Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - Turn based. - Near-future Science fiction. - Empire building. - Full multiplayer support. - You will be able to make your moves simultaneously with other human players. - Coming in 1998. Imagine a colonization and exploration mission sent from Earth, but imagine losing all contact with Earth during the journey (ooh, mystery!), and imagine divisions among the crew about how to proceed and how best to deal with the challenge of Alpha Centauri--divisions leading to factions and mutiny. Imagine having to very quickly adapt to rigorous planetary conditions, and establish a viable colony before technology and supplies brought from Earth give out. It will take a certain amount of effort just to build up the industrial base and so forth to match Earth technology. Asteroid mining stations and other solar system improvements will eventually be a possibility, but that comes later! You'll be able, in the end, to far surpass earth technology, but first you have to work to survive... Yes, we've been traditionally strong in history, and will continue to do historical games (witness Sid Meier's Gettysburg), but we thought we could bring our historical bent to a science fiction game in a way that would make a sci fi game a bit deeper than your average fare--kind of a future history. If you liked the diplomatic and economic factors in the Civ series, I think you'll like Alpha Centauri even better, since those elements will have an even stronger role in Alpha. There will be plenty that's familiar to you if you've liked other empire building games, and we will also try to address some of the very issues you raise about micromanagement, particularly by providing more and better ways for players to automate details once they're no longer interesting. 1/4/98 Jeff Briggs We are anxious, now to get back to work supporting SMG and finishing SMAC. 1/15/97 Tim Train There will be some cool, all-new ways to commit genocide in the game, with appropriate tradeoffs for use. Weapons of mass destruction are organized into Atrocities and Major Atrocities, with different penalties attached for use.... 1/15/97 Tim Train All rules relating to Factions, along with most other rules in the game, are availible in text files that can be fully customized by the player. So you can indeed create your own Factions! 1/15/97 Mike Ely We'll be putting up more info soon. We've all been working hard on the game, but we're also discussing how we want to roll out more exciting info on the web site. (If you join our mailing list we'll send around a message when we flesh out the Alpha pages as well). 1/16/98 Tim Train Singularity weapons draw their power from creating a controlled black hole, and as you can guess, they are one of the most powerful weapons in the game! 1/19/98 Brian Reynolds For Alpha we're trying something interesting, kind of a middle-ground, what we call in-house the "Windows 2095 look". Ideally you'll get all the immersion & atmosphere of a DOS game, combined with, if you care to use it, the convenience of a windowed environment. The prototypes so far are pretty cool. 1/19/98 Brian Reynolds There will be a "fair level", at which you can play against the best AI with the same production rates, etc. And there will be higher and lower levels where the production rates vary. We always work a LOT on our AI, so AC should have the strongest AI yet for games of this genre. Yes, we will support all the "text file" stuff we've traditionally had, and AC has more of it than any game we've previously done. 1/19/98 Brian Reynolds Yes, we'll have that. Each player selects the difficulty he/she will play at. The host player selects the difficulty used for "global" effects (e.g. how ruthless the AI-controlled players are, etc) 1/19/98 Brian Reynolds In the game your 'Formers units (analogous to high-tech bulldozers, if you like), are responsible for all terraforming actions, including raising and lowering land, all the traditional stuff like planting farms & forests and building roads, and some exotics like Condensers, Evaporators, Thermal Boreholes. We have a much richer terraforming & climactic model than our previous games-- elevation contours are implemented, and you can spot (and manipulate!) rainfall patterns across large areas (not just square-by-square). I prefer to abstract the seasonal weather issues as "prevailing wind", "average temperature", and "average annual rainfall", because if you have the production characteristics of a square changing every couple turns, you get into a lot of micromanagement that bogs down the game. I think you'll enjoy the climate model; as I said it's a lot richer than in our previous games. 1/19/98 Brian Reynolds We haven't settled on "final" names for everybody yet, and some details of the story are still congealing, so that's why we haven't published a definitive faction list. 1/21/98 Tim Train All these topics and more will be fully implemented in SMAC's tech tree. Discoveries in philosophy, ecology, human nature, and the nature of Planet itself will all be part of the system. And, of course, there will be discoveries in science and technology that lead to bigger guns and stronger shields! 