They say that the canvas lives separately from the artist – and there are plenty of examples in the game industry. Say, Shinji Mikami has long been connected with the series he created Resident Evil, Not with the company Capcom , however "Resident Evil" and to this day remains one of the most popular franchises generating multimillion -dollar profit. A similar story is also observed by Sid Meyer, which gave the industry several cult games, including truly epoch -making Civilization. There is hardly another western series, which has grown to such a scale over 30 years of its existence. And let Sid himself in recent years have been connected with her only formally, an impending anniversary "Civilizations" – A great reason to recall the creative path of a talented game designer.
The first steps
The youth of the future legend of Gamdev fell on the seventies. Then the game industry was still endlessly far from what it became in the nineties and later. No matter how rich the imagination of the developers of that time, all the creative had to squeeze for the sake of technical restrictions on iron. Therefore, the games were completely arcade, and the gameplay mainly proceeded on one screen. Because of this, the gamers had to use the imagination and think of the entire background on their own. Maier himself also stated in an interview: he was painfully impressed Space Invaders, dedicated to the battles with alien invaders. Sid's childhood was embraced with hunks, soldiers and designers Lego – According to him, one could always go to the nearest library and, say, read about the greatest wars in the history of mankind, thereby building a holistic picture in my head. And here is a fantastic setting that everyone is free to interpret in their own way.
Sid Meyer (left) and Bill Styles (right)
It is not surprising that one of the first games of the future game designer was the Space Invaders clone, which is only preserved by the author’s memories. But the development of games for a long time remained for Meyer an ordinary hobby: having graduated from the university and having received a degree in the field of computer science, SID began to earn a living by creating cash systems for retail chains in the company General Instrument. There he met Bill Style – a former military pilot. Colleagues became interested in the arcade game Red Baron (1980), dedicated to air battles during the First World War. And, despite all the experience of styles in real life, in virtual battles he constantly lost to Sida by glasses. “How do you do it?"Asked the https://jackpot-charm-casino.co.uk/ affected pilot. “Everything is simple. While you played, I remembered the algorithm of the actions of the computer, ”Meyer answered.
It would seem that they laughed and forgot, but no. By that time, Sid had already tired in creating simple games (mainly variations on the topic of famous hits) and decided that he could program something more complex and interesting than Red Baron. Therefore, in 1982, Meyer, along with style, founded the company Microprose. According to the second, this name perfectly reflected future activities, because the purpose of friends was to create prose for computers. And the game capable of wiping his nose Red Baron wrote in just three months: it was a military air system Hellcat Ace. Since the company only was born, I had to engage in distribution manually, copying the game on floppy disks and making photocopies of the leadership. While Meyer was engaged in the creation of games, styles took over contracts with suppliers.
Hellcat Ace and Floyd of the Jungle
The beginning of the 80s was a non-fingered field for the gaming industry. On the one hand, one could become a revolutionary involuntarily, successfully firing one interesting idea. On the other hand, the feedback from journalists and players reached the developers with turtle steps. And Sid was just interested in improving further for the opinion of the audience. Nevertheless, the mouth did its job: the lack of worthy alternatives among the games for home platforms, and Meyer's talent as a programmer affected. Later in one of the podcasts, he told how he managed not only to cope with technical restrictions, but also to turn them to his benefit. In particular, the effect of a flickering horizontal line made the effect of it made it possible to realize Hellcat Ace and her spiritual heirs quite smooth for those years animation.
There were several other important achievements at that time. For example, a platformer Floyd of the Jungle , created by Meyer under the impression of the film "Tarzan, a man-mate" , was equipped with a multiplayer regime for four players. How much the banal it seems now, it was just as impressive and then, despite the secondary and in many ways echoed with Donkey Kong 1981 gameplay.
Not micro, but not yet macro
The first truly large commercial success of Microprose was the second-hand submarine simulated in 1985 Silent Service, where the player was not just to give orders, but to independently perform all actions. Sid considered that it would be more fun, and did not lose: the success of the original version for 8-bit computers was so great that over the next two years the game actively ported to almost all the platform currently relevant at that moment. Microprose at that moment was no longer some small studio there, but a rather large company with an overgrown staff. The earned authority was enough to entrust most of the ports to third -party developers. Plus, the company acquired more experienced artists, and such a delegation of powers allowed Sid to finally fully concentrate only on the game design.
Even greater success was waiting for Meyer with the release Sid Meier’s Pirates! – One of the first games that applied several genres at once: Adventure, action with role -playing elements and strategy. The project was fundamentally different from past creations of the studio at least orientation to a wider audience. One players liked the harsh battles between the pirates, the other – puzzles in the best traditions of adventure of those years, but the majestic spirit of adventure conquered everyone in general. Sid Meier’s Pirates! She was enthusiastically met by both the audience and critics and subsequently received as many as two remakes: the first, Pirates! Gold, He was released in 1993, and the second saw the light after 11 years.
