Few developers have the chance to work on a game that can legitimately be called an institution of the medium; fewer still are able to lead such a project.
Sid Meier's Civilization is one such series, and Jon Shafer is one of those lucky few developers. The young Firaxis designer, a veteran of the Civilization modding scene, has been given the reins on this fall's 2K Games published Civilization V, following in the design footsteps of Soren Johnson, Jeff Briggs, Brian Reynolds, and Meier himself.
Lead designer Shafer is using that position of responsibility to introduce some of the series' most significant changes yet, including the much-ballyhooed switch to hexagonal tiles and removal of stacking units.
Civilization V continues to be one of the most popular grand-strategy games you can play on Steam, for about three years.
Love strategy but your processor and graphics card doesn't love you? The best strategy games for low-end PCs have you covered.
Philip Boyes:
When I was a kid, I played a lot of Civilization 2. I played a lot of strategy games in general, but having a deep love of both history and sci-fi, the epic sweep of Civ 2 from prehistory to the stars held a particular appeal. I loved taking my little people from their huts and ziggurats to the world of science and advanced space-flight.
