The Computer Game That Changed the World

There have been many computer games that I fondly remember, from the days of the Commodore-64 with such classics as Ultima III and Reach For The Stars, to the present day monster computers with quad cores and gigabyte graphics cards with such titles as RIFTS, Diablo II, and Grand Theft Auto.

But through it all, I cannot think of another game that has changed how I game so much more so than Civilization IV. I played the hell out of the game for five years before realizing that I could mod it as well. A little more than a year ago, with a few friends taunting me to try and create my own content, I began to fool around with the maps, the models, and simple XML changes.

I now am the creator of three separate mods for Civilization IV: Multiverse, Extreme2, and the Age of Discovery. Each time I dip my fingers into the modding jar, I find some new delectable capability or nuance of play I never thought of before. I am creating so much new content that often my friends cannot keep track which game we are on or which mod where the new units will appear in.

I have a long way to go with this game, but the horizon is far beyond my reach. I am still enjoying and exploring all the possibilities of simple XML changes. Beyond that, there is the python coding and even further out is the C++ coding I could do with new sets of DLLs. I am happy at the present time of just creating new model variants, such as my recent additions of the Fiat 3000, an Italian light tank from World War I, or the English Hurricane the aircraft that truly won the skies over the UK during that Battle of Britain.

The Game That Started It All

I have always played games as far as I can remember.  My brother is eight years older than I and tried a number of games on me such as Squad Leader and Starship Trooper, two Avalon Hill box games.  Back in 1979 I was introduced to D&D and all of my friends were playing the game.  I vaguely remember going to the hobby store and looking at both the box game of Dungeons & Dragons, but also the Player’s Handbook of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.  I settled for something a bit cheaper, because I never really had much money back then.  Metagaming in those days published a series of tiny games sold in plastic bags called Melee and Wizard.

This is my original copy of the rules, stored and kept for 32 years:

The rules are rather simple and straight forward, which amounted to twenty-one pages that covered character generation, combat, and long term development.  Utilizing only six-sided dice, the game could be played almost anywhere and at any time.

Soon after buying Melee (The Fantasy Trip), I realized that gaming and RPGs were something I simply loved to do and would occupy the next thirty-five years of my life, starting with Melee then jumping to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and on to all the variant games such as Villains & Vigilantes, RoleMaster, SpaceMaster, Champions, Star Wars, and a hundred other titles.

This is the original book I bought back in the Fall of 1979 and still hold as a treasured part of my youth — more than a thousand characters and stories were spawned from this single book and I have carried it from Comstock Park Michigan, to Japan, to Washington DC and hopefully soon to other parts of the world.  It is the one book that simply captures my imagination.  Sadly, I do not get much time to play table-top RPGs any longer, but perhaps that too may change here very soon.

I also have my first copy of Dragon Magazine still, from December of 1979.  It is extremely brittle these days and should be kept in a plastic bag — but I always find comfort paging through the aged magazine:

I wonder how many other peoples’ lives were changed by these three great books.  I know that for me, they changed my life forever.

Quote to Live By

Although I have quoted Teddy Roosevelt before, I always find solace and inspiration in this:

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, then to take rank with those poor bastards who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat!”

~Teddy Roosevelt

Exciting Week of Play Testing

I continue to test and tweak the new systems for Multiverse and Extreme2. Largest challenge now is to tweak all the values of units and buildings so that they fall into a step chaotic order. I kick myself now for not being more organized and had the foresight to record the statistics of each unit.

Here are some new screenshots of the game while being played in multi-player test:

This screen shot is of turn 438 in Extreme2. I am playing the Cherokee nation while another playtester was an early Indian (that is from India) civilization called the Chandagrupta. This is still very early on in the game and we have just cleared the medieval era — as you can see the dating system needs to be tweaked as it is surely not 235 BCish. There are three other AI opponents: Bismark, Hitler, and Theodore Roosevelt. Only Hitler seems to be very effective in this game, but sometimes we are surprised how things shake out in the end.

The above screenshot is from another game we are testing, starting from a much later point in the game the AI are actually beating us — smaller map but more opponents for them creates more opportunities. We are struggling in the game, with me playing Abraham Lincoln and my other tester as Louis XIV of France.  This game will end in a big slugfest!!

