Official announcement: Hot off the presses. Next Civ game in development!!!!!!!

[Naokaukodem]

Like it or not, Civ is a franchise built around immortal leader personalities. That’s not going way. And there’s no way they’re going to decrease the production value of Civ 7. It’s a AAA flagship title.

Why ? I don't feel like it in any bit. I never cared about "immortal leader personnalities", except for finding a name for my own custom one, which finded to be... Naokaukodem. Find your own, and everything will be fine. Because, I'm just saying, but labelling an immortal leader personnality "Gandhi", who truly existed and wasn't immortal, is inaccurate by fact. The leader heads take too much work to do. Plus they haven't been that important in the gameplay, it's the mechanics that are important. You don't play with the leaders, you play with mechanics. That, is the truth. No pun intended.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

If GS was the original planned end point then they would have had to start development on Civ7 before R&F was released.

Well we know this from interviews that GS was the supposed end so I’ll give you that.

I would be kind of shocked if Civ7 isn't released by the holiday season this year given how long its been since Civ6 launched.

I wouldn’t, assuming there is still unnamed DLC for Civ 6. But I do expect something new if not this year, maybe next.

 

[pokiehl]

Why ? I don't feel like it in any bit. I never cared about "immortal leader personnalities", except for finding a name for my own custom one, which finded to be... Naokaukodem. Find your own, and everything will be fine. Because, I'm just saying, but labelling an immortal leader personnality "Gandhi", who truly existed and wasn't immortal, is inaccurate by fact. The leader heads take too much work to do. Plus they haven't been that important in the gameplay, it's the mechanics that are important. You don't play with the leaders, you play with mechanics. That, is the truth. No pun intended.

I respect your preference, and I want more gameplay depth too. There's an inherent tension we all think about when it comes to finite resources being divied up between gameplay and aesthetics.

And I'm sure many people here would be happy if Civ 7 reverted to simple 2D graphics with no leader heads, or if Civ 7 were basically a spreadsheet simulator with a very basic UI.

But 2K is in the business of making money, and that wouldn't sell. What sells is a great looking, great sounding, and highly polished title.

 

[InsidiousMage]

Why ?

Its one of the series's main gimmicks. Like, literally every mainline Civ game has you playing as an immortal leader from the start to the end of the game. That's not going to change unless one of the installments absolutely fails and they need to radically rethink the core concepts of the series.

I never cared about "immortal leader personnalities"

Cool, but that doesn't make you representative of the playerbase.

 

[Thormodr]

The Muisca would be far more interesting, in my opinion.

The problem is, the Inuit have built no cities of their own.

The concept of global powers didn't exist before the 1500's. All powers were regional prior to that.

The Muisca had a small "empire" in the highlands of Colombia. They were artistically gifted, yes.

Versus:

The Guarani who had a much bigger area where they lived, have actual historical leaders they can use and still have a strong influence on a modern country. 70-80% of Paraguayans speak Guarani.

To each their own but I find the Guarani much more interesting.

As far as the Inuit building no cities, Firaxis is clever. They can work something out with a mechanic.

 

[Takhisis]

Assyrians.

Yes.

Well, the fact that, in the real world, neither a nation or revolution is necessarily down for the count because all of their major urban centres are seized or destroyed. But, in civ a game, and the limits imposed by that to make the game workable, which is very often highly unrealistic in many, many areas, you seem to feel revolting cities should br managed in game reallity different than conquered civ's. How do figure that, if I may ask?

The population could still resist as in -I already mentioned this- the Total War games, where even a conquered city from a culture or religion with no autonomous political entities can revolt and even set up a new mini-faction of its own.

As far as the Inuit building no cities, Firaxis is clever. They can work something out with a mechanic.

Yes…yes …

 

[InsidiousMage]

I wouldn’t, assuming there is still unnamed DLC for Civ 6.

I wouldn't bet for there to be an another DLC for Civ6. I feel like the LP was clearly supposed to be NFP2 but they didn't go that route so I doubt there is much left for the game beyond, maybe, a surprise leader at the end of the LP, and, very unlikely, a new civ. I could see like a wonders and city-state pack but I think we are done with significant additions to the game given how low effort the LP is.

 

[Thormodr]

I respect your preference, and I want more gameplay depth too. There's an inherent tension we all think about when it comes to finite resources being divied up between gameplay and aesthetics.

And I'm sure many people here would be happy if Civ 7 reverted to simple 2D graphics with no leader heads, or if Civ 7 were basically a spreadsheet simulator with a very basic UI.

