Gal Civ Post Mortem - q

from Stardock Forums
Brad,
firstly, that was a really interesting read- Im huegly impressed that you got the game done on that budget that well- it was interesting to read the insights into finicky details that gamers tend to ignore.
My question, and excuse my ignorance, is if there is any way to change the viewing angle (what you mentioned as a regret) ? The ships do look gorgeous when seen from the side (in the videos), but I realize this would probably involve a redesign of the entire interface, and really isn't feasible- but would be curious if there was some sort of shortcut to this...
619 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Really good insight into the game development and issues - I particularly like this part:

"Don't let hardcore players determine features. It is very easy, especially for a small game developer, to let the hardcore players have a disproportional effect on the game design. I spent a lot of time as a project manager nixing proposed or half-completed features by someone who read an idea from one of the "regulars". These special features took precious time away from mainstream functionality to satisfy a hardcore group.

Early in development, this was especially problematic. Our young development team was hungry for any sort of good word, so the regulars on our forums carried a lot of weight. It was often difficult to say no to their ideas, even if their suggestions made the game unplayable for the vast majority of users. For a game designer, it is challenging to differentiate between a "hardcore feature" and something that will appeal to most people. I have a general rule of thumb for this, which goes like this: If the person proposing the new feature uses the phrase "You could always enable/disable this feature from the options screen…", it's likely a hardcore feature.

For example, one design decision we made was to prevent the AI from winning the game via a technology victory or an alliance victory. The purists really objected to this. To them, if the Arceans (one of the civilizations in the game) ally up with everyone, they should win - too bad for the player. The hardcore players also felt the same about the technology victory: if the Yor reach "The Final Frontier," they should win. We nixed these two victory conditions for the computer players, because they aren't the ones paying for the game. As soon as the Drengin and Altarians start buying games from our company, they can win an alliance victory. Until then, too bad for them."

Since Dregs and Altarians still aren't paying for the game, can we disable their military vicotry too ? :D
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Hehe, although I'm such a player who thinks the AI should be able to win via techvictory (under certain conditions) I agree here, if they aren't paying, they have no right to research Final Frontier! ;p

Great read alltogether.

Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
This was also surprising:

"When you play Galactic Civilizations and see flat-looking ships, you'll know the irony that every single one of those ships is fully rendered in three dimensions. This was my decision and I wish I could take it back now."


Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Well, speaking as someone with NO software development experience, this was an extremely interesting look behind the scenes. I particularly appreciate and admire Frogboy's forthright acceptance of the errors he personally made during the growth of this game.

As noted by RayChua above, I'm particularly appreciative of how much they consider the total audience (and experience) before implementing changes, something I was previously wary of.

Kudos to Frogboy and Stardock!! You have won a customer here!!

~SDC~
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Just fyi, for anyone else who has a better read of game programming than I do, is the option I suggested in the first post of even viable or a complete pipe dream based in a redesign of the entire interface ?
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Interesting to learn that even a 'budget' game, developped by a 'small' company costs $600,000 to make. Really puts things back into perspective.

~SDC~
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Not to be a bore by bringing up the MOO3 thing again but, what was THEIR budget? Starts you wondering if the cosmic algorithm for game quality uses an inverse function with regards to budget and company size... ;)

Oh, and thank you for making sure GalCiv works smoothly on ancient machines. Easiest way to check compatability, get an old clunker and see if it works. :)

Pinky
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
2D Phasing: Twice as good as 1D Phasing.

Reading that description was my first clue that this was a low-budget game, heh. LOL
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
I have to say, the whole thing about not letting the computer get tech/alliance victories makes no sense to me. The whole appeal of GC is that the computer is on a level playing field with the human - no fake cheats, no secret code to give the computer super money or knowledge. Given that, why wreck the whole premise by preventing the computer from winning? Or why not just put another set of check boxes on the new game screen - mark each victory condition for both players and computers separately.

Brad, I'd love to hear you expound on your rationale here. I'm sure it makes great sense, but I'd like to hear it.

jason

~SDC~