Last month, CariElf, the lead developer of GalCiv I and II rejoined us.
Later this month, I rejoin the GalCiv III team. In effect, it'll be a reunion of the GalCiv II team as we take the game to the next level.
But before we begin the series of GalCiv III updates that leads into the big expansion, let me offer you the same advice I've tried to give others here:
If you want to succeed, you must slay the three F's: Friends, Family, Faith.
And in the spirit of that credo, my journals are going to take on a much darker tone.
Now, I know many (most) of you like Galactic Civilizations III. It is very polished and it plays really well and has a good user experience..most of the time.
But I'm not joining the team for those reasons. I don't care about any of those things.
When I wrote the original GalCiv for OS/2, I wanted to make an AI game. I only let people play the game because I needed your money for my AI work. Frankly, the game would be a lot better if there were no humans at all. You're just too...slow.
I have a lot of complaints. I don't like the late game experience of GalCiv III. I don't like the AI's war fighting "strategy" (if you can call it that). I find the game too slow late game. Anyway, my point is, I'm old and I'm back on GalCiv which is where I like to be.
But I'm not going to sugar coat my work. If you want to read marketing fluff, you'll want to avoid my journal entries.
I still think GalCiv III is the best space 4X game currently on the market. But that's mainly because I'm not happy with any of them right now. If I could combine the presentation of ES 2 with the features of Stellaris with the rest of GalCiv III it would still be...ok. But let me tell you what is wrong with these 4X games (looking at you Civ VI):
- AI. It aggravates me that no one cares about AI anymore. You can get a 90 review score without decent AI.
- Statistics show that most people play these games as Simcity style games. Well, they're not. I'm happy to make a space Simcity game but STRATEGY games should be about strategy.
- I hate the economic systems of these games. All of them.
- I'm annoyed with the new MOO game. You know the secret sauce that a new MOO game could have had (did you know I bid $2 million to get the MOO IP?): It's not the battles, it's the fact that they put a lot of effort into having different species mixed together. Simtex got this back in 1996. GalCiv should steal this. We won't be for the time being but good grief, what a great game mechanic.
- Espionage. Won't make it until the expansion. But gotta have that.
- Politics. I am probably alone on this but it's a big bugaboo with me that we don't have more politics in these games. Did you know the original OS/2 version of GalCiv back in 1993 had political parties, elections, etc? And I wrote that by myself. That's how big a deal I considered that game mechanic when trying to run an intergalactic society.
- Food. Seriously. ARRGH. This should be a global resource. The idea that planets need to be self-sustaining in food is absurd.
That's just off the top of my head.
Like I said, GalCiv III is the best of the 4X space games on the market right now imo. But without significant work, it's ripe to be knocked over and it'll deserve it.
So sit back and avoid my journal entries. It's going to be quite a ride. 