We’ve been blessed with a lot of fantasy 4X games in the past few years.

Besides the Elemental games we’ve gotten Warlock, Age of Wonders 3, Eador, and soon Endless Legends. If you like fantasy games, I highly recommend checking them all out (except War of Magic which is inferior to all of them).

Unfortunately, as game designers, we have an unusual challenge: Magic.

Magic isn’t fair

It is really really hard to write good AI in a game that literally allows players to conjure up all kinds of game changing stuff.  The granddaddy of this genre, Master of Magic, didn’t really have an AI.  In theory it did but the AI doesn’t really provide a challenge. The game’s amazing game design makes a strong case that it’s the journey that matters, not the destination.  That is, in MOM, winning is a foregone conclusion. Of course you’re going to win. The question is how?

Revisiting Elemental: War of Magic

At the risk of being boastful, as problematic as War of Magic was at launch, it was highly innovative.  The cloth map mode it introduced is kind of expected now.

Elemental: War of Magic introduced the cloth map zoom out concept, now obvious in hindsight

The city building features were pretty amazing

The problems of Elemental: War of Magic could be summed up as follows:  It was a series of interesting game concepts that were not tied together versus computer opponents who weren’t sure what they are supposed to be doing.

If I had to do it over again Elemental: War of Magic would have been bulleted like this:

• You are a powerful Sorcerer (or sorceress) who must build a kingdom from the ground up
• Your goal is to be the first to cast the spell of making to take control of the world (not that conquering enemies is NOT a requirement here)
• To do that you will need to capture the 4 types of Elemental shards: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and construct the Forge of the Overlord
• You can build alliances with other players who control one or more o those elemental shards who are willing to tie their destiny to yours
• Those alliances are built through arranged marriages through your dynasty
• Go on quests to find one of the very few Champions of the world to help lead your armies to secure the land you need to build your cities along with the loot necessary to make your units, champions, and cities more powerful.
• Your cities provide the units necessary to learn the spell of mastery, construct the forge of the overlord and armies to secure resources that required to do both.

This design takes into account the basic problem in magic games: You can’t make a Civilization style 4X game and have powerful magic at the same time. If the object of the game is to conquer another empire, then you have to deal with balance and magic eliminates that balance.  Conquering other cities should not be the goal in these games. It’s boring and tedious.  It should be optional but not central to whether you win or lose. 

By making magic both the tool AND the goal, you can eliminate mundane balance issues.  Want to protect your capital by surrounding yourself with mountains or ocean? No problem. Go for it.  But you can’t do that if the AI is required to actually conquer your cities in order win. 

If city conquest is the goal, then magic has to be gimped and at that point why have it?

We had a great discussion about what features of LH players liked the most.

Now, let’s turn it on its head.  What parts of Legendary Heroes do you like the least?

This doesn’t have to be a feature list either, it could be elements of the game (or parts of the game) that you just find boring or frustrating or poorly thought out.

Let us know!

Bottom line: DirectX 12 looks to double perf over DirectX 11 on the same hardware.  The game changing effect of this cannot be understated.

Build is Microsoft’s annual developer’s conference.  It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to one of these.

This year, for the first time in some years, I feel like Microsoft is back to their old selves.  It’s like they were in an incompetent funk for a very long time.

Consider the idiocy that has flowed from Redmond in recent years:

1. Creation of Silverlight and subsequent abandonment (Silverlight was awesome)
2. Windows Presentation Foundation and its abandonment (WPF was awesome)
3. The Windows Sidebar and its abandonment (this was just a dumb idea)
4. Windows Phone 7
5. Games for Windows Live (good idea, horribly executed)
6. Microsoft Live’s abandonment (great idea, well executed, abandoned)
7. Zune
8. Windows 8 in its entirety (this would be a long list of incompetence)
9. Windows Phone 7.5 (took like 30 years to get this update out)
10. Calling the new XBox the XBox One (Seriously, who named this?)
11. The first iteration of “Windows Store” (You can’t find anything)
12. Windows RT vs. WinRT (One is the Arm version of the Windows OS, the other is an API designed for making “Modern” apps
13. Surface RT’s condition when it shipped

As a long time Microsoft watcher, especially as someone whose formative tech years were spent watching the Microsoft of the Bill Gates era behaving with a  combination of ruthlessness and competence (Windows 95, NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, SQL Server, ASP.NET, Win32, .NET, DirectX, the NT kernel, etc.) it has been painful watching Microsoft decline into sheer ineptitude.

But with their new CEO, it seems like it’s a brand new day at Microsoft. In talking, off the record, with many tech leads and managers here at Build, it’s pretty clear that the best and brightest at Microsoft were being held back.

