Sid Meier's contribution to CivIII revealed!

Sarxis · October 10, 2001, 14:22

From the recent gamespy interview:

"GameSpin: How much did Sid Meier contribute?

Johnson: Sid played the game constantly. He was very focused on making sure that the stayed fun. He was our number one play tester, really."

What a job!

drake · October 10, 2001, 14:37

So basically he just lended his name to the project

CapTVK · October 10, 2001, 14:52

Does anybody notice a pattern :

Civ 1 : Sid is the main programmer
Civ 2 : Concentrates on game design Brian Reynolds is main programmer
Civ 3 : Sid is a playtester
Civ 4 : .......?

You get the picture

drake · October 10, 2001, 14:59

4) sid retires and enjoys his royalty checks

Dida · October 10, 2001, 15:16

this is logical. programming is a ****ing boring job. for people who has the influence and power, he needs not to write the code himself. for the same thing, Bill Gates didn't write a line of code in Windows XP>

Tventano · October 10, 2001, 15:22

Designing and checking if ideas really work is much more challenging and intersting job than just coding something. If you have nobody else to do the job, ofcourse you have to get dirty fingers yourself. If you can hire people to do the job for you, concentrating on design issues is much more efficient. For the day-to-day testing they had some other personel ;-)

Asesino_Virtual · October 10, 2001, 15:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Dida
this is logical. programming is a ****ing boring job. for people who has the influence and power, he needs not to write the code himself. for the same thing, Bill Gates didn't write a line of code in Windows XP>

Hahaha, are u fu**ing crazy?. Programming is the BEST part of a game. It can be as addictive as playing a game. Whats better, play with something u have to adjust at, or play a game that u are programming that if u see something u want to change, just open the editor and add the code lines?

Think it. Programming is a great experience.

Pembleton · October 10, 2001, 15:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Tventano
Designing and checking if ideas really work is much more challenging and intersting job than just coding something.

Um...have you ever programmed something?

Coding is very difficult and tedious. Designing is much more interesting, yes, but not more challenging.

Earthling7 · October 10, 2001, 15:39

Quote:

Originally posted by Asesino_Virtual
Think it. Programming is a great experience.

Uh, yes... I'll take your word for it.

Inverse Icarus · October 10, 2001, 15:41

maybe its just me but i love it when something i code comes to life and does my malicious bidding

.

but i have to admit when i fail at something for a while i get mad and throw things (during a game of CS at a lan party i threw my mouse through my monitor.

SteveJH · October 10, 2001, 15:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Jingo
maybe its just me but i love it when something i code comes to life and does my malicious bidding

.

but i have to admit when i fail at something for a while i get mad and throw things (during a game of CS at a lan party i threw my mouse through my monitor.

Geez, what do you have? A metal plated mouse?

Inverse Icarus · October 10, 2001, 15:48

it was an old school optical mouse, with it's share of heavy plastic

Tventano · October 10, 2001, 16:02

Quote:

Um...have you ever programmed something?

I think it was in 1979 I programmed my first game on a Casio calculator. My studies I finished with a fortran program and still on my work I try to code something every week. But with designing, talking and organizing you just get much more work done.

Do you think that qualifies for something?

Provost Harrison · October 10, 2001, 19:37

Quote:

Originally posted by Jingo
maybe its just me but i love it when something i code comes to life and does my malicious bidding

.

but i have to admit when i fail at something for a while i get mad and throw things (during a game of CS at a lan party i threw my mouse through my monitor.

Have you ever considered the virtues of sedatives?

fanatic civver · October 10, 2001, 20:12

Quote:

but i have to admit when i fail at something for a while i get mad and throw things (during a game of CS at a lan party i threw my mouse through my monitor.

You'd better avoid deity level when civ3 comes out

d_dudy · October 10, 2001, 20:13

Quote:

Originally posted by drake
So basically he just lended his name to the project

no, no! he also sat around and played the game!

