Sid Meier Mentions SMAC on Kotaku

[Saria]

I don't think there has been a thread on this, but I love listening to Sid Meier. He's probably one of my favorite developers in the video game world. But... y'know I definitely was listening to the Kotaku podcast with a special ear for anything on SMAC... And luckily someone did call in and asked about it.

"As far as Alpha Centauri ... that is certainly a game we had ... a lot of fun making an interesting evolution to the civilization approach ... and we appreciate your enjoyment of the game and we'll put it on our list of games we oughta do. It's always great to hear from people and hear the games they'd like for us to redo and revisit and bring up to date etc. It's part of the fun of being at Firaxis is having those games in our past that we can kind of draw upon for inspiration and talk to people about. So thank you there for your quest for Alpha Centauri 2. I'm not here to [laugh] announce any new products so I can't give you any specific information."

I guess the "quest" continues.

[GooglyBoogly]

linky?

[chuft]

http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3361

[vyeh]

linky?

http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3361

There is also a thread discussing the issue.

You might be interested in this thread, specifically a quote by Sid Meiers:

We still hear about people who would like to see another Alpha Centauri.

Firaxis use to have a poll for games to remake and SMAC won the poll.

There are some problems with remaking it. I believe EA has some rights to SMAC. This wouldn't be a big issue, but many of the people who were instrumental in the game, e.g. Brian Reynolds, are at Big Huge Games.

While the Civ franchise has been successful, I believe the sales of SMAC and its expansion SMAX were disappointing. Most likely, fantasy games do better than science fiction games.

I also like to think SMAC is too "intelligent" for the average gamer, but I suspect SMAC requires a lot more management (others call it micromanagement) than Civ does.

While there are some features of Civ that I would like to see in SMAC, e.g. the unit promotion system and workshops, I would be very concerned about new game designers "dumbing down" SMAC.

Besides fixing bugs at the bug fix project, we hope to figure out how to remove some limitations in the game. Who knows? If we can prove there is enough of a fan base for an 11 year old game and serve as testers, maybe EA and Firaxis will be willing to invest in a new game.

[CEO Aaron]

Don't get your hopes up, Firaxis will NOT make a SMAC sequel. As others have pointed out, the rights are tied up with Electronic Arts and Brian Reynolds, and even if the game has its devotees, the are not numerous enough to warrant a big-budget treatment like Civilization gets.

Ultimately, I think the problem is that the vast bulk of Science Fiction fans want a more Space-Opera style science fiction, rather than humans in space a'la SMAC or Firefly. Starcraft and Halo deliver the corn-dogs and fritters that the Science Fiction masses want, those of us who are fans of Harlan Ellison or Isaac Asimov are a pretty small niche.

Mind you, I'd LOVE it if they'd release a SMAC remake, I'd be first in line to buy it. But I don't think the games market as it exists today is likely to produce funding for such a project. Why risk money on a sequel to an underperforming title when you can crap out a new Halo sequel and commence printing money?

I'm also in agreement with Yveh, the trend for Civ has been to lobotomize the gameplay to keep the retarded AI from falling too far behind. To be honest, what would be best for the current SMAC fanbase would be for Firaxis to publish the source code for Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire, and let community developers update the graphics and tweak the trees.

[chuft]

corn-dogs and fritters

now I'm getting hungry

[dacole]

oh how I would like a new AC game..but look at the version of it that is being remade. It is actually very good. Some things they don't have that I wish they had added. But a civ game with a plot out of Brian Reynolds. Haven't read any Harlan Ellison but I love me some Asimov. Anyone want to start a game and make stories out of the game again? I so wish they would remake that game. Sigh...

[vyeh]

Take a look at my signature. In addition to fixing bugs, we are also looking at giving modders more flexibility, e.g. having more than 7 factions.

[Lord_Icewind]

I've been playing SMAC/X (stopping for some time to play WoW) since...1999?
I'm still hoping that, even if they don't make a real sequel to the game, at least they come up with a "spiritual" successor, a la Bioshock (System Shock 2, anyone?)

[vyeh]

I'm still hoping that, even if they don't make a real sequel to the game, at least they come up with a "spiritual" successor, a la Bioshock (System Shock 2, anyone?)

I made this comment in Sid Meier discusses Alpha Centauri's place in the Civ series:

Personally, it sounds like Sid Meier acknowledging the SMAC fan base and saying there "ought" to be a SMAC 2, but being very careful to specifically say he is not "announcing" a SMAC 2 in the works.

I think it is more likely that they will continue to incorporate the more successful elements of SMAC into Civ than there will be a spiritual successor.

In some sense, SMAC was the spiritual successor to Civ 2 at the time when there was a dispute as to who owned the Civ franchise (resulting in Call to Power and Test of Time -- it would be so nice if that happened with SMAC ).

[Wobbo]

I'm also in agreement with Yveh, the trend for Civ has been to lobotomize the gameplay to keep the retarded AI from falling too far behind. To be honest, what would be best for the current SMAC fanbase would be for Firaxis to publish the source code for Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire, and let community developers update the graphics and tweak the trees.

Agreed 100%.