Graphically Simplified Version for Older Machines Idea

[Civrules]

I hope the devs look at this thread and even contribute to it (I know you're reading!). Because yesterday I was playing a game of Civ 5 and had an idea that there really should be no reason the game can't be played with even LOWER system specs.

My computer is pretty powerful and I've never had an issue playing Civ. But the idea is that, since this is essentially a turn-based board game, there should be an option to play the game just "bare bones." Even if there is an option to change the graphics down drastically and have it look something like Civ 3 or even 2 would open up the game to a huge spectrum of people. In fact with all the modern computer games sucking up more and more resources, it'd be a breath of fresh air to have a game you can play that doesn't need crazy specs, and is yet very modern.

I think many people won't mind a very graphically simplified version of the game that is smooth and fast on slower computers. I think this is totally in the realm of possibility.

In some ways this already exists! But it needs to be smoothed out a little.

Because currently in Civ V if you click on the switch to Strategic view button (by the minimap), that's essentially what you get. But it needs to be just a little more fleshed out.

I think there's no reason why a game like Civ, which is so flexible and dynamic in terms of its graphics, can't accommodate that. It'd actually increase its value because all of a sudden you'd be able to put it on many more machines.

Isn't that what everyone wants?

By the way I've been playing the latest Civ games on Linux and it's awesome. Hope the trend for Civ on Linux stays alive.

 

[joncnunn]

Moderator Action: Moved to Ideas & Suggestions

 

[LDiCesare]

What little Civ V I played sued solely the strategic view, in part because the 'regular' view was bugged (it shows hills instead of mountains in some places, so you just cannot trust it).
I think however, it's unlikely we get something like that for VI.
1st, they put everything on the map, so the map will be cluttered with info that may be hard to read at far zoom level/simple graphics.
2nd, there are probably more people who want shiny graphics than people with low-end computers.

 

[Amrunril]

I'm fairly sure they've already said there will be a strategic view, and as someone who used it a lot in Civ V and isn't particularly impressed with Civ VI's graphics, I'm really interested in seeing what it looks like.

What sort of fleshing out do you think that it needs? My only complaints about the Civ V implementation are that the city bar (with the construction and religion info) disappears if you zoom out more than a little bit and that you have to load the game in default view before you can switch to strategic view.