How has Civ3 been in development?

[YefeiPi]

My belief has always been that a game (produced by a good company that is) which takes long to develop will almost certainly end up at least decent in quality. However, I'm wondering how long has Civ3 been in development?

Now that it's near completion, it seems it didn't take that long for Firaxis to develop this game, which I hope do not speak for the quality of Civ3. Anyway, was development of other civ games just as long?

[connorkimbro]

I remember an official statement stating that civ3 was being worked on (and had been for at least a few months) as early as may 1999.

i looked up the official release. . i thought i saw something before this, but this is the earlies thing i could find that was an official announcement.

CIVILIZATION III!!!
(May 15, 1999) It's finally true! Hasbro announced yesterday an agreement with Firaxis to work on Sid Meier's Civilization III! CivIII will be designed by Firaxis and published by Hasbro. The development will begin in the next few months.
Hasbro Interactive's president, Tom Dusenberry made the announcement today, grandly calling the upcoming Sid Meier's Civilization III "the most significant game of all time". Dusenberry then introduced fellow HI employee Tony Parks, a man little known to most gamers but who worked with the "Firaxis Three" when they were all back at MicroProse. He's the man given the credit for making Civ III a reality, and was nothing short of beaming as he introduced the first of the Firaxis Three, Jeff Briggs. He states that EA was willing to let Firaxis work with Hasbro on Civ III. Briggs, in turn, gives the floor to Brian Reynolds, who was the talent behind Civilization II and Alpha Centauri. He addresses the question, why Civ III? His answers basically boil down to one, the fans want it and two, there are things in the first two games that they feel they can flesh out. Then Sid Meier takes the podium and this is where you learn that the wheels have just started to roll!

It soon became apparent that Civ III isn't the only announcement of the day, for Meier discusses their idea for something they are calling the Sweep of Time Trilogy. This set of three games will include SMAC, Civ III, and a third as-yet unannounced title, all covering the entirety of human history (and future). What's more, while each is a stand alone title (and of course SMAC is already out), when combined into the trilogy you'll be able to carry over from one game to another!!
While they won't talk about it, a source within EA hints that they will be publishing whatever this title is, and says that Meier will be designing this new title while Reynolds will be in charge of Civ III. So, when can we expand this grand trio? Reynolds only committed to saying "sometime early in the third millennium." Hopefully they will narrow it down a bit in the coming weeks.

For more information, you can check our source articles at Gamespot and Computer Games Online. We told you E3 was going to be exciting for all of us Civ fans, didn't we?
As we wait for more news, stop by our now more important than ever "Suggestions for Civ3" Forum. Many thanks to Jimgo & Kevin Yang for the note.

Heh, so much for the sweep of time trilogy thing. oh well, dinos was looking a bit silly anyway