Civ3 Interview: JEFF MORRIS

[Harlan]

One more thought. I don't know if the questions for part 2 of the interview have been put together yet or not. If not, I'd like to hear what happened to the "minor civ" concept that was officially mentioned once very early on, but hasn't been mentioned since. And what about the idea bandied about from some Firaxis source for a converter program to convert Civ2 scenarios to Civ3 format? Things like that would make the "conservative" Civ3 design go down easier with many, I'm sure.

[Grumbold]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Neither of them are going to be the best strategy game ever

That's because they are both RPGs...

Heh. I mean I would far rather have a superb strategy game to play which has near-infinite replayability, but these two titles are looking so good that it will dispel the frustration for at least a couple of months. Arcanum even has a demo to prove it! Perhaps I should mention EU2 is in production for a possible christmas release just to keep more focussed on strategy games. I'm even willing to bet that it will have more beautiful graphics. Oh wait, it has realtime elements so it obviously can't be counted for comparison either....

[MarkG]

hey harlan,
good to see you again!

on the editable number of civs: yes, it sounds a lot like ctp, but this isnt activision, where the upper managment takes the people from the team and move on to the next game. smac got much more support that ctp1 and this quote form the interview is encouraging...

We're very proud of the Civ III editors and since these are tools for consumers, we have big plans for allowing these serious mod developers to achieve their goals. This will include dialogues with those developers who have a proven track record or a promising idea, updates to the editors based on ease of use and functionality, and improving the methods of distributing and playing these scenarios


on activision's profits: actually, they made a profit for the first quarter

from our news
Video game publisher Activision on Tuesday reported a small profit for its fiscal first quarter, rather than the loss analysts had expected, and raised its full year estimates due to strong sales, especially for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance


about future interviews: we dont have one scheduled yet. thanks for the suggestions

[SerapisIV]

That was the first time Activision made a profit during the first quarter in the 22 year history of the company.

[Colonâ„¢]

Regarding Activision, I took a quick peek at their finances and I believe they look rather healthy, they had a profit in 4 of the past 5 years, they can easily cover their interest payments, they have a stockpile of cash...
Besides, CTP 1&2 are just two of the many games they sell, items like quake and startrek are way more important for them

[campmajor!]

Well, though I am a member of the realist club, this interview tends to make me feel pessimistic...

I am sure the graphics will be improved. The ones we have seen so far, are so bad they can't be the final ones.

Also the AI will be reasonable. Just that it isn't mentioned doesn't mean they are not improved.

But the fact that the 8 civs max is still unchanged disappoints me. Not that I would play a lot with 7+ civs, but the fact that it is not possible for them to change a few screens, gives me a funny feeling in my stomache...

I will buy civ3 no matter what. Just to be able to judge it and talk about. Till I have played the final product, I will try to be positive about it.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

it is not max... you will be able to edit the game and get more civs, just some features might be lost... but theat is not the end of the world.

It would definitly be better with all the features, but I guess they had more important stuff to develop from their perspective.

I am happy they allowed more civs... (remembering the silence from a few months ago it looked like they might not allow it at all)

[DaveV]

Did all of these squawking people read the same interview I did? I thought Jeff came across as a straight shooter, giving honest answers that didn't sound like they'd been filtered through the legal department. I was very encouraged by the same statement MarkG quotes near the top of this page: it represents a promise to support scenario development after release.

I think Mark and Dan would have done well to have closed this Civ3 general forum for the last six months. I used to read and post here, but the tone and content has steadily degenerated. Firaxis has been busy writing software, so any suggestions for new features are moot. Firaxis has no obligation to spoon feed us information about the progress of their game.

I still plan to buy the game as soon as it hits store shelves. If it's the worst game I've ever played (most unlikely), it won't be the largest amount of money I've ever wasted. For people who don't plan to buy the game, for whatever reason, fine; that's your right. But don't badmouth the game without ever playing it!

[Colonâ„¢]

Overall, I believe that many are giving this interview too much importance. AFAIK Morris didn't gave many specific details, nor did he say much about how the game will function. At the least, I'd wait for real and detailed previews and reviews before making any judgements.

