Early Civ 4 Prototypes from Soren (Civ 4 Lead Designer)

[dh_epic]

I was poking around online and found Soren Johnson's developer blog. I imagine someone else probably found it sooner, but seeing as it wasn't posted here, I figure I'd mention it.

This entry offers his presentation from GDC, which reveals some interesting information about early Civilization 4.

http://www.designer-notes.com/archives/2006/07/apolycon_06.htm

CIVICS

Religion: Paganism, Organized Religion, Theocracy, Freedom of Religion, State Atheism
Labor: Tribalism, Slavery, Serfdom, Bureaucracy, Emancipation
Economy: Decentralization, Communal Property, Welfare State, Protectionism, Free Market
Legal: Barbarism, Freedom of Speech, Legalism, Police State, Nationhood
Government: Hereditary Rule, Vassalage, Representative Government, Universal Suffrage

THINGS THAT DIDN'T WORK

- Blind Research
- Blind Production
- Build Military with Food
- Interest on Treasury

OTHER SIGNIFICANT CHANGES

- Levels of Religion replaced with Boolean Yes/No System
- You had to build the palace initially, but now you get it for free
- Graphics used to be more organic until they realized the interface requires a clear grid

Of note, Soren quotes Chris Crawford, whom I'm a big fan of. It doesn't surprise me that this quote found its way into the Firaxis intelligentsia.

There are few games that show any flair for simplification. 'Sid Meier’s Civilization' is one; Sid was so brutal in his simplification of history that I sometimes wince at the game's inaccuracies. Yet the result of Sid's design parsimony was one of the greatest computer games of all time.

Anyway, thought some folks would find it interesting. It also gives you an idea of what kinds of ideas will gain traction with Firaxis, and which won't. (Even though I'm pretty sure Soren has moved on to work on Spore, or will soon.)

 

[searcheagle]

THINGS THAT DIDN'T WORK

- Blind Research
- Blind Production
- Build Military with Food
- Interest on Treasury

Seems like they tried some of the ideas that were suggested on the forums.

 

[V. Soma]

Let me quote from Soren's blog:

"At any rate, it's been a long process, not just understanding what ideas work
but also what type of ideas work for Civ."