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NOT IN 2000!!
(8 February 2000, 12:21 EST) Finally some more info from Firaxis. Tim Train on the Release Date Pool thread in our Civ3-General forum:
"FWIW, (and I apologize if this has already been answered elsewhere) this game will not release in 2000 and has never been slated for that timeframe. We're still a long ways from figuring out a release date. We plan to make Civ 3 a triple-A title in every category, including of course art, design, AI, and playbalance; unfortunately these things take time. But happily, when we're there, you will have the best incarnation of the series, and we won't release it until it is the best.
Hope this clarifies!"
It does Tim, thanks! So, next time you see a site mentioning a release date for Civ3, send them a "you're an idiot!" mail (j/k)  -MarkG
INTERVIEW WITH TIM TRAIN
(8 February 2000, 23:23 EST) Dustin Bainbridge over at the Civilization III Civilopedia had an opportunity to talk with Tim Train about the progress of Civilization III; the conversation brought about some interesting and informative responses.
For example, when asked about the current stage of production, Train replied that the team is in the "heavy prototyping phase at this point, working out many of the new game concepts". And in response to Bainbridge's question about how the game would fit into the "Sweep Of Time" series, Train responded that "how well you do constructing your spaceship in Civilization [III] will influence how you start off in Alpha Centauri".
To read the interview in its entirety, head over to the Civilopedia website today. -DanQ
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Apolyton
News5-11 February
2000
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CIV3 INFORMATION FLOOD
IF JUST ONE IDEA...
(11 February 2000, 13:18 EST) "If just one idea from the hundreds contained here makes it into Civilization III, we will know this was all well worth the effort."That was the main philosophy behind The List, as Yin was writing in the introduction of version 1. Well, I'm glad to say that the list was succesfull. I'll just quote Tim Train from his latest post:
"There are already several things taken from the list in the prototype or Design Koran (we're tired of design bibles around here). Many more are to come. All the anti-cheat stuff was extremely helpful, and just about every section has items we've adapted. It feels silly to list just a few things out of a 500 page document, but here's a representative sample: Minor Nations that you deal with along the way. More complex fortification \ siege warfare system, including multiple levels of city walls and specialized siege engines. The Martial Law button is a popular idea, possibly along with a 'put in jail' button whose effectiveness changes with your government types. Dozens of things from the interface, diplomacy, and combat sections"
Tim explained that while you would love to, he wont be able to be very active on the forums either due to lack of time but also cause some things could change. He made clear though that The List is indeed used by the team as reference during the development. -MarkG
THE FUTURE OF CIV3
(10 February 2000, 19:56 EST) "As we stated early this week, Brian has left Firaxis to pursue other interests. Several people on Apolyton have had questions about the status of the project, and I hope I can address some of these questions"
That's how Tim Train started his post on Civ3 forums today. With some common parts with the FAQ that was posted today(Tim actually said that most of the FAQ was based on his post), Tim presented the civ3 development team
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and gave some details on where the game is right now. What probably stands out more is that
"the first thing the art team did was throw out the graphics engine of Alpha Centauri ;-)"
As for why we have seen a lot of info on the dino game(well, not very much actually, but the updates on the official site have been focused on it) and none(until today) about civ3, is simply because Dino will be released first.
Above all of course, the big news is that Firaxis has finally started to talk about civ3. Waiting to hear more Tim! :) -MarkG
FAQ FROM FIRAXIS
(10 February 2000, 17:27 EST) What are your burning questions about Civilization III at this very moment? Firaxis unveiled the first incarnation of its CivIII FAQ today; while there are numerous questions covered that Civ fans have been dying to have answered since the game was announced at last year's E3 Conference in Atlanta, GA, below are excerpts from our picks for the most "pressing three".
What is the status of Civilization III?
Our team is in heavy prototyping mode at this point, working out many of the new game concepts and features. We develop all our games starting with months of prototyping - we want to be sure the game is fun before we commit to a specific set of features...
What are the game design objectives for Civ III?
We have two main goals: to have this game be as fun as Civ I and II and to make the graphical presentation as good as any game on the market. We will accomplish this by keeping what is great about Civ I and II and adding new elements that complement the existing system...
When is Civ III scheduled for release?
An official release date has not been set for the game. We'll announce a date when the design is more solidified. -DanQ
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SITE NEWS
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NAME THAT SITE: "APOLYTON"
(11 February 2000, 11:20 EST) Q: How DO you pronounce the word "Apolyton"?
A: Listen and find out.
