we thought that the scenario system was the best compromise in trying to make it play-
able but also historically realistic. And I think there are some cool scenarios in there. It
probably skews it a little more toward the hard-core, Civil War interested person but
they can’t all beCivilization.
So you are still working on your dinosaur-themed game. What are your goals
with that project?
Well, the goal of the game is really the same as all the games that I’ve worked on: to fig-
ure out what is the really cool part, the unique part, the interesting part of this topic, and
find a way to turn that into a computer game. I’ve thought that dinosaurs were cool for
the longest time, and I think it’s a topic that needs to be computer-motized. I try to take
the approach of putting into the game a lot of things that are scientifically true or histor-
ically accurate, but that’s not to be educational, it’s to let the player use their own
knowledge in playing the game. Most people know something about dinosaurs, or
something about history, and if they can apply that knowledge to the game, then that
makes it a lot more interesting and makes them feel good about themselves. It’s not
because they read the manual that they’re good at the game, it’s because of what they
know. They realize that it’s cool to have gunpowder and the wheel and things like that.
So in the same sense, people know that theT. rexis the baddest dinosaur. So we use
things in the game to make it valuable to know some basic facts about whatever the
topic is. We try and put that amount of realism and accuracy into the game. And then
make it fun on top of that. In the same way that a movie gives you all the fun and the
action sequences and all the important parts of a story and then jumps quickly over the
boring things. I think the game has the same responsibility, to bring you to the key deci-
sion points and then move you on to the next interesting thing. We’re trying to take that
same approach with the dinosaur game, to bring them to life, to figure out what’s cool
and unique about them while cutting out all the dull parts. We’re really in a “working
that out” phase, and we don’t have a lot to say about the specifics of that; hopefully in
another few months we’ll be able to talk a little bit more about how that’s going to turn
out. [Since this interview was conducted, Meier abandoned the dinosaur game, instead
opting to developSimGolf.]
Relatively speaking, you’ve been making computer games for a long time,
since the early ’80s. I was wondering how you thought the industry has
changed over that time.
I think there’s been a general, overall improvement in the quality of the games. I think
there are some great games out there right now. I likeStarCraft,Age of Empires,Diablo,
The SimsI thought was really interesting, andRollerCoaster Tycoonwas a hoot, a lot of
fun. So I think those games compare very favorably to anything that’s been done. I think
they’re overall better games than we were doing five or ten years ago. I think you can
certainly see the improvement in presentation, graphics, video, and all that kind of
stuff. The core of the games, the game design stuff, I think is a pretty slow evolutionary
process. I think in terms of game design, games likePirates!andSimCityandCiviliza-
tionreally stand up. I think they’re really pretty strong designs, even today. I think they
haven’t been eclipsed by what’s going on now. So I think that in terms of game design,
30 Chapter 2: Interview: Sid Meier