History of Civilization: Interview with Sid Meier

After cranking out flight Simulators, Sid Meier turned his creative talents to one of the most beloved and addicting strategy titles for the PC, Civilization. Gamasutra has an article celebrating the series. It follows the birth of Microprose to the conception of Civilization through to its emergence as a cult classic.

“The fact that there are so many different ways to play, and that they all seem interesting and fun, leads you to want to play again after you finish the game,” said Meier in an interview.

The game takes players through the age of agriculture to the modern age and beyond as they bring new discoveries to their peoples shaping them into a powerful civilization. Civilization has continued to grow as a series with each new iteration. The latest title in the series is Civilization IV.

“With Civilization IV, we tried to take something out with every new thing we put in. We felt we where bumping up against the limit of complexity for Civilization game players.  We have new ideas, but we take the general approach that for every new thing we put in, or more complicated thing we put in, we either simplify or take out something that was in there before. It’s a very rich topic; we could put so much stuff in there that we could overwhelm the player. We are sensitive to that.”

Civilization IV is ready for a second expansion Beyond the Sword which is scheduled for release July 23.