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tniem
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Hope College
Apr 2000
time: 00:12
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I don't necessarily believe that Sim Golf is hurting Civ III. Firaxis seems to have a pretty large staff of talented individuals that should be able to handle two games. The art department is being used for both but at this point in developement I would guess most of the art for both games is at least getting near finalized.
As for Sid himself, who really believed that he was concentrating 100% on Civ III? I mean, it is obvious that he wants and looks for new challenges. He didn't make Civ II, SMAC, and now Civ III because he has already done so. He wants to be the greatest in multiple genres, so here he is going to try another one. In the end it should be interesting...
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yin26
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This space reserved for Darkstar.
Apr 1999
time: 14:12
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Well, from the standpoint of Sid himself, I have no doubt HE could spin ideas for two games simultaneously without much problem. But one just really gets the sense that he doesn't want much to do with Civ3. He left Civ2 and SMAC totally alone for the most part. A few comments here and there, but that's about all from what we've been told.
Looks like Civ3 is going the same way while the ONLY excitement we've heard from Sid (after his Dinos died) is about plopping down trees and watching a sim golf ball fly through the air.
What does that mean for Firaxis on Civ3? I for one know that when my boss is REALLY interested in Project A, how hard and with how many resources am I going to be working on Project B? Hell, it's not even as if these two games have ANYTHING related to each other.
Are we a history/war/RTS/TBS company or a Will Wright clone?
Surely that question has to be burning the minds and budget at Firaxis, and no matter how you look at it, every programmer and every dollar and every word of hype for this odd-ball Sim Golf project is a programmer, a dollar and word taken away from Civ 3.
I'm not normally a zero-sum kind of guy, but when you're talking about ONE company making TWO completely different games, something HAS to give. And right now, it certainly looks like Civ 3 is the one moving over. This, any rational person would agree, is a risk to say the least.
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Jeje2
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Espoo, Finland
Apr 1999
time: 07:12
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quote:
Originally posted by yin26 on 05-11-2001 03:23 AM
Well, from the standpoint of Sid himself, I have no doubt HE could spin ideas for two games simultaneously without much problem. But one just really gets the sense that he doesn't want much to do with Civ3. He left Civ2 and SMAC totally alone for the most part. A few comments here and there, but that's about all from what we've been told.
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Yup, I have the same thoughs myself.
Does Sid have any real interest in developing CivIII or is it just a "cash-cow" that has to be made by Sid now that Brian is gone.
quote:
What does that mean for Firaxis on Civ3? I for one know that when my boss is REALLY interested in Project A, how hard and with how many resources am I going to be working on Project B? Hell, it's not even as if these two games have ANYTHING related to each other.
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OK, have I missed something?
I have (or had) the impression that Sid Golf would not be coded by FIRAXIS.
Am I wrong in this?
Since if it's only Sid from FIRXIS I don't see that big problem.
But, if Firaxis is doing all the work on a basic engine then I agree with you.
[This message has been edited by Jeje2 (edited May 11, 2001).]
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Grumbold
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London, UK
Mar 2000
time: 05:12
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quote:
Originally posted by yin26 on 05-11-2001 04:20 AM
What I continue to not understand is why Sid insists on chasing Dinos and Golf carts when CIV 3 is on the table? For goodness sake, pour your heart into Civ ONE LAST TIME and then do whatever. I mean, doesn't that just makes sense financially? Sure, Sid can do whatever he wants, but lots of people there hang on his decisions for their paychecks. If he's running off chasing rainbows, who's minding the store?
So strange. I've never seen this kind of behavior before. A gaming company has THE HOTTEST continuance of a game finally coming back to them after all kinds of court-room drama, etc., and the head guy goes and makes a Golf Sim?
Fascinating. 
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Sid has alwast been a revolutionary, not evolutionary, game designer. Railroad Tycoon II, Civ II etc have all been left for other designers to persue while he goes on to pastures new. I know personally at least two people with exactly the same attitude. One is so bad it is almost impossible to get him to complete any project before being sidetracked by the next hot idea. Once the initial rush of planning and designing is over he has little interest in the actual execution despite a burst of pride should others actually carry it through to fruition. With the PC Gamer review stressing that Civ III is making no attempt to bring the genre truly into the new century, just evolving the old ideas where customer demand is strongest, no wonder he can barely stifle a yawn.
When Firaxis lost some key staff he had to step into the breach and exert leadership to prevent a loss of public confidence. Once the team was rebuilt I expect all he wanted to do was go back to persuing the next big idea. Provided he actually plays the latest beta occasionally and suggests a new model or tweak where the gameplay is unsatisfactory, that is enough for me. Insisting he work on the game full time is unlikely to produce any better results. If he is not an addict of the genre itself then it will do more harm than good. Going off to make SIMGolf, an original idea assuming Golf Tycoon had not been announced, will hopefully keep him fresh, happy and bursting with some innovative ideas when he does spend a little time with Civ. Brian Reynolds Civ II was a good game. Hopefully unkown-project-leader's Civ III will be equally good even if it does not contain all the improvements The List and others suggest.
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tniem
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Hope College
Apr 2000
time: 00:12
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Fact: Sid has been programming games for about 20 years now.
Recently, I have been messing around with C++ after I got a copy from a friend. After purchasing a book to figure the stuff out, I have learned that it is very different from the Visual Basic that I have had some classes in college to learn. Now, what I am wondering is how has Sid been able to consistently learn the newest languages and code to that specification?
It would seem eventually that you couldn't stay on the cutting edge of design and code especially when with every new game you have to relearn how to design things. Eventually then it would seem to make sense to me that a programmer would turn to new people to have their ideas come to life. Take more of a hands off position and let people under you do the actual programming. I think this is what has happened to Sid.
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Hundred Waters
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Canada
Jan 2001
time: 05:12
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[quote]Originally posted by yin26 on 05-11-2001 04:20 AM
I mean, doesn't that just makes sense financially? Sure, Sid can do whatever he wants, but lots of people there hang on his decisions for their paychecks. If he's running off chasing rainbows, who's minding the store?
quote]
I would assume Jeff Briggs is the one minding shop in the day to day development and operations.
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two things:
1) what's wrong with the simgold people moving to another project? firaxis has been a 2-game company for some time now: when smac started, gettysburg was at it's late stages, and when smac was being released, sid had been working on his dinos with a small team for a long time before
2) we dont know exactly what kind of people are included in those numbers. does "20" cover pr or marketing or the web? perhaps, yes, perhaps not. we also dont know how many people from maxis are working on simgolf
btw, if firaxis could get some of the maxis artists(no offence meant to current firaxis employees) for the city graphics(especially), it would be interesting 
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11-05-2001 06:13
Yes, that's likely the source of most of my posting about this.
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