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#94 A RECOVERED APOLYTOLIC'S MESSAGE LordStone shares his experience battling an addiction to a gaming site. #95 DREAMING OF CIV What does any normal civer like Nimrod dream of? #96 WHY SE DOES NOT BELONG IN CIV3 Raingoon rejects the idea of put SMAC's Social Engineering model in Civ3, and he has reason for doing so! #97 APOLYTON CHANGES THE PARADIGM Derek relays to us all the ways in which he sees Apolyton as being special. #98 WHAT IS WRONG WITH APOLYTON ADDICTION? The debate continues: Imran demands to know what is so out of place of being an Apolyton addict. COLUMN ARCHIVE

Many people (most recently blackclove and DarthVeda) have complained that new games aren't customisable enough. Oh, I agree. What I'd like to assert is that games have never really been customisable enough, and that the first truly all-encompassing game (whatever genre it's in, but of course Civ-games are preferable) will mean a revolution in gaming.

It smarts to say this, but Civ2's built-in scenario editor sucked. Oh, it was (and probably still is) one of the best scenario editors for any game, let alone a 4x one, yet here I am saying it sucked. Why?

Because it did- any commercial level application software with an interface like that would be criticised to hell. So many settings had to be set before you began building a scenario, that could not be changed during the creative process. The goals system was a pain; unintuitive, hard to use, rigid. Every piece customisation beyond superficial scenario making had to be done using awkward text and graphics files, with no built-in parsers. And this is not even taking into consideration the laughable documentation, numerous bugs, the fact that you had to play the game for a bit to get realistic cities, and so on.

Oh, sure, subsequent releases added parsers and a few improvements, yet a lot was still missing. Where was the customisable AI? A real macro language capable of changing even the most basic things about the game? Or even an interface worthy of a real application? Nowhere. And yet we still accepted it, and liked it. Would anyone have accepted a word-processor with an interface like that?

Things could be so much better. Imagine, if you will, a games company that actually put as much effort into the editor as into other parts of the game, making it powerful, well-integrated and well-designed. An editor with the power to change everything about the game, from the ground up. It would be great; yet more than that is needed if an editor is to be truly successful. We're not all veritable Linus Torvaldses, that can knock up a total conversion in a matter of minutes. A good editor works on every level, allowing both experts craving power and beginners to thrive.

Why do editors have to have so horrible documentation? I would really like to see an editor with a good manual (or even a good help file). And what about tutorials? Most games have some sort of tutorial mode- what is wrong with including one for the editor too? Surely most application software will teach you almost everything in a few easy steps?

Or an interface. A really good editor should not force you into every file if you don’t want to. Games companies can, with a little effort, create an interface of dialogue boxes and wizards to cover every aspect of the game, yet retaining the files for those who want them. The key is to allow people to work on every level they want, from a glossy click-and-drag interface to the raw depths of code.

And why not allow more customisation than what is available today? Why not a 3d editor to edit every character model? Why not a fully featured AI editor, capable of completely changing the computer players’ behaviours to suit your scenario needs? Why can’t an editor for a 4x game allow for total conversions, turning Civ into a football game or a game of chess?

Because, simply put, the companies don’t think it’s worth the effort to make a really good editor, and as the technology gets more advanced and the costs go up likewise, they are even less inclined to do so. I think they’re wrong. A good game with an excellent editor would be worth its weight in gold and take the game straight into the classics. Imagine what a massive user base such a game could build, eager to lap up every new add-on. And how better can a game company make a name for itself than to please the fans?

I challenge game companies to make the ideal editor. At the moment, only Blizzard seems eager to try.
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About the author: Johan Palme is, as 'Hugo Rune', a regular poster at the forums.

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The opinions expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect those of Apolyton CS or GameStats. They are just the personal opinions of the writer.