Sid Meier, famed video game designer of Ace Patrol and several other popular franchises, has sent us answers to your community questions. These questions encompass several of his games, including Civilization, Colonization, Ace Patrol, Railroad Tycoon, and Alpha Centauri! Curious to find out more about his design process or his plans for the future? Now's your chance.

We apologize for the delay. Without further ado, here are the answers to YOUR questions!

General

● Anonymous: Why do so many of your games never have a campaign mode / storyline? The general gameplay is always nice, but without a story or an established goal it's sometimes a bit uninviting to play.

Sid Meier: Our games are always about putting the player in a position to make meaningful decisions that impacts the world around them and allowing them to create their own unique story. We want the game to be infinitely replayable and those decisions to be interesting every time. We also find the personally unique journey a player goes through to finish their game of Civ or XCOM is more interesting than a story we could write. I think XCOM had a great mix of our replayable model and a traditional campaign. The story was fun, but, ultimately, the narrative I created about my soldiers’ success and failures was what really grabbed me.

● Anonymous: We all know about your many successes. What do you consider your failures and/or weak sides of some of your games?

Sid Meier: I try not to let failures remain failures. There’s a lot to be learned from a misstep. Instead of dwelling on something we did wrong, we use the “failure” more as a tool to make our games and our studio better. I like to believe we don’t have any failure we can’t learn from.

● ZeroOne: You have been involved with making dozens of games. I wonder, what's your own personal favorite of them -- outside of the Civilization series? Also, do you think there's some game that didn't quite get the attention it deserved?

Sid Meier: I have a hard time choosing between our games. They are all unique projects made through different processes. I enjoyed working with the small intimate team when we made the Ace Patrol games. There’s also a certain energy that can’t be matched when working on a huge game like Civ. Every project becomes personal for anyone involved, so you have to approach each one with the mindset that you’re about to make the best game ever.

● ZeroOne: Can you recall any time when you had an idea about a game or some game mechanic that just wasn't doable at the time but was perhaps implemented later when the technology got better?

Sid Meier: The Civ series is interesting because each game in the series starts off as a mod in the previous game’s engine. For example, Civ V started as a Civ IV mod. Through some tricky engineering techniques, we were able to strong-arm hexes into Civ IV’s square tiles. With newer technology, we were able to implement our hexes, among many other things, with a lot more grace.





● Agent c: My question is what do you see as being the next big thing in gaming? What of the next "big things" do you see as being likely to stick around, and which are likely to fade into obscurity?

Sid Meier: For a while the PC strategy market was very RTS heavy. Lately, turn-based strategy games seem to be the new old kid on the block. XCOM: Enemy Unknown did a great job of raising awareness of the genre for people who didn’t traditionally consider themselves strategy fans. We’re seeing more gaming on portable devices like tablets and mobile, and those games are becoming more sophisticated and covering a wider range of genres. Whether it’s RTS, turn-based, mobile or console I think it’s a great time to be playing strategy games!

● Anonymous: Seems like a lot of games have been influenced by the Civ games. What do you think about that and do you have a favorite (if any?)

Sid Meier: It’s very exciting to see how Civ has impacted the strategy genre over the years. A game can be inspired by Civ and still be completely unique. These games fascinate me on both a personal and professional level. As a fan of strategy, I love playing new ideas in a familiar formula. As a designer, it helps us see what people like and want. There is still a lot of room in the strategy market for new ideas. I hope to keep pushing that envelope and I want to see other developers continue down that road as well!

Civilization

● Unitatedragon: Will there be another expansion to Civ 5? Will there or will there not, be a Civ 6? And finally, if either of the answers to the aforementioned questions are yes, what will be the new features?

Sid Meier: With our most recent expansion, Brave New World, we took a thorough second pass through all the historic periods of Civ V. At this point, we do look at Civ V as a complete experience. We’re always coming up with new ideas for our current games and future titles. Between expansions and patches finding the perfect way to implement those new ideas can sometimes be the biggest challenge.

● Anonymous: Will there be a new Civilization game for all consoles coming soon?

Sid Meier: We have been happy with the success of Civilization Revolution on consoles and iOS. I think this success has demonstrated the strength of the Civ series across the board. There is exciting technology out there in the consoles and mobile devices that lend themselves in many ways to our titles. Firaxis may revisit these platforms at some point in the future, but right now our focus is developing for PC.

● Anonymous: Have there been any ambitious features or ideas you wish you could implement into Civilization that haven't made it into any of the games so far?

Sid Meier: We have a pretty open mindset at Firaxis. Anyone can come to me or anyone else with an idea. Nothing gets dismissed because it might work in a future title. We’re always collecting ideas from our staff and our fans and watching gaming trends. Implementing new concepts falls onto timing and interest. I don’t want to give away too many of our ideas now because they might just appear in the next Civ game.

Colonization

● Anonymous: Colonization was one of my favourite games. While the remake didn't really hit the mark, I was wondering if there's any chance of another addition to the franchise?

Sid Meier: There are a lot of similarities between Civilization and Colonization. It’s a game we often refer back to for reference and inspiration. At the moment, we are not working on a follow-up to Colonization, but many of the ideas in the game live on in our other titles.

Ace Patrol

● Anonymous: I really like Ace Patrol system. Do you think we could see the same system with other backdrop such as medieval knights, fantasy creatures, or WW1 tanks?

Sid Meier: When I designed Ace Patrol, I set out to make an accessible strategy game with depth. There’s a simplicity to the tactics that are enhanced by the historic framing. At its core, the strategic value seen in Ace Patrol can be used in other backdrops. Each new setting would add a unique level of complexity to the strategic layer. Medieval knights riding on horses will behave and handle differently than a Nieuport 11, but there would still be a lot of similarities in the turn-based tactical gameplay.

Railroad Tycoon

● Anonymous: I was wondering If I could ever expect a newer Railroads release?

Sid Meier: At the moment, there is no follow-up to Railroads planned. -. The idea for more Railroads is never off the books though, because there’s something universally appealing about trains. They’re a relaxing form of transportation. They’re fun to play with. They embody something classic. As long as that interest remains, a new game is a possibility.

Alpha Centauri

● Anonymous: Hey Sid! I was wondering if you would ever consider expanding on the great Alpha Centauri and creating a new game in the series (or something similar).