Firaxis strategy

[jpowers]

A review of the Soren PowerPoint was very instructive. I am very in favor of revisions that create a significantly new experience, such as those in Civ III. The only caution is that a crappy implementation of great new ideas doesn't help the game. The stupid, stupid, stupid submarine bug is a great example. 'Stealth' units are a cool concept. Implementing them in a buggy way and not fixing them for 6 patches just ruins the fun and makes an entire era of naval combat unplayable. My advise: think up only as many major changes as you can implement and TEST before releasing. Sounds basic, but it's obviously been too much for Firaxis in the past.

 

[Blackbird_SR-71]

I agree totally with you Civ4 probably won't have as many bugs because they have been in development for a long time and the release is suppose to be in one year.

 

[Sirian]

Sounds basic, but it's obviously been too much for Firaxis in the past.

Civ3 could have used more testing before release. On the other hand, Firaxis did commit to patching the game until it lived up to its promises. (Even the popular Diablo II Expansion pack waited three years for the patch that finally cleaned up most of its messes.)

The amount of improvement in Civ3 from its release to the final patch (before the first expansion) was significant. They also stuck with improving the editor until they got all the vital features added.

Both Civ3 and PTW were well patched. C3C could have used more, but the code was stretched too thin, to where fixing one thing only broke another. When you aren't making headway, maybe it's time to stop. If Firaxis had to choose between spending money on low-yield patching efforts for C3C, or spending that same money on high-yield pre-release testing for Civ4, which would you rather they do?


I see the decision to develop Civ4 "from scratch" as a clear indication that Firaxis isn't cutting any corners. I agree that plenty of testing before release would be a good idea this time around, though. The lessons of insufficient testing for Civ3 are quite clear.


- Sirian