But 2K is in the business of making money, and that wouldn't sell. What sells is a great looking, great sounding, and highly polished title.

Different strokes for different folks. Some boardgamers like "beautiful" spreadsheetey games like this. As a boardgamer, I don't share their passion, lol.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

The Muisca had a small "empire" in the highlands of Colombia. They were artistically gifted, yes.

Versus:

The Guarani who had a much bigger area where they lived, have actual historical leaders they can use and still have a strong influence on a modern country. 70-80% of Paraguayans speak Guarani.

To each their own but I find the Guarani much more interesting.

As far as the Inuit building no cities, Firaxis is clever. They can work something out with a mechanic.

The Muisca were more of a confederation and were considered one of the most advanced of the Pre-Colombian Americans, only behind the Aztec, Inca, and the Maya, so I at least think that should warrant their inclusion eventually.

I wouldn't bet for there to be an another DLC for Civ6. I feel like the LP was clearly supposed to be NFP2 but they didn't go that route so I doubt there is much left for the game beyond, maybe, a surprise leader at the end of the LP, and, very unlikely, a new civ. I could see like a wonders and city-state pack but I think we are done with significant additions to the game.

I’m not expecting it to be any major thing either, but just in case that’s why I’m skeptical of it definitely coming out this year.

 

[Takhisis]

I respect your preference, and I want more gameplay depth too. There's an inherent tension we all think about when it comes to finite resources being divied up between gameplay and aesthetics.

If anything, they should go for gameplay. With games with a tradition of modding stretching back decades, such as the civ series, you can always count on some crazy modder making something pretty anyway.

The Guarani who had a much bigger area where they lived, have actual historical leaders they can use and still have a strong influence on a modern country. 70-80% of Paraguayans speak Guarani.

To each their own but I find the Guarani much more interesting.

Indeed! One day within the next, say, 80 years or so I shall finish my all-preColumbine civs mod.

 

[Thormodr]

If anything, they should go for gameplay. With games with a tradition of modding stretching back decades, such as the civ series, you can always count on some crazy modder making something pretty anyway.

Indeed! One day within the next, say, 80 years or so I shall finish my all-preColumbine civs mod.

Very good. Keep up the good work. I hope Civ VII is more moddable than Civ VI.

 

[pokiehl]

If anything, they should go for gameplay. With games with a tradition of modding stretching back decades, such as the civ series, you can always count on some crazy modder making so

Well I should clarify that it's surely not as direct as "this money can go to either graphics or gameplay--let's put it in graphics." That's not how this works, and everything has its own budget.

But regardless, I cannot disagree more with the idea that graphics and appearance should be neglected for "modders" to pick up the slack. First of all, that leaves all players who cannot or do not use mods in the lurch. Second of all, no matter how great modders are, they simply cannot compete with an actual professional art team with the financial backing of the biggest videogame publisher on the planet.

Given the choice for any sort of content to come from Firaxis or modders, I would choose Firaxis every time. And I am speaking as a modder myself.

EDIT: I should also that historically, the graphics engine has been much more closed off for modding than the gameplay. In Civ 5--which had the mystical source code released--you can't even add natural wonder graphics.

 

[InsidiousMage]

I’m not expecting it to be any major thing either, but just in case that’s why I’m skeptical of it definitely coming out this year.

Maybe, but the fact that the LP ends just before summer, which leaves Firaxis a good six months to hype the next installment before the holiday season, seems to too perfect to pass up. People have been wondering about the next installment since the end of the NFP and I feel another "delay" is going to really sour a lot of people on Firaxis. Plus, Midnight Suns under-performed so I wouldn't be surprised on an internal push to get Civ7 out this year in order to end the year on a strong note.

 

[Thormodr]

Maybe, but the fact that the LP ends just before summer, which leaves Firaxis a good six months to hype the next installment before the holiday season, seems to too perfect to pass up. People have been wondering about the next installment since the end of the NFP and I feel another "delay" is going to really sour a lot of people on Firaxis. Plus, Midnight Suns under-performed so I wouldn't be surprised on an internal push to get Civ7 out this year in order to end the year on a strong note.

*Ugh* I hope they don't push Firaxis to release the game early for purely financial reasons. That's what happened with Civilization 5 and it was an unmitigated disaster.

Release the game when it is ready.

 

[InsidiousMage]

*Ugh* I hope they don't push Firaxis to release the game early for purely financial reasons. That's what happened with Civilization 5 and it was an unmitigated disaster.

