New Firaxis BE blog "Systematic Destiny"

[SupremacyKing2]

Dave Hinkle just posted part 1 of a new BE blog called "Systematic Destiny:
http://www.civilization.com/en/news/2015-04-systematic-destiny-part-1/

It is a nice read but it is basically "fanfic" as far as I can tell. Basically, the blog is about what Firaxis learned when talking to a real NASA scientist about the science behind the BE universe, but told in a fiction setting. Not to be rude but I am not really sure what the point is. Is it just to gin up interest in the game or is it leading up to an announcement of the "2.0" version?

Personally, I'd much prefer some news on what to expect from the "2.0" version or future patches.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

Well I liked it. Reminded me of the writing in Alpha Centari. The things written in the civilopedia are good too if you go looking for it.
This does indicate they are still intellectually invested in this game. Yes, I too would like to hear of gameplay changes, but I've been doing other things lately so I'm not hanging on every word about BE anymore. I'm still interested but I'll save my energy for when there's something new in the future and use the present for other things.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

This does indicate they are still intellectually invested in this game.

Yes, that is a very good sign. Like the faction blogs were designed to increase interest in BE before the release, maybe this fiction is also designed to peek fans interest leading up to the roll out of the new BE 2.0?

 

[dino_yoshi13]

Surprisingly, that blog entry sound very similar to the intro video from Civ 5 vanilla, considering both the writing style and the way in which the story seems to continue from what was already present from the Civ 5 videos.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Yes, that is a very good sign. Like the faction blogs were designed to increase interest in BE before the release, maybe this fiction is also designed to peek fans interest leading up to the roll out of the new BE 2.0?

At least this seems to be a sign that they haven't "given up" on BE as some say. Why produce more PR material for a "dead game" - sounds like they are still working on BE, that's promising.

On the story itself... it's a bit on the short side but I like what's it doing and how it sets up more about the people on Earth before launch. Really hope stuff like that somehow finds its way into the 2.0 version of the game itself.

 

[FXS_MisterKevin]

I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying the first part! The rest of the story will be posted over the next several weeks.

 

[Barathor]

I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying the first part! The rest of the story will be posted over the next several weeks.

Looking forward to them!

 

[Doviello]

I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying the first part! The rest of the story will be posted over the next several weeks.

What about the rest of the game?

 

[Packherd2]

That's not a bad beginning to a story. I'll follow along...

 

[Fins]

Dave Hinkle just posted part 1 of a new BE blog called "Systematic Destiny:
http://www.civilization.com/en/news/2015-04-systematic-destiny-part-1/

It is a nice read but it is basically "fanfic" as far as I can tell. Basically, the blog is about what Firaxis learned when talking to a real NASA scientist about the science behind the BE universe, but told in a fiction setting. Not to be rude but I am not really sure what the point is. Is it just to gin up interest in the game or is it leading up to an announcement of the "2.0" version?

Personally, I'd much prefer some news on what to expect from the "2.0" version or future patches.

The point, imho, is neither of those. Rather, the point is what much of Civ:BE point is: learning what the reality is. I agree with the old man; to bring dead people back to life is much, much more likely achievement in the future than FTL travel. Especially if we talk reversing death happened in controlled environment and no preventable tissue deteriorating.

Some people, in fact, are seriously doing it already - few rich but terminally ill decided to hope for revival and some, iirc, already went for it, freezing themselves into cryogenic death.

You see, i suspect some people in Firaxis in fact enjoy what they are doing about Civ:BE and about learning what's what, and i suspect sometimes they feel like sharing, in some form, some of their thoughts.

I may be mistaken.

 

[gunnergoz]

I personally can't help but feel that CivBE has its roots in free-ranging conversations in the Firaxis lunchroom as various participants (and likely Sid himself) began discussing current events, climate change, resource depletion, etc, etc and realized over time they could shape a new game out of the scenarios they were concocting. Just my guess, but I could see something beginning as a relaxed, totally unrelated discussion eventually planting a seed in a few minds that went on to become CivBE: maybe Sid telling someone, "Great idea, run with it and see what you can come up with as a game."

 

[SupremacyKing2]

I personally can't help but feel that CivBE has its roots in free-ranging conversations in the Firaxis lunchroom as various participants (and likely Sid himself) began discussing current events, climate change, resource depletion, etc, etc and realized over time they could shape a new game out of the scenarios they were concocting. Just my guess, but I could see something beginning as a relaxed, totally unrelated discussion eventually planting a seed in a few minds that went on to become CivBE: maybe Sid telling someone, "Great idea, run with it and see what you can come up with as a game."

This is not a criticism but I also think at some point someone said "we already have the civ5 engine, let's use that, it will make the development process much simpler than building an engine from scratch."

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Which is not a bad idea, tbh. Even more so since they gathered a lot of experience with that engine thanks to CIV5.

 

[ThorHammerz]

Which is not a bad idea, tbh. Even more so since they gathered a lot of experience with that engine thanks to CIV5.

The implementation (in BE) suggests otherwise ....

Most of the developers on Civ:BE were not people who worked on Civ5, so they essentially needed to re-learn how the engine was coded from square 1.... not to mention, a good proportion of the developers were not even programmers (or probably only programmed in Lua) to begin with.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

The implementation (in BE) suggests otherwise ....

I haven't checked all the files, but some stuff that was in there (like terraforming or the religion system) didn't look too bad. I think BE's issues are more related to general design problems (maybe inexperience?) than lack of skill to execute the ideas.

 

[Gorbles]

The implementation (in BE) suggests otherwise ....

Most of the developers on Civ:BE were not people who worked on Civ5, so they essentially needed to re-learn how the engine was coded from square 1.... not to mention, a good proportion of the developers were not even programmers (or probably only programmed in Lua) to begin with.

What evidence do you have with regards to their job positions do you have to prove your assertions, beyond "look at the game code it's obviously incompetent", which isn't reasoning towards someone's job position at all.

 

[Barathor]

Systematic Destiny (Part 2)

 

[WiseGreen]

I liked the second part a lot more than I did the first one.

 

[Hinkle2K]

I liked the second part a lot more than I did the first one.

Great to hear! We've got more installments to share in the coming weeks, but glad you guys are appreciating it. Dr. Joel Green and the team at Firaxis worked hard on these, so I'm sure they're ecstatic to hear the positive feedback.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

I liked the second part a lot more than I did the first one.

same here.