The State of SMAC 2

[testdummy653]

This is the current state of SMAC 2.

EA owns the rights and trademark for SMAC and SMACX.
Link

Firaxis is currently owned by Take Two. Firaxis is Sid Meier's company.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/take-two-takes-in-firaxis-6139318

Take Two was almost bought out by EA
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/03/ea-makes-2-bill/

Brian Reynolds has left Zygna. But he is not heading towards SMAC.
Link
http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2013/02/14/entrepreneurship-tips-from-video-game.html


Other Interesting points:
EA registered SMAC as a trademark. - 2011 http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/08/10/alpha-centauri-trademarks-registered-by-ea/

Sid Meier did a interview were he was interested in working with EA on some projects.... I remember reading the article, I just can't remember who wrote it.

The guy I spoke to said EA has their own capacity to develop IP internally, but won't do SMAC.  However for smaller licenses like SMAC they will outsource them.  They just need proof that the outsource company can bring a project to retail, at a good quality, and it be successful.


BTW on license rights:
- EA owns the brand, retail and distribution rights.
- Firaxis owns the source code and asset rights.
- Various other parties own rights to technologies used in the game (eg Microsoft).
- Brian Reynolds and Sid Meier (not Firaxis please note him personally) hold copyright on the design.

Edit: Update Information 4/19/13

[testdummy653]

So here are the way (in my opinion) SMAC 2 could happen. - Likelihood

EA produces SMAC without Sid Meier. (i.e. Alpha Centauri 2) - 60%
EA has the register trademark, and could be looking for a good 4x strategy game or some Facebook piece of...... Well you get the idea.

EA buys out Take Two and subsidiaries for its considerable game library  - 10 %
This has been tired and failed.

Take Two/Firaxis buy the rights back from EA - 10 %
Not unlikely, Sid Meier does like his sequels.

EA sells the rights to another buyer - 10 %
Unlikely anyone other than Firaxis would be interested in the game

EA pigeonholes the game -  10%
I hope not, but it has been over 10 years since the original game came out. Most companies like to capitalize on an audience that actually remembers playing the game.

Edit: Updated Information 2/1/13

[gwillybj]

Take Two/Firaxis buy the rights back from EA - 10 %
Not unlikely, Sid Meier does like his sequels.

I like this one. Except that it could be 30 years from now when we would be hounding them about Alpha Centauri 3. I would be 80, but I'd add my failing voice to the cries for more SMAC!

[Green1]

There is one option not mentioned: a spiritual successor.

Not unlikely, either.

Take Master of Magic. That one has had 2 (aguably) spiritual succesors: Age of Wonders and fallen Enchantress.

Now, I like fantasy as well... but how come no sci fi 4x that does not involve faster than light travel that is more SMAX inspired?

Then again, the fantasy 4x guys had to cope till 2002 then 2012... with one abysmal failure of an attempt (Elemental: WoM)

[testdummy653]

There is one option not mentioned: a spiritual successor.

Not unlikely, either.

Take Master of Magic. That one has had 2 (aguably) spiritual succesors: Age of Wonders and fallen Enchantress.

Now, I like fantasy as well... but how come no sci fi 4x that does not involve faster than light travel that is more SMAX inspired?

Then again, the fantasy 4x guys had to cope till 2002 then 2012... with one abysmal failure of an attempt (Elemental: WoM)

I think a spiritual successor is more likely than a sequel (I rather have a official sequel, but thats just me).

[Green1]

Oh yeah... the "wild card" option.

There is always a chance that a open source atempt to recreate SMAX could happen.

Now, there was a few attempts to recreate it in FreeCiv. However, none of these have come of anything. Plus, FreeCiv looks like utter crud from the days of the Commodore 128.

Maybe a Battle of Wesnoth type deal?

However, I give this a 10to 5 percent. It would be a massive project to take on that would require tons of time and talent and would need massive community support.

There is also a chance for another Planetfall type mod in a more modern engine like Civ 5 or Kumquat/Fallen Enchantress. But then, like Maniac and crew found out for Civ 4, you are burdened with the limitations of that engine and invariably are forced to leave out mandatory features that a SMAX successor would need.

[testdummy653]

Oh yeah... the "wild card" option.

There is always a chance that a open source atempt to recreate SMAX could happen.

Now, there was a few attempts to recreate it in FreeCiv. However, none of these have come of anything. Plus, FreeCiv looks like utter crud from the days of the Commodore 128.

