There's value in embracing 'new ideas, from other people,' says Sid Meier

- Veteran game designer Sid Meier explains how each game in the Civilization series benefitted from different lead designers.

Sid Meier, the creator of the prolific and yet-ongoing Sid Meier’s Civilization series, took some time to talk to Glixel about the history of the franchise and the many hands that have helped shape the ideas behind each new game.

One notable thing brought up in the interview is how, despite bearing Meier’s name in the title, each Civilization game has been headed up by a different game designer. Meier says that his studio, Firaxis, is able to find a “freshness” by passing the design torch for each Civ game. But also having a new designer head up every new iteration is borne out of necessity, he explains. 

“Once you've done a Civ, you're kind of burned out and somebody else comes in with some fresh ideas,” said Meier. “These designers have all had, clearly, talent. And other things to say. But they've kind of said what they had to say about Civ…After the first Civ, I had put everything that I could imagine into that game. You're ready to do something different.”

Even beyond that, Meier says the team makes a conscious effort to bring new features to each Civ game without losing sight of the series’ core mechanics. One way Firaxis accomplishes this is through what Meier calls the one-third, one-third, one-third rule.

“When we do a new Civ, one third of it is the stuff we know has to be there,” says Meier. “One third of it is things that we've tried – a religion system, or an espionage system – but have now figured out how to do better. And one third is brand-new ideas.”

Head over to Glixel to read the whole interview, which covers how Meier says game development has changed since he got his start and a look at the considerations made whenever creating a new game in his decades old franchise.