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Ask Sid Meier
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.
Here is my question... When is the gaming industry going to start introducing original games and not producing sequels just for the sake of production and/or profit? Take Doom 3 for example... yes the graphics are creative and great (that is when you can see them and you're not in the dark) but it is more-or-less the same game as Doom. I'd rather play something new even rather than rehash the same plot outline in a sequel.
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
You seem to be sure that the "originality" in the gaming industry is missing. So perhaps you could tell us what exactly you'd like to see. I mean, you must have some "original" idea that just isn't being implemented, correct?
Perhaps if you tell us what sort of original game that you'd like, an individual or gaming company will run with the idea and create the sort of game you're thinking of.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
What is it in the brainstorming, design, implementation, or other stage you may find more interesting that YOU think sets your games apart from other games that have not done as well, had the same staying power, or popularity?
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
Mr Meier, Your games are regarded as some of the most in-depth in the industry, whilst retaining their addictive qualities; many are still popularly played over a decade after release. What, in your opinion, are the elements that need to go into a game to make it so successful? Do they vary from game to game, or are there elements that every successful game should include? In an industry where few games have any replay value, what gives your releases such incredible longevity? Thanks.
I hate to veer off subject, but why the fuck are you grouping his question about supporting linux with OSS. Linux is an operating system that lacks commercial games. The questions above about OSS are whaddya think of FreeCiv or will we get the Civ3 code open sourced? Running on linux != open source software!! It has to do with supporting the linux OS, whose apps do not need to be OSS. The subtle link, if not subconcious link with OSS and Linux(while OSS, I think it should be viewed as an OS, like OSX or Windows, BSD, Unix etc) is extremely damaging to the linux cause as it makes commercial developers react at first(if uninformed) that to release a product on linux it must be open source. Linux needs to be viewed as a platform, not some fundamentalist ideology if it is to succeed in new markets.
Finally, when the player comes out on top despite all this, the AI civs simply all gang up on him and arbitrarily start wars when the player is close to victory regardless of how benevolent, honorable, and generous of a diplomat he has been.
Amen! Yet, there is even a worse side to all of this... Just the other day I was playing Civ III, my Civ was on a small island and never had much of a chance to really get that early expansion of cities that seem to make most Civs thrive. Thru this I kept up diplomatic relations and only had one real war (resulting in the enemy losing on city and me extending the olive branch). Granted, I was left behind slightly in tech and a lot of wonders but at the age of retirement the game made me seem like nothing more than a sack of crap for not taking over 60% of either the land or the population. Does this mean that in order to win you HAVE to destroy other civs? It seems that way to me. There is no advantage in diplomatic play in the Civ games.
It almost makes me think the game should be called "Kick the Auslander's Asses" instead. I'd like to see a fair and honorable Civ be judged better than "weak" for playing a decent diplomatic game.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Probably mostly because the arrow keys form a square.
Any game that tries to use hexes either has to overlay the alpha key board (eg: wedxza), use a convoluted selection system (eg: left-left-left-up) or get away from the keyboard completely. The mapping is pretty straightforward: it needs some thinking and the boundaries need to be managed differently but otherwise it is not much more difficult than dealing with diagonals. Perhaps now that they've got most of the mousing problems sorted (including the social/marketing ones) we can hope for this in Alpha Centuri II. I wouldn't expect to see it in this title though.
My question for Sid:
Have you ever played Space Empires? What did you think? Have you though about doing a space game?
I don't know how he did it, but it was a hell of a brilliant move - establish a 'brand' that's your own name, so as you travel from company to company you can always keep your brand...
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
Thanks for finding the polite way of asking; "Civ III: Seriously, WTF?"
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer