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Chat With Brian Reynolds; April 1st, 1999 [DanQ] From Daniel007: [DanQ] "Did u ever think of implementing campaign play as an option? (Diffrent missions with cut scenes in between)" [Brian_] Not really. Campaign trees are usually a sign of more limited choices for the player... [Brian_] So for a game like this where the idea is to have unlimited choices... [DanQ] Pardon the interruption, but if you have questions for Brian please send them to @questions [DanQ] Thanks! [Brian_] it didn't seem appropriate. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Now, here's a general question [DanQ] From 'dxb': [DanQ] "What inspired you to make a highly customizable game?" [Brian_] Well, that's something that's been developing since my earliest strategy games... [Brian_] In Colonization, I put a lot of stuff into text files, so that it would be easy for... [Brian_] me to experiment with rules tweaks without having to recompile... [Brian_] Left that in the game when we shipped, and of course (hindsight) it turned out... [Brian_] to be a huge success... [Brian_] So we did even more of it (and more consciously) with Civ2, and it was even greater success... [Brian_] For SMAC we added even -more- text file configuration stuff, and brought a lot of... [Brian_] "design your own unit" and "design your own society" into the game itself... [Akula] Please use Questions [Brian_] We'll definitely continue to do more of this. Next game, we'll... [Brian_] probably do even more. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Going back to something which was discussed earlier. [DanQ] Are there plans for any additional unit chassis? [DanQ] This from Ice99. [Brian_] I'm actually not sure. It's a possibility for the expansion pack. [Brian_] (done) [Akula] Brian have you considered making an unnoficial Civilization 3 - eg AC set on Earth [Brian_] Oh we consider all sorts of things... ;-) Can't (quite) comment yet. [Brian_] (done) [Akula] Also would you be interested in making a remake of any of sids other classics such as Colonization [Akula] Or do you believe... [Akula] that these are games which cannot be realistically expanded on [Brian_] Both Sid and I continue to take an interest in our previous games (and their licenses), and would certainly... [Brian_] consider expanding on some of those games if the licensing rights worked themselves out. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] From JasHawk: [DanQ] "brian, how did you design the AI? It seems to be a knowledge based system from play, is this true? had you considered any other way of doing it?, and if it is a knowledge based system how does it weigh its goals?" [Brian_] It's a pretty time consuming job... [Brian_] Because there is a lot of tuning that has to be done... [Brian_] Computers, after all, are notoriously stupid... [Brian_] The general idea is that the computer looks at what it knows about the world... [Brian_] Figures out what some good and achievable goals would be... [Brian_] (e.g. terraform here, attack there, defend there...)... [Brian_] Then assigns values to the goals... [Brian_] Then performs an "auction" where the various goals compete for the available [Brian_] resources... [Brian_] (i.e. units available to actually do things)... [Brian_] And then once units are assigned to goals, they try to go do them... [Brian_] That's the -very- general case, of course... [Brian_] Lots of special stuff for "saving up forces then attacking all at once", etc. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Now, ^zest^ has a question regarding Wonders. [DanQ] He writes: [DanQ] "I am seeking a comment on the wonders in the game....it seems that some wonders, namely the cloning vats, are just too good, while others, such as the xenoempathy dome or various other eco wonders, are useful....but not to the same extent as they should; they are wonders, after all. Maybe there should be some additional features to the empathy guild and the xenoempathy dome?..." [Brian_] ... [Brian_] We put a lot of playing time into making the projects balanced... but of course once you get hundreds of thousands... [Brian_] of players playing a game, a lot of new and exciting strategies get tried... [Brian_] The projects seemed balanced in the many multiplayer games we played... [Brian_] But if we see clear evidence that something is out of balance we'll modify it in an enhancement. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] A personal question for you. [DanQ] --- [DanQ] regarding SMAC. [Brian_] Ok [DanQ] From Guiare: [DanQ] "What is your favorite race and why do you like them?" [Brian_] That's really hard to say... [Brian_] They're all kind of "my babies", after all... [Brian_] Whenever we were playing and I came to the starting screen... [Brian_] If there was a faction I just "didn't feel like playing"... [Brian_] I would think... "hmmm, maybe I need to make that faction cooler". [Brian_] So in the end I managed to get it to where I didn't really have a faction preference. [Brian_] I'm playing... [Brian_] in a PBEM game right now, and when they started it everyone was making a big... [Brian_] deal out of which faction, etc,. I just said "I'll take whatever's left over"... [Brian_] I ended up with Miriam, and I've pacted up with Zakharov and am ready to kick some serious behind. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] A technical inquiry, now. [DanQ] micje writes: [DanQ] "In what computer language did you develop SMAC?" [Brian_] ... [Brian_] It's mostly C++ ... [Brian_] Some assembly language for super-high-performance stuff, like graphics... [Brian_] But most of the code I write these days is in C++. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Looking down the road, JayX would like to know, "Are you going to make a real-time strategy game?" [Brian_] Well, our last game, Sid Meier's Gettysburg, was a real time game, ... [Brian_] And had some really interesting new concepts, like formations that actually mattered... [Brian_] If you like real-time-strategy and you haven't tried it, you should -definitely- give it a try. [Brian_] I think the price has come down recently too. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] From Pam: [DanQ] "How did you come up with the nationalities of the characters?" [Brian_] Well, it felt like a United Nations mission to Alpha Centauri ought to have a... [Brian_] multicultural feel, so we tried to come up with characters and factions that accomplished that... [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] From ISiddiqui: [DanQ] "'Who came up with the idea for including quotes for every technology and improvement, and how did you come up with the idea of having the quotes be spoken by actors. It really added a nice touch to an already great game!'" [Brian_] Well that was (blush) my special idea... [Brian_] My favorite thing in Frank Herbert's books was the little blurbs at the... [Brian_] beginning of each chapter... Anyway, it seemed like a great way to... [Brian_] bring out the flavor of the world... make the characters come alive... etc... [Brian_] Also as you may know I have a degree in Philosophy, so I enjoy doing some speculative... [Brian_] work there. Anyway, Mike Ely also wrote some of the blurbs, and did a magnificent job... [Brian_] with casting and recording to get all those things to really sound right... [Brian_] My favorite "voice" by the way, is Corazon Santiago, who to me feels "right on the mark" for how I imagine... [Brian_] the character. I also really like Alena Kanka as the voice of Planet... she's actually... [Brian_] Czechoslovakian, which is an accent (americans at least) don't hear every day... [Brian_] so it was perfect for alien voice. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Back to fungui. [Brian_] feng shui? ;-) [DanQ] From CoDe|ZeRo: [DanQ] heheheh [DanQ] "overall is removing fungus a good thing to do? does fungus help the environment and make planet easier to deal with or does it make planet more hostile?" [Brian_] That's a repeat, I think. [DanQ] Oh yes, I believe you're right. [DanQ] Forgot to mark that off my list, excuse me. [DanQ] Another one from CoDe: [DanQ] "why when a loaded ground transport equipped with drop pods makes a drop the loaded unit doesn't go with it?" [Brian_] Uh, let's see... I guess the answer is... "OOPS" [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] {smile} [DanQ] As for the other question, I was just checking to see if you were paying attention. [DanQ] ho-ho ;) [Brian_] :-) [DanQ] zest writes: [DanQ] "why are the computers incessently trying to pick fights even when it is blatently obvious that you will obliterate them? I have often gone up to enemy factions, with no provocation, not even social structures they would not like, but yet, on harder levels, even if you are 10x their strength they want to pick a fight with you." [Brian_] The diplomatic model is really complex, so it's difficult to say for sure... [Brian_] But here are some factors... [Brian_] * If you've committed any atrocities, people are more likely to hate you. [Brian_] * If you've betrayed someone over and over, they'll hate you. [Brian_] Not everybody realizes those two things... [Brian_] Other interesting diplo info... [Brian_] Rather than just the "everybody hates the leader" which Civ2 had... [Brian_] We went with a model where: [Brian_] (a) The two most powerful players tend to be rivals [Brian_] (b) Other players try to ally themselves with one or the other [Brian_] (c) Only if one player is, say, twice as strong as the next most powerful does the ganging up begin. [Brian_] Anyway, as far as your original question goes, perhaps the small power was allied with your larger rival. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] From SnowFire: [DanQ] " Are you contracting out the SMAC enhancement to another company to free up your time (a la NWC with Heroes II: The Price of Loyalty to Cyberlore) or are you doing the add-on pack yourselves?" [Brian_] Doing one ourselves. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Now, from wentworth... [DanQ] Seems like you have some explaining to do, Brian! [DanQ] "Rover transports could be pretty useful. Why have you crippled them by slowing them down?" [Brian_] The -1 movement for transports was implemented originally for ships & air units; I wasn't thinking much about... [Brian_] the whole issue of ground units... Perhaps in an enhancement I'll correct that. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Also from SnowFire: [Brian_] You are orphans, earthdeirdre... [DanQ] "Okay, from retyping, will there be a seperate map/scenario editor released for free? In the expansion pack? Because right now scneraio making is ridiculously tedious, despite the ease in hacking rules or factions." [Brian_] I guess I'm not sure at this point--sorry I don't have more details yet. [Brian_] (done) [MarkG] something else... [MarkG] I was dissapointed not finding trade in the game, except from the pacts.... [MarkG] how come? [Brian_] Trade just didn't seem the big thing for a science fiction game, and I wanted to concentrate... [Brian_] on a lot of other stuff. The good news: I'm planning on satisfying your wildest trade fantasies (wooooo...) in my next game! [Brian_] (done) [MarkG] My final question for tonight... [MarkG] We've just found out that Microprose is actually working on Civ2: Test of Time, scheduled for August(or something) [MarkG] comment? [MarkG] :) [Brian_] Can't really comment yet (obviously) [Brian_] :-) [Brian_] Actually... [MarkG] Come on! :) [Brian_] I should mention that I think the Microprose team has done a great job so far... [Brian_] in keeping Civ2 current and keeping it true to the original. [Brian_] (done) [DanQ] Well, things are starting to wind down this evening... [DanQ] ... but I just wanted to thank all of those who have participated in tonight's chat. [DanQ] We will soon go to unmoderation, in which you can ask Brian question's yourself. [DanQ] Of course, Mr. Reynolds, we thank you for being our guest tonight. [Brian_] A privilege. [DanQ] And taking the time to answer all of our questions. [DanQ] A transcript will be available on Apolyton very shortly. [DanQ] Just thought I would throw that in. [DanQ] :) *** MarkG sets mode: -m |
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