Maybe a Battle of Wesnoth type deal?

However, I give this a 10to 5 percent. It would be a massive project to take on that would require tons of time and talent and would need massive community support.

There is also a chance for another Planetfall type mod in a more modern engine like Civ 5 or Kumquat/Fallen Enchantress. But then, like Maniac and crew found out for Civ 4, you are burdened with the limitations of that engine and invariably are forced to leave out mandatory features that a SMAX successor would need.

Another downside of Planetfall is that its only accessible to Civ 4 players. (Its not a stand alone game)

I love Battle of Wesnoth and the open source community behind it. IMO most open source games are in poor shape  (graphically, gameplay, community support).
List of Open Source Games

[Green1]

Oh yeah... the "wild card" option.

There is always a chance that a open source atempt to recreate SMAX could happen.

Now, there was a few attempts to recreate it in FreeCiv. However, none of these have come of anything. Plus, FreeCiv looks like utter crud from the days of the Commodore 128.

Maybe a Battle of Wesnoth type deal?

However, I give this a 10to 5 percent. It would be a massive project to take on that would require tons of time and talent and would need massive community support.

There is also a chance for another Planetfall type mod in a more modern engine like Civ 5 or Kumquat/Fallen Enchantress. But then, like Maniac and crew found out for Civ 4, you are burdened with the limitations of that engine and invariably are forced to leave out mandatory features that a SMAX successor would need.

Another downside of Planetfall is that its only accessible to Civ 4 players. (Its not a stand alone game)

I love Battle of Wesnoth and the open source community behind it. IMO most open source games are in poor shape  (graphically, gameplay, community support).
List of Open Source Games

I agree with you on the poor shape of open source systems. The last big push, which was to reopen the FreeCiv AC project, some of the big modders/ coders here were considering helping.

But, the quality was so cruddy and the code such an undocumented mess, everyone silently backed off. Even the guy on CFC who said he would take it on disapeared without much of a trace.

Planetfall has it's own issues too. Enormous amount of work put into it which we should respect. BUT - Civ 4 dependency plus poor performance on large maps and no Aliens. Not to mention, it is not a pure conversion. Not that Civ 4 could do a pure conversion. Or even Civ 5 for that matter. Man, it would be wierd with Civ 5 mechanics.

Come to think of it... and how far AC was for it's time... has ANY modern engine handled terrain/ weather/ sea levels and terrain levels  rising and falling since? Not sure any mod of anything out there could do it.

[testdummy653]

Planetfall has it's own issues too. Enormous amount of work put into it which we should respect

Agreed. Programing and modding is not easy, and Planetfall is a fantastic mod, just not sequel.

Come to think of it... and how far AC was for it's time... has ANY modern engine handled terrain/ weather/ sea levels and terrain levels  rising and falling since? Not sure any mod of anything out there could do it.

No strategy games have these features that I know of.

[BFG]

Come to think of it... and how far AC was for it's time... has ANY modern engine handled terrain/ weather/ sea levels and terrain levels  rising and falling since? Not sure any mod of anything out there could do it.

No strategy games have these features that I know of.

That's because Alpha Centauri
( •_•)
( •_•)  >⌐□-□
(⌐□_□)
Was ahead of its time.

[Earthmichael]

Come to think of it... and how far AC was for it's time... has ANY modern engine handled terrain/ weather/ sea levels and terrain levels  rising and falling since? Not sure any mod of anything out there could do it.

No strategy games have these features that I know of.

That's because Alpha Centauri
( •_•)
( •_•)  >⌐□-□
(⌐□_□)
Was ahead of its time.

You have that right!  SMAC introducted many concepts that the later Civ and other 4x games still have not matched.

To me, to have a spiritiual successor to SMAC, you need several things:

1. A versatile terraformer, with the 20 or terraforming options in SMAC, including raising land from the sea (or lowering it into the sea), some altitude based enhancement, multiple classes of terrain enhancement on the same space, etc.

2. The equivalent of a supply crawler.

3. Lots of good multiplying structures that can be built in the cities with maintenace costs.  This solves the ICS problem.

4. A technology that allows units to be built without long term support costs, at the cost of higher initial construction costs.  (equivalent of clean reactors)

5. A way to build global enhancements that benefit all bases a small amount up to their population (like sats).

6. A variety of tech based roles for citizens other than just working a particular square (like specialists).

I am sure that there are a few key features I have missed, but this is what I believe is lacking the the 4x games that followed SMAC.

