Admire Sid Meier

[Quark]

Now, I'm not totally sold on Civilization Revolutions yet. I'll probably buy it, because it's a Civ game, and I'll try to enjoy it for what it's meant to be - a faster paced, simpler Civ designed for Consoles. Here, though, is a quote from an interview with Firaxis that shows one of the reasons why this group of developers does so well in a relatively sparse genre:

SC: Did you say that Civilization Revolution started as a PC game?
BC: Civilization in general stated as a PC game.

SC: Right, right.
BC: But also, when Sid writes his prototypes he writes for the PC first.

SC: As he should.
BC: (laughs) The prototype for this game was on PC and still runs on PC. The cool thing about his game core is that it doesn't know or care what system it's on. It's just the game core, and consequentially, it's whatever the presentation layer and the interface layer we wrap around it, that's what knows what system it's on. So, as I said, the prototype runs on a PC, but then when we wrap the presentation layer for the next gen consoles, then it works on those. But it also works on the Nintendo DS with no memory. It runs because that's the way he's written code ever since the Commodore 64.

Same game core running on 5 systems (PS3, 360, Wii, DS, and not-being-released PC). They've also admitted the only reason Wii is coming late and no PSP (though possibly in the future) is simply lack of manpower.

If it's really the same core under it all, that's quite a feat to have it be that modularized and running well on 5 different machines.

[NiteFox]

Slick.

I've always liked Sid Meier. He constantly delivers, and it's always enjoyable, unlike Will Wright.

This is part of the reason why I'm not looking forward to Spore. Will Wright's Spore does not interest me in the slightest, but Sid Meier's Spore would have had me pre-ordering on the first announcement.

[roguebanshee]

If it's really the same core under it all, that's quite a feat to have it be that modularized and running well on 5 different machines.

With a well designed OO model, it's not all that hard to do. Heck, it's the basis/goal of OO-programming, make different modules that can be reused for different platforms without any rewrites. There are seemingly just few people who do the design work and then make the presentation and data layers for different systems afterwards. Of course, you can't skimp on documentation if others have to implement your game module, and few have the knowledge to make things run smoothly on more than two different platforms.

[Griselda]

Well, Soren Johnson, who was the lead designer for CIV, is now at EA working on Spore, which is a good sign. Soren was very active and responsive during the alpha and beta for CIV. Unlike some other game companies I've tested for, he really listened to what players were saying and responded.

Whether any major studios will be given the time and resources to really make and support a good game these days is questionable (Take-2 did Firaxis no favors, for example), but I'm definitely interested in trying out anything that Soren's been working on. :wub:

PS- Sorry for the late reply. I haven't really been on any forums much lately.

Slick.

I've always liked Sid Meier. He constantly delivers, and it's always enjoyable, unlike Will Wright.

This is part of the reason why I'm not looking forward to Spore. Will Wright's Spore does not interest me in the slightest, but Sid Meier's Spore would have had me pre-ordering on the first announcement.