We are proud to open our series of interviews around Civilization III, with Jeff Morris, Associate Producer on Civ III. Jeff gives answers to many open questions on the number of civs, the official site, the release date and much more. We hope that you find it interesting!

Apolyton: For the younger civers, please give us your history in civ games
Jeff Morris: I started with Civ I on my crusty 386 40mhz. I was just starting college at the time and it consumed more study hours than I care to admit. This is even more impressive considering the visually mind blowing (at the time) Wing Commander II was installed and ready to go, but collecting dust. I never played Civ II until coming to Firaxis.

Apolyton: What is your job in civ3 this time?
Jeff Morris: I'm Associate Producer on Civ III. I'm also managing the Infogrames testing team with the invaluable help of their leads Grant Frazier and Rex Martin.

Apolyton: Where is the development at this current stage? Is there a release date yet?
Jeff Morris: We're on our third alpha version at the time of this writing. Civ III should hit beta within 2-3 weeks. There is an internal deadline, but when the game will hit shelves hasn't been specifically pinned.

Apolyton: Are there any plans for a public beta test? What determined your decision?
Jeff Morris: There were a lot of plans, but time and resources constricted the options. Public betas serve as valuable sounding boards for a game, but their true value is in compatibility testing. It basically allows us to skip a patch. The trick with public betas is that you release something late enough that allows the player to get a good idea of what the final game will play like, but early enough to incorporate the fixes. An open public beta was originally planned, but that window I was describing never really opened. A closed public beta wasn't an option since don't they involve a large enough 'sample' for compatibility testing and requires immense manpower to manage.

Apolyton: What "percentage" of Civ3 have we actually seen so far?
Jeff Morris: I hate quantifying something as complicated as a computer game into a simple rating. Don't get me started on gaming magazines..

Apolyton: When will Dan ever finish civ3.com? :) Is the official site going to include something special?
Jeff Morris: Here's a response from Lindsay Riehl, our Markeing Director:
The Civ3 site is a collaborative effort between Infogrames and Firaxis. Because all of our artists are working full-time on game assets we've contracted with an outside web developer, who has a lot of experience working with game companies, to create the official Civ3 site. We hope to have the site go live in early August. Dan's been heavily involved in the creation of the site along with a couple of other development projects on both games, so he's wearing many hats these days! The new site contains new game information, art and downloadable assets. We hope you like it!

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