With a heavy history in the design, implementation and execution of multiple different strategy games of the years, Stardock is beginning to take a slightly different approach to some of the genres major sub-systems.
Citing the advancements of CPU technology being the main catalyst behind the work going into the newest expansion of Galactic Civilizations III, Brad Wardell - President and CEO of Stardock - has started to put out a series of very wordy developer diaries.
Fully focusing on how he and his team are approaching certain aspects of the Crusade expansion due out this Spring, he starts with an update that actually went live around the time of his post's publication. For now, he's talking primarily about the Galactic Citizens feature of Galactic Civilizations III and why other games haven't used this approach to micro-managing modifiers before.
Here's A Heads Up Of What To Expect When Galactic Civilizations III Receives Its 2.0 Update
To what essentially boils down to the proper use of multi-core processors - something we've all grown accustomed to over the years - he mentions how it just wasn't feasible to have single-core processors rapidly calculating dozens of modifiers while attempting to run the complicated A.I behind every turn of a 4X strategy title. He thinks "... you will see more and more 4X strategy games transition from sliders to "object modifiers" over the next few years."
It's a lengthy read, but likely a fascinating piece for anyone even remotely interested in the depth of a typical 4X strategy sim, the history of the genre, the franchise itself or even just somewhat intrigued by software engineering. For those unfamiliar with the game in question, give it a quick Steam browse.
