Promises to listeners are not kept, so Troy flies solo for an interview with Jon Shafer, the lead designer of Civilization 5. 15 minutes of Hex Based Strategy Gaming.
Three Moves Ahead Episode 69: E3 Special Short with Jon Shafer
June 16th, 2010 by Troy Goodfellow · 8 Comments · Firaxis, Podcast, Three Moves Ahead
Tags:
This really is a short and echoey one! Still, thanks for doing this, Troy. I’m looking forward to Panzer Civilization 5.
Hey Troy, great podcast as always. Bit shorter than I like ’em, but it’s not like those handlers were gonna give you any more time with Jon.
I took the liberty of making a transcript of this, as there as some Civ fans that hate podcasts, they prefer the written format — I hope you don’t mind (if you have any use for it yourself, it’s all yours of course): http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3743 — but remind me never to transcribe anything with you in it again, you talk WAY too fast…
Wouter:
It was short, but yeah all the time I had. Jon and I had an off the record breakfast that morning (talked baseball mostly) and he might be on again.
In the future, I’d ask you to approach me before transcribing a podcast. Lots of people ask me for transcripts, but I’d rather not set up that expectation. (Also, tone matters in many shows.) I appreciate you doing it, but I hold the copyright on the show. The enthusiasm of the Civ community is awesome, but if I get a full hour with Jon later, I would rather have people listen or maybe write up small bits than just skip the show altogether. Yes, I can read faster too. But information is only one part of the podcast equation. Naturally this was 15 minutes of information.
Yes, the sound sucks. Welcome to talking to a digital recorder in an upper room above a busy floor. I am surprised it came out as well as it did.
I think I’m speaking for all of us when I say that we’ll forgive you for only putting out a single 15-minute E3 TMA if you can indeed get Jon Shafer on for a full show.
E3 Report « OSG: Best Place for Online Strategy Games // Jun 18, 2010 at 4:10 pm
[…] Perhaps the most exciting for me was all the updates on Civilization 5, which have nicely been collected on the recently updated Civilization5.com. Troy from Three Moves Ahead also got a chance to interview designer John Shafer. […]
Bringing Shafer to Three Moves Ahead has the potential of being as good as the “Wardell defending Demigod” episode. But I have the impression that you managed to intimidate him somehow. Particularly the “there’s SO MANY things I HATE from this E3 :wink: :wink: :nudge: :nudge:” part.
Interesting interview.
Finally got around to listening to this. Thanks to Troy and Jon, who made TMA happen despite the E3 craziness.
Yeah, I know, peanut gallery and all that, but I’m surprised that Civ V is purposely obfuscating the AI modifiers. That is to say, lack of transparency is a double-edged sword.
I’m not sure “obfuscating” is the right word, Alan. I think they are hiding the math, but not necessarily the motivation.