I think it would be less of a release the game too early kind of thing and more of a "make sure it comes put this year" kind of thing, i.e. crunch and long hours. I'm sure Firaxis isn't stupid enough to try and release a game six to eight months before they originally planned to but I think moving the release date from beginning of the year 2024 (January or February) to end of year 2023 would be viable.

 

[Thormodr]

I think it would be less of a release the game too early kind of thing and more of a "make sure it comes put this year" kind of thing, i.e. crunch and long hours. I'm sure Firaxis isn't stupid enough to try and release a game six to eight months before they originally planned to but I think moving the release date from beginning of the year 2024 (January or February) to end of year 2023 would be viable.

I guess we'll see. I believe they have a much bigger staff than they used to so maybe their progress will be quicker now.

 

[Naokaukodem]

I respect your preference, and I want more gameplay depth too. There's an inherent tension we all think about when it comes to finite resources being divied up between gameplay and aesthetics.

And I'm sure many people here would be happy if Civ 7 reverted to simple 2D graphics with no leader heads, or if Civ 7 were basically a spreadsheet simulator with a very basic UI.

But 2K is in the business of making money, and that wouldn't sell. What sells is a great looking, great sounding, and highly polished title.

Thanks. I'm all for a graphically polished game, and I even think that there's a huge space for improvement here, only for what we see 99% of the time playing : the map. But I'm truly unsure that leader heads are that attractive to people, they serve well to fill space in promotional videos, but that's it. I don't know, but I frankly doubt leader heads have that much an impact for advertising the game. I'll take myself as an example again (eventhough I'm not representative of everyone, quite obviously) but for first pics of new releases, I throw myself eagerly on map pics, the colors, the units, the cities, how they are depicted, how new this is feeling, etc... leader heads I never cared of.

 

[Thormodr]

The Muisca were more of a confederation and were considered one of the most advanced of the Pre-Colombian Americans, only behind the Aztec, Inca, and the Maya, so I at least think that should warrant their inclusion eventually.

I’m not expecting it to be any major thing either, but just in case that’s why I’m skeptical of it definitely coming out this year.

I am sure the Muisca will make it in eventually. I would add the Olmecs and some of the pre-Incan civilizations in the area (Chimu, Moche, Paracas, etc.) as being more advanced.

My personal preference would be to see the Guarani first but the Muisca are a fine choice, too.

I think by mid to late April we should be able to tell if the game is coming out in 2023 or not.

 

[Takhisis]

Very good. Keep up the good work. I hope Civ VII is more moddable than Civ VI.

Eeeehh, just compiling a city list and sticking it through the editor is a nightmare.

Well I should clarify that it's surely not as direct as "this money can go to either graphics or gameplay--let's put it in graphics." That's not how this works, and everything has its own budget.

But regardless, I cannot disagree more with the idea that graphics and appearance should be neglected for "modders" to pick up the slack. First of all, that leaves all players who cannot or do not use mods in the lurch. Second of all, no matter how great modders are, they simply cannot compete with an actual professional art team with the financial backing of the biggest videogame publisher on the planet.

Given the choice for any sort of content to come from Firaxis or modders, I would choose Firaxis every time. And I am speaking as a modder myself.

EDIT: I should also that historically, the graphics engine has been much more closed off for modding than the gameplay. In Civ 5--which had the mystical source code released--you can't even add natural wonder graphics.

What I mean is don't make an unplayable/buggy piece of crap just because it'll look creepy. Earlier instalments in the series have already turned out to be effectively betas but with the added condiment that we players paid for them.

For an extreme example, I suggest that you play FreeDink - the (legal) free software distribution of good old Dink Smallwood (from IIRC 1998-99?). Great concept, highly playable, and hilariously moddable - the usermade mods are great! But irredeemably ugly, so it never took got any commercial success. It's a weird, quirky thing.

So sure, make it good-looking enough that we'll want to play it. But somebody'll mod it. And first you have to make it moddable (this comes from someone who's only been playing the unmodded game for some time, but that's because of a personal challenge made by someone on this forum who shall remain unnamed for now).

 

[Thormodr]

Thanks. I'm all for a graphically polished game, and I even think that there's a huge space for improvement here, only for what we see 99% of the time playing : the map. But I'm truly unsure that leader heads are that attractive to people, they serve well to fill space in promotional videos, but that's it. I don't know, but I frankly doubt leader heads have that much an impact for advertising the game. I'll take myself as an example again (eventhough I'm not representative of everyone, quite obviously) but for first pics of new releases, I throw myself eagerly on map pics, the colors, the units, the cities, how they are depicted, how new this is feeling, etc... leader heads I never cared of.

The map is much more important than leaderheads, I agree.