Sid Meier’s Pirates! and well -known to Russian gamers Pirates! Gold for Mega Drive
By the way, the name of the Creator appeared in "Pirates" It was not without reason: it was the idea of Robin Williams, with whom fate unexpectedly brought a game designer at one event. The famous actor and comedian was always fond of games (the best evidence of this is the name that he gave his daughter: Zelda), and Meyer also loved the projects, which is why he offered not to be modest and enter the creator’s name in the name: Let them say, everyone knows that they deal With a game from the great game designer.
But before we move to the most important success in the career of Sid Meyer, I would like to mention two more iconic creations of the line of the 80s and 90s. Firstly, the game designer continued the topic of submarines in Red Storm Riding, created based on the work of the same work by Tom Clansy. This was the first and last game in the career of Meyer: despite the warm attitude to the book and its author, Sid remained unhappy with the result. The game designer, although he was distinguished by a reverent approach to details, did not strive for the ideal authenticity of each aspect of his projects. And Clansy, on the contrary, wanted maximum reliability, and under the terms of the contract, Meyer was forced to obey. Therefore, Red Storm Riding, although it received the recognition of critics, was still not as dynamic as Silent Service. Largely because it was practically absent in it, and the gameplay was just focused on the command of the submarine and the issuance of orders.
Original Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon compared to a remake of 16 years after 16 years
Secondly, going on vacation in the late 80s of the SID was so inspired by the journey (and just released Simcity) that I decided to create something on the same topic as soon as possible. This was the result of the economic strategy Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon, dedicated to the construction of railways. Subsequently, Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon received two sequels developed by third-party studios, and in 2006 a remake of authorship of Meyer himself came out. It is curious that the game was created in close cooperation with Bruce Shelley, who settled down in Microprose in 1988. After leaving the company, he will create not so successful and large -scale, but hardly less cult a series of strategies Age of Empires.
Magnum Opus
With all due respect to Meyer's talent, it cannot be said that Sid Meier’s Civilization was invented from a clean sheet. Sid took as a basis a lot of third -party ideas: this is a board game with the same name, and the same Simcity, and even Populous Behind the authorship of Peter Molino. At least one important circumstance was related to all these titles: a large one begins with a small. Like Simcity, where it was necessary to create a flowering metropolis from just nothing, Civilization needed to develop a primitive society to the level of modern civilization. Each era posted its mark on planning, because managing the Neanderthal tribe is easier than keeping an industrial society under control. The player had to make decisions at once at several levels: to engage in the development of new territories and the development of the economy and participate in the battles.
Sid Meier’s Civilization did not offer ready -made scenarios – it was possible to act both aggressively and diplomatically. In the conditions of a procedural-generated card, which Meyer was greatly reduced by the result compared to the original concept, this promised tens of hours of fascinating and incredibly (at least at that time) variable gameplay. Now it is generally accepted that it was “civilization” that became the founder of global strategies built on the “Rules of four”: study, expansion, operation and destruction. The game also became one of the popularizers of the so -called technological tree, where the user himself decides in which direction to develop certain parameters, and the path he has chosen opens access to completely different elements. Such freedom of choice is designed to adapt the gameplay to the personal style of the passage of each player.
Sid Meier’s Civilization and Sid Meier’s Colonization
As a result, the “civilization” published in 1991 was even greater success than all other creations of Sid. It could be assumed that the gamemerator will milk this cow for many years, but in reality everything turned out differently. Moreover, even before the game of the game, the game designer had a conflict with Bill style, which was more worried about the revenue of the studio than the creative search for Meyer. Styles suggested expanding and starting to create projects in different genres: for example, Arkad. In response to this, Meyer, accustomed to a more calm working environment, in 1990 sold his share and distance from active development. A few years later, he went into an adventure with C.P.U. Bach For a failure, as time later showed, the gaming system 3DO. The game was a kind of musical editor designed to create compositions in the style of Bach. It was only necessary to combine the parties of the tools in the desired sequence and enjoy the result. Alas, the idea did not gain popularity among gamers who, for the most part, ignored the expensive and deprived of hits console.
Around the same time, the SID, although not as a leading gamemerator, participated in the development Sid Meier’s Colonization. The game can be considered a simplified version of “civilization”: here you need not to go through the thorny path through the era, but just achieve independence from the empire before a certain deadline.
Microprose and further fate
The last game, on which Sid Meyer managed to work within the walls of the company he founded, was the adaptation of a popular table Magic: The Gathering. Moreover, as in the case of Colonization, he performed far from the first roles. The policy that adhered to the leadership of Microprose was contrary to the vision of the game designer, therefore, without waiting for Magic: The Gathering to the market, Meyer, along with several colleagues, left the company and founded a new one – Firaxis Games. And immediately switched to Wargam. It is noteworthy that in the same 1996 Microprose released Sid Meier’s Civilization II already without a sid – however, this did not interfere with success. Yes, and Meyer himself this time did not lose with the chosen direction, creating one of the best samples of the genre at that time: Sid Meier’s Gettsburg! Having taken as a basis real events, namely the battle of Gettisberg, Sid allowed the players to rewrite the story in a series of individual scenarios or a single campaign. The success of the game was also contributed to the online multiplayer, which is completely inherent in most of the previous work of the game designer. Later two sequels, also based on real events, came out.
