All Quiet on the Civ Front

[Xur]

I got an Iphone 8, but civ6 on a phone... that’s so stupid. Doing it just because they can? At least the graphics makes sense now. Can’t they just focus on the PC ffs........

 

[DWilson]

Can we please not pretend that the graphics are bad because of this? IRCC, even the iPad's graphics are hamstrung and vastly limited compared to the PC release.

Seriously, all it takes is for one to take time to observe the graphics in practice (with eh quality turned up) to appreciate their quality.

(Complaints about art style are different than quality).

 

[MrRadar]

Exciting news for people with recent iPhones! Probably deserves its own thread?

Made it.

It could be the LTest. The old falconchase build was originally used for the ipad version, according to an Aspyr dev who stopped by after it was announced. It didn't require a DLC app, like LTest.

Maybe he'll stop by again to confirm?

I got an Iphone 8, but civ6 on a phone... that’s so stupid. Doing it just because they can? At least the graphics makes sense now. Can’t they just focus on the PC ffs........

Well, it can be a great way to practice openings, while you're on public transport (I can go one more stop...) ...or in confined premises
Also, a heck of motivation to 'git good' and learn to win the game within ~120 turns

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Another thing that indicates LTest is for an Asypr project: the depot was originally created at 12:15pm Eastern. Firaxis very rarely does any kind of depot/build updates during lunch hour. However, Aspyr does, because they are in the central US time zone.

 

[Leathaface]

I guess it's impossible to say if all these depots are for PC only. (and not for iPhone)

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

I got an Iphone 8, but civ6 on a phone... that’s so stupid. Doing it just because they can?

You can't sell PC games to people without PCs. Forgetting about Civ 6 for the moment, the future plan has got to be to develop games that can reach the largest possible market, and for Civ 7+ that's not going to be traditional PCs.

And that could be all to the good. Most high selling phone games offer clear, understandable rules with compelling game play. The Civ series could really use a re-set to throw out a lot of unnecessarily complex mechanics in favour of "how do we depict this aspect of historical development in a fun, challenging way that will be easy for anybody to catch on to quickly?"

Another thing that indicates LTest is for an Asypr project: the depot was originally created at 12:15pm Eastern. Firaxis very rarely does any kind of depot/build updates during lunch hour. However, Aspyr does, because they are in the central US time zone.

Now that's some high grade sleuthing!

 

[donald23]

Could it be neither and something for the switch release?

 

[WillowBrook]

If ltest is related to the iPhone version, that would also account for the early evening eastern time updates in the last week.

But aren't .exe files PC executables? Why would they have such a file (LaunchPad.exe) associated with the iPhone app?

 

[Smity2k1]

I'm still happy with the amount of content we have right now, I'm mostly interested in a balance/bug-fix/AI patch.

Also, has anyone tried to replay old scenarios recently? Do they still 'work' with all the compounding changes that have been made to units and gameplay over this timeframe?

 

[DWilson]

Also, has anyone tried to replay old scenarios recently? Do they still 'work' with all the compounding changes that have been made to units and gameplay over this timeframe?

I still play the Vikings scenario, which has been updated previously, but isn't affected by most mechanic changes (e.g., no Rise and Fall mechanics are in play). It's working fine.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

If ltest is related to the iPhone version, that would also account for the early evening eastern time updates in the last week.

But aren't .exe files PC executables? Why would they have such a file (LaunchPad.exe) associated with the iPhone app?

Yeah, that part is weird. And why are they even testing it on Steam when it will obviously be sold on the iTunes store? Yet they tested the ipad version this way as well.

Maybe launchpad is some kind of iPhone emulator.

 

[Xur]

You can't sell PC games to people without PCs. Forgetting about Civ 6 for the moment, the future plan has got to be to develop games that can reach the largest possible market, and for Civ 7+ that's not going to be traditional PCs.

And that could be all to the good. Most high selling phone games offer clear, understandable rules with compelling game play. The Civ series could really use a re-set to throw out a lot of unnecessarily complex mechanics in favour of "how do we depict this aspect of historical development in a fun, challenging way that will be easy for anybody to catch on to quickly?"