Note that I did not say that the spiritual successor has to be Science Fiction.  As far as I am concerned, if it has the featues I listed, the game can be fantasy, or stone age, or whatever, and I would consider it a worthy successor to SMAC.

[Green1]

I agree, earthmicheal.

Now, there were concepts during the early development of Alien Crossfire. One caught my eye.

from wikipedia:

The team considered several ideas, including a return to a post-apocalyptic earth and the conquest of another planet in the Alpha Centauri system, before deciding to keep the new title on Planet. The premise allowed them to mix and match old and new characters and delve into the mysteries of the monoliths and alien artifacts

Now... take that bolded part. Also, keep everything else AC and Crossfire have. Close your eyes and imagine.

Doing that would be yet another groundbreaker. That would be Alpha Centauri 2, NO ONE to my knowledge has done interplanetary or planet/moon war. Yeah, I can name about three galactic faster than light things. But no strategics just interplanetary.

It would cetainly spice up endgame.

[Earthmichael]

I think that the smart money would be to do what might be really SMAX 1.5 (but call it SMAC 2 to avoid confusion).

I think what people REALLY WANT is:

1. Ability to play using modern operating systems, computers, graphic cards, etc.  So the game easily scales to whatever the screeen resolution happens to be, and the graphics can be enhanced to look nicer.  (I personally don't care a flying leap about enhanced graphics, but I understand that for a game to hit mass market in 2013, the graphics have to look really good.)

2. Ability to easily multiplayer over internet.  This should include features that allow the inactive player(s) to minimize the game, and then get alerted to any action by flashing the inactive icon, or having it automatically open so that you can watch combats in real time, combat, probe, and other messages carried by standard instant message tools, and easy email integration for PBEM.

3. Fix the remaining bugs (there are surprisingly few), particularly multiplayer messaging bugs.  Remove the helicopter multi-attack (assuming that was not a bug).  Helicopter can move, make an attack, and continue moving as long as movement points remain, but is forbidden from making another attack.

4. Just for grins, add another slate of 7 factions that can be swapped in as desired.  (But make sure that they are properly vetted first).

If we want an example of what NOT to do, Master of Orion 3 (MOO3) provides an excellent cautionary tale.  Master of Orion 2 (MOO2) was a great 4x multiplayer game, but was getting old.  Getting old means: not working on modern operating systems, and not working with modern networking.  So basically, if you had to go to the latest OS, you could no longer play MOO2, and if you were using modern networking even with your old OS, multiplayer was dicey.

What the players really wanted was just to fix those two problems, and a small list of known bugs, but other LEAVE THE GAME ALONE!!!  What the players got was a game that was "so much more than the original" that it was painful to play.  Understand, redesigning the game the way it was done took tremendous manpower and cost, and ultimately led to a game which was a market failure.  If the management has listened to the players, and gotten the message that less is more, they could have spent maybe 10% of what they paid to produce the MOO3 disaster, and would have gotten a game that I am certain would have been a large commercial success.  The worst part of the MOO3 disaster is that this failure makes it unlikely that MOO2 will ever have a worthy successor!


In summary, if someone is thinking of SMAC 2, I urge them to consider this cautionary tale, and to understand that the needs of the players are simple and inexpensive.  So rather to blow a large budget to redesign the game, just get it working with Windows 8, current PCs, and modern internet tools, and maybe a graphics facelift and some new factions (stuff with high marketing value but little work required), and just rake in the profits!

[Yitzi]

I think that the smart money would be to do what might be really SMAX 1.5 (but call it SMAC 2 to avoid confusion).

I was actually planning to use "SMAX 1.5" for the name of the mod I'm working on.

[BFG]

Several great ideas being floated around here.  Personally, one extension of SMAX I'd love to see is the opportunity for a fully-teched-out group of human factions to attempt to defend Planet against a fully powered Usurper or Caretaker fleet - in other words, the aliens' successful contact with their homeworld does not automatically mean an end to the "human age" on Planet.

But I also love the idea of expanding to other planets in the Centauri system, or returning to a postapocalyptic Earth.  MULTIPLANET civilization building?  Absolutely.

(Edited due to failure by the forums' vulgarity filters.)