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Civilization VI Art Director Talks New Engine And Updated Graphics

by on May 15, 2016
 

Civilization has gone through numerous graphical upgrades over it’s generations and expansions. In some cases, even making a new engine to highlight the updates of the game.

With Civilization VI, the team at Firaxis are not only making another new engine for the game, but also emphasizing things that they’ve never truly focused on in previous incarnations.

“When we went into this, we looked into how people play the game,” says Brian Busatti to IGN, “Typically in a Civ game you want to see the world as a whole, so you’re pulling out a lot. That doesn’t mean people don’t zoom in, but for the most part. Some people even zoom all the way out and play in tactical mode.”

As such, for Civilization VI, which focuses even more on the inner workings of the city and the people making it, they needed an engine and art style that allows them to show just as much detail when brought in close as they did when they were zoomed back:

“You want to make sure that things are readable from that distance, and one of the ways to do that is to really put an emphasis on shape and form. It’s obviously a little more readable if you have different silhouettes to things.”

This also meant that individual units, especially more active units, would need to be redone in a big way as well.

“Warriors are definitely bigger. They’ve got a very thick silhouette and are just big massive guys, and you have smaller guys who are still heroic, but leaner. So you can tell the difference right away between an Archer and a Warrior.”

Civilization VI arrives October 21st.

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  • June 11, 2016 at 5:14 pm
    “Warriors are definitely bigger. They’ve got a very thick silhouette and are just big massive guys, and you have smaller guys who are still heroic, but leaner. So you can tell the difference right away between an Archer and a Warrior.”

    I'm so happy about this. I almost always play on fully zoomed out mode and I can't begin to say how many times I've sent an archer group where I thought I was sending a warrior group. I'm glad they're actually crafting the game to how players use it.


  • June 14, 2016 at 10:34 am

    I think it's a good thing they're improving in terms of graphics and engine, Civilization V was pretty "meh" in that regard. The screenshots give me hope for a nice game!


  • June 14, 2016 at 10:55 am
    FuZyOn

    I think it's a good thing they're improving in terms of graphics and engine, Civilization V was pretty "meh" in that regard. The screenshots give me hope for a nice game!

    Agreed. I felt like their wasn't much of a leap from Civ IV to Civ V in terms of graphical development, which is probably why I found the fifth installment of the series relatively underwhelming in the visuals department. I'm excited about what I've seen so far with this new one, however.


  • June 15, 2016 at 9:18 pm

    Oh boy. New engines and higher graphics means my video card would probably not be able to handle it, and I should probably get a new one before the game gets released. I don't mind though, I've been a fan of Civilization since the early 2000s, and I would definitely get a new system if it meant I can play Civ 6 with the highest graphics settings as possible.


  • June 17, 2016 at 7:08 am

    Looking forward to it. Hopefully the engine is properly coded and doesn't have many bugs.


  • June 17, 2016 at 10:48 am
    OursIsTheFury

    Oh boy. New engines and higher graphics means my video card would probably not be able to handle it, and I should probably get a new one before the game gets released. I don't mind though, I've been a fan of Civilization since the early 2000s, and I would definitely get a new system if it meant I can play Civ 6 with the highest graphics settings as possible.

    I really doubt it, No matter what they do, Civ is never going to be a game that taxes your computer, even if you have an integrated GPU. The turn-based aspect of it makes it very easy for them to optimze the game.


  • June 30, 2016 at 2:37 pm

    I have never had a problem with playing any Civilization game at high graphics settings. I usually get between 50 and 60 fps with my graphic settings on high, so I do not anticipate any problems with Civ 6.


  • July 27, 2016 at 7:26 am

    Performance has never been an issue in my experience with Civ 5 and Beyond Earth. On my gaming rig, that's to be expected, but I had no problem even on a core i3 laptop. Sure, the turns took a noticeable bit longer, but in the end, not much to complain about. And style-wise, I'm ready to praise this game even more, it's something about it that I can't really put my finger on, but I love the whole game looks from all the demos, and when paired with a (seemingly, at least) apropiate enginge and worthy gameplay, this is shaping up to be quite a special snoflake in the gaming world.


  • July 27, 2016 at 7:44 pm

    Well, I am really glad to see that visible changes are being made in this new game, hopefully, it becomes commercial, even more than the previous games, I will probably have to upgrade some of my PC's components since my current hardware is a little bit outdated, looking forward to this tremendous game!


