20 years of Civ3, and a proposal for 20 more

[B-29_Bomber]

Ooh! I'd be totally into play testing this if (hopefully when) it gets released! A question though:

Have you already thought up any specific game features for this "remake"?

Some ideas I've always thought of for a theoretical Civ 3 remake:

Bigger maps. Bigger than 362X362. As big as it can go. Big maps make me hard. I always dreamed of a Civ 3 where my hometown of roughly 1,700 people could be represented on an Earth Map. A mad dream perhaps, but it's my mad dream. This was always my disappointment of later Civs. The maps always felt so... small.

Obviously, bigger maps means more cities, more Civs, more units, more F-U-N*!

Also, this would probably require the game to be 64-Bit, though obviously that'd be difficult (mind you I think that's a requirement to get it to work on Macs nowadays so...).

It'd also be amazing to see this remake be a massive repository for all the amazing mods found on this site... With each modder's permission of course.

*F Is for Fire that burns down the whole town...
U Is for Uranium... BOMBS.
N Is for no survivors WHEN YOU--!

 

[Quintillus]

There is a large list of potential features, curated from the CFC community. But initially, the goal is to re-create the game, but with fewer limitations, and likely some more hooks for moddability. This both ensures we create something of interest to the community (versus a new game that may only be of interest to part of the community), and just as importantly, increases the chance we'll wind up with something playable by keeping our list of features in check.

The game will be (already is, in fact) 64-bit, and cross-platform for Windows/Linux/macOS. Bigger maps should be possible as part of removing limitations. How big would really be feasible (notably from an AI turn standpoint) is unknown.

It should also be noted that while very early pre-release versions may be available soon, this is in all likelihood a multi-year project. Civ III had a full team working on it for a year and a half (source; Soren Johnson); Civ IV had a full team (and probably a larger one) working on it for two and a half years.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, where can one keep track of the developments, and also contribute? (since the thread alone seems to be mostly about announcing such developments)

 

[Ozymandias]

Hmmm ... I realize that my " s " early on might not have properly conveyed m y, " "as well.

-z

 

[SuedecivIII]

I'm starting work on a video to the tune of "Top 10 features/fixes if Civ 3 gets re-made or remastered". I'll try to market it partially as a hype video for this project, @Quintillus, could you link me to that list of proposed features?

 

[WildWeazel]

Suede, what's the timeframe for your video? We're juuuust about to open the project forum and post our first progress report and demo.

 

[SuedecivIII]

In a couple weeks maybe? IDK, could shelf it for something else if there's a timing that works better for you. It'd be more to pique people's interest, I'll do full length videos on the project ones there's more to show.

 

[Ozymandias]

Quite seriously, we might want to bear in mind: https://sullla.com/Civ3/conquestsed.html (Sulla's, "10 Reasons Why Conquests Went Wrong.")

 

[Takhisis]

Link fixed for Sullla's article.

 

[Quintillus]

I'll have to defer to WildWeazel for sharing the whole list. But it's broken up into essentials, which are mostly fixes (removing arbitrary limits is a good example), enhancements (example: different types of prerequisites for units/buildings), and extensions (a UN voting system with resolutions somewhat like in Civ4, for example).

However, other than matching the base game/Conquests features and fixing known defects (arbitrary limits, sub bug, etc.), there is no list of things that will be done, and it's not ordered; mainly it's a collection of ideas that have been discussed in C&C over the years. It is entirely possible that nothing beyond the "essentials" ever gets added, and that's even if the project results in a playable game.

 

[Kyriakos]

Is there any dedicated main thread/group/other (whether on CFC, or otherwise) for this project?

 

[WildWeazel]

A timely question. I'm putting together the public space right now.

 

[ShiroKobbure]

Interesting stuff

 

[Takhisis]

Since this where we can still drop random ideas: Water. Roads. Exploiting water resources and improving water (or even air/space/vortex/caldera) terrain would be awesome.

 

[Civinator]

Interesting stuff

Hi Shiro, it´s great that you are posting here again, as this gives me the opportunity to say you a big thank you very much for all your work.

You were the rescue for the graphically updated Sengoku Conquest in the just released new German version of C3C. Your work in the German C3C update can be found here .

 

[Takhisis]

Graphically updated Sengoku, you say…? Oooooh. I keep some files from an earlier install back when some people were trying to mod it. I need to go and look.

 

[Civinator]

Graphically updated Sengoku, you say…? Oooooh. I keep some files from an earlier install back when some people were trying to mod it. I need to go and look.

Not only Sengoku - all Conquests and the standard game. So it is in German, you can run it with the English C3C as it is based on the English version of Civ 3 Complete.

 

[Takhisis]

…
I was actually studying German when this whole situation of coronavirus and lockdowns started.
I remember that in university we had a teacher who said that anything done in the vicinity of a textbook could potentially count as study time.
I should totally ‘study’ some Civ3. Auf Deutsch.

 

[ShiroKobbure]

Not only Sengoku - all Conquests and the standard game. So it is in German, you can run it with the English C3C as it is based on the English version of Civ 3 Complete.

I'm just happy people are still playing and modding Civ 3. I don't think I have played a game in over 15 years, but sometimes I want make some more units/leaderheads

 

[WildWeazel]

Dev Diary 1: Introduction and Aztec Release

As promised, our project subforum is now open along with our first update! You can also find it under "Project & Mod Development" at the top of this forum. Shout-out to @leif erikson for setting it up for us! Inside you'll find links to the download page, our Discord server, and lots more information on the project.

@SuedecivIII you asked about proposed features. There's an older thread there "things to improve in C3C" with our brainstorming, but it's more a guide to thinking about design than an actual plan. Anything beyond removing mod limits and fixing bugs is still up in the air.

@ShiroKobbure great to see you back!