Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 developer discusses building “the best looking tabletop game on the planet”
Going
hands-on
with
an
early
build
of
Sid
Meier’s
Civilization
7
at
Gamescom
2024,
I’m
impressed
by
much
of
what
this
upcoming
installment
in
the
hugely
popular
strategy
series
will
bring
to
the
table.
The
reworked
core
mechanics
that
finally
allow
you
to
create
your
own
leader
and
civilization
pairings
look
like
a
brilliant
evolution
of
the
franchise
and,
while
I
didn’t
get
to
spend
too
long
playing
the
upcoming
game,
I
came
away
looking
forward
to
the
full
release.
One
of
the
things
I
enjoyed
most,
however,
was
the
unique
art
direction
that
the
development
team
has
chosen
this
time
around.
A
departure
from
the
relatively
cartoony
look
of
Civilization
6,
the
world
and
leaders
of
Civilization
7
feel
much
more
authentic
and
realistic
but
are
still
pleasingly
colorful
and
expressive.
It
all
looks
fantastic
in
action
and
speaking
to
Civilization
7
executive
producer
Dennis
Shirk
after
my
play
session,
I’m
keen
to
gain
some
insight
into
the
process
behind
the
creation
of
this
new
aesthetic.
A
fresh
pair
of
eyes
(Image
credit:
Firaxis)
“With
each
iteration
of
Civilization,
we
usually
have
a
new
art
director
step
up
and
have
their
vision
put
into
the
game,”
explains
Shirk.
“This
time
it
was
Jason
Johnson,
our
art
director,
he
was
one
of
the
artists
on
Civilization
6
as
well,
but
he
wanted
to
take
what
was
best
about
6
with
its
vibrant
color
palette,
its
optimistic
outlook,
and
take
what
was
best
with
5
more
of
the
realism,
but
not
so
much
of
the
gritty
muddiness,
and
make
something
new.”
This
will
undoubtedly
be
a
relief
for
the
many
fans
crying
out
for
the
series
to
return
to
a
more
grounded
art
direction,
but
the
decision
was
also
made
with
considerations
for
the
player
experience
in
mind.
“He
did
an
approach
that
he
called
readable
realism.
He
got
a
lot
of
inspiration
from
museum
dioramas
that
he’d
go
and
look
at,
he
loves
that
kind
of
modeling,”
Shirk
says.
He
also
suggests
that
plenty
of
inspiration
came
from
“some
of
the
best
game
boards
ever
made
and
painted.”
“We
have
environment
artists
at
the
studio
that
play
a
lot
of
Warhammer
and
Warhammer
40k,”
he
continues,
“the
stuff
they
put
together
and
created
looks
amazing
and
[Johnson]
loves
that
he’s
basically
creating
the
best
looking
tabletop
game
on
the
planet
[with
Civilization
7].”
(Image
credit:
2K)
On
top
of
a
new
art
direction,
Civilization
7
will
also
be
shaped
by
a
new
approach
to
storytelling.
Shirk
reveals
that
developer
Firaxis
Games
has
brought
in
a
sizable
narrative
team
for
this
installment:
“So
in
the
past,
we’ve
mainly
had
just
historians,
for
the
Civilopedia,
things
like
that,
because
we’ve
leaned
on
the
player
to
tell
their
story
entirely.
This
time
around,
we
wanted
to
bring
more
life
into
the
world.
[…]
With
the
narrative
team
being
brought
in,
they
put
narrative
out
in
the
world
[to
discover].”
As
for
what
this
means
in
practical
terms,
Shirk
says
that
you
can
expect
an
even
greater
focus
on
“those
discoveries
you
can
make,
those
little
‘storylets’
that
give
you
a
little
bit
of
story
about
what’s
happening
in
the
world
and
why
you’re
making
a
decision.
[The
team]
attached
little
narrative
quests
to
each
civilization
later
in
the
game
too,
there’s
different
chains
that
you
go
down
based
on
what
you’ve
done
in
the
game.
You
might
have
an
event
come
up
and
say,
‘Hey,
there’s
a
thing
that’s
happened
based
on
what
you
did.
What
choice
do
you
want
to
make
here?’
and
you
start
going
down
a
path
of
making
those
decisions.”
Even
so,
he
is
careful
to
clarify
that
the
focus
is
still
very
much
on
player
freedom
and
emergent
storytelling.
“It’s
not
an
on-rails
thing
like
storytelling
in
other
games,
this
is
just
contributions
to
the
story
that
you
have
in
your
own
head,
that
story
that
you’re
telling
yourself,”
he
says.
“We
wanted
to
take
that
storytelling
to
another
level
and
give
you
some
additional
ammunition
to
pack
into
your
head
as
you’re
playing
through
the
game.”
New
beginnings
(Image
credit:
2K)
Civilization
7
is
also
in
a
unique
position
as
the
first
mainline
entry
in
the
series
to
launch
simultaneously
on
console
and
PC.
This
means
that
it
will
be
the
first
exposure
that
many
new
players
will
have
to
the
sometimes
quite
daunting,
complex
franchise.
Luckily,
Shirk
is
eager
to
explain
some
of
the
ways
in
which
player
activity
in
Civilization
6
has
shaped
the
tutorial
system
in
its
successor.
“We’ve
had
a
whole
team
concentrating
on
just
the
onboarding
and
tutorial.
In
Civ
6,
we
had
a
separate
tutorial
and
then
we
had
advisors
in
the
game,
but
our
advisor
system
couldn’t
‘talk’
to
the
UI,
for
example,”
Shirk
says,
referring
to
the
slightly
awkward
implementation
of
the
advisors
in
Civilization
6.
Advisors
(on-screen
characters
that
provided
useful
tips
and
tricks)
would
point
you
towards
specific
actions
to
try
and
guide
you
towards
success.
While
they
might
tell
you
to
find
a
specific
on-screen
button
in
order
to
execute
a
command,
there
was
no
way
for
this
to
be
automatically
selected
or
highlighted
on
the
player’s
interface
–
making
it
easy
to
get
lost
menus.
“Telemetry
also
told
us
nobody
played
the
tutorial,
because
frankly,
when
people
get
a
new
game,
they
don’t
want
to
play
the
tutorial.
They
just
want
to
play
the
game.
So
we
actually
rewrote
the
whole
system,”
he
explains.
“We
have
the
tutorial
dynamically
embedded
in
the
game
now
so
it’s
going
to
teach
as
you
play.
We
have
the
tutorial
system
able
to
‘talk’
to
the
UI
system,
so
that
if
they
want
you
to
press
something
specific,
it
actually
does
that,
and
you
can
be
walked
through
that
process.
Players
that
are
new
to
the
system
can
just
come
in
and
have
a
good
time
“We’re
constantly
refining
that
to
make
it
even
better.
The
main
driver
of
that
is
because
we’re
releasing
on
all
platforms
on
day
zero,
we
know
that
a
lot
of
console
players
are
probably
going
to
be
new
to
Civilization.
We
want
to
make
sure
that
we’re
really
taking
that
into
account
and
that
a
new
player
can
come
in
and
understand
the
basics
of
how
to
play,”
he
says.
“Even
if
they
don’t
engage
with
half
of
the
stuff
that
we
put
in
the
game,
they’re
going
to
be
able
to
have
a
really
good
time
invading
their
neighbor
and
having
that
initial
Civilization
experience
that
most
people
have.”
According
to
“telemetry
and
data”
in
addition
to
forum
feedback,
the
developers
believe
that
“newer
players
are
going
to
play
a
domination
game”
where
they
attempt
to
win
by
conquering
the
cities
of
every
other
civilization.
“That’s
the
default.
It’s
the
easiest
thing
to
grasp.
You
build
an
army,
you
attack
something.
So
we’re
removing
as
many
roadblocks
as
we
can,”
he
continues.
“Players
that
are
new
to
the
system
can
just
come
in
and
have
a
good
time.”
Whether
these
efforts
to
create
a
more
approachable
experience
will
be
a
success
is
yet
to
be
seen,
but
I’m
certainly
eager
to
find
out
when
Civilization
7
launches
for
PC,
PlayStation
5,
PlayStation
4,
Xbox
Series
X,
Xbox
Series
S,
Xbox
One,
and
Nintendo
Switch
on
February
6,
2025.
