- Platform:
- Published by:
- Developed by:
- Release Date: Oct 8, 2006
- Genre: Action
- Multiplayer: No
- Online: No
Sid Meier Q&A Continued..
-- October 9, 2006 by: David Craddock
Shack: Out of all your successful gaming creations, what influenced you to resurrect Railroad Tycoon in the form of Sid Meier's Railroads! ?
Sid Meier: I had never lost sight of how much fun we had creating the original Railroad Tycoon in 1990, and then a couple of things happened that really got me thinking about re-visiting the game. I was in Germany a few years ago for a press tour and visited a very cool model train museum called "Minitur Wunderland," which is the largest HO-scale model train layout in the world. It really re-ignited my fascination for trains and building elaborate railroads.
Around that same time, we began a new business relationship with 2K Games and eventually were purchased and became part of their corporate family--and they just happened to own the license for Railroad Tycoon... and the rest is history. I created a prototype, showed it to the team and we got a green light to leave the station, as it were.
Shack: How did prefacing all of your software titles with your name come about? Marketing maneuver, or something else?
Sid Meier: It was definitely a marketing idea that came from Bill Stealey, my partner at Microprose. I had been known for creating flight sims back in the 1980's and then I wanted to make a game about Pirates. Bill wanted to make sure people would make the connection from F-19 to Pirates, so he suggested putting my name on the box.
Shack: Things seem quite busy for you these days, what with being assigned the prestigious role of creative director and thereby necessitating contributions to several software titles at once. You seem to be a lot like Shigeru Miyamoto, in that so many projects stem from your mind and are credited to you, yet you have to oversee so many different things at once, it's hard to really say, "Yeah, that's my game."
Do you like the position, or do you prefer to take a more hands-on, involved approach with your games?
Sid Meier: I really enjoy being hands-on designing and writing code, which I still do for many of our games. However, it is fun to work with the talented folks we have at Firaxis to create the type of games we're making today. For instance, the design and programming for Civ IV was lead by Soren Johnson, and brought to life by a large team of programmers and artists. I was kind of the "spiritual leader" during development lending guidance, advice and lots of gameplay feedback.
Shack: The people must know: anything you can give us, anything at all, on a possible sequel to Alpha Centauri?
Sid Meier: Electronic Arts owns the rights to Alpha Centauri, so you'll have to talk to them.
Shack: Thank you for all the fun games you've entertained us with over the years! We look forward to playing future hits. Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?
Sid Meier: Thanks for the interview! I'm as excited about making games now as I've ever been. There are so many great opportunities for game designers to create new and better experiences for players of all interests. Games are firmly established as part of main stream entertainment and that is an enormous accomplishment for developers, publishers and players.
Stay Civilized!
Sid
Sid Meier
Director of Creative Development
Firaxis Games
Sid Meier's Railroads!, the next title from Mr. Civlization, will be available for the PC on October 16 of this year.
