

The game designer’s answer here is that we give the player short-term goals, medium-term goals, and long-term goals that are all juggled at once in the player’s mind. Over the years, people have asked why “one more turn” has such an impact on players. Sid Meier has released a statement on Civilization’s website:Īs many players have learned over the last 30 years, Civilization is famous for the “one more turn” phenomenon – where you sit down to play a quick game, and then suddenly look up at your clock to discover it’s already 2 A.M. This success earned the Civilization franchise recognition as one of the best computer game series of all time.Originally released in 1991, Sid Meier’s Civilization, the first installment of the celebrated strategy series, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.ĭevelopers 2k and Firaxis are also celebrating the milestone with new challenges and content for the anniversary, outlined in the trailer above. Civilization proved the test of time with various remakes and expansion packs, the most recent released in 2012. It is possible to advance through diplomacy, combat, economics, science, or any combination of methods.

They may also win by mastering space travel and sending the first spaceship to the Alpha Centauri star system.Īcclaimed for its open-ended style of play, players may lead their empire in any direction they choose. A player may win by destroying rival civilizations through military combat. Players must outsmart historical leaders such as Mahatma Ghandi and Napoleon Bonaparte as they strive to advance their empire. Along the way the player must build and manage cities, install a government and guide political development, arm and manage a military, direct technological advancement, and create diplomatic relations with rival civilizations. The player starts with a small group of Stone Age settlers and must slowly build a civilization, guiding it through centuries of development. The goal of Civilization is to build an empire and become the greatest civilization in the world. Spanning from the Stone Age into the Space Age, players guide their civilization through the centuries to create their own version of human history. It popularized the 4X genre of videogames in which players assume control of an empire and "expand, explore, exploit and exterminate." The scope of Civilization was unprecedented at the time of release. Released by game developer and publisher MicroProse in 1991, Civilization ushered in a new generation of turn-based strategy games. Designer of countless innovative and genre-defining games, Meier is considered "the Father of Computer Gaming." The Civilization franchise is Meier's most successful series to date with over nine million copies sold. Sid Meier is a legend in the computer gaming industry.
