Sorens show

[Rowain]

Hi

Soren Johnson made a powerpoint show at the GDC

download here

In this he also added some points about Civ4:

Civilization IV: Best Civ Yet!

Modern interface/help conventions
Continuous, immersive 3D world (what-you-see-is-what-you-get)
Drop unfun legacy (pollution, rioting, maintenance, corruption/waste)
New killer features (religion, civics)
RPG elements (unit upgrades/experience)
Coding from scratch (multiplayer, mod-friendly)
Can still take over the world!


But the real interesting thing are the Notes which you can read if you use powerpoint.

-Rowain

[T-hawk]

Thanks for the link. Interesting indeed. Some of it is marketing fluff, but the presentation does have some good insights. It's definitely worth a read.

Microsoft has a free Powerpoint viewer if you don't have the real Powerpoint installed. I used it to read this.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&displaylang=en

[Yom]

Hmm...I can't see the notes. Does the viewer you posted not show them?

As to the changes in Civ4, the fact that they're starting from scratch makes hopeful that they'll improve the AI and game altogether, but some of the things soren suggested dropping don't seem "unfun" to me. IMHO, Corruption, and maintenance are essential parts of the game. Otherwise, what's stopping an AI or the Human player from running away with the game. You could simply build units and cities till the end of time with no repercussions, being able to research as easily as if you had no unit support under Republic/Democracy. It would make it hard to have specifics in which all the governments vary (i.e. unit maintenance/support and culture)!

[Grimjack]

I am very intrigued by them keeping gama dats in XML, while trying to put much of the algorithms in Python.

Even if you do not like a game design issue, it would be relatively easy to change it, given that these files
are text.

Grimjack

[LKendter]

I want to go through it again as part of it was really hard to interpret. I reading it, and it feels like there are going to add RPG type elements to the game. I don't now what to think of some of the comments.

As someone who pretty much avoids RPG type games, it really makes me wonder if I will like Civ4.

[Kylearan]

Hi,

I think with "RPG type elements" they only mean the unit experience system which they probably will expand. I guess they would call the current conscript-regular-veteran-elite system of civ3 "RPG"-style too just because characters in an RPG level up as well. That's a bit silly as the main aspect of an RPG is role-playing, not levelling, but then most Diablo players would call Diablo an RPG too...

What I'm looking forward to in civ4 is the scripting ability they plan to include. That sounds great for modders, scenario-makers and variants - if that will actually make it into the game, that is.

-Kylearan