Apolyton CS: Civilization III: The List v1: Introduction

PREFACE FROM APOLYTON

The jurney started something more than two months ago, and the ship had just arrived to it's first destination. :) The people of "The List" and Apolyton CS are proud to present the first version of "The List". More than 40 html pages(200 pages in Word format!) of civ3 suggestions and we hope we have more to give to Firaxis...
Note to webmasters: While the content of The List is of course freely distributable, copying the html pages of Apolyton(for which someone worked for several hours) is prohibited. Thank you for understanding

INTRODUCTION

After the announcement that Firaxis would be designing Civilization III, Brian Reynolds posted a comment on the Apolyton site in which he recalled a list of ideas that was created for Civilization II. Stressing that such lists are helpful, Brian then asked that we similarly organize ourselves and produce a coherent summary of suggestions. This request, coupled with the company's history of listening to fans and Brian's assurance that he would keep this list (and his stocked college mini-fridge?) by his computer while he codes Civilization III, resulted in what you are reading now.

Along the way, we informally adopted a philosophy about this project. I call it "IF JUST ONE IDEA…": If just one idea from the hundreds contained here makes it into Civilization III, we will know this was all well worth the effort. Even one idea can push a game to a whole new level. Thus, we realize that a vast majority of the following ideas will never come close to being included in the game. Some ideas contradict each other. Some would take 3 years and a million dollars to implement. And many are only briefly explained because we trust that you will ask for more feedback if you find something intriguing. So, if any ideas strike you, please remember that hundreds of fans are now ready to give you focussed comments and a possible means of implementation. The organization and the willingness are both in place.

But to be clear: I don't dare dream that this list represents the entire world of Civilization fans and their ideas. No single list can. Certainly the more input Firaxis considers, the better the game is likely to be. Of course, version 2 of this list is already well underway on the Apolyton site as we continue our efforts to contribute to the early phases of the game's development. But so far the results have been pretty impressive, I must say (except, of course, for where my trademark mistakes got in the way). At the very least, if this list can help bring some focussed discussion about Civilization 3, it will have done its job.

Although this has been hard work, Markos and Dan at Apolyton did the hardest work for us. Without a popular and well-maintained Civilization website from which to work, and without the trust and cooperation of Webmasters who opened their site and expertise to us, none of this could have happened. After Markos and Dan, where do I begin thanking people? Do I start with the project leaders ("Thread Masters") who have stuck this thing out from the beginning (nearly two Forum Months, which converts to roughly 1 Real World Year); or do I start with the guys who took on extra work or jumped in at the last hour? Maybe I should start with the community in general that posted these great ideas. Well, I thank all you guys. Your enthusiasm made the difference. Finally, I'd like to thank Shining1 in particular for lending extra help and advice when it was most needed.

In the end, of course, only Firaxis can create Civilization III. As fans, all we could wish for is that you would listen to our many brilliant (or crazy) ideas and work some of them into the game. Well, thanks for granting the first part of that wish, and we anxiously await the release of Civilization III to see if any of our ideas made it from the Forum to the CD.

Yin


Apolyton Civilization Site Copyright © Daniel C. J. Quick All trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners