At GDC 2015 earlier this year, Civlization: Beyond Earth leads David McDonough and Will Miller explained how they were asked to take the perennially popular civilization-building game from its traditional, historical setting into a possible future for humanity on an alien planet. 

"We should have been more audacious," admitted Miller. McDonough agreed; "In moving Civilization from a historical setting to a science fiction setting we had a real opportunity to do things differently," he said. "But we were too conservative."

The pair went on to detail the primary design challenges they faced in trying to maintain the essential elements of Civilization and apply them to a new setting in an unknown future. It's an instructive talk for game developers, and you can now watch it for free over on the GDC Vault.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech