Dev Journal
GalCiv IV Dev Journal #9 - Onboarding
The process of getting a new player into your game and making that process an enjoyable experience can be the difference between success and failure for your game. If you make a game for a publisher, you can assume there will be a milestone that involves the onboarding. Let’s take a look at how GalCiv IV does it and what has changed since GalCiv III. Title Screen We went through many iterations for the title screen. How many buttons should there be? Which butto... [read more]
News
The Yor is back in the latest update to GalCiv IV
v.55 is Now Available Play as the Yor Our first non-organic species. The Yor have no growth rate and don't require food. Instead, they manufacture their population as other species manufacture buildings. They can also colonize a variety of worlds that can't sustain organic life right from the beginning of the game. Their citizens start out with generally weak stats, but they have access to unique technologies that upgrade the capabilities of all of their citizens and can make t... [read more]
Dev Journal
GalCiv IV Dev Journal #8 - Rise of the Commanders
“This is just GalCiv II but with better graphics,” was a comment some GalCiv fans made when GalCiv III was first released. That was no more true than saying Civilization V was just Civilization IV with better graphics, but we understood where they were coming from. There weren’t a lot of big bullet item changes from the previous version. That was because most of our time and budget was spent building a brand new space 4X game engine. As good as GalCiv II was, it was bu... [read more]
News
Follow the GalCiv IV Development/Release through PCGamesN
Follow the dev of GalCiv IV through PCGamesN, below are the first two articles, future articles will be posted below: Galactic Civilizations IV’s Manti Cluster want their children back Galactic Civilizations IV is out now, and there’s an entire galaxy’s worth of factions you can control as you try to conquer the stars in the newest 4X game from Stardock. We’ve covered many of the 18 playable civilizations, and with only a handful left to go we turn our attent... [read more]
Dev Journal
GalCiv IV Dev Journal #7 - The Changing Face of Space Robots
Somewhere around here I have the original image of the Yor from 1992. They don’t resemble the modern Yor very much. When I wrote the Yor origin story back in 1987 (when I was in high school) the Yor followed the common trope of AI servants who rose up against their masters. Their masters, in this case, were a race of beings known as the Iconians (who are also in the game). The Yor of 1995 Yor of 2021 As time has gone by, I’ve thought about making the... [read more]
Dev Journal
GalCiv IV Dev Journal #6 - Those First 20 Turns
One of the challenges we have in setting up maps is the question of how quickly should players be meeting other civilizations in the game? How quickly should things show up? How much should the game direct you? I decided to take a hard look at GalCiv II and GalCiv III to see how different those first 20 turns worked out. GalCiv II: First 20 turns Turn 1: No on-screen direction but the UI is pretty clean and My ship is already selected to move. Selected ship has an a... [read more]
Dev Journal
Screenshot of the Week - GalCiv IV
Almost done claiming and colonizing all of the worlds around your home planet? Get ready to explore a new sector where a whole host of new worlds, resources, and opportunities await you. [read more]