Let’s look at Build 2014 and the sudden coherence of what Microsoft is doing:

1. They announced WinU, a single API that will work on XBox One, Windows Phone, and Windows allowing developers to use their favorite language (C#, C++, etc.) to make Windows apps that can be recompiled for different platforms.
2. A new version of Visual Studio that integrates these features into it.
3. An admission of the foolishness of Windows 8 by bringing back desktop functionality like the Start menu and letting Windows store apps run in a window on the desktop.
4. The unveiling of Cortana, a developer friendly personal assistant that is leveraged by Microsoft’s vast and varied cloud services (and make no mistake, Microsoft Azure is, by far, the best cloud tech out there)
5. DirectX 12 which is being designed not just for games but as a platform for creating high performance graphics apps that will work on XBox One, PC, and Windows Phone.
6. Microsoft services and products being introduced across multiple platforms. This means Office for iPad and the unveiling of Office for Metro.

These 6 steps demonstrate that Microsoft is back in the game.  It’s a brand new day for Microsoft.

UPDATED TENTATIVE SCHEDULE 8/14:

Hey everyone!

Island Dog here with an update to the schedule now that the beta has released. Please note that this is a TENTATIVE schedule that is subject to change, though we’re very happy with where we are in the development process.

Happy conquering!

***

March 2014: Alpha 1 - First release!
The very first version of the game.

April 2014: Alpha 2 - Shipyard added!
This version addressed early feedback and some new UI improvements, tech tree changes, and ideology tree changes.

June 2014: Alpha 3 - Starports and more!
We’re adding some big features and making huge changes to a few more with this alpha release. This includes larger maps, improved AI, starports, multiplayer fixes, an improved ship designer (based on your feedback from Alpha 2), resources, performance improvements and numerous UI updates.

August 2014: Beta 1 - Terraforming! Ideology rework! Tons of other stuff!
Now that the game is something approaching fun, we’re calling it a beta. This release adds a ton of stuff (and the regular $49.99 price, discounted to $44.99 during Early Access). See here for more: https://forums.galciv3.com/456691/page/1/

October 2014: Beta 2 - Diplomacy! Trade! United Planets! Krynn Syndicate! Global Events!
October will be a big month for GalCiv III. Many of the non-combat paths open up at this point, and we introduce global events and the fifth faction, the Krynn Syndicate.

December 2014: Beta 3 - Combat! Yor Singularity!
This is the big combat update. Ground invasions, our new take on fleet combat, and the sinister mechanical Yor join the beta before the end of the year.

Early 2015: Iteration, balance, polish, factions 7 & 8, and more!

April 2015: Release!

********************

UPDATED TENTATIVE SCHEDULE 5/27:

Greetings everyone!

Island Dog here updating you on the current iteration of the TENTATIVE schedule for Galactic Civilizations III development.

In case the all-caps weren’t clear, everything from Alpha 3 on is subject to change.

Thanks for your support!

***

March 2014: Alpha 1 - First release!
The very first version of the game.
 

April 2014: Alpha 2 - Shipyard added!
This version addressed early feedback and some new UI improvements, tech tree changes, and ideology tree changes.

June 2014: Alpha 3 - Starports and more!
We’re adding some big features and making huge changes to a few more with this alpha release. This includes larger maps, improved AI, starports, multiplayer fixes, an improved ship designer (based on your feedback from Alpha 2), resources, performance improvements and numerous UI updates.

Summer 2014: Alpha 4 - Even more systems!
We will discuss the features introduced in this patch at a later date.
 

Late Summer 2014: Beta 1 - (Mostly) feature complete!
Thanks in part to the valuable feedback provided by our Elite Founders, we’ll have most if not all of the major systems and features implemented in the game at this point.

This is also the point during Galactic Civilizations III development at which the Founders Elite Edition goes off sale forever, replaced by the normal $49.99 game.
 

Fall 2014 to Release: Beta iteration
Anything that didn’t make it into the initial beta release will be added in the following months, and we’ll be polishing, tweaking, and fixing bugs throughout until we’re happy with calling the game “finished.”

And then we’ll get to work on post-launch patches, DLC and expansions, naturally. But it’ll be officially launched at that point.

********************

ORIGINAL POST:

Greetings everyone!

There's been lots of questions regarding the development schedule of GalCiv III. Below is our *tentative* schedule for the game:


March 2014: Alpha 1
(the version you have now along with some minor updates)

April 2014: Alpha 2
(this version will begin to address early feedback and some new UI improvements, tech tree changes, ideology tree changes)

May 2014: BETA 1!
(This version is when the Founder Elite Edition goes away and is replaced by the normal, $49.99 game which is expected to be priced at a discount. So those people who don't like the $99 Founder Elite Edition who just want GalCiv III and would like to get it early and at a discount, this is the version you'll want.)

