Have to agree with Jongalt and Ebbeson on virtually every point. Focus and expand upon what DG does better than the competition. Trying to out-DotA DotA just isn't going to work.

Perfect world though... no waiting around in lobbies so no multitasking required.  You remember the old days before the overlay - many would alt tab to go look up stats on the website to see if they were playing with brand new players or experts, etc.  That said, yeah - you should be able to alt tab without the world blowing up.    Dg's also the only game I play in windowed mode so I can do other things while I'm waiting about, though. 

I have more ideas for DGII.

Sponsorship and advertising! I always notice lobby and load screens in RTS can be time consuming. I was thinking recently about TV on the internet, and commercials are sometimes played before the start of the show.

So, imagine while you wait in a lobby, there's a small u-tube like window that plays commercials. Or banner ads on load screens?

What do I mean by sponsorship? Well what if items or heroes could be 'sponsored' and then named in reference to the sponsor. For example 'Nike boots of speed' or 'Gatorade health elixir' 

Sounds too commercial and I'm sure open for some ridicule, BUT if you needed revenue to cover the cost of a servers for server hosted games then this could be it.

Imagine a small 10 second clip of unclean beast chowing down his favorite food 'Chum', or Queen of Thorns promoting a brand of lingerie.

I also the idea of purchasing a customisable skin, and how about custom catch phrases? Each character can have  audio taunts  that enemy players can hear. For a small cost you could buy audio taunts that you can activate ingame and all players hear - say ten cents a taunt, and they're specific to characters. For example torchbearer could say "Feeble and flammable, YOURE DEAD!" if the player is feeling like rubbing it in they can hit the shortcut for taunt.  Buy incurring a small cost you'll avoid games being flooded with taunts, but I think people would use them and bring needed revenue.

Those are like the worst ideas that I've heard in this thread.

I have about 100 of the best PC games that i've purchased over the past ten years or so and Demigod is one of three that I have enjoyed the most, the other two were Battlefield 2 and Command & Conquer, Renegade which was the first game I really played online and it blew my mind.

Nice to hear a perspective from someone who only plays single player as well. Have you tried installing the mod for single player dude, it's supposed to vastly improve the AI.

Although single player Demigod over online multiplayer is rather like smoking a joint and not inhaling.

I have all the good strategy games and have only ever played single player as I just know online it wouldn't float my boat, I usually play them for the stories.

Demigod online may surprise you as it did me, the team dynamic is the key, I don't like 1v1 games, it sucks if you get a crap team but if you get two experienced & evenly balanced teams the game is transcendentally good. 

Although the community is too small now to really recommend it online, it was great when there was enough people on and you didn't have to wait ages for a balanced game, even if it crashed or someone dropped then you could restart within a reasonable time frame.

No new ideas, apart from having a newb lobby or section and a graduated range of experience with lobby's so newby's don't get fed up with being kicked out of games before they've even begun. 

Unless you're wandering which side of the fence i'm on then I think Stardock really should make DG2. It would be nice to get some of the geniuses that worked on the first one back involved, maybe a split between GPG and the chaps that did monday night combat unless they hate each other now.

The only thing I would add is if you do decide to do it then make it brilliant, no half measures for a budget price, you have the resource to do it justice and not run out of money like GPG did with the first one. Any chance of it sucking then leave it well alone as that would be the biggest facepalm ever.

Didn't seem like a for sure thing from the interview.

I've been thinking about this for a while, to be honest.  I really did enjoy Demigod, and felt it didn't get the launch and sales it deserved.  With that in mind, there are few things I think need to be done to ensure Demigod 2 doesn't fall prey to the same troubles that befell the original Demigod, and then there are a few things which the sequel would need to do in order to surpass the original.  I'm not a professional developer - take these with a grain of salt.

So, things Demigod 2 needs to do in order to avoid Demigods problems:

First, and most obviously, is simply that the online multiplayer component needs a proper open Beta.  This will serve two purposes: getting the whole thing up and running and properly stress tested prior to launch, and offering up a Demo to help people get back on board with the Demigod series.  Demigod has a reputation for it's terrible launch, and this will help address that is the best way possible: let the game speak for itself.

Secondly, Demigod suffered from a lack of maps.  This was primarily due to the way the maps were constructed.  While they enabled the game to have some utterly gorgeous visuals, they simply prevented the game from having that needed custom content to keep it alive once the novelty had worn off.  I don't care how it's addressed - but it's something we need from day one.

Lastly, is simply balance and glitches.  We understand that games take a long time to get right and aren't perfect at launch - but the developer needs to be able to provide the necessary attention in order to get it there.  If the developer isn't able to release a balance patch and bug stomp patch every little while, then it's hard to remain on board for the long haul.  Once a game is stable, glitch free and balanced, players will continue to play it for years.  DotA, Counter-Strike, Starcraft, Quake 3, etc.

Now, the things Demigod 2 needs to do in order to surpass Demigod:

Firstly, don't for the love God dumb the game down.  Supreme Commander 2 is utterly generic and absolutely destroys all that made Supreme Commander the beast that it is.  Don't let Gas Powered Games make the same mistake with Demigod 2.  Demigod was different to DotA in that it wasn't about Actions per Second - it was about team work, and overall strategy.  Becuase it was different, it worked out its own niche.  Demigod 2 needs to use it's differences as it's strengths - don't try to out-DotA DotA.  The game will fail.  Supreme Commander 2 tried to out-Starcraft Starcraft II.  I don't need to detail what happened when it was released.

