Soren Johnson’s GDC talk: Games and Meaning, or You Have No Idea How Hard It Is To Run a Sweatshop

By | April 16, 2023
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Soren Johnson, the lead designer of Old World, as well as Civ4, has given a talk at the GDC, which is now freely available here.
In this 1 hour presentation he talks about various game design issues, including that many decisions are mostly trial and error. He e.g. touches on that you need to know your community, otherwise you might be implementing system, which are just not desired by the community, as the MP mode without characters in Old World, or how the governance system in Civ4 was implemented.. He talks about other 4X games such as Crusader Kings or Victoria, and that murdering your family in Crusader Kings had a valid historical background.
If you want to watch his complete, very diverse talk, then click here, and discuss this talk with us here.

Play the new Civ6 “Game Of The Month” #156

By | April 13, 2023
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And we have again another game this month for you! This time you play Qin (Unifier) on Emperor level (how fitting ^^) on a standard size inland sea map with scarce resources, but a legendary start. You need to go for a domination or religious victory, and prevent all AIs from achieving any type of victory. You have until May 1 to finish this game! For all information, please see this thread.

Humankind: Vauban update announced

By | April 12, 2023
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Amplitude has announced a new update for Humankind!

The Vauban update will be released in 2 weeks on April 26. This update will include a range of comfort functions, inclusion of the Steam Workshop, AI improvements, a new cultural wonder, and more. For the whole list, please see this thread.

Thanks to our member Saxo Grammaticus for linking to these news!

Civilization 6 Leader Pass: Duel of the Devs – 4/12 Livestream

By | April 11, 2023
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As reminder, the stream goes live tomorrow at:

  • 10:00AM PT (Pacific)
  • 1:00PM ET (Eastern)
  • 6:00PM BST (UK)
  • 7:00PM CET (Central European)

Twitch Stream can be found here, and the youtube stream here. Obviously we will also be discussing this stream when it goes live, join us here.

Christopher Tin scores #80 in the ClassicFM Hall of Fame 2023

By | April 10, 2023
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The ClassicFM Hall Of Fame is a yearly public poll for the best classical music, and the Top 300 are played every Easter. Since 2013 also video game music has been included.
This year, also our favourite composer had his entries nominated and voted in. Both his video game scores for Civ4 and Civ6 were included as a composite, and earned im place #80, between e.g. works like Johann Sebastian Bach’s Double Violin Concerto on #79, and Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme on #84.

The description from the ClassicFM website:

American composer Christopher Tin’s music has been used in multiple instalments of the Civilization video game franchise, and is widely adored by video game music fans.
One of his best known works is ‘Baba Yetu’, a choral setting of the Lord’s Prayer sung in Swahili, which was used as the theme song for Civilization IV and won Tin a Grammy Award in 2011.
Tin contributed a further theme to the game franchise in 2016, writing ‘Sogno di Volare’ for Civilization VI – another choral anthem, which saw Tin re-invigorate Leonardo da Vinci’s musings on flight through music.

If you want to congratulate Christopher Tin, then you can do this here in the forum or on Twitter.
The 2 most important songs can be found here (Baba Yetu) and here (Sogno Di Volare).

Civ4: Colonization – “We The People” release 4.0

By | April 8, 2023
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The modders of the popular Colonization mod “We The People” have released the latest version of their mod, after more than 2 years of development. This new version includes new terrain types, terrain features, resources, an overhaul of building requirements, limitations on shipping, and a looooot more tweaks.

For the thread please see here, and for the changelist here.

Sullla’s Civ4 AI Survivor Season Seven – begins today!

By | April 7, 2023
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Sulla’s Civ4 AI survivor series is starting today again, now in the 7th season! Watch all AI leaders fight during full AI matches, and see who wins. You can also bet on it, give us your best prediction for the best Civ4 leader. For more information, please see this thread.

Civilization 6 Leader Pass: Duel of the Devs – 4/13 Livestream Event

By | April 4, 2023
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Announced during the 3/28 Rulers of England livestream, there will be a special event on 4/13 where Ed Beach (Civilization 6 Leader Designer) & Carl Harrison (Civilization 6 Junior Gameplay Desginer) will go head-to-head once again in a rematch for the ages.

Details are somewhat scant at the moment, however it was stated that the match would most likely be played on a small world with four civs total – two human, two AI. It appears that there will be an online fan vote to determine who amongst the Leader Pass leaders Ed & Carl will play as. A pool of four leaders was selected for both players from which the fans will vote on. The specific time and method for voting was not elaborated upon.

The first leader of each pull was decided by a blind draw of the hat from the Rulers of England pack. The second, third, and fourth leaders were then chosen by each player for their opponent in a back-and-forth selection process.

Ed drew Varangian Harald (Norway). Carl then chose Sundiata Keita (Mali), Ramses II (Egypt), & Julius Caesar (Rome) as the other three possible leaders for Ed.
Carl drew Elizabeth I (England). Ed then chose Ludwig II (Germany), Abraham Lincoln (America), & Age of Steam Victoria (England) as the other three possible leaders for Carl.

More information can be found as it becomes available here.