Civilization Chronicles Interview with Brian Reynolds

We are pleased to bring you a Brian Reynolds interview conducted by journalist Troy Goodfellow for the upcoming Civilization Chronicles.

Even though the interview consists of only six questions about the development of Civilization II, Brian Reynolds' replies are extremely detailed and informative. He talked about the decision to remake Civ, resistance to the idea, how making the game Windows-friendly contributed to Civ2's success, how working in England affected the game's development, the super cheap to produce Wonder movies, how the scenario feature almost got dropped, multiplayer in the Civ franchise, among other things.

It's a very nice interview and a must read for any Civ fan who wants to know more about the creation of Civilization II, directly from the game's lead designer.

Thanks to Chase of Access Communications for sending the interview.

>> Read the interview

Wow... I didn't realise Civ2 was so much Brian's "baby".

Great interview. It's a good read, especially for anyone interested in knowing a little more about the history of the franchise.

I really enjoyed the interview, but I was a little puzzled by one thing.

The interviewer asked about the animated council -- with the videos
of live actors -- but the answer concerned the wonder movies.

I mean, I like *both* of those features in Civ II, but I would have liked
to hear Brian's thoughts about the animated council, too.
Who wrote their lines? Did the actors just improvise?
Whose idea was it to use live actors? Stuff like that.

One of my biggest problems with civ 4 is the fact that they picked cartoonish Wonder Movies, instead of Civ2 style. Actually the whole game is sort of cartoonish this time. I would much rather see more grim/realistic setting. By the way if you want to see Civ 2 Movies, somebody posted a bunch of them on youtube...

I loved those Civilization 2 movies. The music and graphics seemed so culturally correct and they were a beautiful reward for building a Wonder. The SMAC movies were also great but the Civ IV wonder movies I can hardly be bothered watching.

The Council was also a lot of fun even though their advice wasn't often helpful. I still don't understand why these great features were neglected in Civ III and IV.

Thanks for providing the transcript, it really does help those hearing-impaired gamers out there