tried as hard as we could
to fudge that situation. In
many other situations we
come to an idea that we
think is going to work
well for the game and
then we find the historical
precedent or an explana-
tion historically to justify
it. In no sense do we try
and stay slavishly accu-
rate because, basically,
we’re trying to create a
situation which is fluid
where you’re not just
going down the path of
history, you’re creating
your own history. Even though the pieces are realistic, you can take them off in a com-
pletely different direction that never really happened. Certainly, part of the fun of
Civilizationis that the Zulus can take over the world, or the Mongols. Anybody can take
over the world; it’s not necessarily the Americans who are going to win in the end.
We’re not slaves to history.
At least since your days developing flight simulators, your games have not
really been on the cutting edge of technology in terms of graphics. Was that a
conscious decision on your part?
As I have said, in our prototyping process, things change almost up until the last min-
ute. Most of the cutting-edge technologies are things that need to be researched from
day one, and are gigantic investments in technology. And given that we’re in a mode
where things are changing constantly, it’s practically impossible to merge those two
approaches. The research project can’t start really unless you know exactly what you
want, or pretty much what you want. And we don’t usually know that at the beginning.
And we’re not willing to put ourselves in that straightjacket in terms of game design.
And I think a lot of times that’s what it is. If you are committed to a first-person 3D
viewpoint where you can see a certain amount, and you find out that to make your game
fun you really need to see more, you really need to get more context for your location or
whatever, you’re kind of screwed at that point.
Often there’s a conflict also between the functionality of the graphics and the love-
liness of the graphics. A game that looks good but doesn’t give you the information you
need to play or doesn’t give you the clarity, I think that’s the wrong trade-off. We try and
make games that we think look good. But in any good game the great graphics are hap-
pening in your imagination and not on the screen. If we tell you that the people have
declared “we love the king day” in a certain town, if you’re really into the game, that’s a
lot more meaningful, and you create a much more exciting image in your mind than any-
thing we could show you on the screen. And vice versa, if you’re not into the game, then
anything that comes on the screen you’re going to pick apart anyway. Our goal is to
Chapter 2: Interview: Sid Meier 35
Gettysburg!