Sid Meier’s Civilization II and Sid Meier’s Gettsburg!
The beginning of the XXI century coincided with the exit Sid Meier’s Civilization III, The development of which was engaged in Jeff Briggs – one of the former Microprose employees and the co -founder of Firaxis Games. And here we must clarify that the rights to the series, despite the name of its creator in the name, remained with the original publisher. Only now Microprose, re -profiled for the release of everything, began to experience financial difficulties, as a result of which it merged with Hasbro interactive. I bought the last one at the beginning of the zero Infogrames , agreed to become the publisher of the third "civilization". Actually, this is the right to a series, although indirectly, returned to their creator – who, as already noted earlier, trusted his colleagues in order to try his luck in new genres again.
As a result, with the assistance of Sid and his company in 2002, it was released Sid Meier’s Simgolf. The game was a symbiosis of strategies and a sports simulator, giving the opportunity to first equip a golf park, and only then pick up a club and start directly to the game itself. Despite the confused name, Sid Meier’s Simgolf is considered to be a series The Sims. And only after Golf’s release did Sid finally lose interest in radical experiments and concentrated on the development of the main work of his life – civilization. True, in the role of the game designer, Meyer spoke the last time more than ten years ago, having developed Civilization World For the service Facebook Platform. The game, which was a compilation of simplified ideas that were implemented in the previous parts of the series, was not particularly successful and was closed in 2013, without changing the status.
Sid Meier’s Simgolf and Civilization World
Game design rules from Sid Meyer
Finally, we will briefly talk about the postulates whom the creator of “civilization” adhered to his career throughout his career. The most famous phrase, which made many colleagues in the workshop to reconsider their attitude to development, was uttered by Sida before the release of Civilization – on GDC In 1989.
"The game is a series of interesting solutions of the player"
This phrase is more related to the balance. Meyer is convinced that the only correct solution to any problem should not be. Say, in a duel you can use a heavy firearm capable of sending the enemy to the next world with one well -aimed shot. But if the shell flies into milk, then in the process of reloading you can become easy prey yourself. Or, on the contrary, you can use a weaker, but quick -firing weapon with a bunch of cartridges in the store. At the same time, if it comes to improvements to the characteristics, the gamer must immediately receive comprehensive information about what he will receive after installing a particular upgrade.
"Uda or reduce in half"
Meyer came to this conclusion in the process of creating Civilization. The large size of the card, according to the game designer, greatly slowed the gameplay, so it reduced the size of the space by half. In the context of development, especially when the terms are settled, this means that you should not waste time on minor changes that will not give a tangible effect at the exit. If the developer thinks that the character was weak, then it is better not to increase his attack strength five percent at a time, but simply double it. And if the system of customization of the hero seems too cumbersome and not intuitive, then it is easier to refuse it at all.
"One good game is better than a few great games"
Shortly before the release of "civilization", SID released a spy simulator Sid Meier’s CoverT Action, too, in his opinion, oversaturated with mini-players. In a retrospective, the gamemerator called this a serious mistake, because such an abundance of hymmiks simply distracted the player from the main gameplay. Excellent ideas conflict with each other, because everyone deserved to become their own game, and within the framework of one project, not a single one was able to develop in full force. At the same time, Meyer clarifies that if the mini-games are simple for development or united by a common idea, then this approach can be considered justified.
"Collect the material after creating the game"
Many successful games are somehow built either on historical events, such as, for example, strategies, or on the generally accepted rules of real life, such as simulators and even action GTA. The advantage of such projects is that the user comes to the game with all the knowledge he needs: no one needs to explain that the police are catching criminals, Sims must be fed, and demand gives birth to a proposal. But the gamemeracies still want to show how well they figured out the topic of the game, and then the voluminous pages of Laura and endless windows with dreary explanations of how this or that mechanics is used. Meyer warns: no need to greatly overload the player with information. All key knowledge about the game universe must absorb during the gameplay himself, and not reading reference pages, and even more so do not expect from the players that they will understand the topic at the same level as the developer who has read five volumes. The game designer advises first to create the nucleus of the game, and only then engage in the collection of material on the topic: so there will be less temptation to build the entire gameplay around endless references and interesting facts.
"The player should receive pleasure, not a game designer and not a computer"
Pretty controversial, albeit expected statement in the light of how Meyer subsequently responded to cooperation with Clansy. According to Sid, even you set yourself the goal of creating a genuine simulation of something, do not fall into extremes, trying to give the game the most realistic appearance. An example is a complex weather system that was planned to integrate in Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon. Since the elements were not subject to the player, and all the “pleasure” from calculating the multi -stage algorithms received a computer, Meyer considered that such a mechanic was not needed, and refused it.
Although the new parts of “civilization” have not been released since 2016, Firaxis Games does not forget about fans. Over the past years, they have been regularly pleased with the console ports Sid Meier’s Civilization 6, then with additions to her, the last of which was released in March 2021. Nevertheless, I want to believe that the history of the cult series will not end there: just the time for a spectacular return has not yet come. In the meantime, tell us in the comments which of the Games of Sid Meyer was the first for you – and what she hooked you.
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