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Ask Sid Meier

Posted by Zonk on from the why-do-i-lose-at-civ-so-much dept.

Sid Meier is a household name in gaming. Titles he's designed, such as Railroad Tycoon, Pirates!, and Civilization, are pillars in the history of PC gaming. This year the fourth chapter in the Civilization series of games is being released, and we have a great opportunity. Today we're asking for questions about design and philosophy to pass on to Mr. Meier. On Wednesday, we'll be asking for questions to give to the Civilization IV development team. That day you'll have the chance to ask technical questions about the moddability and design concepts that went into the game. For today, here's your opportunity to put questions to one of the most respected game designers in the industry. Keep them topical, and one question per post please. We'll pass on the ten best questions, his responses will go up as soon as we get them back.

3 of 604 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Technical questions. by Screaming+Lunatic · · Score: 4, Informative
    There has been a ton of interviews, developer diaries in the last few weeks covering this, along with an article in last months Game Developer Magazine.

    The game is written in C++, with an C++ SDK that is exposed for the MOD community. Tweakable data is stored in XML files. They use Python as their scripting language. They use Boost.Python for binding. Google for "Who's using Boost".

    http://www.dignews.com/feature.php?story_id=11457

    And they probably use MSVC. Everyone uses MSVC. They'd be on crack if they didn't.

    Technical questions are probably best answered by someone on the Civ team other than Sid Meier since he is a designer.

  2. Re:The Wisdom of Alpha Centauri by Jeffrey+Baker · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sid Meier didn't design Alpha Centauri. That game was designed by Brian Reynolds, who also designed Rise of Nations. That's why they call it "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri" instead of "Alpha Centauri: a game by Sid Meier". They are just slapping his name on there for some market recognition.

    This also explains partly why Alpah Centauri was so much more fun and imaginative than Civ III.

  3. Re:What is your opinion... by Spudley · · Score: 4, Informative

    Freeloaders looks a lot like FreeCiv, but the only unit you get is a flat-bed truck loaded with moonshine, and you have to drive it around avoiding "barbarians" (who have a police car icon).

    Flatterers, on the other hand, is a special version of FreeCiv released by the Flat Earth Society, in which the map doesn't wrap around at the edges.

    (and for God's sake, please don't mod this 'informative'!!!!)

    --
    (Spudley Strikes Again!)