The "Official Civ 4 Ideas Thread" (which has over 1000 posts) has tons of ideas, many of them good, but many of them very specific. I think its worth discussing the broad, overall concepts (not specifics) that will make Civ 4 satisfying for everyone who plays it (well, as high a percentage as possible, anyway).
The way I see it, there are a number of types of potential players, with some people falling into more than one category:
(1) People who are new to the game and never played Civ 1, 2, or 3.
(2) Casual players who aren't really into computer games but succumbed to the addictive nature of the Civ series.
(3) Semi-serious gamers who like to play the game, among others, but who don't spend all their time posting here
(4) Hardcore, looking-for-a-serious-challenge types who figured out how to beat Civ 3 on the highest difficulty levels and want the same challenge from Civ 4.
(5) Creative, modder-types who enjoy making their own versions of the game, either to add variety to the gaming experience or correct percieved faults with the vanilla game.
(6) Competitve or cooperative social-types who enjoy various multiplayer options.
Now, in my opinion, keeping all these types of players entertained is no small feat, and I give mad props to the Civ franchise for being pretty good at it for the first three versions. But there's always room for improvement... so, what are the major things the designers should consider to try to benefit all of the above types? Here's my attempt at a list (in no particular order), feel free to add suggestions.
(A) As bug-free as possible. Bugs annoy all kinds of players.
(B) Simple, easy to use interface. Civ 3 improved some things relative to Civ 2, but theres a number of things that are still annoying. A prime example is having to contact each rival civ to see what techs they have. This one also affects all player types: better interface makes it easier to hook new and casual players, and lets more hardcore players spend more time doing what they want with less time wasted.
(C) Really smart AI. Type "1" players might not notice AI limitations at first, but all others types benefit. Type "4" of course benefits the most, and they're probably a small percentage of purchasers, but still, type "5" is happier when the AI can handle modified rules and still be a challenge, and type "6" would love it if single-player felt more like multi-player because the AI was harder to predict, behaving more like another human. And a lot of type "3" players, even if they don't post here, read websites like this and/or play enough on their own to discover exploits that take advantage of AI weakness.
(D) Easy mod-ibility. Naturally, modders love a game that's easy to mod, but being able to tweak things can make things for fun for everyone and more challenging for the hard-core types, and it really gives a game legs, so that people keep playing it for years to come.
(E) Things make sense, "historically" and "realistically". Those words are in quotes because Civ is neither a history textbook or a mirror of reality, its just a game. Still, a big reason people like this game is it's historical/epic feel, with the chance to re-write history/reality. If Iron Working allowed Laser Weapons, a lot of people, of all types, would just be confused and put off. That's an exageration, of course, and playability is of course more important than realism, but for a game like Civ, they're intertwined. Unrealistic-feeling rules just give players of all types things to complain about: "That doesn't make sense! This game is stupid!" Modders should mod because they want to, not because they feel they have to in order to get a sensible game.
(F) Good documentation and instructions The Civilopedia is a wonderful thing but there's many things it doesn't cover. People shouldn't need to visit a website like this and read some fan-compiled FAQ in order to figure out how to do basic game tasks. Types "1" and "2" benefit the most but all types benefit if the documentation is both complete and accurate: it makes modding easier, it makes serious play more possible by more people and more enjoyable, and cuts down on the arguments among hard-core players about how the rules actually work (okay, I realize some people enjoy those arguments and like spending time running test cases to analyze rules rather than actually playing ).
(G) Faithful to its roots and premise. Leave the future age with giant death robots and orbital cities to modders, the same with the wizards and whatnot. Don't even think about real-time: Civ is turn based, and changing that would change the whole type of game. Don't fix things that aren't broken, don't change for the sheer sake of change, focus the improvements on the limitations of the first 3 versions, but make sure to keep their same fundamental spirit because I (and a lot of other people) like them a lot!
Conspicuously absent from my list is any mention of enhanced graphics and fancy animation. Yes, eye candy can improve a game, and make it more attractive to new players as well as old, but the Civ franchise has never been about beatiful graphics, its about addictive and interesting gameplay.
