Global strategy game

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As a Global Strategy Games (also simply global strategy , sometimes 4X strategy ), all computer strategy games refer to operations where the player controls not only on individual units, armies or cities, but the actions of a whole state directs.

origin

Alan Emrich summarized the four basic concepts, according to which the game mechanics of every global strategy game works, as "Scouting, expanding, exploiting, extinguishing" ( Eng. E x plore, e x pand, e x ploit, e x terminate, hence the term " 4X strategy game “): clearing up the world map, building and expanding cities, provinces and countries, developing new techniques, fighting hostile peoples.

Characterization and history of the 4X games

One of the best-known representatives of this genre is the Civilization game series by Sid Meier . Other well-known representatives of the genre are the unofficial successor Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri , Civilization: Call to Power , the Master of Orion playing in space , the Endless Space series, in which you conquer a galaxy, or Stellaris , which is also set in space , but runs in real time. Also z. B. Empire Earth is a real-time strategy game that works on the 4X principle. Characteristics of many global strategy games are the research of new technologies with the help of a technology tree , the control and preparation of military units as well as the construction and management of urban and production-technical infrastructures.

history

origin

Early 4X games were influenced by board games and text-based computer games from the 1970s. Cosmic Balance II , Andromeda Conquest, and Reach for the Stars were released in 1983 and are now retrospectively considered 4X games. While Andromeda Conquest was just a simple game to expand the empire, Reach for the Stars introduced the relationship between economic growth, technological advancement, and conquest.

In 1991, Sid Meier published Civilization and popularized the level of detail that has become common in the genre. Sid Meier's Civilization was influenced by board games like Risk and the Avalon Hill board game, also known as Civilization . A notable similarity between the computer game Civilization and the board game lies in the importance of diplomacy and technological progress. Sid Meier's Civilization was also influenced by PC games such as the city management game SimCity and the war game Empire . Armada 2525 was also published in 1991 and was cited by the Chicago Tribune as the best space game of the year. A sequel, Armada 2526 , was released in 2009.

In 1991, two hugely influential space games were released. VGA Planets was released for the PC, while Spaceward Ho! appeared on the Macintosh . Although the 4X space games were ultimately more influenced by the complexity of VGA Planets , Spaceward Ho! Praise for its relatively simple but challenging game design. Spaceward Ho! is remarkable for its similarity to the game Master of Orion , with its simple but profound gameplay. Master of Orion also pulled on previous 4X games like Reach for the Stars and is considered a classic game that set a new standard for the genre. In a preview of Master of Orion , Emrich coined the term “XXXX” to describe the emerging genre. Eventually the "4X" label was adopted by the games industry and is now applied to several previous game releases.

Climax

After the success of Civilization and Master of Orion , other developers started releasing their own 4X games. In 1994, Stardock released its first version of the Galactic Civilizations series for OS / 2 , and the long-running Space Empires series began as shareware . Ascendancy and Stars! were released in 1995, and both continued the genre's focus on strategic depth and empire management. Meanwhile, the Civilization and Master of Orion franchises were expanded to include versions for the Macintosh. Sid Meier's team also produced Colonization in 1994 and Civilization II in 1996 , while Simtex released Master of Orion in 1993 , Master of Magic in 1994, and Master of Orion II in 1996 .

In the late 1990s, real-time strategy games began to outperform turn-based games. As they grew in popularity, key 4X developers ran into trouble. Sid Meier's Firaxis Games released Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri in 1999 to critical acclaim, but the game fell short of commercial expectations. Civilization III encountered development issues, followed by a rushed release in 2001. Despite the excitement surrounding Master of Orion III , its 2003 release was criticized for lack of player control, poor user interface, and poor AI . Video game publishers eventually became risk averse to funding the development of 4X games.

Real-time hybrid 4X

Eventually, 4X real-time games were released such as: B. Imperium Galactica in 1997, Starships Unlimited in 2001, and Sword of the Stars in 2006 with a combination of turn-based strategy and real-time tactical combat. The mixture of 4X and real-time strategy game led Ironclad Games to market their version Sins of a Solar Empire , published in 2008, as the "RT4X" game. This combination of traits earned the game a Top Game of 2008 mention, including GameSpot's Award for Best Strategy Game and IGN's Award for Best PC Game.

The cross-fertilization between board games and video games continued. For example, some aspects of Master of Orion III were carried over from the first edition of the board game Twilight Imperium . Even Sins of a Solar Empire was inspired by the idea of adapting the board game Buck Rogers Battle for the 25th Century into a real-time video game. In the opposite direction, Eagle Games made a board game adaptation of Sid Meier's Civilization in 2002 , completely different from the board game that had inspired the computer game in the first place.

Recent history

In 2003, Stardock released a remake of Galactic Civilizations , which received critical acclaim, who saw the game as a replacement for the Master of Orion series. In 2004, the Creative Assembly released the critically acclaimed Rome: Total War , which has spawned many sequels. Civilization IV was released in late 2005 and was recognized as the PC Game of the Year by several critics including GameSpot and GameSpy . It is now considered to be one of the greatest computer games in history, and was rated by IGN as the second best computer game of all time. The Civilization franchise had sold over eight million copies by 2008 , following the release of Civilization Revolution for game consoles , Civilization V in 2010, and Civilization VI in 2016. Meanwhile, Stardock released Galactic Civilizations II , which GameSpy called the Sixth best PC game of 2006 was considered. In addition, the French developer Amplitude Studios released both Endless Space and Endless Legend . These successes have led Stardocks Brad Wardell to claim that 4X games have excellent growth potential, especially among less hardcore gamers. This is in addition to the loyal base of 4X players supporting free software releases such as Freeciv , FreeCol , FreeOrion , Golden Age of Civilizations, and C-evo .

Web links

Commons : Global Strategy Games  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

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  9. ↑ THE BEST AND WORST OF 1991 In: Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Armada 2526 Hands On - IGN. Retrieved April 19, 2020 (English).
  11. ^ History of Space Empire Games Part 3. In: GameSpot. January 2, 2013, accessed April 19, 2020 .
  12. ^ The Greatest Games of All Time: Master of Orion. In: GameSpot. Retrieved April 19, 2020 (American English).
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  19. ^ Sins of a Solar Empire. In: IGN. Retrieved April 19, 2020 (English).
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  21. ↑ Gamasutra's Best Of 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2020 (English).
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  23. ^ Post mortem: Ironclad / Stardock's Sins of a Solar Empire. Retrieved April 19, 2020 (English).
  24. ↑ Andrew S. Bub: Eagle Games' Glen Drover Talks Pirates, The Boardgame! . GameSpy. August 20, 2004. Archived from the original on July 9, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
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  31. ↑ Alistair Wallis: Q&A: Stardock's Wardell Talks GalCiv, Indie Power. Retrieved April 19, 2020 (English).
  32. ↑ Freeciv for Windows (1999). Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  33. ^ Project of the Month, February 2007. In: SourceForge Community Blog. January 31, 2007, accessed April 19, 2020 (American English).
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