TheSims.com or SimCity.com

[yin26]

sorry yin, but that's total BS. if the simgolf firaxians werent working on simgolf, they would be working on dinosaurs.

Oh lord. True. Then I'd cry about Dinos! I realize they seem determined to spilt up their people. But you say that ISN'T hurting the games. I disagree. If they were working ONLY on Civ 3, for example, Dan couldn't use his excuse for not updating the website: "We are currently working on TWO games" blah blah blah. Now apply THAT b.s. across the company...Not sure, but how many gaming companies take their relatively small group and even DARE to work on two games at once? A game and an x-pack is o.k., but two completely different games at once, both in roughly the same stage of development?

Markos, that's just a bad idea. C'mon. I know I overstate it a bit, but it's a bad idea. However, if this is going to be the way they run things, I'll kindly find fun and interesting ways to question it.

But this time you sound like an old man complaining that your back hurts, kids dont respect their elders anymore and you social security is getting eat up on all the little punks...

This is also true. I freely admit that I am pouting fruitlessly in this thread. I hope everybody can forgive me that I so openly am kicking and screaming here. The thought of a Sim Golf chat just pushed me over the psychological edge, I guess, considering we're like in a Civ 3 information desert.

From now on, I will do my absolute best to totally ignore Sim Golf...or if I mention it, it will be a constructively kicking and screaming sort of way.

I do hope SidGolf/SidBarbie game will take all personell from the company to finnish. This way releasing Civ3 this year becomes even less likely, thus giving FIRAXIS time to gather a BETA-time and utilize it effeciently.

Wow. Excellent point! Did anybody get on that chat and demand a new cutting edge 3D graphics engine and cutting edge golfer A.I.? If not, we should...and FAST!

Don't even mention Sim barbie! they'll go off and do it. do you want to regret the fact that you put sim golf into sid's head even more?

That would be the end of me. If Sim Barbie (or anything like it) comes out of Firaxis, I'm quitting the computer gaming business. (Oh man, that just gave them more incentive, I'm afraid)

I think they're screening the questions before they pop up on the screen, so no bombarding will really be possible.

But 3D graphics engine and AI questions would be great!

[MarkG]

Originally posted by yin26
I realize they seem determined to spilt up their people. But you say that ISN'T hurting the games. I disagree. If there were working ONLY on Civ 3, for example, Dan couldn't

if they had the same number of people and were working only on civ3 they would have to close cause there is that little rule about companies and income having to be more than expenses....

[yin26]

if they had the same number of people and were working only on civ3 they would have to close cause there is that little rule about companies and income having to be more than expenses....

The wouldn't close. They'd say: "Hey, we over-hired. Now we have a choice--Work on two games at once and HOPEFULLY cover expenses or scale back, stay focussed, and keep expenses much lower...oh, and actually use our Web Wizard to do Web stuff."

Markos: It's classic "The small company let its own growth kill itself." I can already read the Gaming Graveyard story at Gamespot.

[yin26]

Also, by "scale back" at this point would require that they fire some people, which I think they should do. If as a small company you find yourself with so many staff that you HAVE to work on two totally unrelated games at once to turn a profit, you are killing youself.

You could make the same profit with much better focus and management with half the people working to make a much better ONE game.

[MarkG]

yin, they have been having this 2-games model since day #1. why you think that they will fail now that they seem to have reached their goal of having 2 teams in full production escapes me....
(please dont tell me that the reason is that their site is unupdated)


btw, strategy and managment games are not far away. certainly closer than strategy and shoot-em-up.....

[yin26]

It is my understanding that the development of Gettyburg! and SMAC were spaced far apart enough that they weren't fighting for programmers and such. I don't really count the x-packs in this discussion.

By the way, do you know how many games Blizzard is working on and with how many staff? It's an honest question.

[MarkG]

at the time of gettysburg and smac they didnt have the same amount of employees


i dont know about blizzard....

[Jon Miller]

I was there for the first 10-15 minutes and asked a question but am not sure if it was answered.

could someone tell me what went on afterward

Sid said that SimGolf was coming out in october so maybe Civ3 will come out later

Jon Miller

[tniem]

Originally posted by yin26
It is my understanding that the development of Gettyburg! and SMAC were spaced far apart enough that they weren't fighting for programmers and such. I don't really count the x-packs in this discussion.

By the way, do you know how many games Blizzard is working on and with how many staff? It's an honest question.

It is my understanding that Firaxis was founded on the notion that they would always be working on two games. Sid would work on one and Brian another. They would release games every year alternating between the two. They expected to hire enough people to cover two games in developement at the same time. And that is what Firaxis is doing.

Besides, it should be obvious that Sim Golf is coming out this fall. And Civ III in the Spring. Hard to believe two games are at the exact same place in developement at the same time. So that means staggered releases.


As for Blizzard, the company has over 150 designers, producers, programmers, artists and sound engineers. And of course they are always looking to add people. For what games they are working on, well earlier this year they released a StarCraft patch, so someone is still looking at that. They obviously are still patching/working on Diablo II and the expansion pack.

As for what new games they are working on, I read somewhere that during construction of the Diablo II expansion pack they were working on three projects. One being the Diablo II expansion pack. The other two being WarCraft III and an unnamed/undisclosed title. I cannot confirm this tidbit, but I believe that it probably is true. 150 employees have to be doing something.

[tniem]

Oh and another thing. This web chat might be a preview of what is in store for Civ III. I personally can't wait to have Sid and Jeff talk to us all about how great Civ III really is. Show us around, give us new screen shots, and the works. That would be great publicity for the game about a month and a half before it comes out.

Hopefully, the limit won't be 300 however.

[yin26]

And Civ III in the Spring.

Do you know something we don't? Of course, I'm pretty sure that's what WILL happen, so why make an ad saying COMING OCTOBER 2001? Makes no sense.

[tniem]

Originally posted by yin26
Do you know something we don't? Of course, I'm pretty sure that's what WILL happen, so why make an ad saying COMING OCTOBER 2001? Makes no sense.

As for inside information, I could only wish.

I have stated this opinion on the ad thread, but basically an ad has to be put in to the magazine soon enough that it could be published. Now lets say that during this whole purchasing of Hasbro by Infogames, the word is Civ III in October. But Firaxis is behind because they are trying to make a great game.

Infogrames trying to combine companies and doing all that work says, hey civ is a great series to have and there is a sequel coming out. We should think about advertising. They create a website and an ad. Now the guys from Firaxis say, hey were not going to be ready in time. Infogrames says great, get it done as soon as you can.

The problem is that the ad is already printed. This printing happens before Infogrames takes the website date off line. So the ad is already made and then the game is delayed. Not the first time that is happened in the gaming community.

[MarkG]

hey yin did you know that sid's handle on the chat last night was "maxissid"?


yin runs away screaming

[yin26]

tniem: Makes sense, of course, but I wonder why October was EVER on the table?!

Markos: !!! He should stick with my idea of "Sim Meier." Much better.

[TechWins]

Yin, the Sim Meir is pretty funny. I think Firaxis should have taken this game (Civ3) at full force. They should have used all their man power, wait maybe I should say human power to be politically correct. If they would have been only doing one project (Civ3) the game would have been able to be very succesful (it still might be) and been out for release by Christmas time. The game will be succesful but it won't be (hopefully) released until some time next year.

Not to mention that I don't think Sim Golf sounds very exciting. I'm not being biased either because I happen to like a lot of Sim games. A way to make this game a lot better is for you to be able to design your course then be able to play on it like you are able to on most golf games. Now that woul be exciting.