[Rhuarc]

In my opinion most people are getting too excited one way or another about this interview. We should condemn the game just from one interview. I mean I agree, the graphics need to be worked on some more, but as far as the gameplay goesit sounds like they have really upgraded a lot of things. The graphics are just different , I think. We are all used to graphics such as the CTP series, that uses more of a bright style. Personally, I think that it could be neat having graphics that make it appear as though you are moving peices around on a parchment style map. But I guess to each his own.

[rah]

For the optimistic look at the article.

I was going to post this in the optimist club thread only to find that an extreme pessimist closed it. BOOOO Mark.

So now even the non-optimists will read it. BOOOOOOOO

OK, after reading the interview, I'm really looking forward to the game.

"We're on our third alpha version at the time of this writing. Civ III should hit beta within 2-3 weeks."

Farther than I thought. We'll see it for the Christmas season.

"We really appreciate getting feedback from fans. They're useful in that they focus on many of the issues and features that we're debating internally and they give us some new ideas as well."

They Listened. I'm sure they read the cheat list that Ming compiled and have fixed EVERYTHING.

"We're very proud of the Civ III editors and since these are tools for consumers, we have big plans for allowing these serious mod developers to achieve their goals. "

We can help making any changes.

"Graphic tasks right now are finishing the remaining overlay tiles (like poles and mines) and polishing screens."

The final graphics will be better than the screen shots that we have seen.

"They fundamentally changed the way the game plays. Culture's impact on the acquisition of new territory and how you support a high culture civilization are definitely a 'new' way to play."

SO much for just civ2.5, this will really be civ3.


Not bad for a corp mouthpiece. I'd like to thank him for the time he spent addressing a small but important part of the CIV community.


RAH
One of the many Presidents of the Optimist Club. Even though some pole up the *** authority figure has close the thread.

[Sabre2th]

I, too, am optimistic about civ3. Firaxis hasn't been great about releasing information, but they are under any obligation to us. It'd be nice, but they don't need to.

Also - everything I read in the interview sounded sincere. I don't see anything that looks like the pre-programmed messages we sometimes get. This was unfiltered, unadulterated info.

[Provost Harrison]

Hey, it is nice to see some more information. So there can be 8 civs at once, but kind of room for more, yes? Sounds interesting how this one will develop.

I never had a lot of problems with SMAC myself. The problem I had was when I downloaded the demo on my computer, it just didn't work, full stop. I wrote an email to Firaxis about this giving my computer setup, etc, etc. And low and behold, the full game worked with no problem. I think a lot of existing compatibility issues can be ironed out just after the demo.

The graphics are still under work as well I see. I think the graphics are fine anyway, just need some ironing out...namely the kind of stuff, overlaying tiles, etc. This is what I expected to occur.

Yin is good and eloquent, but sometimes I still get the feeling he is making a mountain out of a molehill. It is impossible to level so much criticism at a game before you have even played it.

[Steve Clark]

It really looks like Civ3 is going beyond Civ2.5. Even if it is perceived as Civ2.5, that will be a great thing for many reasons, with one being that'll get rid of the likes of yin26 and his self-importance watchdog attitude. But unfortunately, he'll buy it the first day (along with all those who said they won't) because they don't want to be left behind in spouting their unrealistic, ego-centric drivel.

[Nadexander]

Originally posted by ASHBERY76
MOO3

I second that notion. Check out the moo3.com web site (which has been up for over 6months even though the game itself wont be released until 2002) Read the many "data dumps" on the page (any one of them is more than all the info the civ team has provided put together) and you'll see that this the real game to take the TBS genre to new heights. It is everything that civ3 is not. Despite the fact that i have been playing civ/civ2/SMAC no stop for the last 6 years, its MOO3 that im really waiting for now.

After all this silence I expected some kind of annoucemnt, some kind of reassurance that the best was still to come. Unfortunately all we got was that Firaxis has decided that Civ is as good as its ever going to get and doesnt need any improvement (or debugging!) Thank you Jeff Morris and Firaxis. You have successfully alienated one of your biggest fans.

Yin! Where do i sign up?