the newest patch

[vee4473]

has anyone heard anything about whether infogrames is working on another patch for civ3?

Ya know...the civ3 site is ridiculous. There is no news of any work being done on any patches or even any news that there won't be another patch yet.

All you get when you log onto civ3.com is "play the greatest game of all time!" or "civ3 wins this award or that award!"

man, it's annoying to not have anyone from the company keep players posted of what is in the works...even estimates, i'm not looking for exacts dates or anything, but how about at least letting the players know whether or not anyone at the company is even thinking of updating the game.

If they aren't, fine.....SAY SO!!! if they are, fine....SAY SO!!!

The civ3 site is rarely updated and is just a big colorful ad for civ3...there is no real info of use for any of their core players.


i'm done ranting.

[notyoueither]

Some Firaxians have made public statements indicating that work continues. However, neither Infogrames nor Firaxis have publicly commited to this.

I suppose the 2 companies could decide to discontinue all development on the game. However, I think that is unlikely as it is a best seller and has created a market for expansions.

Purely my conjecture. I think they are focused on getting the fundamental mechanics right first through patches. They are very close, in my opinion. They are probably going a bit slower with this next patch so that it can be the last before an expansion. Probably will contain a much better editor. Probably won't contain MP.

[Tuberski]

This is actually my biggest problem. WHAT are they doing?
Let us know SOMETHING!

[rpodos]

As far as I know, they are working on a patch, and in fact have some beta-testers helping out.

Firaxians have said repeatedly that they don;t want to telegraph what will be in the patch, and that they will let the world knw about the next patch about a week before it's released. This will be through Apolyton and CivFanatics, I think, not their own site.

I agree, the Civ3 site itself is sort of worthless. They could do a lot more with it. I think Dan Magaha is the webmaster, but it just doesn't seem to be a focus of theirs. No sombreros, for God's sake.

On the one hand, some of the Firaxians have been pretty cool about reaching out to the community. On the other, they are totally missing out on what could be achieved. In my last two jobs I was head of sales and marketing for business Internet companies... their equivalent should re-read Net.Gain, The Tipping Point, The Gorilla Game, and a bunch of other books that deal with aspects leveraging community via the Internet, and building tremendous customer satisfaction and support.

My two cents.

R

[notyoueither]

Of course, you could read this thread or this other thread and others like it in the MOO3 forum to find out how *leveraging* the community can come back to bite you in the *ss big time.

It seems that the fans who QuickSilver invited to take an inside view of the development process lack the experience with the twists and turns of the cycle and seem to get their knickers in knots when something unexpected happens.

For a company as small as Firaxis, who probably lack the resources to assign one individual to shepherd the audience along until the very end, it is probably better for them and us that they do things the way they do.

[rpodos]

nye:

You're quite right... choosing to get involved with your community (read: customers) is a full-time job... maybe for even a couple of people in this case. Lots of expectation management and hand-holding. Do it wrong, and you blow it, easily. I just think that in this case, given the Civ franchise, Firaxis / Infogrames is missing an opportunity.

Don;t know about the rest of you, but I have spent an incredible amount of time on Sid Meier games (don't go there...). I'm very passionate about them, and have been an evangelist, esp. with non- or new-gamers for over a decade. I travel a lot for business, and I can;t tell you how many people have seen me play Civ on a laptop and get sucked into it.

You can't buy advertising like that. You can't pull Hennessey stunts to match that.

For G-d's sake, look at how many people participate here and on on CivFanatics. It's a marketer's dream... and they aren't "leveraging" it.

Hey, if any Firaxians are listening, I'll donate my efforts. I'm supposed to be in Bethesda next week, and can easily stop by.

My consulting fee: one sombrero.

R

[player1]

Sevral days ago one guy from Firaxis said that next patch (1.19) will "probably be released" in next week.

[notyoueither]

Where? When?

Player1. You're such a tease.

We know you're on the inside now. Tell us all

[player1]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Where? When?

Player1. You're such a tease.

We know you're on the inside now. Tell us all

I think that thread name was something like:
"Is Brian true civ genius?"

[player1]

I find it out in this thread:

apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46506

Unfortunatly I was wrong with interpretation.

Sorry for false hopes.

>>>>>>>>
quote:
Originally posted by ALPHA WOLF 64
Dan,
personally I think the game is great except for 2 major problems: AI tech trading and ridiculous pollution levels (everything else I can live with or work around in a mod). I've put off playing more til 1.18 comes out, do you know when they'll be making any announcements on when it might come out?
Thanks.
>>>>>>>>>

This is a Jeff question, but my generic response would be that you'll probably find out about it about a week before we put it up on the site.

I think it'll be worth your wait, personally, but that's just me.

Dan

P.S., for those who are tempted, this really isn't worthy of a news item =)

[sun_tzu_159]

Player1 and others

I have been watching The-battlefield.com website and they said that they would make the multiplayer available when the multiplayer add-on is available per there Feb 18th post.

You have said on the Apolyton site that the multiplayer games are now available for competition match-ups.

So have they had news that a multiplayer add-on is about to be released?

On another point I think the CivIII site is very poor for information. They should post on there if the patches are in development, what they are for and where they are up to.

It has done the reputation of Firaxis and Infogrames no good at all to rush this game out and rely on a loyal community of fans to do advanced beta testing of the play systems. The least they can now do is to keep everyone informed if the project is dropped or what continuation is made.

If you want a success story of what a properly supported program can do look at the work on The Sims by EA Games and Maxis. If CivIII got this sort of support for expansion packs and the community it could also be an all-time best seller.

Thanks for reading
Sun_Tzu_159

[nbarclay]

I wouldn't be shocked if the backlash over flaws in 1.17f is causing Firaxis to be a bit more careful with its successor. That's doubly troue if they want the next patch to be the last one before an expansion pack.

As for their not saying much, consider what happens if they make their plans public and then something doesn't go quite the way they expect and they feel a need to change their plans. Unfortunately, there are enough flamers around to encourage a fair amount of caution with regard to forward-looking statements.

Nathan

[rpodos]

While I understand Firaxis' reluctance to make forward-looking statements, either about patches or XPs, I still am perplexed at the lack of community outreach.

For instance, alexman just started and excellent thread on corruption in the Strategy forum, building on some of Aeson's earlier work, trying to get a handle on the actual mechanics.

There should be, without question, a Firaxian guru responding to our technical questions.

Hell, that's not even community outreach, it's customer service.

R