First Civ 4 Screenshots!

[Solver]

The shallow ones only want violence and action (or Sims if they're of the feminine kind ), they couldn't care less about Civ.

And that Sims part scares me .

I reckon that may be the case where you come from, but in the Netherlands they start teaching kids English at the age of 8 or 9 (if not earlier). And plenty of them already speak a fair amount of English at that age as a result of watching cartoons and movies and stuff (the advantage of subtitling over dubbing).

And the Dutch are considered to be naturally good at learning languages. Unfortunately, the current situation here is that even though teaching of English indeed starts at 8 or 9 as well usually, most who don't get extra lessons are still rather poor at English at the age of 15 or 16. Unfortunately . This is actually quite an issue with the educational system in my country.

Civ OTOH appeals to all ages, therefore our community is very balanced age-wise (I think there may be more under-20-year-olds than you may suspect). Plus, Civ was considered advanced and mainstream 10 years ago. People old enough to remember that tend to stick around.

Yeah, how Civ can appeal to 15 year olds and 45 year olds alike is one of its greatnesses. I should note here that those who remember playing Civ 10 years ago are at least 20 now. And I expect that those who get hooked on Civ will continue to love it for a really long time - most teenagers and young adults will probably lose the fascination with FPS/RTS games, but I don't really see why anyone who got hooked with Civ in his teen years should lose interest when 25, 30 or 40.

[Aidun]

I hope they have paid attention to the article you once wrote Locutus.

Aidun

[Soren Johnson]

Originally posted by Solver
Yes, speculation it is mostly, as I said previously. But they said they'd "get rid of" these unfun elements, that's good - but I do indeed hope they will be replaced with something more interesting.

There seems to have been a lot of consternation about the "get rid of unfun elements" quote. Perhaps I should clarify. We have identified the game pieces of Civ which have caused the most user annoyances (pollution, corruption, etc.). Instead of trying to band-aid these problems, we are mostly tossing them out and implementing better systems that will require less micro-management, provide better high-level control, and still create interesting gameplay challenges. Pollution, for example, is being replaced by a more comprehensive "Health" system which has a large variety of positive and negative influences. There is no need to go into detail yet - even though I am sure you can imagine some of the factors - the important point is that we aren't just chucking the whole thing.

The take-home here is that we understand that cleaning-up pollution is not fun. We can fix that!

[Alex]

Firaxian sighting!!!!!

Hehe, thanks for sharing this info with us, Soren... Good luck on the job of recreating Civ...

[Robert]

Soren, will the health system work like the happyness sytem? Thus, factories make citizen more unhealthy, and ie hospitals make them more healthy? That would be a cool idea

ixnay, c'mon share it with us or mail it at me

[smellymummy]

where are the "first civ4 screenshots!" ?

could someone please post the images again. im sure im not the only one who wants to see them. besides, its not like pc gamer is going to go through all the civ forums over the weekend ...

[Gramphos]

obviously they don't want those images to be posted. They've issued a warning and had them removed, if someone else reposts them it may actuallt bacame a legal process about it.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Aidun
I hope they have paid attention to the article you once wrote Locutus.

Thanks, I think

Hmm, I've been around for many, many years and wrote many, many articles in that time -- you're gonna have to be a bit more specific I suppose you mean the 2nd part of my Faces of Apolyton interview (the sections that were Civ-related anyway)? If so, I can only agree. If not, I'll still agree with you. I mean, if I wrote it, it must be good, no?

Originally posted by Soren Johnson Firaxis
There seems to have been a lot of consternation about the "get rid of unfun elements" quote. Perhaps I should clarify. We have identified the game pieces of Civ which have caused the most user annoyances (pollution, corruption, etc.). Instead of trying to band-aid these problems, we are mostly tossing them out and implementing better systems that will require less micro-management, provide better high-level control, and still create interesting gameplay challenges. Pollution, for example, is being replaced by a more comprehensive "Health" system which has a large variety of positive and negative influences. There is no need to go into detail yet - even though I am sure you can imagine some of the factors - the important point is that we aren't just chucking the whole thing.

The take-home here is that we understand that cleaning-up pollution is not fun. We can fix that!

That sounds excellent! Thanks for sharing, Soren

Originally posted by smellymummy
where are the "first civ4 screenshots!" ?

They were apparently taken offline at the request of PC Gamer. You'll have to buy the magazine if you want to see them.

[Gangerolf]

[Solver]

Thanks for sharing that info, Soren . I'm glad to see that you're replacing unfun models with more fun ones, rather than simply getting rid of separate aspects of the game altogether. It certainly sounds excellent.

[alva]

Thanks Soren.

-
/me wonders how many PM's Ixnay got and considers sending another one. Just to test if his in-box is full of-course.

[Adagio]

Wouldn't it be easier for everybody if Ixnay posted it in a spoiler tag?

/me is too lazy to send him a pm about it...

[Solver]

Uhmmm people, if you have respect for Firaxis, then you should respect them not wanting those screenshots to be available.

Soren, since you seem to be reading this thread, can you clarify on the role of Sid in development of Civ4? We all understand, of course, that Sid's name will be on the box and that he will be advertising the game, but what's his real role? Is he on the design team? Does he just play the game and provide feedback? Did he throw in some specific ideas?

[alva]

Uhmmm people, if you have respect for Firaxis, then you should respect them not wanting those screenshots to be available.

C'mon Solver, it's only human to be curious.
I don't think Firaxis is going to hold it against us.
Actually - as it is in politics - 'leaking' is a very powerfull tool.

-

on the role of Sid in development of Civ4?

Expect a very PC/marketing answer. ( which I would do too).

[Master Zen]

Graphics: baaaad

(of course they'll get better hopefully)

Game Premise: goooood

(can't... wait...! )