Secondly, social features and eSport features need to be in the box.  Replays, replay viewer, proper working lobby system with numerous options, robust friends list (Starcraft II's system is fucking horrendous - use something else as your blueprint) and some kind of viewable, online profile complete with detailed statistics.  On top of this, the match making service needs to work well and the ladder system both needs to work, and have an avenue for explination.  Perhaps when viewing the ladder you can also view a short embedded video explaining the system in plain and simple terms.

Thirdly, Demigod had a few problems with the basic design that lead to some issues, including but not limited to stacking Demigods, which enabled some serious abuse.  Multi-shotting Demigods from across the map isn't fun.  Stacking powerful DoTs for an easy victory isn't fun.  Having a single dedicated healing Demigod isn't fun.  This kind of stuff needs to be addressed in order for it to be easily picked up, and yet still interesting some time later.  Team work doesn't mean that I sit back and Heal, or Tank, or DPS.  It's a tough line to walk, but it needs to be walked.

Forthly, adding some extra spice that the other MOBAs don't have and embracing the personality.  The Dark and Light side thing is interesting, however it's completely ignored.  Having different Creeps for each side, and different Demigod skins for each side, is a great step towards making them feel like truly different sides as opposed to simply being different teams.  The Towers are a great example of this.  Extending this throughout the rest of the game - imagine different effects for each Demigod's abilities based on their side - makes Demigod 2 feel like it's own game, as opposed to DotA Rip Off #19.

Fifthly, is simply variety.  Demigod launched with 5v5 maps, however it was way above what the majority of the community was able to play on for technical reasons.  3v3 seemed to be the sweet spot, however that left us with one map that people enjoyed.  One.  Unless the technical shortcomings can be removed - and that's frankly doubtful - 3v3 needs to be the focus of the developers map making efforts.  On top of this, more Demigods themselves are needed.  The personality and variety of them is already excellent - we just need a few more of them.
Instead of launching with 8 Demigods and one playable map, Demigod 2 needs to launch with - say - 16 Demigods (I'm happy for the entire original cast to return) and six or more 3v3 maps.

Lastly, and this is based on comments surrounding the game, Demigod 2 needs a more significant single player aspect.  According to offical stats, more people played Demigod singleplayer than multiplayer.  Instead of a poor Mortal Kombat style tournament ladder, we need a real campaign.  We're trying to become immortal Gods - the single player needs to reflect this type of epic setting!  A small "You Win" screen at the end is frankly insufficent.  Coupled with this is - of course - A.I.  The A.I. needs to be able to keep up, and at least pose a challenge without needing to result to cheating in order to not die in a matter of seconds.

Anyway, that's my thoughts.  Hope they are useful

Yes, OMG_pacov very helpfully directed me to the mod, which I would otherwise have overlooked seeing as how I don't play Demigod all that much, more as relaxation every few months, the same as I do with several other good tactical games that try to pass themselves off as strategy games and with CRPGs that are really interactive novels with stats attached (I've always been a sucker for a good story). The mod package did improve the AI performance considerably and the interface improvements were much appreciated as well. The boatload of new favour items - not so much, as I don't play the game enough to feel a need for them. I remain thankful to him for his help in this regard and can certainly recommend anybody else playing SP to install the mod package (with or without the favour items).

For more regular entertainment, I prefer real strategy* games and, best of all, grand strategy games, but they are rather more time consuming and more of a niché product. So fulfilling to play in both SP and MP when days', weeks', or even months' worth of planning and plotting bears fruit... but not something to play on a short afternoon or a dark evening. Which is why it is wonderful to have well designed and executed beer & pretzels games like Demigod to play in SP when time doesn't allow or I'm tired and don't seek an intellectual challenge.

* as in, real strategy games are games with a focus on strategy; I'm not implying that real strategy games are in any inherent way better of more worthy than games with a focus on tactics, it is more of a classification issue. Damn the games' industry and its idiotic classification of anything and everything with army units and the least bit of planning as "strategy", regardless of whether the focus is tactics, strategy, logistics, grand strategy, or politics.

that would add another layer of depth to the game!

that would be kinda broken since you could just close the gate early on and out level your enemies hardcore then open the gate with like a gazillon creeps to get the towers lol

Hey this is a great idea for minion redirecting. Rmember if yr feeding all through one lane then ur fattening up the enemy.

And if they see this they could redirect their wave to deny you the essential nurtients and minerals

Also this could be a good MAP idea. In a large map with multiple lanes and portals there could be a sliding wall that moves between two lanes. This wall cannot be crossed and all range attacks are stopped by it (including AOE spells) there is a switch at EACH citadel to toggle the wall between the lanes - effectively forming a creep re-direct, or an enemy trap, or an escape for ally.Though I think that's more a map idea rather than a feature for every map.

Still coordinating with GPG to see what we can do.  The Impulse acquisition has things a bit in flux here for the time being.