer.

(Note: This isn't America, so we don't get CPUs and graphics cards free with
HappyMeals

)

ZubaZ

on Feb 20, 2006

Brad, I know you use a tabletPC and the UI will work landscape or portrait . .. but can it change on the fly if I change the orientation?

Thanks for the lower-end support you provide. I've got an early generation tablet and I have struggles with some modern apps.

McGlu

on Feb 20, 2006

I too have a laptop, It is a Dell XPS (Gen 1) 3.4Ghz HT, 1GB RAM, Radeon 9800 256Mb, so it's actually a desktop in a laptop case.

But, I'm very happy that Laptops are supported by GalCiv II.

markos2

on Feb 20, 2006

Laptop user detected here.

Midnightsun

on Feb 20, 2006

2 Laptops here. I really like it when the system requirements are down. I think sometimes the game industry is a little bit mad going for higher and higher requirements. Right now I think 97% of the high end computers you need only to play games all the other stuff runs well on my low end laptops.

Midnightsun

on Feb 20, 2006

Zadinoff

on Feb 21, 2006

As an individual writing from his laptop (which is fastest computer), it does matter. Very much. Very very much. Thanks, you guys.

Hobbess007

on Feb 21, 2006

I love gaming on my laptop. Ever since I got my desktop replacement system, I've barely touched my tower even though it is about the same speed. I just use the tower for long term downloads now.

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