Open Play/Sandbox

[Keith]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned, or, if it was, I missed it, is whether CotN will have the ever-popular open play mode.
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[Ineti]

I think it would be a terrible oversight if there wasn't such a feature. Sometimes it's fun just to mess with the pieces, rather than attempt to solve a mission or build a specific city. The free build feature in Pharaoh was something I got a lot of use out of, for fun and for practice.

[EmperorJay]

Let me add my vote for this. :) I think I've spend more time on the CCK than on the career in C3.

[G-Force]

There'll be a map editor, so adding a sandbox mode shouldn't be that much of a problem I think.

G-Force

[Hanarky]

I would like to have two sandbox modes. One that is really open play without any goals and then another one, where you can set yourself, which goals you want to achieve in that mission. Can be so bit like pop 5000 or building a certain monument and getting more complex.
I find sandbox games without any goals very boring ;)

Hanarky

[Elvenwarrior2001]

That's exactly what C3 does. My guess is they'll have something in that area. ;)

Elven

[EmperorJay]

I agree with Hanarky, some of the Open Play missions should really be Open.

For the rest, an Open Play like the one from Emperor is just fine.

[Eddy]

I'd like to have a random map generator for open play mode.

[EmperorJay]

That might be a good idea! But it should not be 100% random. If it were 100% random, you'll end up with lands without water f.e.

The best random map generator spits out maps with are always playable, but it's hard to balance such a thing as a random generator correctly.

[Keith]

That might be a good idea! But it should not be 100% random. If it were 100% random, you'll end up with lands without water f.e.

The best random map generator spits out maps with are always playable, but it's hard to balance such a thing as a random generator correctly.
The random seed function of the Emperor open play maps gave it a good go at that sort of thing. It would be nice to have something that could automatically generate truly random maps within a given set of design rules.
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[Elvenwarrior2001]

They're quite capable of making a good random map generator that makes good maps all the time. ;) The maps should always be workable.

Elven

[Keith]

They're quite capable of making a good random map generator that makes good maps all the time. ;) The maps should always be workable.

Elven
They may be capable, but it's a matter of if they will have the time and resources to do so. The editor may not be a high priority item right now.
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[EmperorJay]

It depends, if they release the editor they have made the maps with, then it's probably already done. Anyway, I'll be playing the campaign anyway when I get the game, no need for an editor on day 1.

[Keith]

It depends, if they release the editor they have made the maps with, then it's probably already done. Anyway, I'll be playing the campaign anyway when I get the game, no need for an editor on day 1.
Usually, the editor they use and the one we get are two different items. Many features will have to left out, disabled or re-written.

I don't require an editor immediately either.

Having one to beta test as we did in the Pharaoh beta test, even without instructions, was fun to play around with.
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[EmperorJay]

Well, for C3C (Civilization 3: Conquests), the editor the developers released was the same editor they used to create the Conquests (scenarios) with, that's why I suggested it.

The editor in the Emperor beta was already fully functional, even with manual and all, guess we'll have to wait and see. Wer're still more than 6 months away from release.

[Keith]

Well, for C3C (Civilization 3: Conquests), the editor the developers released was the same editor they used to create the Conquests (scenarios) with, that's why I suggested it.

The editor in the Emperor beta was already fully functional, even with manual and all, guess we'll have to wait and see. Wer're still more than 6 months away from release.
Hopefully, the terrain editor portion will be a little friendlier to use than the one in Emperor, which can be tempermental at times.
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[Nero Would]

They're quite capable of making a good random map generator that makes good maps all the time. ;) The maps should always be workable.

Elven
A good designer might spend weeks designing and testing a mission. I doubt that a random generator will be capable of creating missions of the same quality.

However, I agree that it should be possible to write a random generator that creates playable missions. That would create an endless supply of missions as soon as the game is released. I suppose the question from the developer's point of view is whether it would be popular enough with players to justify the time and effort involved in creating it.

Personally, I would rather concentrate on the career missions when the game is first released, and then wait until players have created some challenging missions of their own. However, I play very slowly and so I'm never short of missions to play. Many other players play much quicker, and for them, running out of missions to play is a factor.

[Azeem]

Random map generators for games such as these isn't an easy thing. There should at least be a nice collection of maps as well as a more intuitive and user-friendly map editor. Open-play is a definite must. I often ignore campaign games after a while. ;)

[Caesar Alan]

Another aspect of Emperor's Open Play that I thought worked particularly well was the map design contest run for the beta-testers. For those of you who weren't involved in the Emperor beta, all the testers were given a chance to submit their own designs for inclusion in the open play maps used by the game.

This served several purposes:

1. More open play maps ended up in the game.
2. The variety of open play maps in the game was significantly increased.
3. Beta-testers had the pleasure of seeing their work in the game.
4. The map editor got a thorough and complete workout during the beta period.

It would be fantastic if a similar opportunity were extended to the CotN testers :)

[Elvenwarrior2001]

You make a real good point. I'd like to see that, although I wouldn't really want to participate myself since I'm not usually much with editors. ;)

Elven

[Keith]

Another aspect of Emperor's Open Play that I thought worked particularly well was the map design contest run for the beta-testers. For those of you who weren't involved in the Emperor beta, all the testers were given a chance to submit their own designs for inclusion in the open play maps used by the game.

This served several purposes:

1. More open play maps ended up in the game.
2. The variety of open play maps in the game was significantly increased.
3. Beta-testers had the pleasure of seeing their work in the game.
4. The map editor got a thorough and complete workout during the beta period.

It would be fantastic if a similar opportunity were extended to the CotN testers :)
I think that just about all the most active testers among us that took part in the Beta and submitted a map got a map selected.
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[EmperorJay]

Unfortunately, during the Emperor beta, I couldn't get the game to run :( , that left me with enough time to come up with a map. :p