1/21/98 Tim Train One of the key AI changes for SMAC has been that the enemy now attacks in echelon, instead of in detail as in Civ II. Believe me, you are much more likely to give the AI what it demands when four or five Particle Tanks pile up next to your captial! In general, Brian is making the AI much more tough and intelligent, and it should be a quantum leap over Civ II's already solid AI. 1/21/98 Tim Train The software is being written for Win 95, and I'm pretty sure it'll work on NT when released. As for other ports (Macintosh, etc.,), that's up to Electronic Arts. 1/21/98 Tim Train This team has yet to release a game before its time, and we have no intention of doing so now! :-) Having said that, we have every confidence that this game will be released on schedule; I have not ever seen a product this far along in its development this far in advance of the release date. 1/21/98 Tim Train We are following a 'reasonable science' philosophy in creating the technology tree, meaning that early discoveries are techs that are not too far in our future; later technologies build off the earlier ones in a reasonable fashion. Singularity weapons are very high up the tech tree, and only come after you have mastered some other complex science. 1/22/98 Tim Train Current system requirements are guestimated at a P133, Win95 or higher OS. These, of course, are subject to change, but we do generally try to aim our products for the lowest machines possible, with lots of graphical options that can be turned off to accommodate slower machines. I have been playing the game on my P90 laptop, and it has run fine. 1/23/98 Sid Meier At the moment we're recovering from our Gettysburg! release and going full speed on Alpha Centauri. 1/23/98 Tim Train Any decisions regarding ports are made by Electronic Arts, who would also handle the work of the porting! 1/24/98 Tim Train The description is vague simply because we aren't sure ourselves what the final specs will be! Sorry I can't be more definite just yet. 1/28/98 Brian Reynolds We do have Temporal Mechanics high in the tree :-) however... **** Time travel in the classic sense has no place in rational theory, but temporal distortion does exist on the quantum level, and more important it can be controlled. -- Keeper Pravin Lal **** :-) 1/28/98 Brian Reynolds > Also, there should be no hard limits on the numbers of anything: > fixed size arrays are a relic of 64K memory limit days. > I agree; there should be no limit (or, say, an > absurdly high limit like 65,536) on the number of possible > technologies, units, buildings, or structures. This is an issue which is often complained about, but I think not really understood. We will certainly support more units than you've been used to in previous games (we're currently permitting 2048 to exist at a time, and good luck trying to actually build that many). The "go to" function, another memory-related source of complaints in the past, will also be essentially perfect in AC. Another important fact-- at 36 bytes a pop, 65,536 units (for instance) would use up a whopping 2M of my 16M minimum memory requirement, and although dynamic memory allocation has improved since the old days, too much micro-allocation still "thrashes" the resources and has a real performance effect. Why take the performance hit when even 2048 units in a game is pretty implausible? One of the other big constraints still with us these days has to do w/ processing time for AI. When the AI needs to cross-reference multiple arrays (for instance, an array of possible weapons, one of possible defenses, one of possible vehicles, one of possible reactors, and one of possible special abilities for each unit), the performance costs grow geometrically as the arrays grow. Just so you know we're still earning our pay here :-) 1/29/98 Jason Coleman : We're pretty happy with the land terrain, but the shorelines that you've seen are indeed temporary. Mike Bazzell, one of the Firaxian artists, has been mocking up various ocean/shoreline ideas by drawing around our current land renderings. Once we all agree on a look, we'll try to come up with an algorithm that can be rendered in the game. 2/1/98 Brian Reynolds : We've got a much better go-to algorithm for AC (and incidentally a much better user interface for it which shows you the path your unit will take as you drag it to its new location). It is actually not possible to find the true "best path" between two points without exhaustively calculating every possibility (which for AC is about 10,000 factorial, meaning come back at the end of the universe). So there will always be a few special situations that are flawed (and if they are 'fixed' new situations will pop up to replace them). But we've got a really well-refined algorithm for AC which I think you'll find orders of magnitude better than anything you've come across before. 2/3/98 Brian Reynolds In SMAC, your economic trade with other factions will increase depending on your diplomatic status (so you'll have some no trade at Vendetta or Truce, some trade with a Treaty, and more trade with a Pact). And economics will cross back into affecting diplomacy, since whoever has the more advanced economy will reap more benefits from the trade. If you have a Pact with CEO Morgan, the trade will probably be helping him a lot more than it's helping you! Human behavior is economic behavior. The particulars may vary, but competition for limited resources remains a constant. Need as well as greed have followed us to the stars, and the rewards of wealth still await those wise enough to recognize this deep thrumming of our common pulse. -- CEO Nwabudike Morgan, "The Centauri Monopoly" 2/3/98 Tim Train There will be NO time travel in Alpha Centauri, related to black holes or otherwise (unless you count loading an old saved game because you didn't like the way a combat resolved :-) ). 