Poll: For Civ VII, which art direction style do you prefer?

[pokiehl]

The poll questions are not ideal. The art should support game play and NOT be an end in itself. First run at civ6 in years, is the game fails more than civ3, and that is saying a lot. civ4 and civ5 art supported the game play. Yes it was not always pretty but it was easy to understand. If it's messy to the art developer, put back the user option for the feature. There used to be an option to turn grid on/off and to show resources on/off or the old issue of single unit graphics vs multiunit force graphics. Multiunit is more real like, but it interfers with game play. Back to the basics: any art that interfers with play is not good. My tech bosses always had the same motto: LESS IS MORE. Maybe the game developers can adopt that and improve the game play. Just a thought.

I don’t understand how Civ 6’s art doesn’t support the gameplay. First of all, the specific examples you notes (turn grid off, turn resources off) are literally already in the game.

As for turning off the “multi unit” graphics, they reduced the number of military units shown and increased their physical scale in the name of readability. Likewise, districts are very clearly color coded with large buildings to help the player easily identify them. Finally, the art style of the game overall completely meshes with its less serious tone.

Whether it’s to one’s specific taste is another story.

 

[Abaxial]

They skipped earthquakes, though, for some odd reason.

Not so odd actually - it would be very hard to model earthquakes in a sensible manner.

 

[pokiehl]

Not so odd actually - it would be very hard to model earthquakes in a sensible manner.

They’d also be purely negative. People already don’t like the tornados. At least the other disasters have potential benefits and ways to mitigate them.

 

[ZeroSuitSenpai]

The map looks very nice in Civ 6 but I greatly prefer how the leaders were presented in 5. Some of the Civ 6 character aesthetic is just too ridiculous to me (especially the ugly as sin governors).

That being said, if Civ 7 has a similarly cartoony artstyle to 6, it would not keep me from enjoying the game.

 

[Bibor]

Huh? Jake Solomon isn’t credited on a single Civ game. What does he have to do with anything?

But his talent was in line with that of Sid Meier in it's prime. He revitalized Xcom that might've otherwise be a questionable reboot. That kind of talent is hard to find.

 

[Bibor]

They’d also be purely negative. People already don’t like the tornados. At least the other disasters have potential benefits and ways to mitigate them.

Well yes, that's why they are called disasters. A serious trouble to overcome.

 

[pokiehl]

But his talent was in line with that of Sid Meier in its prime. He revitalized Xcom that might've otherwise be a questionable reboot. That kind of talent is hard to find.

I like XCOM but what does this have to do with Civ?

 

[Gorbles]

But his talent was in line with that of Sid Meier in it's prime. He revitalized Xcom that might've otherwise be a questionable reboot. That kind of talent is hard to find.

I'd argue the Civ side of the company has similar talent. It's interesting though, because people hear about Solomon more (he's also pretty active on social media, moreso than some of his Civ alumni). I think the XCOM reboot really took a hold of mainstream gaming in a way that Civ hasn't quite done (as popular as it is, which is to say, really popular, especially for a strategy franchise).

 

[Xur]

I voted realism, but at the end of the day gameplay is all that matters. If it plays poorly like civ6, then it doesn’t matter if its realism or cartoony that conveys that “experience”. A good game is not defined by artwork or graphics. A highly stylized art typically ages better than realism though, but I still prefer realism in this genre of games. Who cares if a game ages well anyway when the franchise pushes a new version every ~6 years?

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Mine will be 3D-treated Japanese Manga/Anime styles. like what Japanese and Koreans did.
Instead of Disney wannabees.

 

[Thormodr]

I must admit, anime style would be super cool. It'll never happen, I'm sure, though.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

I must admit, anime style would be super cool. It'll never happen, I'm sure, though.

Why not? F'xis is American and thus F'xis artists prefer Disney rather than those of Nerima Ward of Tokyo?

 

[Pistol90]

Dont go anime please, cartonish is at least tolerable for everyone --- but some (including myself) would find really hard to play anime civilization game.

 

[Xur]

I got a filter on the tag “anime” on steam. Those games dont even show up for me. It would be both sad and funny if they went down the anime route.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Dont go anime please, cartonish is at least tolerable for everyone --- but some (including myself) would find really hard to play anime civilization game.

So is it acceptable to you to have Disney animated style characters in the next Civ just like here?

 

[pokiehl]

So is it acceptable to you to have Disney animated style characters in the next Civ just like here?

Civ isn’t Disney-like whatsoever. I’ve never seen anyone say that until your posts in this thread.

 

[Leucarum]

Eleanor is definitely channeling some Disney vibes... I'm fine with it though. It fits the persona they were going for...

 

[Ordnael]

I voted for VI art style, but Firaxis will likely come up with something different...i'd like a cyberpunk aesthetic...just picture Gilgamesh with cybernetic implants all over while a neon lighting shines on him!

 

[Gorbles]

I voted realism, but at the end of the day gameplay is all that matters. If it plays poorly like civ6, then it doesn’t matter if its realism or cartoony that conveys that “experience”. A good game is not defined by artwork or graphics. A highly stylized art typically ages better than realism though, but I still prefer realism in this genre of games. Who cares if a game ages well anyway when the franchise pushes a new version every ~6 years?

A lot of this is a fair opinion to hold (I disagree in general, but the whole point is that we're each to our own), but the interesting bit here is "who cares if a game ages well when the franchise pushes a new version every X years".

The thing is, Civilisation is slow on that score. And getting slower. This is good, because games development is getting more and more unsustainable (if keeping to a traditional dev cycle). Something needs to give. It's better if that give is "time" (that games need) rather than any other resource or resulting factor of quality or detail. There are FPS franchises that push out a release every year or two. Pokemon is infamous (if you follow that franchise) because it's common (but not "common") knowledge that the devs actually have to release a lot of games. This affects the quality of the main franchise titles, because they're not actually given the full X years between each main entry, because it's the one dev studio that also handles the spinoffs and offshoots.

So, slow is good (imo). But this doesn't answer the question. To be a bit cheesy, Civilisation answers its own question. Whether or not a game "ages well" is to "stand the test of time" (sorry). Civ does that. Even ignoring the tangent that is SMAC (not being a true mainline game, and tied up in IP hell), Civ IV, V and VI are all massively popular to this day (and I'm sure II and III still have their fans). Like, massively popular. IV perhaps less so, but it's definitely stood the test of time long enough to count. The fact that V and VI pull in the numbers they do with IV still being so referential is testimony to all three games standing the test of time.

And yet, Firaxis needs to stay in business (to keep making games we have a good chance of liking). If I had to choose between Call of Duty and Civilisation, it'd be Civ, right? It matters to me if Firaxis goes out of business, because I like Civ. That doesn't mean I like every version equally, or even at all, but I like Civ. Entries in this franchise have a better-than-average chance of turning out to be games I enjoy.

So I care if a game ages well, and I care about new and upcoming entries in the franchise. Both sides of the coin are important to me.

 

[Pistol90]

Maybe they can merge two things for Civ7

Take this from Civ6 and make it a little more towards realistic, but not Civ5 level

I would probably be most happy with that outcome.