Next-Gen People: Soren Johnson

[Thunderfall]

Next Generation posted a Q&A with Soren Johnson, lead designer of Civilization IV, on Tuesday. A total of fifteen questions were asked. When asked about his current project, Soren replied:

I am working on a secret project right now. It’s a long way off, it’s new IP, and it’s a bit of a hybrid of two well-established PC genres. It’s also highly influenced by a well-established classic from the ‘80s that never really had a follow-up. We’ve been having a ton of fun playing it… wish I could say more!

Most other questions are not gaming related. The last question is about his personal life, to which Soren revealed he's getting married this fall. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, Soren!

 

[Nobody]

What do you think it will be? Alpha Century? What about a MMORPG based on alpha century? Two popular genre Turn base strategy and mmorpg, it would blow wow away. (i dont think its very likely)

 

[ainwood]

Maybe it is Alpha Century - and maybe its RTS? ALthough it might be more fun if it were an FPS version!

 

[Edgecrusher]

Genre from the 80s? How bout the Kings Quest games., I know those evolved into RPGs... but gmes like that in a sense dont exist anymore.

 

[aaglo]

genre from 80's? Alpha centauri was from the 90's.

I think/hope it's one of these:
- ELITE!
- Bard's tale
- Ultima-series

 

[Slax]

It was a game without a follow up - therefore not King's Quest, Elite, Bard's Tale or Ultima.

 

[Ben Music]

Interesting, he mentions M.U.L.E and Seven Cities of Gold later in the article. They are classic 80s games.

 

[Watiggi]

Syndicate? Although that had a couple of follow ups. Hehehe, it would be cool if it was something like a FPS of Yars Revenge or Joust or something.

 

[Ranbir]

Why can't Sid just do a remake on Sword of the Samurai. He was designer of the duelling for it!

 

[AndreasS]

I want a new Colonization game!!!!! Damn it. it was from the 90's too.....

 

[Mellian]

Genre from the 80s...Colonization?

-mellian

 

[Silver_Wolf]

Colonization for sure!

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Colonization for sure!

oh sweet dave how id love that!!

 

[Perfection]

It better have Giant Death Robots...

 

[Urederra]

Maybe it is Alpha Century - and maybe its RTS? ALthough it might be more fun if it were an FPS version!

I hope not. I would love to have an Alpha Centaury II, but turn based, not RTS.

Anyway, Good luck with the new project, Soren. Despite of my light criticism about CIV IV I think you did a great job, keep on working and having fun

genre from 80's? Alpha centauri was from the 90's.

And X-COM? I loved that game too.

 

[Thorn]

It must be CPU Bach!

 

[civictor]

How come no one has commented about his announcement about getting married? That is far more important! What if his wife-to-be doesn't like computer games? What if she demands that he get a real job at a bank, or worse, at a place like Microsoft?

Think about the future guys! Read between the lines! This may be the end of one of the guiding lights in game programming. On the other hand, maybe it will lead to a bunch of little Sorens who create the next generation of games. In that case, I can't wait!

 

[civictor]

Alpha Centauri is the correct spelling BTW.

 

[drunktionalfunk]

I believe that the new one's been out for PS2 for a while.

 

[timster]

It wouldn't be Alpha Centauri anyway, since that came out in 1999, although it is way overdue for a sequel. My first though would it could be a remake of Master of Magic (what a great game that was), but that came out in 1995. Firaxis seems to go back and revisit a lot of old Sid games, so I thought it would be a Microprose game, but only the below are the notable 80's Microprose games:

NATO Commander (1984)
Solo Flight (1985)
Silent Service (1985)
F-15 Strike Eagle (1985)
Gunship (1986)
Kennedy Approach (1986)
Pirates (1987)
F-19 Stealth Fighter (1987)
Airborne Ranger (1988)
Red Storm Rising (1988 - 1990, on various hardware platforms)
Sword of the Samurai (1989)
M1 Tank Platoon (1989)
F-15 Strike Eagle II (1989)

To me, I don't really think that any of those that haven't already been revisited are worthy of a revisit. However, I could be wrong.

However, Soren did work at EA, so here are the notable ones that they published in the 80's:

Pinball Construction Set (1982) by Bill Budge
Archon (1983) by Free Fall Associates
M.U.L.E. (1983), by Dani Bunten and Ozark Softscape
One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird (1983) by Eric Hammond
Music Construction Set (1984) by Will Harvey
Archon II: Adept (1984) by Free Fall Associates
The Seven Cities of Gold (1984), by Dani Bunten and Ozark Softscape
The Bard's Tale (1985), by Interplay Productions
Mail Order Monsters (1985) by Paul Reiche III, Evan Robinson and Nicky Robinson
Racing Destruction Set (1985) by Rick Koenig
Starflight (1986), by Binary Systems
Heart of Africa (1987), by Dani Bunten and Ozark Softscape
Skate or Die! (1987), EA's first internally-developed title
Populous (1989), by Bullfrog which EA acquired in 1995

Of those, I think that M.U.L.E. has the highest potential, however Shrapnel games already did a remake of it in 2004 that they called Space HoRSE.