2/3/98 Tim Train I can say that Alpha Centauri will have full multiplayer support in its initial release. We've played quite a few games over our LAN until pretty far into the game, and it is a ton of fun. Hope you all enjoy as much as we do! 2/3/98 Tim Train We are not in the Playtest stage of development yet, and won't be for a few more months yet. At that time, we will be comprehensively testing all aspects of the game, including the multiplayer. The MP endgame will be tested over and over again until we have everything right! Our team's games have always been very clean from the first release, and we intend to continue that track record. 2/4/98 Brian Reynolds : SMAC has somewhat more sophisticated borders than our earlier games, though not as sophisticated as you describe below (I think negotiating over individual squares would bog down the game). Some new territory features include: If you have a Treaty or Pact, you can't build new bases in someone else's territory (even when you're at Pact and can move freely through each other's territory and bases). Your "territory" is defined as land that's closer to your nearest base on the continent than to someone else's nearest base, though it must also be within 8 squares of a base. One exception: if you have NO bases on a continent, you're allowed to build your first base in a square that's at least 5 squares away from other bases. The planetary scan will show the boundaries of your territory. One strategy will be to build new bases near your borders to "push" your borders outward (a common source of international law disputes). One other thing-- when you have a Pact, you will be able not only to ignore each others' zones of control, you can also stack w/ each others units and enter each others' bases. 2/4/98 Brian Reynolds Some good news: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri will feature full multiplayer support right from the get go. 2/4/98 Brian Reynolds Hi Everyone, Here's your chance, while there's still time to implement them, for you to tell me about any interface features you're dying to see in Alpha Centauri. For those who haven't already heard, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri will be a turn-based empire-building game. It's a near future game and focuses on the history of one planet (and solar system, to a limited extent), no FTL travel and whatnot. You terraform an alien world, explore its ecology, build bases as centers of economic and industrial activity, design your own units and political systems, and paint a picture of the future society, economy, philosophy, science, diplomacy, and of course warfare of the future. That, in brief, is what the game is about. For more details keep checking http://www.firaxis.com I'm most interested in hearing what kinds of interface issues bug you in these sorts of games. FYI, some of the features I'm already including are: * Excellent "go to" algorithm, including showing you the path the unit will take as you drag the arrow from it. Uses roads, avoids enemy territory where possible, etc. * Way point for "go to" orders. * "Patrol" function for units. * Automation for all unit types, but especially for terraformers, lots of specific options: fully automate, improve around particular base, build road to location, connect bases with roads in general, etc. * Automation options for base production, including build queues, and also "Governors" to take over control of bases. * More diplomatic trades possible, such as energy for tech, energy loans, base-for-tech, base-for-energy, base-for-base swap. * Players at Pact (e.g. allied) can stack their units together, and can enter each others bases and colonies. * Better concept of "territory", including don't-build-bases-in-my-territory. So if there are interface preferences you've been dying to have, or things that drive you crazy about this kind of game, let me know! 2/5/98 Tim Train The AI reacts more aggressively to you anytime your bases are close to them. If you build new bases to push them back, they will react accordingly. They can build a base if you do not have a Treaty or Pact--borders are only recognized if you are at peace! 2/5/98 Tim Train > If you don't have a Treaty or Pact, are you able to "forcibly" > build a new city/base in someone else's territory? Yes. > "Planetary scan" - is this an overview map, or the > generic "edit window"? It's an overview map that also cycles other important information, like rainfall and temperature. > A neat idea; although if carried as far as possible, you'll end > up with a number of closely-packed cities along your border, with > your "heartland" more thinly settled. An interesting pattern, > although I'm not sure if it's ever occurred in the past. Generally, what you end up with are a number of small but well fortified outposts on the perimeter of your territory, while the inner colonies are your major colonies. The outpost bases are limited in size because they are so close together. > Neat. Although this begs the question of what happens to said > units if your diplomatic relations go sour; If relations go sour, all units in each other's territory are relocated to the nearest friendly base. > Hm... if A has a Pact with B, > and B has a pact with C, but A and C don't have Pacts, what happens > when one of C's units tries to join a stack of mixed A and B units? Ya know, I don't know what happens here. I haven't seen it happen yet. Have to check it out. 2/5/98 Tim Train In SMAC, you explicitly have the option: "You have violated my territory. Leave at once!" The AI will either apologize and withdraw, or will declare Vendetta on you. You must weigh your relationship carefully before asking them to leave! 