Elemental: War of Magic - December Status Update @ Official Site

The official site for Elemental, Stardock's turn-based strategy offering loosely based on the classic Master of Magic,  has a developer update posted on the current status of the game, dealing mostly with the results from beta testing:

Greetings!

As we reach the end of the year, we can take stock of where we are and where we’re going next.

…our story so far…

About 3 months ago, we released the first “beta” of Elemental. Designed to let players help us mold the game mechanics, the beta has been going very well so far.

Through beta feedback, the economic system for the game has been changed a great deal, streamlined and generally put into place something that will be fun, deep but should also keep players from getting bogged down.

Also thanks to beta feedback, we came up with a different technology system that is, ironically, quite similar to what was in Master of Orion 1. This is an area that is proving a wealth of future fun for us as we prepare to create different technology pools for the different factions.

In addition, again thanks to the beta players, the diplomacy system has been heavily modified...

…lessons and trends…

If I were pressed to list what the biggest trend in the beta feedback has been so far it is this: Make sure the game has a soul. 

Nearly all of our changes in Elemental thus far have been to increase the opportunity to inject story and life into the game play...