Soren Johnson Leaves Firaxis Games

[scooter]

Hopefully Soren ends up at a high position somewhere and is able to make an impact on another game series somewhere.

 

[Andy_Candy]

That's really sad, I liked Soren




Maybe get Rhye in there too. Come on, Rhye is the king. >.>

Yeah! Rhye was the one I was thinking of too! Firaxis, please hire him!!!!

 

[vulchor]

So glad that Apolyton got the scoop on this one. I never want to see that site die, although this one has so much more content. A merger probably would be the best though, since they have all the content for SMAC, civ2 and earlier. They still have stuff from the ancient Ultimate Civilization site and the First Greek Civ site. But best of luck to you Soren, you're done so much to progress the Civ franchise in the direction that most of us fans wanted to see it go. No disappointments here for how Civ4 turned out. And next to Sid Meier, I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to have been the Lead Designer. You f*ckin rule man, can't wait to see what's in store for us over at EA. Now they'll make a quality product again after 10 years (instead of just publishing them).

 

[Rik Meleet]

Good news for Spore.
Good luck Soren.

 

[Watiggi]

I remember reading about Soren discussing a Civ IV improvement that I think turned out to be key: removing parts of the game that aren't fun. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with pollution and entire cities in revolt as in previous Civ titles.

I think he was also responsible for nerfing diplomacy. Hope that isn't passed onto Spore...

 

[a space oddity]

Well that is a shame that he went to work for EA, a gaming giant that isn't able to accomplish anything good. [...]

I disagree, from what I understand Maxis still operates separate from the other parts of EA. And since money talks, and Maxis is generating big bucks for EA, they have more or less a free hand developing Spore.
I already was looking forward to Spore, knowing that Soren will join them takes te anticipation to new heights.

 

[Andy_Candy]

I hope Firaxis can hire Thamis too.... He did a marvelous job with his TAM-mod, the only mod I've bothered to play more then 10 minutes, and it's fantastic!!!!!!

 

[Gyathaar]

I hope Firaxis can hire Thamis too.... He did a marvelous job with his TAM-mod, the only mod I've bothered to play more then 10 minutes, and it's fantastic!!!!!!

Thamis was hired by another game company a few months ago

 

[HypnosTene]

i disagree. i've played civ since version 1, but 4 was the one that really pulled me in. i've spent countless hours playing 1-3, but multiply that by 1000 for civ4

I was refering to civ3 myself, which I really don't like. Civ4 is a different story entirely.

 

[MarkM]

i disagree. i've played civ since version 1, but 4 was the one that really pulled me in. i've spent countless hours playing 1-3, but multiply that by 1000 for civ4

Agree. I wasted a big chunk of my life on civ1, but although i own both civ2 & civ3, i hardly played them. But I fell in love again with civ4. Granted, that may have a lot to do with personal life circumstances too.

I have been excited about Spore for over a year now, and this does not diminish it. I do not blame Soren at all, getting to work with Sid Meier was a privilege, but if you can get to do that AND also work with Will Wright, how could any self-respecting game designer say no???

If he absorbs a fraction of what these two pioneers know about game design, we should expect lots of great things from him to come.

 

[HypnosTene]

Agree. I wasted a big chunk of my life on civ1, but although i own both civ2 & civ3, i hardly played them. But I fell in love again with civ4. Granted, that may have a lot to do with personal life circumstances too.

I played Civ 2 more than any other game ever. Civ1 comes 2nd, SMAC third. Also, I believe SMAC to be the best game I've played.

Civ 4 is good, but I don't have enough time to play it these days. Still, I believe that even with some major improvements over SMAC, it's basically a dumbed down, console-age version of our fav game.

 

[T.A JONES]

Jeff Briggs come on down ....

Soren made great strides in AI programming back in Civ3 but that was then. Jeff Briggs was the man who made the Civ series after Sid. He even wrote the music for Civ3, the same tunes they reused in Civ4 after he was gone. Jeff will head the next sequel underway soon and will be paid handsomely for it, The kind of money Soren was looking for. Look for SId to make a return and guide the series to its pinnicle production Civ5.