2/5/98 Tim Train You can build a sea colony by custom-designing a Sea Colonist unit--put a colonist module on a ship's chassis. Currently, the border restrictions do not apply for sea colonies, but that may change. 2/5/98 Brian Reynolds There will be a lot of options for automating terraformers-- full automation, "build road to X", connect-my-bases-with-roads-in-general, improve-around-this-base-only, etc. Yes, trade will be diplomacy-based and empire-wide, no micromanagement necessary. Lots of map sharing in AC. You can trade maps like a tech, steal them, etc, and if you sign a Pact maps are automatically exchanged. All new fractal map generator! Pretty cool, and needs to be since terraforming is a key part of the game... climactic models and so forth. There are some adjustments based on how many factions have discovered a tech... the more people have already discovered it, the easier it should be to get. 2/5/98 Brian Reynolds Yes, it will be multiplayer from the start, and you will be able to move simultaneously with the other players. There will be various options for time controls if you want to play with them. 2/5/98 Brian Reynolds Our new unit-design system definitely favors building units that are strong in some areas but have a "key weakness" (and thus work well with other units that complement that weakness). Trying to build one be-all, end-all unit will not be very cost effective. The unit design also in effect implements the "unit levels" you describe-- learn a new technology and upgrade your tanks. There will also be many unit experience levels... very green, green, regular, hardened, veteran, commando, elite. I like your ideas about how to rein in Tanks--attacking bases/mountains harder. Setting attack/defense modes for each unit feels like it would bog the game down, -but- in AC any fast unit will automatically disengage from a slower attacker if it reaches 50% damage and has a clear line of retreat (unless you've given it the "hold" order in which case it will fight to the death). This rule turns out to be a lot of fun, and you can use mobile units to screen a retreat. Diplomatic borders in AC are a good deal more sophisticated than you're probably used to. If you have a Treaty or Pact, your "territory" consists of all squares nearer to one of your bases (on same continent) than to another player's base. It must also be within eight squares of your base. If it fulfills these conditions, players w/ Treaty or Pact with you aren't allowed to build bases in your territory, and you have various rights to enforce your borders against military units. Note that even at Pact (where you and your allies can stack together and enter each other's bases), you still can't build bases in your ally's territory. You can swap bases (and therefore territory) with other players: base-for-base, base-for-energy, base-for-tech, base-as-gift, etc. Alpha Centauri is scheduled for 1998 and will feature full multiplayer support. 2/5/98 Brian Reynolds Thanks for the excellent suggestions (and by the way, I am reading ALL of these messages, just putting up a few replies to things trying to answer each main thing once) > - Auto-scouting of new territory. Yes. > - Variable characteristics for your culture, as the original MOO. Yes. At the very least, the ability to "turn over control of a city" to the AI. > - Eliminate bribing cities; it's too easy. Maybe you could > spend money to instigate rebellion instead... I think the trick is to make it so it isn't too easy... after all, the bribing part is fun! 2/5/98 Tim Train The Web page is at www.firaxis.com The SMAC section is just a discussion forum right now; our main site will go 'live' later this year. 2/5/98 Brian Reynolds > So if you want some of his territory you will have to build a new city > in the middel between yous an his - effectively stealing halvf of his > territory ? See illustration bellow Yes, that would be a legitimate strategy... "creating facts on the ground" as they say! 2/5/98 Brian Reynolds > Simultaneous movement!!! Yes, we'll have that for the multiplayer mode. 2/5/98 Brian Reynolds > The old "black-unexplored-unknown-world" concept works okay (not > great, IMO) in an ancient-times setting. But in a future world? Not > at all. Yes, that's a very interesting debate, and the good news is that you'll be able to have it either way you want it in AC. We have a number of "rules preferences" which you can set at the beginning (with no effect on your score one way or the other; genuine preferences), and one of them is exactly what you describe: you can choose between the black map until you get some satellites up, or you can know the whole planet from turn one (and still need to prospect for resources of course). Personally I find the former option more fun, the latter more realistic. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 17:37:19 -0500 (EST) From: Daniel Boese X-Sender: dboese@NiagaraNet.npiec.on.ca Reply-To: Daniel Boese To: Dave Evans Subject: Re: devans@firaxis.com In-Reply-To: <34D21CF8.1C6CD68B@firaxis.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >> If I may ask, are you allowed to talk about what music and sound >> effects are being placed into Alpha Centauri? >In answer to your question, I don't see any reason why I can't talk about >the music and sound in Alpha. Just understand we are in developement so >nothing is complete or finalized. I may talk about some idea that will >not be in the final product. I understand; I'm perfectly comfortable with discussing details that never appear in the game. Would you object if I forwarded any of your comments to fellow Alpha Centauri pre-enthusiasts? (I'll be perfectly happy if you'd prefer to keep private.) >One thing I'm trying to do is make the sound / music as non-repetitive >and as interactive as possible. To this end I've created a driver that >can do all sorts of cool things. This is good. I know that you worked on Colonization, but the songs tended to, how to put it, drill through my skull after the fourth or fifth repeat. It's not that the songs were bad, it's just that they were too familiar to be repeated so often. Will the music be generated on-the-fly, making appropriate-sounding segues as various events happen? Or will it be completely pre-generated, and, for example, each time you open the "City View" window the "City View" music will start? Will there be any space on the CD for audio tracks? If not, will there be an option for the user to use their own music instead of what's provided? For that matter, how much "text file" control will the user have over the sound? >We also want a different music set for each faction, time permitting. This sounds like it could be fun. I'm going to take a guess here that some sounds will be common for different factions, such as the introduction music, sound effects, and so forth. >Sooo, what would you like to know about the sound? The short answer is "Everything". :) Feel free to answer any, all, or none of my questions; I'd prefer you to be spending your time composing than e-mailing, after all. ;) Have you composed the introduction/credits or end credit music yet? I can just imagine something based on Holst's "The Planets" for the voyage from Earth to Alpha Centauri... say, "Jupiter" or "Mercury" for the first part of the trip, "Mars" when contact with Earth is lost, and so forth. Are you involved with the Secret Project movies? What are they like? Will the player get to listen to the faction leaders, as well as read their quotes? In diplomacy screens, will there be themes for each faction, similar to Civ2? Will there be anything similar to the advisory council from Civ2? What format will the music and sound effects be? Will the player be able to customize everything? If you use MIDI, how bad will it sound on a basic Soundblaster/Adlib card compared to how good it will sound on whatever card is most advanced when the game comes out? I recall reading somewhere that Sid Meier has an interest in computer- composed music. Will this play a part anywhere in A.C.'s sound system? Is there an overall "theme" or "feel" to the music and sounds? For example, are the "Windows 2095" interface sounds consistent? (For that matter, will the "Windows 2095" sounds be able to be placed in a Windows 95 desktop theme?) Have you decided on any of the various factions' tunes? For example, the Morgan Conglomerate might have some industrial rock, or maybe electronic- type beeping; the Gaian Stepdaughters could easily have some Celtic themes, or maybe some 60's-style folk tunes; the Spartans should have a lot of prideful, rolling drums; the Conclavists might have your standard church organ and hymnals, or possibly something from the more oriental temples; the Labyrinth some complex, classical instrumental fugues and concertos; and so forth. If you're able, I'd love to hear some panpines and dulcimers - a well-played dulcimer can be indescribable, and panpipes are just plain fun. If you can think of anything that would fit with a "centaur" theme, that would also be interesting. If, after reading all that, you're still willing to correspond :), feel free to talk about anything you'd like to. Thank you for your time, -- Daniel Boese alpha-centauri@warren.kill.com ----- Received: from loas.clark.net (loas.clark.net [168.143.0.13]) by freenet.npiec.on.ca (8.8.6/8.8.6) with ESMTP id SAA21395 for ; Mon, 2 Feb 1998 18:08:27 -0500 (EST) Received: from firaxis.com ([209.70.56.66]) by loas.clark.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id RAA11859 for ; Mon, 2 Feb 1998 17:57:57 -0500 (EST) Received: from firaxis.firaxis.com [209.70.56.157] by firaxis.com [209.70.56.129] with SMTP (MDaemon.v2.6.rA.b6.32-R) for ; Mon, 02 Feb 98 16:35:56 -0500 Message-ID: <34D63D47.18851387@firaxis.com> Date: Mon, 02 Feb 1998 16:40:24 -0500 From: Dave Evans X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.01 [en] (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Daniel Boese Subject: Re: devans@firaxis.com X-Priority: 3 (Normal) References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-MDaemon-Deliver-To: dboese@freenet.npiec.on.ca Reply-To: devans@firaxis.com Daniel Boese wrote: > Would you object if I forwarded any of your comments to fellow Alpha > Centauri pre-enthusiasts? (I'll be perfectly happy if you'd prefer