Please comment on these seven priorities, but also suggest your own! Keep in mind the various types of players I've listed (suggest more if you think I've left some out) and try to suggest design priorities that benefit everyone, not just us fanatical-types!
The way I see it, there are a number of types of potential players, with some people falling into more than one category:
(1) People who are new to the game and never played Civ 1, 2, or 3.
(2) Casual players who aren't really into computer games but succumbed to the addictive nature of the Civ series.
(3) Semi-serious gamers who like to play the game, among others, but who don't spend all their time posting here
(4) Hardcore, looking-for-a-serious-challenge types who figured out how to beat Civ 3 on the highest difficulty levels and want the same challenge from Civ 4.
(5) Creative, modder-types who enjoy making their own versions of the game, either to add variety to the gaming experience or correct percieved faults with the vanilla game.
(6) Competitve or cooperative social-types who enjoy various multiplayer options.
Now, in my opinion, keeping all these types of players entertained is no small feat, and I give mad props to the Civ franchise for being pretty good at it for the first three versions. But there's always room for improvement... so, what are the major things the designers should consider to try to benefit all of the above types? Here's my attempt at a list (in no particular order), feel free to add suggestions.
(A) As bug-free as possible. Bugs annoy all kinds of players.
(B) Simple, easy to use interface. Civ 3 improved some things relative to Civ 2, but theres a number of things that are still annoying. A prime example is having to contact each rival civ to see what techs they have. This one also affects all player types: better interface makes it easier to hook new and casual players, and lets more hardcore players spend more time doing what they want with less time wasted.
(C) Really smart AI. Type "1" players might not notice AI limitations at first, but all others types benefit. Type "4" of course benefits the most, and they're probably a small percentage of purchasers, but still, type "5" is happier when the AI can handle modified rules and still be a challenge, and type "6" would love it if single-player felt more like multi-player because the AI was harder to predict, behaving more like another human. And a lot of type "3" players, even if they don't post here, read websites like this and/or play enough on their own to discover exploits that take advantage of AI weakness.
(D) Easy mod-ibility. Naturally, modders love a game that's easy to mod, but being able to tweak things can make things for fun for everyone and more challenging for the hard-core types, and it really gives a game legs, so that people keep playing it for years to come.
(E) Things make sense, "historically" and "realistically". Those words are in quotes because Civ is neither a history textbook or a mirror of reality, its just a game. Still, a big reason people like this game is it's historical/epic feel, with the chance to re-write history/reality. If Iron Working allowed Laser Weapons, a lot of people, of all types, would just be confused and put off. That's an exageration, of course, and playability is of course more important than realism, but for a game like Civ, they're intertwined. Unrealistic-feeling rules just give players of all types things to complain about: "That doesn't make sense! This game is stupid!" Modders should mod because they want to, not because they feel they have to in order to get a sensible game.
(F) Good documentation and instructions The Civilopedia is a wonderful thing but there's many things it doesn't cover. People shouldn't need to visit a website like this and read some fan-compiled FAQ in order to figure out how to do basic game tasks. Types "1" and "2" benefit the most but all types benefit if the documentation is both complete and accurate: it makes modding easier, it makes serious play more possible by more people and more enjoyable, and cuts down on the arguments among hard-core players about how the rules actually work (okay, I realize some people enjoy those arguments and like spending time running test cases to analyze rules rather than actually playing ).
(G) Faithful to its roots and premise. Leave the future age with giant death robots and orbital cities to modders, the same with the wizards and whatnot. Don't even think about real-time: Civ is turn based, and changing that would change the whole type of game. Don't fix things that aren't broken, don't change for the sheer sake of change, focus the improvements on the limitations of the first 3 versions, but make sure to keep their same fundamental spirit because I (and a lot of other people) like them a lot!
Conspicuously absent from my list is any mention of enhanced graphics and fancy animation. Yes, eye candy can improve a game, and make it more attractive to new players as well as old, but the Civ franchise has never been about beatiful graphics, its about addictive and interesting gameplay.
Please comment on these seven priorities, but also suggest your own! Keep in mind the various types of players I've listed (suggest more if you think I've left some out) and try to suggest design priorities that benefit everyone, not just us fanatical-types!