  • July 27, 2016 at 9:03 pm

    I'm really liking all of what I'm hearing and seeing about the new version so far. I rarely get hyped about a game or believe developers enough to take them at their word but in this case I can't help but do so. I think the new game really will be a lot better than civilization V.


  • July 28, 2016 at 5:08 am

    The one main concern I might have would be for bugs. How well coded will it be? I've heard a lot about the new version and a lot of people are really psyched about the new engines and the higher graphics. Can't wait till I get to experience it for myself.


  • August 3, 2016 at 1:59 am

    I think the game will need a good amount of graphics because the detail in the game will definitely increase. I have already updated my graphics card and I think I am ready to go for the game.


  • August 3, 2016 at 6:10 am

    I actually like the new art style quite a bit, it seems like it's on par with CIV5 when it comes to fidelity but this time it is more stylized, love it.

    And it terms of gameplay, it was a good choice to make the units stand out from each other, big wars usually get pretty messy when it comes to move a lot of units in CIV5, it also helps the game feel less generic which is always a good thing because CIV everything but generic, the music and character screen were already awesome now the units will be on par with those aspects of the game.

    Great change.


  • August 4, 2016 at 12:12 am
    FuZyOn

    I think it's a good thing they're improving in terms of graphics and engine, Civilization V was pretty "meh" in that regard. The screenshots give me hope for a nice game!

    These types of 'graphics' updates really impresses me every time. The game would be really interesting to play in my opinion. Kinda just waiting for it.


  • August 4, 2016 at 12:13 am
    OursIsTheFury

    Oh boy. New engines and higher graphics means my video card would probably not be able to handle it, and I should probably get a new one before the game gets released. I don't mind though, I've been a fan of Civilization since the early 2000s, and I would definitely get a new system if it meant I can play Civ 6 with the highest graphics settings as possible.

    Yes, you are right. You will definitely require a new system because it is a new game with new features. So, are you ready? Are you updating your computer or graphics card?


  • August 4, 2016 at 2:19 am
    matchv

    These types of 'graphics' updates really impresses me every time. The game would be really interesting to play in my opinion. Kinda just waiting for it.

    I'm always excited when developers come out with new graphic updates because the design trends change everyday, it's cool when they try to innovate and even change the game engine sometimes. Can't wait for games that use Unreal Engine 4.


  • August 4, 2016 at 4:45 am
    FuZyOn

    I'm always excited when developers come out with new graphic updates because the design trends change everyday, it's cool when they try to innovate and even change the game engine sometimes. Can't wait for games that use Unreal Engine 4.

    I agree with your Unreal Engine 4, it's actually the most powerful engine nowadays but, as I always say, they should not focus too much on graphics and enhance the whole game itself, not just the graphics, despite that, I am pretty sure they're doing so and it's going ot be a great game indeed.


  • August 4, 2016 at 6:12 am
    OursIsTheFury

    Oh boy. New engines and higher graphics means my video card would probably not be able to handle it, and I should probably get a new one before the game gets released. I don't mind though, I've been a fan of Civilization since the early 2000s, and I would definitely get a new system if it meant I can play Civ 6 with the highest graphics settings as possible.

    I would wait for the game to be released first before I went and upgraded my computer. The specs might not that different from that of Civ V.


  • August 30, 2016 at 10:45 pm
    NormaD

    The one main concern I might have would be for bugs. How well coded will it be? I've heard a lot about the new version and a lot of people are really psyched about the new engines and the higher graphics. Can't wait till I get to experience it for myself.

    FuZyOn

    I'm always excited when developers come out with new graphic updates because the design trends change everyday, it's cool when they try to innovate and even change the game engine sometimes. Can't wait for games that use Unreal Engine 4.

    I also love the fact that they try to change the game engine. The design ot the game is chaning and that is why they need to do something different.


  • August 30, 2016 at 10:46 pm
    FuZyOn

    I think it's a good thing they're improving in terms of graphics and engine, Civilization V was pretty "meh" in that regard. The screenshots give me hope for a nice game!

    Yeah, it will definitely be a nice game. No doubt about it. After watching all the clips of the game on the Internet, I can say that this game is going to be awesome.


  • August 30, 2016 at 11:36 pm

    Oh thanks for the interesting blog post!


  • February 9, 2017 at 4:40 pm

    That is certainly exciting, but at the same time I hope that graphics do not interfere with game play. I know that they usually do not, especially with these games, but for some reason I always fear that.


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