Now that's some high grade sleuthing!

Aiming for big markets over multiple platforms will always end up with the lowest common denominator. Going for civ6 on phones is probably as low as you can go.

I cant help but think, that we got the simple graphics, no build queue and terrible UI because it was always meant to (also) be played with 1 finger on a 5” screen.

 

[Leathaface]

You can't sell PC games to people without PCs. Forgetting about Civ 6 for the moment, the future plan has got to be to develop games that can reach the largest possible market, and for Civ 7+ that's not going to be traditional PCs.

And that could be all to the good. Most high selling phone games offer clear, understandable rules with compelling game play. The Civ series could really use a re-set to throw out a lot of unnecessarily complex mechanics in favour of "how do we depict this aspect of historical development in a fun, challenging way that will be easy for anybody to catch on to quickly?"

Dear lord I hope not. I don't want to see Civ watered down so it can cater to the lowest of the lowest players.

 

[DWilson]

Cant help but think, that we got the simple graphics, no build queue and terrible UI because it was always meant to (also) be played with 1 finger on a 5” screen.

I want to push back against this idea, not you personally. Again, the graphic quality is scalable, and for the game to work on ports it's notably limited and scaled down. On PC, it's noticably better, and the quality really is quite good. We need to try not to confound Art Quality with Art Style.

Next, the build queue seems most likely to have intentionally been left out as a (questionable/bad) design choice in an attempt to keep players more actively engaged (similarly to the decision to change workers to have limited builds and no automation; the devs want players to make active choices in the moment, rather than to set a long plan and forget about it). I don't necessarily agree with this choice, but I can understand the reasoning behind it.

And rather than have conspiracy about how they intentionally limited the UI for this, I would suspect it's more likely they just have poor UI design.

 

[pokiehl]

It is really an insult to the wonderful art team to call the graphics "simple." The visuals in this game are crisp, detailed, and stylish - far moreso than any previous civ entry. These visuals will hold up far better than all other previous entries, and they look absolutely great on high resolutions. Not to mention all the work that went into procedural placement of improvements, buildings, wonders, districts, roads, etc. on the map. Honestly the way this game looks is one of the best parts of it. The most "screenshottable" civ ever.

 

[Xur]

It is really an insult to the wonderful art team to call the graphics "simple." The visuals in this game are crisp, detailed, and stylish - far moreso than any previous civ entry. These visuals will hold up far better than all other previous entries, and they look absolutely great on high resolutions. Not to mention all the work that went into procedural placement of improvements, buildings, wonders, districts, roads, etc. on the map. Honestly the way this game looks is one of the best parts of it. The most "screenshottable" civ ever.

Well that’s just your opinion. No need to insult me by calling my opinion an insult.

 

[leif erikson]

Moderator Action: Please do not thread jack this into another graphics argument. We've had plenty of those already. The graphics are what they are and you can like them or not. Not an issue for this thread.

 

[AspyrRyan]

It could be the LTest. The old falconchase build was originally used for the ipad version, according to an Aspyr dev who stopped by after it was announced. It didn't require a DLC app, like LTest.

I hope that wasn't me, because I have no idea what was going on with Falconchase, aside from it being a fantastic build name that I wish I had thought of using.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I hope that wasn't me, because I have no idea what was going on with Falconchase, aside from it being a fantastic build name that I wish I had thought of using.

Whichever one of you it was stopped by the forum when the ipad version was announced to say that they used the name falconchase to disguise the purpose of the test build and have a little fun with me.

 

[DWilson]

I hope that wasn't me, because I have no idea what was going on with Falconchase, aside from it being a fantastic build name that I wish I had thought of using.

I assume it's an obvious yes, but some are bizarrely (imo, no offense intended) skeptical; can you comment on whether or not Aspyr is working on R&F for iPad, iPhone, and Switch long term (no info on deadline, etc., required)?