GDR E3 Coverage - Front Page  E3 COVERAGE - E3 COVERAGE - E3 COVERAGE - E3 COVERAGE - E3 COVERAGE -
Alpha Centauri
by David Finn
To return to the front page of GDR's E3 Coverage, click on the logo to the left

 


At the E3 show Dave Finn got an unexpected opportunity to meet the team behind Alpha Centauri, the real sequel to Civilization 2, and likely to be one of the biggest strategy games of 1998. In this article, Dave reflects on what he learnt from a long session in a private backroom showing of the game...



My visit to the Electronic Arts booth to check out Alpha Centauri became one of my surprise highlights at E3. Since I didn't have an appointment for a private showing I parked myself in front of one of the AC display computers on the floor. One of the EA reps started showing me the game. My enthusiasm apparently showed and he offered to get me an exclusive press kit with screen shots.

I took the opportunity while he was away to start wrecking havoc with his game that he had been playing/demoing and was intrigued by the conformation of many of the elements and features I'd dug up in my original preview of this title for Games Domain Review. The rep came back but rather than give me a press CD, he dragged me back into a closed room. I was a bit befuddled as I was ushered into the dark room, which was apparently a screening room. One of the presentators I recognized right away. Tim Train who I'd run into the previous day at the Taxi stand while waiting to head back to our respective hotels after the show. I shook his hand and said "hello." Then I shook hands with the next gentleman who I didn't immediately recognize. That is till he said, "Hi, I'm Brian Reynolds." My response was "oh." Which just as well could have been "erp!" based on the expression on my face. An event only slightly less embarrassing than another moment which happened at the EA press showing room when I nearly ran into (literally) Sid Meier.

Tim and Brian took turns discussing aspects of the game. I debated just doing a straight transcription of the interview/presentation. However a few parts were incoherently inaudible and the opportunity to do a little Question and Answer at the end put certain information out of context. Also some of the comments were referring directly to screen events on the display, ultimately I decided it would be better take portions of the presentation and present them more fluidly and (for written form) congruently.


Brian Reynolds gave an amazing overview of Alpha Centauri and its direction of focus "We're a team who is know for our history of very strong strategy games. This is our first science fiction game, we thought it would be better to bring history to the future". He further defined that by saying that the essence of Alpha Centauri is that the technology portrayed is reasonable, coherent, and based on today's concepts of technology.

Tim Train provided the story behind Alpha Centauri. He explained that the continued spiraling decay on Earth prompted the UN send an exploratory/colonization mission to Alpha Centauri. During the trip all contact with Earth is lost, the Alpha Centauri explorers couldn't agree on how to proceed. The colonists split into seven factions and each with different ideas on how to survive this strange New World. As Tim explains "There are seven factions, these factions are not based around nationality, they're based around Ideology." He continues with "each of them has strength and weaknesses associated to the culture of their faction. Something we've really put a lot of effort into is to make the AI for those factions really feel different. Each faction has his own agenda that's related to the culture of their factions ideology." He explained how the ecologist faction would try to protect the environment, and react according to the value and social choices your faction makes.


Technical and ship design screens.

"(Once) you've chosen who you want to play, the second question you have to ask is how do you want to play? We've summed up the elements of Alpha Centauri in four words. Words we've sprinkled literally throughout the game." Those words? "Explore, discover, build, and conquer. These are the elements that drive Alpha Centauri."

Tim went onto to give several examples of what he meant by that. For instance gamers not inclined toward micromanaging resources could instead give a governor one of four "Imperatives, explore, discover, build, or conquer." These imperatives will change the direction of the growth and production of your colonies.

This aspect even carries over to the research aspects of the game. If you're uncertain which direction you want to take research you can have the AI pick the best tech based on your imperatives. For those who prefer the details and depth or micromagement in these areas, Alpha Centauri still has them; in fact they are there to a much greater extent than previous titles.


Main game screenshots - NB these are 1024x768 and around 200Kb each.

About the game itself Tim provided more insights "There's a whole world for you to discover. It's spread out and VERY different from Earth. There's an alien ecology for you to discover.. There are a lot of unique landmarks." He gave examples like craters, volcanoes, wreckages, and artifacts. "That really set it apart from Earth."

He also offered "In the beginning one of your early jobs is to go out and try to find those, as they have gameplay effects." Effects he elaborated on like significant mineral or resources critical for the growth of your faction. He further explained that the rich and detailed world is randomly generated for maximized replayability.

Brian Reynolds delved into the multiplayer aspects. He started with a number of innovative concepts for multiplayer gaming. "We've got simultaneous movement, where everyone takes their individual turns at the same time. We have a speed chess mode, of sorts, were you can say everyone has thirty seconds to take their turn. So you have to decide whether your going to work on diplomacy this turn, move your units around, or try to get your production in order."


The diplomacy model also allows players to haggle over, arrange, and list of items during their negotiations. "One of the things quite innovative (about Alpha Centauri) is what we call the planetary council screen. Which is where we bring all the players together as the equivalent of the United Nations of Alpha Centauri. Here we can make friends, enemies, trade, or trade votes, and debate momentous issues."

He also explained that you could even vie for getting elected planetary governor, which brings extra powers, and responsibilities. Lesser powers can also pool their resources to take on those bigger factions with comfy leads. The effects of borders and territories are other aspects that are decided during diplomacy. To enforce these border treaties Brain explained "you can even put up scanner or sensor on the edge of the territories so you can detect units trying to intrude."

Another aspect of the game that Brian explained was social engineering. "There's a social engineering screen where players can decide if they're going to be idealistic, ruthless, or moderate on a whole range of issues. The choices there are going to effect how your society thrives." Some examples he gave like combining free market economy with a ruthless police state. The various ranges of issues he explained were pretty sweeping, such as choosing your stance on environment and healthcare to name just a couple.


Multiplayer hookup.

The military aspect is pretty sophisticated for Alpha Centauri. All the factions can design their own custom units. From Brian and Tim's presentation it's clear that the customizability of the combat aspects appears enormous. The game will include units that are able to fire several squares away and even bombard bases from a range. The also described how faster units will be able to disengage slower units in combat. They'll even be Psi-combat for special units. Brain clarified the importance of combat in Alpha Centauri with "A hallmark of our games has been that they are not limited to military conquest. Economic, social development, and a lot of other value choices need to be made."


The game also allows an amazing amount of manipulation of the world using futuristic technology. Players as Brian puts it can "change the planet, if you melt the polar ice caps the sea level rises." Soon all those pesky enemy bases could be underwater. The fractal based world generator allows sweeping modifications like "change the course of rivers, we can raise up mountain ranges, we can build a land bridge over to some other continent."

The chance to meet the heads of the Firaxis team was a real treat for me. I think I was in a bit of a state shock for some time after getting to meet Brian Reynolds, Sid Meier, and the rest of the Firaxis team. I've always admired the original core members of the Microprose team, these folks have always know what makes a game fun. From Pirates, Civilization, Colonization, Gettysburg, and others they've continually done it right. To make my decade complete, later that day I even got to share a drink with the sauntering `Wild' Bill who was decked out in full flight gear, but that's another story.



Alpha Centauri should be with us "Fall '98", i.e. in time for Christmas...


Copyright © for the Games Domain Review 1998. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.