Inverse Icarus · October 10, 2001, 20:17

Quote:

Originally posted by fanatic civver

You'd better avoid deity level when civ3 comes out

i never fail at civ (ok when i play eyesofnight but his style irks me, the whole "rush with horses before your city builds a defensive unit" thing).

Dida · October 10, 2001, 20:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Asesino_Virtual

Hahaha, are u fu**ing crazy?. Programming is the BEST part of a game. It can be as addictive as playing a game. Whats better, play with something u have to adjust at, or play a game that u are programming that if u see something u want to change, just open the editor and add the code lines?

Think it. Programming is a great experience.

It's a total waste of time to talk to people who are ignorant, and yet still believe that they know more than anyone else.

JellyDonut · October 10, 2001, 20:33

Think about it. You're Sid and you've got this team of programmers who are making this great game. You can do whatever you want in the project. So what exactly do you do for two years? Do you code? No. Do you do the designing? No. Do you work on the graphics and sound? No. You go home with a copy of the game and sit on your ass all day playing the game in your underwear, taking small breaks to make Ramen noodles for basic nutrition and to drink Jolt cola to insure that sleep will never get in the way of playing.

SteveJH · October 10, 2001, 20:38

Quote:

Originally posted by JellyDonut
Think about it. You're Sid and you've got this team of programmers who are making this great game. You can do whatever you want in the project. So what exactly do you do for two years? Do you code? No. Do you do the designing? No. Do you work on the graphics and sound? No. You go home with a copy of the game and sit on your ass all day playing the game in your underwear, taking small breaks to make Ramen noodles for basic nutrition and to drink Jolt cola to insure that sleep will never get in the way of playing.

My dream job!!!

No really, I don't see anything wrong with it, he's earned where he's gotten himself. I really doubt many people who are the head of large companies do a lot of work themselves besides directing.

Simpleton · October 10, 2001, 21:02

Quote:

Originally posted by drake
So basically he just lended his name to the project

Yah that's too bad!!

I thought he would have more to do with Civ3 than that.... However, he didn't work on Civ2 that much either did he? And that turned out excellent.
Here's hoping.

Christantine The Great · October 10, 2001, 21:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Simpleton

Yah that's too bad!!

I thought he would have more to do with Civ3 than that.... However, he didn't work on Civ2 that much either did he? And that turned out excellent.
Here's hoping.

Spare him, Sid! PLEASE!

squid · October 10, 2001, 23:38

Even as a developer, I find design, architecture, and feature selection much more interesting. Programming is very challenging, but to shape a strategic vision of a team of people....that is much more fun. You decide what features live and die, what the final product is....everything to your vision.

Sid doesn't need to code. He just has to ensure the product is good. And that is the way it should be. You do not have your five star generals polishing the weapons!

Boris Godunov · October 11, 2001, 00:51

Quote:

Originally posted by Asesino_Virtual

Hahaha, are u fu**ing crazy?. Programming is the BEST part of a game. It can be as addictive as playing a game. Whats better, play with something u have to adjust at, or play a game that u are programming that if u see something u want to change, just open the editor and add the code lines?

Think it. Programming is a great experience.

Having spent nearly 2 years as a programmer, this all I can say of it:

I got my thrill of the day at lunch, doing the NYT crossword.

Moral Hazard · October 11, 2001, 01:49

Good! I'm glad to see that Sid (I'm so creative) Meyer had limited involvement. He constantly blabs about innovation, then goes and does a remake of a crappy game, the name of which I won't repeat. Face it the man's burned out if he wasn't already rich he'd be harrassing you for quarters on the sidewalk.

Tventano · October 11, 2001, 16:16

Quote:

Even as a developer, I find design, architecture, and feature selection much more interesting. Programming is very challenging, but to shape a strategic vision of a team of people....that is much more fun. You decide what features live and die, what the final product is....everything to your vision.

Exactly. But it takes quite some experience to realize that.