Civilization Beyond Earth, a science fiction take on the long-running historical strategy series, was just revealed at PAX East in Boston over the weekend and it sounds very appealing. Firaxis has released the live video of the reveal and accompanying panel, which includes fan reactions and developer explanations of why they are taking the series to space.
The "Firaxis Game Mega Panel" featured several members of the development team including Will Miller and David McDonough (Lead Designers), Lena Brenk (Producer), and Anton Strenger (Gameplay Systems Designer).
The video is pretty lengthy, which should appeal to any fans of the series. The excitement in the audience is clear, as is the development team's excitement for (and pride in) the product they're making. They explain a little more about the game than what you can glean from the trailer, as well as give background on what led to their decisions that resulted in Beyond Earth.
It's been pretty widely accepted that this upcoming title is a spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, Firaxis' 1999 sci-fi strategy game that has never seen a true remake or sequel. This is line of thinking was confirmed in this panel: the rights to Alpha Centauri reside with another company, but they'd like to consider this the sequel for those who loved the original. When asked if this was basically Alpha Centauri 2 by the host, Miller responded with the following:
"The elephant in the room, I'm sure. We're huge fans of Alpha Centauri--you're not going to find any people who are [bigger fans] than we are sitting up here--and as many of you know the intellectual property rights belong to a different publisher. But we'd like to think that the heart and soul of that game lives at Firaxis and for all of you fans out there who love Alpha Centauri, this is the game we've made for you."
There was not much mystery that Beyond Earth was at least inspired by Alpha Centauri, but now we've hear that it's considered a successor by the developers themselves. Enjoy the rest of the panel, and look forward to Beyond Earth's release next fall.
