Computer games aren't written in a day

[strange_complex]

Wow - could this be my ideal computer game? CivCity: Rome.

The screenshots are promising: hardly a historically-accurate rendering of Rome's topography, but, then again, if the user is getting to build their own Rome, then why shouldn't the Colosseum, Circus Maximus and Pantheon all be right next to each other? And the renditions of each are very nice (although if they're to scale, the people in the Colosseum must be about twenty feet tall!).

Good thing it doesn't come out until the summer, really, or I could kiss goodbye to the book...

Comments

[megamole.livejournal.com]

Ooo! I'm already having great fun with Civ4 (finding that Peter the Great, Louis Quatorze and Graf von Bismarck suit my style of play to a T). This will definitely be next on the list.

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

It's an ickle wickle Colosseum!

Go write your book!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

*mutters sheepishly* Yessir...

(And thanks - keep saying that sort of thing, please!)

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

I speak from the voice of experience, having taken six years from Ph.D. to book. Get it done and dusted before you go to leeds, or kiss goodbye to having it published in time for the RAE.

And tell sir_didymus to stop distracting you!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Oh, indeed - which they wouldn't be very chuffed about!

Basically, my attitude at present is that I have slightly under 4 weeks of Easter holidays remaining, and by the time they end, it's got to be done. I'm working like a demon throughout the vacation, and when it finishes, I'm just sending in what I've got. You have to stop sometime.

[sir-didymus.livejournal.com]

Me? Distract?

Never!

*rides a unicycle and juggles in front of someone trying to do an assignment*

[sir-didymus.livejournal.com]

Speaking of games, Rome: Total War is good fun.

Argyraspides - Forward!

[megamole.livejournal.com]

Rome: Total Realism is better.

I'm still waiting for R:TR 7.0, which uses the revised RTW:BI code to mean that your game is no longer completely Romanocentric.

All hail the great Seleucid Empire!

Re: Argyraspides - Forward!

[sir-didymus.livejournal.com]

I quite like Carthage.

Re: Argyraspides - Forward!

[megamole.livejournal.com]

Carthage suxx0r in vanilla RTW. No heavy infantry until the extremely difficult-to-get Sacred Band, no heavy cavalry, very weak missile troops apart from mercenary Balearic Slingers, and only one decent non-elephant unit.

I'll take *any* of the Diadochi States, especially Seleucia or Macedon, or indeed the extremely versatile army of Pontus, and fight you any day of the week :)

[edling.livejournal.com]

Ooh- that does look like it'd be worth keeping an eye on. I think I played some of Firefly's earlier games and they were fun, and Firaxis are pretty good, even though I found Civ IV a little disappointing, personally.
If you mailed them saying what you do, it's quite probable you could persuade them to send you preview/beta copies to test, then if you like it they get to put lots of positive quotes from an expert in their press releases (and I could, erm, provide technical support...)

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Now that is sharp thinking! I still think I'll try and get the book finished first, though, as it is a slightly higher priority...

[edling.livejournal.com]

You can't say that while wielding that icon!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Nonsense: academia is just a particularly erudite form of geekdom.

[kkjxx.livejournal.com]

Strictly speaking, by accepted definition, a "geek" is merely an individual with a great deal of specialised knowledge that the average layman would have difficulty understanding. Academics are the original geeks!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[edling.livejournal.com]

Dammit- foiled by non-computer related geekery again!

[megamole.livejournal.com]

shurely "fairground performer who bites the heads off live chickens?"

Fairly specialised, admittedly...