Dev Journal
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #14 - How many turns should that thing take?
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #14 - How many turns should that thing take?So how many turns should it take to get a thing? Turn based games live and die on pacing balance. We don’t have a speed button to zip over bad pacing choices. So we have to be very, very careful on the number of turns something takes to get. Take research for example. How many turns? 1 turn seems too generous. 8 turns is pretty long. But do you make the tech cost more or find ways to reduce the amount of researc... [read more]
Dev Journal
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #13 - AlienGPT
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #13 - GPTGPT stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer” and since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT the world of generative AI has really taken off. For the past several months, we have been working to build GPT technology into our Tachyon engine, Stardock’s cloud-based metagaming technology that has previously been seen in Ashes of the Singularity, Offworld Trading Company and Star Control: Origins. Thanks to OpenAI’s ChatGPT API and Tachyon, we are proud t... [read more]
News
Now in Early Access - Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova Edition
Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova Edition now available in early access Early Access adds ChatGPT integration: AlienGPT [Early Access Gameplay Trailer] Stardock has released the latest sequel of its award-winning space strategy game series today into early access. Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova sees the player as the ruler of a united home world that has just discovered faster-than-light travel. Join Early Access Now: www.galciv4.comExplore an enhanced ideology s... [read more]
Dev Journal
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #12 - Humanoids?
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #12 - Humanoids?One of the things we are definitely looking at widely expanding are the number of different species categories: There’s a lot of reasons to do this. For one, I think it would be a good way to have several different tech trees. Right now, the tech tree in the game is different per race but they are all derived from the same master. But imagine if we could make it so that each biology category had its own completely different tech tree? In ... [read more]
Dev Journal
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #11 - The AI Elephant in the Room
Supernova makes heavy use of AI art generation. While our human art staff on GalCiv IV is the biggest it’s ever been, the art team has made a great deal of use of using AI to vastly increase the amount of variance of art assets in the game. There are a lot of different types of AI generated content in Supernova including text, missions, AI dialog, citizen portraits and even the aliens themselves. Some uses of AI are controversial. For example, one of the controversial aspects of AI art... [read more]
Dev Journal
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #10 - Little New Things
I spend a lot of time debugging AI in games. This means having to play the game over and over and over again trying to see why the AI is doing something dumb. Two features that will be rolling out into Supernova and then back to the base game are: Fast Move Fast Battles When you turn these on, ships move instantly to their destination and battles occur without any fanfare. It makes the turns go by insanely fast. ______________________________________________________ Gal... [read more]
Dev Journal
GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #9 - The FAQ
What is Galactic Civilizations?GalCiv is a 4X turn-based strategy game series where players lead civilizations, expanding and conquering the galaxy. What is a 4X game?In 4X games, players explore space, expand empires, manage resources, and strategize in battles for galactic dominance. So this is the 4th GalCiv game, then?Technically, it’s the 7th as there were 3 versions on IBM’s OS/2 operating system in the 1990s. GalCiv is the oldest, continually developed space 4X serie... [read more]