Back in 1999, Greg Foertsch, Jerome Atherholt, and Mike Bazzell were all artists working on
So much has changed! The best part about a studio like Firaxis is that we have many, many people here who have been with the company from the early days, and even worked together back at MicroProse, so there’s this huge cultural memory for how video games have been developed in our area for decades. And now we have this new crop of developers who played the games we worked on, and we’re able to work with them as colleagues and start to transmit that knowledge to them as well. At the same time, we’re open to new ideas, and there are some things we’re able to do so much more easily than in 1996. They keep us on our toes and keep us learning new tools and tricks, and we’re able to show them some of the tricks that have worked for years.
A new science-fiction-themed entry in the Civ series.
Understandably, a Firaxis game set in space conjures up thoughts of an Alpha Centauri sequel - which it's not - but gameplay designer Anton Strenger says that the game is "definitely inspired by Alpha Centauri, but this is a different game and it's meant to stand on its own".
Set in the future, global events have destabilised the world leading to a collapse of modern society, a new world order and an uncertain future for humanity. As the human race struggles to recover, the re-developed nations focus their resources on deep space travel to chart a new beginning for mankind.
Spanning over two decades with seven core entries and numerous expansions, Sid Meier’s Civilization and the games that followed have become cornerstones of the gaming industry. With Civilization: Beyond Earth, developer Firaxis is finally taking a break from playing in the past, and instead is looking onward towards humanity’s future. There’s no better time than now to look back at this 4X strategy series’ evolution and rediscover the origins of these incredibly engrossing games. Unless, of course, you’re thinking of Civilization World. This ill-conceived Facebook game has been annexed from our list and has since been discontinued.
Sid Meier’s Civilization (1991)
was another unexpected turn of events. This game wasn’t just some wacky console offshoot; it was next official entry in the masterful Civilization series. Even so, Meier and his team at Firaxis weren’t afraid to once again shake up the most fundamental aspects of the Civilization formula. Chief among these was the game’s shift from playing on a square grid--a series mainstay since the very beginning--to hexagonal tiles. Military units could no longer be grouped on a single tile, and independent city-states were introduced. Together, these changes and many others acted as the series’ great equalizer. Newcomers and veterans alike had a new Civilization game to master.