You will need to have the latest version of either the RealPlayer, or the Windows Media Player. If you are going to have the file streamed through your player, please be advised that you should be connected at 28.8K or higher. -DanQ
THE APOLYTON LIBRARIAN
(8 February 2000, 21:54 EST) No, we're not geting a new member on the team every day! :) Still, JohnT is our Librarian. What's his job you ask? Well, he will be managing the very soon to come Miscellaneous/Books and Games subcategory of AL&PD. What will this category contain? The basic idea is "not 100% civ related books and games that civers read and play". Please mail your comments, ideas and suggestions to John. -MarkG
NEW CIV2 DB HELPER
(7 February 2000, 19:05 EST) The Apolyton Team is growing! The newest member is Tim Davis, in the position of Civ2 Database Helper. This means you'll be seeing more CivII files quite soon. This also means that the Team page has been updated. -MarkG
SECTION EYE-CANDY
(6 February 2000, 15:39 EST) Jason Beaudoin, webmaster of the "Beyond Alpha Centauri" website prior to its re-opening as our SMAC section in January of last year, flexed his Flash-knowledge muscles recently and produced an animated opening sequence (167K) for this section, sound effects and all.
To download, we recommend that you right click on the link above and choose the "Save Target As" option. To view, you will need to have Shockwave installed on your system.
Let us know what you think! -DanQ
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FORUM MAINTAINANCE
(9 February 2000, 7:43 EST) Threads archived or deleted from our forums in the last 10 days:
Deleted from S&D: 20 threads with 203 posts
Archived from S&D: 85 threads with 1496 posts
Deleted from Off-Topic: 768 threads with 12892 posts
Archived from Off-Topic: 70 threads with 4112 posts
Archived from Civ3-General: 120 threads with 1267 posts
Archived from CTP-General: 272 threads with 4421 posts
Archived from Civ2-General: 201 threads with 1742 posts
Archived from Civ2-Test of Time: 74 threads with 472 posts
Archived from AC-General: 185 threads with 1039 posts
Total deleted: 788 threads with 13095 posts
Total archived: 1025 threads with 14549 posts.
Small numbers, no? :) -MarkG
OT VICE-MODERATOR APPOINTMENT
(6 February 2000, 15:30 EST) For those of you who frequent our Off-Topic forum, you may be interested in this piece of news:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of Apolyton's Off-Topic forum. On behalf of myself and the rest of the administration, I have an important message to pass along to you.
For the past couple of weeks Ming, this forum's moderator that you either hate to love or love to hate (depending upon your circumstance :)), has been privledged enough to train an assistant who, until today, has remained nameless publicly. This person has proven himself to be professional, courteous, and efficient in his conduct. Ming has found him to be an excellent helper, and expressed these sentiments to Markos and myself a few days ago.
It was at this time that we agreed with his recommendations to "promote" MLeonard to the position of Vice-Moderator of the Off-Topic forum. Congratulations MLeonard! We thank you for volunteering your time and energy for this position, and agreeing to stick around for the long haul. There is no doubt in my mind that you will make an excellent addition to the Apolyton Team.
And there is no question that there will be much discussion --- positive and negative, as sure as I write this --- of this decision in the days and weeks to follow. We ask that you keep your discussion to the thread below:
http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum23/HTML/009171.html
This will ensure that we will be able to respond to your questions/concerns as quickly and effectively as possible, and that the OT does not become excessively cluttered with threads of this nature. -DanQ
NEWSLETTER: NOW IN REALAUDIO©
(6 February 2000, 23:46 EST) In our effort to continuously improve and expand on the services we offer here at Apolyton CS, we are proudly announcing that an audio version of the latest edition of our newsletter (news for Jan. 29 - Feb. 4), Apolyton News, is now available for download in RealAudio(c) format from our Newsletter section.
Hosted by Apolyton's very own DanQ, it is hoped that this feature can become a regular addition to our lineup. You can either download the file directly to your computer by right-clicking on the link above and choosing "Save Target As", ensuring that regardless of your Internet connection speed, the sound quality of the broadcast remains constant, or you can left-click on the link above and it should start streaming for you in a few moments... given, of course, that your computer is equipped.
To listen, you will need to have the latest version of either the RealPlayer, or the Windows Media Player. If you are going to have the file streamed through your player, please be advised that you should be connected at 28.8K or higher. Webmasters: please do not post this file on your site, or link to it directly; rather, please link to our Newsletter page (found above) --- thank you in advance.
Less than a month ago we introduced the choice of viewing a "Web" version of Apolyton News' contents, as opposed to plain text. -DanQ
| Brian Reynolds Leaves Firaxis!! | Civ3 Information Flood | Dinos Come First | CTP: Activity Alert |
APOLYTON FRONT PAGE | NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Apolyton&Friends News 29/Jan-4/Feb/00
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