Barry Caudill Interview on Crave Online

[Thunderfall]

Crave Online has posted an interview with Firaxis senior producer Barry Caudill about developing games for consoles, expectation for Civilization Revolution, console vs. PC gaming, integration between PC and console, and more. Below is a quote:

So, our games have been around but at the same time we were thinking that we could have made a game like this for the PC but we would have confused our marketplace, because all of the Civ fans would have been expecting Civ 5 and they would have gotten Civ Revolution, it would have confused some it would have made some guys mad, and made some people pull away from the series. By bringing it over to the console, we can make a clean break and start fresh. That was really appealing to us, its actually been a very liberating process, we came up with new design ideas that could make their way back into the PC version, because we were able to identify what about this game is truly fun, and things that we could probably get rid of, getting to the essence of Civilization.

 

[Sub]

eh, pretty horrible interview tbh.

 

[Ultimate_Waffle]

Also, Halo 3 will get game of the year, not Mass Effect

 

[redifederal]

Does this guy think Civ players are idiots? Is he serious? LOL!! Hey Im not the one who released a patch with glaring freaking bugs in it!!! Confused.....Uh.... we can read and when the title says Civilization Revolutions we will know that its not Civ V!! Can you read and see that our buildings no longer show culture in the build q(I know its a minor bug but there are still other bugs and not to mention the MP oos issue)? Lets be honest here ok? They want to make a console game for two basic reasons: #1 money (cant blame them and I hope they sell millions of copies and make a ton of money), and #2 The console version will be soooooooooooooooo much easier to program for and expand in the future because they only have to program for one system that is exactly like all the other systems (once again I cant blame them for wanting to do this). LOL!! Confuse Civ players!!! LOL!!

 

[Newbunkle]

I can't get the article to load. I just get a black screen with an egg timer, and the progress bar fills up, but never quite finshes loading.

Well anyway, without reading it: I think its ok if they want to bring the game from PC to consoles in new standalone titles, but for the love of god please don't "streamline" it, so future versions come out on both! The final nail in Civ's coffin will be dumbing down the PC version so it can be quickly ported to consoles. Look what happened to Oblivion... the interface was just ridiculous.

 

[Mrop]

"We want to establish strategy as a viable genre on the consoles, we also want to establish ourselves as a viable console developer, and prove that we can make stuff—look when we make stuff for PC sometimes we have to go to the lowest common denominator, because you don’t know what video cards are out there, there’s direct x 9 now, or direct x 7 or 8 I mean there’s a lot of stuff out there and you have to make it for the most people like, “What’s the sweet spot?” But with these consoles, we know that they can handle this [indecipherable], we know that they have this much ram, we know that they have all these things tghat we can take advantage off, with it built in."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_stop

 

[TheDS]

On a console, you have to get it right the first time - you don't get the luxury of releasing a buggy, incomplete product for $50 or more and then spend the next year completing some of it with patches and leaving the rest unfixed because you've moved on to the next project and these patches aren't making any money.

Or at least, you're supposed to have to get it right. IIRC, some of these new consoles can connect to the intarweb and that allows the getting of patches. When it comes to releasing complete code, internet connectivity popularity will be doom for game console games, the way it was doom for PC games.

 

[dh_epic]

Does this guy think Civ players are idiots? Is he serious? LOL!! Hey Im not the one who released a patch with glaring freaking bugs in it!!! Confused.....Uh.... we can read and when the title says Civilization Revolutions we will know that its not Civ V!! ... LOL!! Confuse Civ players!!! LOL!!

Newsflash: a lot of people are actually confused.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=247994

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=243941

Maybe we ARE idiots.

 

[The_Holy_Roman]

you know what this concept for the console wouldnt work for the pc i hope they dont take any ideas from this game to the pc because i like my civ the way it is agreed i will buy revolutions but the point of this game is a civ for the console so please firaxis dont port any of those revolutions ideas to the pc because your just gonna water down civ and thats not whaT I Want

 

[Scaramanga]

I'd call Revolutions a "flanking" product meaning it's supposed to expand and protect the market of Civ's core line (Civ 1 through 4), not succeed it. It does seem that people are confused as Barry mentioned.

 

[jeffreyac]

Newsflash: a lot of people are actually confused.

Maybe we ARE idiots.

This made me laugh

But, in all seriousness, if you confuse your fanbase, that's not a good marketing move either, is it?

 

[civeye]

Civilization was released on the SNES around 1994 to 1996. I bought it used and fell in love with the game, buying the subsequent Civilization releases as they came out. I have no problem with console versions as long as they are fun to play. Some console gamers will buy the PC versions for a fuller, more detailed experiance.
In my opinion, the major fault with some console manufacturers such as Nintendo is that they closely regulate which titles hit the store shelves and dismiss titles which would be a success in a particular genre (I.E. the wargaming community), for titles which make them the most money. It's fine if they want to approve ten football franchise titles, or ten wrestling titles, but try to find a good D&D, wargame, or strategy game like Civ and you can hear crickets chirping in the quiet nothingness.

 

[redifederal]

This made me laugh

But, in all seriousness, if you confuse your fanbase, that's not a good marketing move either, is it?

What is so confusing? I dont get it....All news about the Revolutions project clearly state that its for the consoles and is a totally different game. Am I missing something? What I dont understand is that we have a current patch that still has bugs in it (one of my new goals is to bring this up everyday till they get off their a$$ and fix it).

 

[Osama Bin Davis]

What is so confusing? I dont get it....All news about the Revolutions project clearly state that its for the consoles and is a totally different game. Am I missing something? What I dont understand is that we have a current patch that still has bugs in it (one of my new goals is to bring this up everyday till they get off their a$$ and fix it).

Yes but if they were releasing it on pc people would assume its just a civ 5.

The reason master of orion 3 flopped was exactly for the same reason. Everyone expected a new and improved MOO2 but they recieved a completely different game, a good game, just not what everyone expected. Thats what they mean about confusing the consumer.

While I hope they will continue to support civ 4 and the various expansions. I hope they make civ revolutions the best it can be, lets just hope its what I think it is.

 

[seasnake]

MOO3 was ridiculous amounts of Micromanagement coupled with a manual that felt like a guide to programming for a manual. If I wanted work I'd go to work, games are supposed to have some level of entertainment.

 

[Osama Bin Davis]

MOO3 was ridiculous amounts of Micromanagement coupled with a manual that felt like a guide to programming for a manual. If I wanted work I'd go to work, games are supposed to have some level of entertainment.

Thats true, but I am a huge fan of micromanagement. MOO2 had the perfect balance of micromanagement and pick up and play fun, MOO3 was all micromanagement.

 

[ori]

...

let me be the first one to welcome you to CFC 5 years after joining

 

[joasoze]

Now that the subject of MOO has come up.

MOO3 - in my eyes its a flop any way you see it. The biggest disappointment in my gaming history.

MOO2 - in my top list of games this shares second place with total annihilation only outdone by CIV IV.

This was totally of topic, and I apologize

 

[taketounwanted]

Now that the subject of MOO has come up.

MOO3 - in my eyes its a flop any way you see it. The biggest disappointment in my gaming history.

MOO2 - in my top list of games this shares second place with total annihilation only outdone by CIV IV.

This was totally of topic, and I apologize

Finally a guy with a clear view and see things as they are

ergh, anyway, who cares about civ revolutions...i expect a civ5 on the PC sooner or later...prolly later, the time they need to fix a few bugs takes already 2months..so writing civ5 will take them what? 5years?

 

[dh_epic]

I would bet on SMAC2, Colonization 2, or even something new. It still feels too soon for Civ 5, IMO.