 

Tech Tree

Black Keep of Serpent Lake

One of the few published Phantasm Adventure modules. The only other official module was called the Maldake Adventure. The Black Keep of Serpent Lake was published in 1988 by Dai Nippon Kaiga, the Japanese publisher of the game.

I cannot remember much about the game, and sadly the English version has been lost in time. It do remember writing a number of module packs for the game, but do not remember having a lot of contact with Dai Nippon Kaiga after the game was published.

I am still in negoitations with the Dai Nippon Kaiga and another Japanese game company about re-printing the game. If you would like to see another print, I ask you to write Dai Nippon Kaiga and express your interest: takagim@kaiga.co.jp

Thoughts on Civilization IV Modding

So, as I sit here on the cusp of ending two development cycles at the same time, I can look back at the two and clearly see the direction I am going on both.  As with any mod for Civilization IV, it is always hypothetical game of chances, what if’s, and possibilities. With that said, however, I wanted to create two different kinds of games with the mods.  The first mod was born in the early days of my modding experience and included some rather fanciful stuff, while the second mod was based more on more or less realistic boundaries.  I preface that phrase knowing all to well that the game itself lends to weird possibilities such as Lincoln with long bows, Hitler with the jets, or even Solomon with a tactical nuke — that is just the game.

In the first mod, ExtremeMod, I decided to rename it so that it better represents the game at large. Drawing from my RPG of the 1990s, I gave it the name Multiverse.  Rightfully so, it is full of magic, steampunk technology, dinosaurs, psionics, weird technologies, and endless combination of the bizarre.  I also wanted to make the game a resource battle, and thus I placed almost every item and building on the need of owning a particular resource. I also created at least 30 new resources and the appropriate technology and improvements to support it.  Multiverse will grow in the coming years, if I have the chance, to be the pinnacle of fantasy design with new player cultures  (such as the elves, amazons, dwarves, dark forces, and perhaps even a zombie king). It will also have new units, technologies, and experiences.

In my second mod, I wanted to create a game that had a rich source of Unique Units and Buildings, drawing on history to recreate some of the greatest technologies and wonders.  It is not necessarily about having specific resources, but more about experiencing all the different cultures and civilizations in the game.  There are some aspects of the game, most notably combustion units, that require a specific resource (oil), but for the most part it is open to building anything with the minimal number of resources.  This game so far has proven great fun in play testing and I hope the game will continue to grow with new UUs and UBs.   I am finishing up the second test phase of latter half game play, basically starting after the Renaissance.

I also want to specfically thank the designer known as Tsentom for provided me with such a great base to design my game. I love what you have added and have learned so much from you.  I have never met the guy, nor even had a correspondence with him, but feel indebted to him. It has been a scant year since I started modding for the game and I have learned so much — I wonder what another year will hold for me.

Troy

August 21, 2011

Civilization IV Mod Shots

Here are some screen captures of a few different games recently played in test. They show the amazing capabilities and fanciful additions to the game. Intermingled are both Extreme2 and also Multiverse (formally known as ExtremeMod).

Multiverse Pick of the Week

In Multiverse, I am working on adding a whole new civilization. As the game is based on the “What if?” of world history, with heavy emphasis placed on magic, steampunk, and alternate histories the new race is the lizardman. With a homage paid to Everquest, a MMO by Sony, the race is actually called the Iksar.

Here is a screen shot of just some of the units:

Note the addition of Neanderthal and Mammoth in the foreground, as they too are allied with the lizardmen to fight the encroachment of the vile human race!

Extreme2 Pict of the Week

Here is a picture of some of the units added since the last update:

Starting in the Back and Left: Grand Fusilier, Foreign Legions, Partisans, Dragoons.

Middle Line: Early Tank, Armored Tank, Trench Tank, T-72 Battle Armor, Siege Weapon

Front Row: Jeep, Machine Gun Truck, Predator Drone, and Sopwith Camel.

Not pictured is a half dozen ships.

Also new rules are implemented for Helicopters.

Extreme2 Grows

This week ended the first playtest of Extreme2, my Civilization IV mod. We concentrated on the latter half of the game, making sure the balances of cavalry, infantry, armored vehicles, ships, and planes were appropriate and worked well together. We ran into some graphic bugs, but got those fixed.

I am happy to say that I have added many new models including several new ships, three new buildings, and reworked civics.

I have added many Unique Units too, including a couple for the French, British, and Americans.

Here is a picture of an added Walrus/Seal Resource added to the game: