Open letter to Firaxis from the scenario community

[Hans2]

As do I.

[Hoek]

I am not going to wait for a new patch to come through for Civ 3....I'm going back to civ II for a while. I started a new scenario called "Manifest Destiny" and was wondering if anyone was interested in assisting me in it.

[techumseh]

Attn. Dan of Firaxis,

Having had our letter officially for several days now, I'm wondering when we might expect a response? I certainly don't expect one immediately, since we raised a number of difficult issues which require due consideration. But I certainly believe that one should eventually be provided, either here or by return email to the people who signed the open letter. How about it? Thanks.

[ravagon]

Or at the very least an announcement on your own website (which MarkG/DanQ will undoubtably pick up and repost here) regarding patch/editor/MP current status and your future intentions regarding such.

[techumseh]

bump #1

[klesh]

#2

[El hidalgo]

Re: Boycott civ 3

Originally posted by Hoek
I, for one, am not satisfied with the product that they produced, and as such, I plan on excercising my power as a consumer to withold my money until Firaxis produces something decent for scenario makers, and I encourage everyone else who is dissatisfied to do the same. If Firaxis sees a surge in sales after they release an editor patch, that will speak in a language they can understand: money. I really think they miscalculated here. I know that there are alot of rookies who don't see what's so bad about it, but there are alot of us that expect more from several years of waiting and 50 bucks. If Firaxis is going to put such a high premium on selling the most units possible, then we as fans need to use that goal to produce a better civ product. I say boycott Civ 3. I may be the only one doing this, but I don't really care. They're not getting my fifty dollars without showing some consideration to the scenario community.

You're not the only one... I too am withholding my money until we get some decent editing tools. This is not something I thought I'd have to wait for -- it just seems so basic. The ability to set starting locations, for example. I am dumbfounded as how they could have left out such a simple, important thing. You can set locations where a civ, some civ, will appear, so it seems to that it would not have been much more trouble to take that extra step of allowing you to specify exactly what that civ shall be. Anyway it's these little thoughtless omissions that will have me waiting for the patch before I part with my $$.

[Roman]

#3

[klesh]

#4

[Roman]

Come on, let's not let this thread die!!!

[DinoDoc]

Bounce

[Thoth]

Found on the Civ3.com site:

(Original can be found here: civ3.com/devupdate.cfm )


By Jeff Morris
Firaxis Games

One of the enduring strengths of the Civilization franchise has been its ability to be customized by the fans. It's really a matter of 'resolution'. Whereas the developers of the core game take upon themselves the challenge of surveying the entirety of human history, the fans can render specific periods of time in as much detail as they can muster. This versatility is a real marquee feature, transforming a title about mankind's civilizations into a gaming construction kit for any setting imaginable.




When we approached the editing tools for Civilization III, we were determined to offer a contemporary customization environment. In previous incarnations of this franchise, users were capable of making radical changes to the game systems, but often needed to locate and edit text files to do so. In Civilization III these changes are still possible, but can now be made within an application that follows the interface rules of standard Windows programs. This editor not only allows you to alter game elements such as advances, civilizations, units and wonders (to name a few), but also includes a robust map editor. Using the editor, users are empowered to create scenarios that we never dreamt of during development.

The editors in Civilization III are only the beginning. Based on feedback from the mod and scenario community we will make additional improvements and incorporate new features. The editors are just tools, ones that the fan community needs to make meaningful by creating new scenarios with. As those in the 'trenches' of creating new content run into limitations, we'll work on eradicating those barriers. Firaxis is very interested in Civilization III having an active mod community, but need to know where our efforts are best spent. Together we can make Civilization III a potent platform for not only exploring factual history, but also your creativity and interests.

[techumseh]

Thank you, Thoth. But this is not new, nor is it an answer to our letter. It doesn't answer our concerns and it isn't even posted by Firaxis. We're still waiting....

[Marko]

I postponed all work with new scenario projects (Fall Weiss and one surprise project) this Spring because I waited Civ3. I believed that it will come with superior scenario editing tools.

Such a dissapointment!

All my next scenarios will be for Test of Time.

[Yoleus]

Undead (without being alive!)

Is this decomposing thread still crawling??
(stomps, whacks, stomps...)
Well, it deserves the "Zombi of the Year 2001" award for afterlife endurance