bad news

[paramir]

i was just looking over the civ 4 stuff and i found this

Soren points out that genres/franchises that get increasingly complex tend to die out as they become accessible only for the real hard-core fans, no longer for casual gamers (example: flight simulator games). Soren thinks that RTS games are heading in this direction. To prevent Civilization from making the same mistake, Civ4 will not be condiserably more complex or bigger than Civ3, only different. Also, it will aim at a slightly different fan-base than previous Civ-games, though it should still appeal to (most) veterans as well.

thats bad news for us

[Mart]

though it should still appeal to (most) veterans as well.

not to me
-----
I refuse to be simple, mindless, popmeat for easy manipulation votecast in our so called wonderful democracy

[Darsnan]

though it should still appeal to (most) veterans as well.

Hmmm........ then I will probably take the same approach as I took back in December of 2001 where I relied on the reaction from the online community before I made a decision whether to purchase Civ 3 or not, as I might not belong in the group labeled "most veterans".....


D

[livid imp]

Well guys, they are not always the most stable of things, but you always could start a open source project for SMAC2.

Vel, I understand you are developing your own game. If you wander by and see this, maybe you could shed some light on the process.

[dacole]

I had found this already and put several posts telling him he was an idiot feel free to do the same. Civ III was a mistake and it looks like Civ IV will be also.

[livid imp]

I found the silver lining

Firaxis seems to be going through considerable lengths to make the game *extremely* moddable: all in-game data will be stored in XML, nothing will be hardcoded! Also, the engine has Python (a very powerful scripting language) integrated in it, opening up things like map generation, combat, triggers/events, etc to fans.

With all the data in XML and scripting access, you can make a very close approximation to SMAC

Although I can't say I am real happy with Civ4s design outlook, this level of moddablity would put the owness on the SMAC community. If we want it bad enough, we'll have to do it ourselves.

[Dis]

this sucks. are we part of a dying breed?

although I admit I like civ3, and still play it occasionally (I never play civ2 anymore)

but I'd hate for them to take another step backwards. that would leave us with... well nothing.

[Dis]

as for complexity, sometimes I feel like smac X has too many options. Yeah it's great for those players that like to use a wide variety of options.

but I'm guessing there's several base facilities no one uses. what are your thoughts? maybe I'll make a thread on that.

[livid imp]

Originally posted by Dissident
this sucks. are we part of a dying breed?

No, actually the hardcore gamer demographic is more populous than ever. The problem is the started with the Sims a few years back. The Sims shattered sales records. People who normally never gamed (like my mother ) were playing the Sims. All those non-gamers represented an untapped profit potential. Volume really is the key to profits in business. The high-rollers might get the fancy treatment, but the real money is made down in the quarter slots. In other words, no matter how loyal the hard core fans are to a game, they don't generate the big cash.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF PUNK ROCK.....where the fan's devotion to quality, originality, and integrity push them out of the realm of pop marketability.

You might want to go pick up an early Ramones, X, or Sex Pistols album to complete society's rejection of you.

[Lazerus]

Bah the pride of the PC market, the strategy game, ruined by people with a short attention span

[paramir]

With all the data in XML and scripting access, you can make a very close approximation to SMAC

maby. but will we be able to mod in in core features like SE and the disgn workshop, both of witch don't look very likly to apear

[Dis]

I love the design workshop, but far too often there's only a few models I use anyways. I could edit those in myself.

another idea for a thread . How many different variations of units do you actually use?

Though I admit the design workshop saved my ass last night. Well not really- I didn't need to conquer the drones, but they pissed me off- so I wanted to. Their mind worms (and other native life) were tearing up my technologically superior units. I had to create empath drop units, and make my ships empath and trance. and my needlejets had empath ability as well.

But even with my empath units, I probably used less than 30 different unit designs the whole game.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Lazerus
Bah the pride of the PC market, the strategy game, ruined by people with a short attention span

It's sad.

[Alex]

paramir, where did you find that info?

[Sntml]

Originally posted by livid imp
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF PUNK ROCK.....where the fan's devotion to quality, originality, and integrity push them out of the realm of pop marketability.

Yes, man. Im glad im on these side of market since my first game. Old tendency has become strong rule now. But there is no rules without exceptions.
Even in 1999, AC already was an exception.