Eurogamer interviews Jon Shafer and Dennis Shirk

[Robert]

Eurogamer placed an interview with Civilization V Lead Designer, Jon Shafer, and Civ 5 Producer Dennis Shirk, both from Firaxis.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/civilization-v-interview

Apolyton news article:

Today Eurogamer released an interview with Civ5 Lead Designer Jon Shafer and Producer Dennis Shirk. Jon, Dennis and a mysterious "Lovely marketing lady" talk about all kinds of civ 5 related things. Jon and Dennis explain how the game must both keep it`s depths of complexity while also benig able to pull in new players.







We learn that the hexagon tiles were inspired and pushed by the new combat style: "with the switch to the new kind of combat, that made the jump to hexes easier for us, because it actually helped the game, makes the movement of units more interesting." (Dennis Shirk)

A tad bit more is revealed about the impact of terrain on units and their actions. Jon Shafer on this topic: "The range is the same, but if they`re in a jungle, all they can see is the jungle. But if they`re on a hill and there`s a forest between them and the enemy, they`ll be able to shoot over it."

We`re also told that there are three layers of unit placement, civil units, air units and armies. "You can have a worker unit and a warrior unit on the same tile, but not two of either." (Jon Shafer)



The modding tools (that are easy enough to let Dennis Shirk`s son make a map) will make modding and distrubition a lot easier. There will be one file to distribute, instead of whole packages. This time the game will allow mod uploads from within so that players can select mods from a directory. Will this be the end of the modding community? Jon Shafer: "We`re definitely not looking to replace the community, here. We`re just here to provide a showcase for people who expand the game."







The interview covers more topics, like the Firaxis being allowed to keep it`s name now 2K Games owns it, comparisons between Bioshock and Civilization, how Civilization 5 relates to fan fiction of humanity, etc.



You can read the entire interview right here and discuss it in our forums here.

Enjoy!

[Robert]

Here's the first look at the civ 5 User Interface:



Let's speculate!!

[OzzyKP]

Lovely marketing lady: Sid said eh-eh [makes a farting sound].

[MikeH]

Great interview.

[Dinner]

I like how Apolyton has its own news feeds.

We should put those on the front page so everyone can see them.

[Nostromo]

Eurogamer managed to pull a Oerdin:

That's something I love about games. There are words I wouldn't know if I didn't play games, like whetstone, kindling, falchion and phalanx. It just sticks in there. There's probably a lot of people who know about Chicken Itza because of you lot. Speaking of cultures, you mentioned yesterday that different cultures had different tiles. Did I hear that right?

[Dinner]

Hmm, Chicken Itza. I wonder how they cook that and how the Maya managed to get Chickens before European contact?

[Boris Godunov]

Jon's a cutie patootie.

[Asher]

Jon's a cutie patootie.

Yes, this will be the best Civ game ever.

Can Jon be an advisor??

[rah]

Perverts.

[Dinner]

Here's a screen shot from the Gamespot preview:



Weird things people have noticed: There is a farm built without access to irrigation water (no river or pond nearby), the sheep are almost the same size as the elephants and both are larger then most buildings, for some reason rather then hooking up the special resources (sheep & elephants) the person decided to build farm fields first. I thought that last one was weird because in Civ4 you'd always hook up resources first because their tile output was so much better then then even a flood plain with a farm on it.

[MikeH]

Giant animals is the same as IV.

If the sheep and elephants were to scale, you wouldn't be able to see them.

[Robert]

not hooking up to the resources may be because the player doesn't have the right techs yet. farms without irrigation is interesting indeed! Perhaps a 'worldbuilder' created screenshot?