History of Civilization Series

Gamasutra has posted a great article on "The History of Civilization" that includes everything from the founding of Microprose to tidbits such as the original version of the game being real-time instead of turn-based. It even mentions that Empire was an influence. The article concludes with a lengthy interview with Sid Meier.

Thanks to hankscorpio for the news tip!

Good read. As someone who played civ back in 91-93, and also played railroad tycoon before it, plus Empire and the Chris Crawford "Balance of Power" games on the ST, not to mention 7 cities of gold and MULE. It brings back lots of warm memories.

I really liked comment Sid made towards end, it made me feel better about my "bumbling" play style (vs. the predetermined, precalculated "slingshot" strategies you see so much in forums):

Sid: [laughs] I actually don't play so much for the most awesome victory, or the most, you know. I'm often intrigued by, "What would happen if I do this?" or "I probably shouldn't do this, but what would happen if I tried this?" So I generally don't play for points, or score, or quickest victory. I try to get more into the experience and say, "How can I make this whole game play experience more interesting?" by trying something that I haven't tried before. I don't keep track of those kind of statistics.

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If he also feels that way, I wonder if he sees the same tedium/straitjacket of the Civ IV endgame (modern times? You're kinda channeled into one choice path, no real latitude for experimentation. Because of that I fully play out a game that's gone that far, usually only if there is some doubt if I'll win or lose. The game becomes like a battleship, difficult to turn anymore, and requiring a lot of fuel to keep powered. Here's to hoping that was recognized & the inspiration for BTS, and relief is just about upon us!

Also this was a nice tip of the hat from Sid:

Sid: No, I find it flattering. To see the forums, Apolyton, places like that. To see people doing stuff with it: keeping it alive and really putting their energy into playing it, maintaining it, coming out with mods; all the stuff out there. I think that's great. The whole community aspect of it really keeps it alive. The community can do so much more than we can on our own. We try to plant the seed and provide the tools and let people do great things with it.

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The article fails to mention how I put Sid's kids through college by buying every incarnation of Civilization since the first version.

Couldn't help but snicker at this:

Originally Posted by Sid Meier:
There's certainly nothing in the game that's just totally, flat-out wrong.

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I blame-- ahem, credit-- Wild Bill Stealy for my present Civilization admiration more than Sid, so I kind of wish they'd had a little more info about his role in it, but all the same it was nice to read the "story behind the story."

I think this is what Sid is referring to when he says nothing is flat out wrong...

With a game this deep, you'd think Meier put hundreds of hours into historical research, but it isn't so. "I tried to use fairly well-known concepts, well-known leaders, and well-known technologies," says Meier. "It wasn't intended to be 'bizarre facts about history.' It was intended to be something that anybody could play." When pressed, Meier does admit that he occasionally consulted a few "timeline of history" books, just to make sure he got the chronology of certain developments correct, or to make sure he spelled leaders' names right. But for the most part, the well-read Meier drew historical facts from his reserve of personal knowledge and understanding of history. Regarding research, Shelley proudly remembers a timeless lesson Meier taught him about historical game design: for a game to be fun, the details needn't be too in-depth or cerebral. "Everything we needed was pretty much available in the children’s section of the library," says Shelley.

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Everything is very loose, and based on a "common sense" view of history. By common sense, I mean what you pick up in the American education system.

Mind you, he does seem aware of it. I'm not insinuating that he's ignorant about the rest of the world:

In those days, there was a little bit of a Cold War mentality about the game. The world was divided between the West and the Communist worlds, and we were trying to present the most familiar leaders, the most familiar technologies, and the most familiar ideas. And the game-playing world was much more an American world in those days; today it's much more of a global audience. PC games were played mostly in Western countries. So I think Civilization had somewhat of a Western-centric view of the world. Just the whole idea that technology drives progress might not be so much of an Eastern concept as it is a Western one, so I think it's true.

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That gives you some insight as to why certain civs/leaders/wonders/techs are in the game, and some aren't.

Wow this is a neat little gem of an article isn't it. Thank you TF!