Has anyone thought of creating a clone with Unity?

Harry Tuttle

Harry Tuttle

Scenario League Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2003
Messages
311
Unity is a game engine that allows even novice players the ability to create games across most platforms out there.

From what I've seen it's possible to create an isometric, grid-based strategy game not unlike Civ2 and its variants. I think I might give it a try. Has anyone here thought of trying this?
 
*raises eyebrow* This Unity sounds a bit dubious, Harry, I'm sorry, especially since you've provided so little information and no link. Also, BTW, pray tell, what are the FIRST "most graphically advanced Civ scenarios available," in your opinion?
 
Sorry for being so hard on you, Harry. I did kind of wonder what happened to you. As for "other games," I do play a few other games outside Civ2, but usually because I want an experience from them that is completely distinct from Civ2 - thus, they're played for entirely different reasons. As Metro Polis says, I also don't have a lot of time for multiple games competing for the same slot in my entertainment time. But, I do appreciate these ideas being brought, wish you luck, and, it is good to see you again. :)
 
I think what patine meant to say was welcome back Harry, good to see you :)

So tell us about unity....what are the advantages of using it over tot?
 
That's OK Patine. No hard feelings. @Tech and Fairline, I'm doing well. I got caught up in the Minecraft craze, but I'm itching for a new challenge.

The advantages of Unity are that it is a game engine. It is a development tool to create games. So to compare a finished game to this tool would be like comparing an automobile to a factory. What Unity offers is a way to build a new game from scratch, without all the flaws caused by cutting corners because of the limits of early 90s technology. The end product would be a ToT-like game, without all the limits and bugs, that would use the same sort of graphical assets, rules, and content. Unlike other open source civ games, this would be built to be moddable, scalable, and offer just as much as ToT does, if not more, to the player and scenario creator.
 
I clearly understand the purpose of Unity. But I neither have the time nor the ambition to start something completely new and learn how to handle it. I'd rather spend my time on entertainment - playing, not designing.
Civ may have its flaws, but I've ignored them for such a long time now, that they don't bother me any more.
 
I hear you. It's always been a dream of mine to be able to fix or manipulate the game though. We even had a petition once to get the current owner of the game to release the source code. Of course, that never happened. After seeing Freeciv fail to live up to our expectations I just feel like it's time.

I've been modding, running servers, and doing all sorts of technical stuff since I graduated college and the tools at our disposal now are better than anything ever before. It's been nearly 20 years since release. I'm tired of waiting and making compromises.
 
I understand what you're saying, but have you checked out the new TOT patch by the TheNamelessOne? He fixed many of the limitations and made the hard-coded features of the game so much more modifiable, that it almost seems like a new release of Civ2!

Welcome back after all these years :old:
 
Thanks! I've checked on the progress a few times. What he's accomplished is amazing! However I still want to build something from the ground up.
 
Fairline's right, Harry. I was a bit too obtuse. Just a bit of a reactionary flash in my normally neo-liberal demeanor. I really do apologize.
 
How much work and study? That depends on any number of things.

It's no simple task to just up and create a game on par with Civ 2, but given that the bulk of the programming will not involve pre-made levels or fancy 3D graphics I don't see this as being an impossible, or multi year task. Unity is less coding and more tool driven so it's not like I would be writing the thing line by line either.

I think the main goal would be to create a game framework, almost like a working template, that would allow modders to add in data to create the content, rather than focusing on creating content from the start. That focus would keep the project oriented on functionality and scalability rather than eye candy.

I would leave out stuff like throne rooms and maybe even advanced diplomacy. I myself prefer data driven menus and reports so I would not do much graphically there.
 
Isn't the idea behind either writing a new game or getting the source code for Civ to get rid of existing limitations of the game?
I'm talking about max cities, hardcoded tech features like philosophy, railroad or invention, AI stupidities, memory for events or obvious bugs and abuses of rules (van rehoming, shipchains, unsinkable triremes, AI using military units as diplos etc.).

I don't know how far the mentioned ToT project went but I myself am a hardcore fan of the classic Civ 2 (or updated to MGE) because of the many scenarios that are only available for MGE and the general feel of the game. ToT looks alien to me and I can't shake that impression off.

I'd say if the idea was to replicate the Civ 2 game 1:1 and THEN use it as a basis for something bigger, more advanced, bug-free etc, then this could be very interesting.
Modding is nice as long as you got a decent base material, a plastic, functional engine.
Civ 2 only partially offers that.

I believe that letting modders do the work from the onset would quickly lead to the whole project being pulled in a dozen different directions... thus not really evolving at all.
 
I think you misunderstand. I'm talking about not developing a default unit list, tech list, nation list, etc. I'd make it so that units have attack, defense, movement, but I'm not going to start assigning the values for a slew of units. So, when a scenario creator goes to create a new scenario, they won't have to worry about some weird bug with Fanatics, or if the last three units in the grid are hard coded to a tech. I'm not talking about letting the core instruments of the game be manipulated on a whim. Just think of this like a blank slate on which content can be created.
 
Just read the comments below and I found sth. really disappointing:

"How does it go scaling up, most Hex Based games have much much larger maps."

"It's definitely not well optimized enough for something like civilization at this point. It is intended for small scale turn based battle scene such as one in King's Bounty or Heroes of Might and Magic. From the limited testing I ran so far, It run reasonably well for a grid size of 40x40. which is quite sizable in term of what it's intended for in the first place."

Has there been any progress on this one? If not, I see no sense in using it. However, I had a look at this video: https://youtu.be/Lss7NDu9rsk
 
I'm under the assumption that it can be used to create the base code. Maybe by cutting out some things it can be made better. I plan to look closer tonight.
 
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