June 2014: BETA 1A
(this version is expected to bring in the Shipyard -- the in game ship designer amongst other things)

August 2014: BETA 2
(Diplomacy, Trade, Influence victories, culture, more in depth economics)

October 2014: BETA 3
(The Fleet Combat screen)

Beyond this point: Polish, Tweaking, Fixing, repeat.

Expected final release is 2Q2015 (April through June).

Greetings!

Highly recommend trying out some 1 on 1 games on tiny galaxies. Seriously. It's surprisingly fun in alpha.  I didn't want to say that before the alpha was out to keep expectations reasonable but now that it's out, go check it out!

Greetings!

First off, welcome to the Galactic Civilizations III Steam forums! We are so glad you're here! 

Before you post please read this as I'll try to answer some of the common topics that come up here.


#1 $99!? For the Founder Edlite Edition?!

Yes. The idea is to let GalCiv fans who are interested in the long-term success of GalCiv III. 

The Founder's Elite edition gives you:

• The base game (which will list for $49.99 when released)
• The future expansion packs (we current have 4 planned)
• All DLC (we plan to do around 6 the first year and 4 per year subsequently as long as there is interest)
• Access to our Founder's vault which includes access to our own internal dirty laundry (internal docs, failed concepts, music drafts, etc.)
• Naming a star in the game
• Forum badge and special forum access

The idea being a bit like some recent games that have come out that have let you do the same thing which can be convenient for those who just want to sit down and always have "everything".


#2 Why not have a seperate option for those who don't want all that?

When the BETA arrives, the Founder Elite version will go away entirely and have the regular version. We actually had this on GalCiv3.com where the standard edition was only $40. 

The regular version with early access will be discounted over the final price as a thank you to those willing to put up with Beta bugs.

However, the ALPHA is a very different animal. It sucks. It's not fun. It's ugly. And for that reason, we decided that it made more sense to only share it with those who are looking to be with us for the long haul and thus looking at the long-term.

By the time the BETA hits, the game should suck a lot less and be less ugly.


#3 Why have an Alpha at all?

The big reason for the public alpha is the same reason I had a public alpha back in 1993 for the original OS/2 verrsion of GalCiv (back when I was in college). 

Alpha access is early enough where we can experiment with new ideas that we may subsequently throw out. The downside is that it's a real sausage factory. People always imagine game designs being set in stone. But they're not. 

Having our most dedicated players sharing their ideas and thoughts early in the process can be helpful. Starbases in GalCiv came from the beta community (for example).


#4 Why 64-bit only?

We are looking for GalCiv III to be able to be enhanced and expanded on for a very very long time. GalCiv II was 32-bit and came out in 2006. By 2009, we could no longer add more stuff to it because we were out of RAM (all those ship parts for ship design and having thousands of unique planets gets memory intensive). 

64-bit is cutting edge today but in 2021, it's going to be pretty passe.

Having the base game be set up for 64-bit and DirectX 10/11/12 means we can do major updates to the game without having to start over.


Anyway, hope that helps! I'll be around!

Galactic Civilizations III

Galactic Civilizations II

Galactic Civilizations I

Spent my evening today trying out the various Galactic Civilizations versions over the years. Each has their own particular strengths.  If you don’t have the original Galactic Civilizations for Windows, I highly recommend picking it up. It has a real “indie” charm to it.

Now, the GalCiv III screenshot here is of the alpha. The final version will look a lot better still. Even now though, it’s remarkable how much better it looks. Having a “retina” UI system capability (i.e. different DPI UIs based on resolution) is going to come in handy.  You can kind of tell that GalCiv II was designed during a time before high resolution displays.

The original Galactic Civilizations for OS/2 was somewhat notable in that it was the first commercial 32-bit game.  

While there are some games that offer 64-bit editions, most of them also include a 32-bit version.  In the case of GalCiv III, it is natively 64-bit. That means no 32-bit version.  You must have a 64-bit version of Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 (most people these days do but not everyone).

So before you join up, make sure you actually are running a 64-bit version of Windows.

Greetings!

I was thinking the other day on how Galactic Civilizations has evolved over the years.  Let’s take a look:

Not all features are created equally, however.  For example, the Starbase addition in GalCiv I was, by far, the biggest change from the OS/2 version.

GalCiv II added the ship designer and meaningful cultural warfare (many of my favorite games were about trying to convert my enemies to my culture via influence).

For GalCiv III, it’s too early to say which features will ultimately be the most game changing.  As an AI guy, I think the ideology tree is going to matter a great deal because it’ll heavily affect how diplomacy works in the game.  I also think the introduction of strategic resources (i.e. if you have resource X, you get access to using component Y on your ships) could be pretty amazing in what people choose to fight about.  Then there’s the fleet combat system which I think people will enjoy a great deal once implemented.

Each new GalCiv expands the features of the game universe more and more.  The key, as always, is how these concepts are executed on.