to > keep > private.) I think that will be ok, as long as you don't post it to a newsgroup. I really like the input especially since I'm finished with a lot of the heavy programming tasks. > This is good. I know that you worked on Colonization, but the songs > tended to, how to put it, drill through my skull after the fourth or > fifth > repeat. It's not that the songs were bad, it's just that they were too > > familiar to be repeated so often. Yes, unfortuately that was back in the bad ole DOS days and we had very limited resources. I think we'll be able to do a bit better with AC. > Will the music be generated on-the-fly, making appropriate-sounding > segues as various events happen? Or will it be completely > pre-generated, > and, for example, each time you open the "City View" window the "City > View" music will start? Yes and no, the music will be generated in a sense on-the-fly and not be completely pre-generated. However we're still giving it structure so there will be certain pre-conceived aspects to it. I'm also hoping to do smooth seques into various parts of the game. I think I have the right tools I just have to get it going. > Will there be any space on the CD for audio tracks? If not, will > there be > an option for the user to use their own music instead of what's > provided? > For that matter, how much "text file" control will the user have over > the > sound? Hmmmmmm, for right now we're putting game CD audio on hold. Sounds great but not very interactive, and not enough space to do it right. I'm pretty sure the user will be able to put his/her own music to the game via CD. > Have you composed the introduction/credits or end credit music yet? > I can > just imagine something based on Holst's "The Planets" for the voyage > from > Earth to Alpha Centauri... say, "Jupiter" or "Mercury" for the first > part > of the trip, "Mars" when contact with Earth is lost, and so forth. One of my favorite pieces, loaned it to a friend years ago and never got it back. The movie music is being composed by Jeff Briggs and what I've heard so far sounds very cool. I don't think you'll be disappointed. > Are you involved with the Secret Project movies? What are they like? A great mix of 3D animation and real video and like I said great music. I don't know how much detail I better go into about that. > Will the player get to listen to the faction leaders, as well as read > > their quotes? Yes. > In diplomacy screens, will there be themes for each faction, similar > to > Civ2? Yes. > Will there be anything similar to the advisory council from Civ2? Yes but done differently than Civ2. > What format will the music and sound effects be? Will the player be > able > to customize everything? If you use MIDI, how bad will it sound on a > basic > Soundblaster/Adlib card compared to how good it will sound on whatever > > card is most advanced when the game comes out? Wow, the sound will be all 16-bit digital and I'm a firm believer in make the game sounds replaceable, therefore the sounds will be in straight wav format. The music will be in another format but will reference the wav files so even that could be tweaked. When you say MIDI, I assume you're referring to the on board FM synth that comes on a sound card. Those days are gone forever!! I will say that any 16-bit W95 complient Sound Card should be fine. > I recall reading somewhere that Sid Meier has an interest in > computer- > composed music. Will this play a part anywhere in A.C.'s sound system? There's no question Sid has a big influence on what I'm doing, but not directly. > Is there an overall "theme" or "feel" to the music and sounds? For > example, are the "Windows 2095" interface sounds consistent? (For that > > matter, will the "Windows 2095" sounds be able to be placed in a > Windows > 95 desktop theme?) Right now I'm listening to a lot of industrial sounds!! On the way home from work, I'm listening to CDs of heavy machinery. I'm very interested in that stuff. > Have you decided on any of the various factions' tunes? For example, > the > Morgan Conglomerate might have some industrial rock, or maybe > electronic- > type beeping; the Gaian Stepdaughters could easily have some Celtic > themes, or maybe some 60's-style folk tunes; the Spartans should have > a > lot of prideful, rolling drums; the Conclavists might have your > standard > church organ and hymnals, or possibly something from the more oriental > > temples; the Labyrinth some complex, classical instrumental fugues and > > concertos; and so forth. Have you been listening in on some of our development meetings?. All those ideas are being checked out. > If you're able, I'd love to hear some panpines and dulcimers - a > well-played dulcimer can be indescribable, and panpipes are just plain > > fun. If you can think of anything that would fit with a "centaur" > theme, > that would also be interesting. Yes I'm a folk musician myself, I love the sound of a good hammer and mountain dulcimer. We'll see. > If, after reading all that, you're still willing to correspond :), > feel > free to talk about anything you'd like to. I don't have much to add except this project seems to represent a chance to really release the interactive potential for sound using current class of cpus. It is one hell of a challenge. Let me know if you have any more questions. -- David Evans Mr. Sound Guy - Firaxis Games devans@firaxis.com ------------------------------