Why The Civilization Series Remains A Modern Classic

CIVILIZATION REMAINS TRUE TO ITSELF

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Rise and Fall is now available for purchase. It is the first expansion pack for the turn-based strategy game Civilization VI, the most recent mainline version of the legendary 4X series. Rise and Fall features new nations, leaders, and systems, expanding on an already extraordinary base experience.

The series’ longevity is a fantastic achievement. The first Civilization was released for a bevy of systems in 1991, when a ‘loot box’ was something that a pirate character might say in a movie, a ‘microtransaction’ was merely a purchase of something really tiny, and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ was the hip new franchise. And yet the series continues to truck along with Rise and Fall, an expansion for a game two years old, as a big deal among the gaming community.

How does Sid Meier and developer Firaxis Games continue to do it?

In a world in which everything becomes a franchise, sequels abound like tribbles from the Starship Enterprise, and persistent universes are the rule rather than an exception, each Civilization game is a remarkably authentic experience. There are only a handful of spin-offs of the Civilization franchise, and they are infrequent. Even so, they are based on the bones of the mainline games: Civilization IV: Colonization was built atop the Civilization IV engine, and Civilization: Beyond Earth was built atop the Civilization V engine. While there have been a few forays into mobile gaming with the franchise (and hey, it’s 2018, even Nintendo does that now), for the most part when you see Civilization it’s Civilization.

After a few decades of honing the 4X genre that the eponymous Civilization created, where you as the player are to eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate, Firaxis knows what works and what doesn’t. Despite that, Meier is committed to healthy innovation, which translates to creating sequels with a purpose. In a 2010 Gamasutra interview, producer Dennis Shirk outlined the company’s philosophy regarding innovation:

A lot of it comes down to one of Sid’s cornerstones. When you’re actually going through and designing an entirely new game, he came up with his 33/33/33 rule. It’s 33 percent new, 33 percent improved, and 33 percent what everybody already expects to be there.

To put it another way, Firaxis knows what makes the Civ games good, and constantly strives to improve what’s already there in addition to taking risks with new content and mechanics. Another way that Firaxis puts Civilization in a position to succeed is its refusal to water down the experience for consoles. Civilization is a keyboard-and-mouse game, and to be itself it can only be a PC game. While there are many good ports of PC games to the console experience, and vice versa, some games are almost impossible to port to console while retaining its core design integrity. Firaxis knows that a console port of Civilization wouldn’t quite be the same, and their restraint in porting the series to console is admirable and shows a realistic and grounded approach to their franchise.

This post was originally written by Matthew LaMar.

SLOW AND STEADY DEVELOPMENT ELIMINATES FLOPS

In 27 years, there have only been six mainline Civilization releases. That is a glacial pace for a successful intellectual property. In that same time, we’ve received six Star Wars movies (seven if you count the animated one, but nobody will blame you if you don’t) despite a total dearth of content for large chunks of years. And as for a video game comparison, look no further than Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft has pumped out 10 (10!) full-length games in 11 years, in addition to a decent collection of spin-off titles and downloadable content.

Civilization VI was released in 2016. Before that, Civilization V was released in 2010. Civ IV came out in 2005. While that might seem somewhat of a pedantic thing to emphasize, it is an underrated part of the series’ success. Players don’t get Civilization fatigue. Rather, they are supplied with a robust core game and given opportunities to expand their experience should they wish. It’s an admirable business model that respects the player and acknowledges that developing games is an expensive, difficult process.

Many games nowadays that don’t do well, even in well-respected franchises like Mass Effect. The most recent release, Mass Effect Andromeda, suffered poorer-than-expected sales and went through a strenuous and troubled development. While it certainly helps that Civilization has a more focused development cycle than creating a brand new IP or reviving an old one, plenty of sequels suffer from aggressive deadlines. A Civilization game is finished when it’s finished.

THE FANBASE TRULY MATTERS

Civ is undeniably complicated, and it takes time to learn and master its varying systems to get maximum enjoyment out of the game. Since fans put hours and hours into learning a mechanic, perfecting the use of that mechanic, and even thinking creatively about ways to use said mechanic, they develop a particularly acute connection to the game. Games like Civilization naturally accrue these types of players naturally, and their loyalty and strong opinions can either be a boon or a problem.

Civilization’s fanbase is particularly passionate. Mods for the games are common, and every once in a while fans use the game in a way that Firaxis would never have dreamed, such as when a group of fans over at the /r/Civ subreddit decided to set up 42 AI factions and pit them against each other. Just to see what would happen, you know?

Firaxis knows all about the importance of the fanbase. From Shirk’s same interview from before:

“A designer can get wrapped up in his own head about how awesome his design is, but if he puts it out there and nobody gets it, then that’s a failure,” says Shirk. “I’m sure you’ve heard of Frankenstein, and that’s been a staple of Civilization, especially throughout many of the last versions of the game. If we didn’t have that core group of fans, just constantly giving us feedback as Ed is bouncing ideas back and forth really trying to find that great balance, I don’t think Civ would be as good as it is right now.”

Many developers credit their fans for their success, but few developers actively include those fans in the development process. The Frankenstein Test Group is a group of fans who help out Firaxis with beta testing. And in the credits for Civ 6, the Frankenstein Test Group makes an appearance, a testament to Firaxis’ respect and admiration for its fans.

As long as Firaxis continues its excellent stewardship of the franchise, there’s no telling how long Civ will continue to be a classic.