 

[T.A JONES]

Spore, his new project looks just like Civ! Same thing except with choosing your path of evolution rather then techs and type of species instead of civ (mammal, amphib, etc)
It looks like you concentrate on building your species into colonies rather then cities, with unique weapons and defences and better breeding practices.

Wow! mybe he felt this was the Next big thing to be part of. Imagine the depth and potential. This is the only game besides Civ3, n 4 thats interested me enough to buy it in the last 2 years ( the only games I own are those two)

Way to go Soren. Goodluck man

 

[Vael]

Jeff Briggs come on down ....

Soren made great strides in AI programming back in Civ3 but that was then. Jeff Briggs was the man who made the Civ series after Sid. He even wrote the music for Civ3, the same tunes they reused in Civ4 after he was gone. Jeff will head the next sequel underway soon and will be paid handsomely for it, The kind of money Soren was looking for. Look for SId to make a return and guide the series to its pinnicle production Civ5.

Uhhh... Jeff isn't with Firaxis any more, you know.

 

[kryszcztov]

I had the pleasure to have my Civ4 booklet signed by both Sid Meier and Soren Johnson visiting Paris when Civ4 was released. To me, Soren is the best Civ designer after Sid. He was skilled and adventurous enough to head the series to another dimension, not afraid to scrap many boring things and replace them with some fresh stuff he had envisioned. Civ4 may be the game I'll end up playing the least, but that's all due to time restriction and a crappy PC. I think Civ4 is the best game of the series, and it's mostly due to Soren's talent.

Hats off, and good luck.

 

[seZereth]

[...]Civ4 may be the game I'll end up playing the least, but that's all due to time restriction and a crappy PC. I think Civ4 is the best game of the series, and it's mostly due to Soren's talent.

Hats off, and good luck.

given it`s modding capabilites, you won`t need any other game

 

[Lord Parkin]

Sad to hear, but I'm sure he'll have a lot to offer to Spore.

I wonder who will be heading the development of Civ5...

 

[T.A JONES]

Uhhh... Jeff isn't with Firaxis any more, you know.

Ya I know dude, First and only clue was this...
"He even wrote the music for Civ3, the same tunes they reused in Civ4 after he was gone. "

The "come on down" phrase is from a game show Price is Right. Im saying now its his turn to have the lead shot and the same chance of becoming the legendary Civ programmer that Soren did, and instead, dropped the ball on.

Ether way I feel bad for Soren. The next guys job is so easy its not even fair. Soren took all the risks and for that He became a lead designer whos work was the first game in all of history that thousands and thousands couldn't play with the required specs said on the package. It was scandalous. The next engine will run Caddy smooth is comparison.

Whoever makes CIv5 will have such an easy go learning from all of Soren's mistakes that it will make his work look amazingly perfect OR have us wonderin how they could get away what they pulled on consumers ...oh wait most didn't get away it

 

[Zinegata]

Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Soren, but I do like to think that I try to be fair to him.

Ether way I feel bad for Soren. The next guys job is so easy its not even fair. Soren took all the risks and for that He became a lead designer whos work was the first game in all of history that thousands and thousands couldn't play with the required specs said on the package. It was scandalous. The next engine will run Caddy smooth is comparison.

Even though I can now play Civ IV (many months and patches after the launch), I frankly have to say that the vast majority of technical faults in both Civ III and IV were avoidable, the "improvements" in the AI are mostly illusory (although the challenge of the game was indeed increased), and the game "design" hasn't seemed to have evolved much beyond SMAC.

In short, Soren didn't "take risks for future Civ designers". He is, at least in part, responsible for the whole series of debacles that marred both Civ III and IV in the first place.

At least now however, Soren has an opportunity to design for a groundbreaking game. Wether or not Spore succumbs to the same vices we've seen in Civs III and IV remains to be seen however.

And frankly, I'm not optimistic.

 

[Vael]

Ya I know dude, First and only clue was this...
"He even wrote the music for Civ3, the same tunes they reused in Civ4 after he was gone. "

Well, you did say "Jeff will head the next sequel underway soon and will be paid handsomely for it", which was a little confusing, considering he's no longer around.