Description
Civilization VI (cvi6) is a turn based strategy game. It was published by 2k Games. First released on 2016 on Windows and macOS, it was later released on most other platforms. The game was based on real history of mankind and contains many famous leaders of the world, world wonders and natural wonders.
link to game: https://civilization.com/
Link to game play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pczrASkYGSo&t=1368s
Lens 9: The Elemental Tetrad
Aesthetics
- 3D game, top down command view of the map with detailed and breathtaking game graphics of human civilization through history.
- Very engaging audio and sfx, there were distinct sounds for each buildings and characters.
- Beautifully crafted animations for different interactions.
- Realistic reflection of light in many parts of buildings/ water bodies in game, also in part due to the tech used.
Technology
- Only 1 interaction at a time, reducing computation burden on the system.
- Fps is insignificant in a turn based game, setting it at 20 could allow for finer and more detailed textures and game objects in the game on low spec systems.
- Seamless cross play between steam and epic games users with just a room code. Such feature is not supported in other games.
- Advance and realistic simulation with seemingly infinite outcomes.
Mechanics
- This is a turn based strategy game.
- There are 4 types of resources the player would generate per turn
- Science
- Faith
- Gold
- Culture
- These resources would determine the actions player can take.
- Each turn, a player can take multiple actions
- Build new cites
- Build buildings
- Train troops
- Move troops
- Well planned actions would allow the player to advance their civilization towards the 5 victory conditions.
- There are 5 victories, achieving any counts as a victory and you would be the leader of the greatest civilization in mankind.
- Religion, convert every civilization to your worship your civilization’s religion.
- Science, beat the science race by having high amount of science.
- Domination, conquer and hold all the civilization’s original capital by force.
- Cultural, be the most cultured civilization by having huge amount of artworks/wonders which grants high tourism to your capital
- Score, have the highest score at the game of the game.
Story
Only the strongest civilization writes human history. Hence, as the leader of a human civilization, the player must carefully develop their cities, with the goal to be the greatest civilization by being the first civilization to complete a victory. Build as many world wonders as you like, research as much science as you like, just be really good at something and your civilization would be the greatest amongst them all.
The game had a slow learning curve which was easy to pick up and uses a very hands on approach. Playing with the lowest difficulty is very useful to learn to slowly pick up the game and explore the endless possibility to advance your civilization. However, also due to it’s endless possibility, the game is also challenging at high level allowing players to repeat levels without beating the game easily.
Lens 8: Problem solving
The game poses many problems for players at different skill level, ensuring civ6 always pose new problems for the players to solve to be bring their civilization to great new heights.
- Placing buildings in civ6 have different bonuses.
- As a beginner who is starting to learn the game, the most basic bonuses are overlaid and shown to the player when placing buildings. Though it’s not the most, the different values at differ tiles would probe the players to ponder about it while learning the game.
- As the player became more advance, they would realized there are hidden bonuses from their leaders/ buildings, if well planned would allow the player to squeeze out all the bonuses it has to offer.
Lens 79: Freedom
As a leader of a great civilization, players can do anything they like. Though there are only 5 ways to victory, the path to victory is never fixed. The player can focus on anything they like or are good at, and use those aspects to drive their civilization’s development.
For example: Player going for science victory in civ6 can still go around conquering other civilization if they are very advance in science. There is no fixed path to victory.
Lens 6: Curiosity
Civ6 does is very limitless, there’s lots of hidden details and bonuses for the players to uncover. The game strongly adopts a show, don’t tell technique to arouse players interest in any area. It always shows just enough information to the player. If the player first discovered a new item, the player can visually see it, but it will not prompt the player to act on it, this would allow the player to be continue their tasks at hand and come back again later if they are curious. But if it didn’t pique their interests, when other civilizations are using it, it would prompt the player to investigate it further. Having a encyclopedia called civilopedia also helps aid users to easily investigate their interests.
Lens 55: Visible Progress
As a turn based game, there are often downtime while waiting for other players to take their turns. Hence, players can view their progress towards each of the 5 victory in civ6. There is a world ranking board which allows the player to keep up to date with the latest progress of everyone in the game. This information allows players to prioritize their game play depending on other players progress. Players would be able to adopt different tactics to be the best civilization.
Lens 59: Control
The game provides a guide perimeter for players to know how to control and move their character. Meaningful UI allows the players to act in control and to check their understanding of the characters movement. It is easy to master since clicking on troops only moves or attacks a object and nothing more. By being easier to control and more predictable in the characters’ movement, it allows players to feel powerful. Also, the controls does not feel outdated like a normal 5 year old game would.
