F.T.T.C. Interview: Bob "Sirian" Thomas (Part 4/5)

[DanQ]

Apolyton Civilization Site ( http://apolyton.net ) [ACS], one of the oldest and premiere online fansites for the Civilization computer strategy gaming series and its extended family, is today publishing the continuation of the story of their first "Four Times The Charm" (FTTC) series interviewee, Bob "Sirian" Thomas. This is the fourth part in a five-part feature with Thomas, Firaxis consultant and CivIV map scripting lead, accompanied by four screenshots from Thomas` personal image gallery.

In co-operation with Civilization IV developer Firaxis Games, ACS is bringing visitors exclusive conversations with members of the online Civilization community who have gone onto become Firaxians and work on CivIV. They feature detail about the internal CivIV beta test period co-ordinated by Firaxis, and about the individuals interviewed themselves. ACS Interview Chief `Solver` guides Thomas through a five-part discussion about the Firaxian`s involvement in CivIV`s development, the gaming community online and off and the man himself. Solver and I had a good time together, "Sirian" recalls. I think we ran somewhere close to ten hours across three days? He kept encouraging me to say more rather than less, so I went on and on. CivIV has been all positive for me. I`m very happy about how it has turned out, so it was easy to discuss at length.

Published today, the fourth part of Thomas` interview comments on CivIV's late game, diplomacy overhaul, combat system tweaks and naval and aerial battles. As CivIV began to ship in North America on October 25th, Bob publicly announced his intense involvement in its development. The fifth and final part in Solver and "Sirian"`s one-on-one conversation is scheduled for release on November 21st.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

[Stuie]

So while no game balance can be perfect, the balance here is better than players have any right to expect!

Huh? I'm not allowed to expect a well balanced game?

[Robert]

Originally posted by Stuie

So while no game balance can be perfect, the balance here is better than players have any right to expect!

Huh? I'm not allowed to expect a well balanced game?

No, you're not allowed to expect a game more ballanced then cIV currently is. (thus, this game is VERY ballanced, eventhough it's not perfect, though nobody should expect perfection)

[Sirian]

Originally posted by CyberShy

No, you're not allowed to expect a game more ballanced then cIV currently is. (thus, this game is VERY ballanced, eventhough it's not perfect, though nobody should expect perfection)

Guys, look. It's very simple.

Pick a game, any game, and examine its balance out of the box.


* Descent: horrible multiplay balance. No MP maps, levels too large, early user maps clogged with mega missiles.

* Warcraft II: High Resources setting allowed for Barracks First, which devolved the entire game balance down to the three-unit Grunt Rush. That's just the start of the problems.

* Descent II: still no MP maps, and now even more super power one shot kill weapons, including one that could kill a whole room full of players.

* Quake: two words: Rocket Launcher.

* Diablo: Sorcerer class way overpowered compared to the other two. Only a few of the spells were truly useful.

* Master of Orion II: It was all about your racial picks.

That's just the first year of the Internet Gaming Era. What has follwed since is a lot more of the same. You can probably count on one hand the number of games (ever) that have been superbly well balanced out of the box.


I did not use the word "allowed". I used the phrase "have any right to expect". When more than 90% of games have numerous and glaring balance flaws out of the box, for gamers to expect a game to be well balanced is a leap of faith not to be made blindly. If you expect that from every game released, you're chasing a pie in the sky.

Soren set as a priority to release Civ4 as a well balanced game right out of the box. We prioritized it and devoted resources to it. That's the main point I hoped to make with those remarks.


- Sirian

[vmxa1]

That about sums it up. I only ask the games to be fun for me, nothing more.

All the games you listed are just that (I never played Descent) and still are for me. Flaws and all.