Latest news with #FiraxisGames
WIRED
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- WIRED
Meet the Game Developer Turning Fanfic Into Deadpool DLC
Mar 18, 2025 9:15 AM When Emma Kidwell started working on new content for Marvel's Midnight Suns , she turned to her fanfic roots. She isn't the only one following the rules of fan-written stories to develop fresh ideas. Emma Kidwell photographed in San Francisco on March 17, 2025. Photograph: Darrell Jackson Before she started writing video games, Emma Kidwell loved Twilight fanfiction. Her 'bad, self-insert' stories found a home on DeviantArt, an online community where people posted fan art, original work, and so much more. 'The low barrier of entry made it very accessible,' Kidwell says. Her writing turned into role-playing in forums, and Twilight fandom gave way to a love of video games like Mass Effect . Today, Kidwell is a writer for Firaxis Games and a rising star in the world of game narrative. Her work includes Hindsight , Borderlands 4 , Life Is Strange 2 , and Sid Meier's Civilization VII ; she's been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 and The Game Awards' Future Class of 2023. This week, she's hosting the annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) awards during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. All of that is happening alongside her talk about how writing in fandoms as a kid helped her write DLC for Marvel's Midnight Suns . Writing fanfiction, it turns out, isn't so different from writing licensed characters. 'I'm role-playing when I'm writing Marvel IP for Firaxis,' Kidwell says. 'Fanfiction gave me that foundation to build off of.' Fanfiction has often been considered a lower form of writing, as either self indulgent or outrageously erotic, the sort of work one does in secret. In the internet culture pantheon, few fanfic writers have ever achieved fame, and those that have sometimes do so for the salacious nature of their work. 'My Immortal,' an infamous Harry Potter fanfic, is still referenced in interviews even today. Writers such as E.L. James, who created the Fifty Shades series (originally a Twilight fanfic), however, have begun to turn their work into something profitable. Others, like Kidwell, have turned it into a runway for their careers. 'I think because of fanfiction's relationship to marginalized communities, it wasn't initially seen as being a valid form of writing,' Kidwell says. Clearly, that's wrong. The gaming and fanfic communities make for a harmonious marriage. The story-driven nature of most games means plenty of fodder for fans craving new narratives, but writers on well-known sites like Archive of Our Own can—and will turn—anything into an original story. Even Tetris. 'Fanfiction is your sandbox,' Kidwell says. 'You get to play. There are no rules. You get comfortable playing around with characters that aren't yours and doing whatever the hell you want with them.' For Midnight Suns , Kidwell was given four characters to choose from, including Deadpool and Storm. Whatever she wrote would be based on the comic versions of the characters, not their cinematic counterparts. While researching both characters, she had a revelation: 'This is really similar to what I would think about when creating an original character in a role-playing setting. How would this character fit in with other established characters?' Writers in Kidwell's position still have to stick to the rules of the franchise, including its story canon. That hasn't kept Kidwell from being able to tell the stories she wants. 'I think a big, common misconception with IP writing is that it's super restrictive,' Kidwell says. 'But I think there's a lot of creative freedom within certain boundaries because you get to inject a little piece of yourself into these characters. It's just kind of like a puzzle: figure out how you can do it authentically and how you can do it in a way that makes sense for the game.' Kidwell still role-plays in her spare time. Right now, she's deep into the Dragon Age community. 'I see IP writing as kind of the in-between,' she says of fanfiction and fiction. It's a natural next step in role-playing: 'I'm just doing it in a professional setting now.'
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
PC Gamer magazine's new issue is on sale now: inZOI
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This month PC Gamer delivers world-exclusive access to the stunning new The Sims rival, inZOI, which looks set to steal the life sim throne. For our authoritative cover feature, PC Gamer speaks directly with the game's director, Hyungjun Kim, about every facet of the game, from its comprehensive character creator, to its setting, characters, and story, through to its unique gameplay mechanics, such as an NPC character who is controlled by AI. Kim speaks eloquently about his game, the life sim genre, and the video game industry in general, bringing his trademark philosophical flair to the conversation. A must-read for any fan of the life sim genre, and especially those who have sunk hundreds of hours into The Sims over the last couple of decades. This issue also features another fantastic feature. As we review Sid Meier's Civilization 7 in this issue of the magazine, we thought there was no better time to take a look back at the Civilization series as a whole, starting with the landmark 1991 original release. Not only do we then proceed to showcase each game in the series in this feature, talking about what they delivered to gamers and how they evolved the initial Civ formula, but we also speak directly to a Firaxis Games veteran who has worked on many of the series' best games for the inside scoop on what it's like to make a Civilization game. For strategy fans this is an essential read. Then, in terms of previews, this issue sees PC Gamer deliver our hot take on Doom: The Dark Ages, the hyper-violent new entry in the long-running FPS series that sees the Doom Slayer fight through a medieval hellscape with big guns, a chainsaw shield and a trio of deadly hand-to-hand weapons. For gamers who found the acrobatic madness of Doom Eternal a little off-putting, The Dark Ages looks like a return to more of the original Doom reboot formula, with ground-based combat against hordes of demonic foes the name of the game. Oh, and there are rideable dragons and a giant mech to pilot, too. Hype! Then, over in reviews land, the PC Gamer reviews machine tackles epic turn-based strategy game, Sid Meier's Civilization 7, as well as Orks Must Die! Deathtrap, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Eternal Strands, Sniper Elite: Resistance, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, along with other games, too. All that plus a group test of six new motherboards to consider building your next PC gaming rig around, a reinstall of the epic strategy game Total War: Warhammer III, the continuation of a hijinx-filled diary following undead hero Mister Fibula's misadventures in Divinity Original Sin II, a look at the fantastic new Half-Life 2 mod The Burton Equation, a passionate arguement for how villainesses make any game better, a detailed guide to thriving in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's medieval world, a tour of the very latest PC gaming experiences coming out of Japan, including Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii and Suikoden I & II Remaster, an update on everything new Hunt: Showdown 1896, a fresh dispatch from The Spy, a new case to be cracked for the PCG Investigator, Dick Ray-Tracing, and much more too. Enjoy the issue! Issue 407 is on shelves now and available on all your digital devices from the App Store and Zinio. You can also order directly from Magazines Direct or purchase a subscription to save yourself some cash, receive monthly deliveries, and get incredibly stylish subscriber-only covers. Enjoy the issue!
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Civilization VII' makers features Shawnee tribe, fund language recording effort in Oklahoma
An Oklahoma tribe is seeing the inclusion of its historical leaders and language in the latest iteration of a popular video game series. Civilization VII, which was released on Feb. 11, depicts the Shawnee Tribe as well as chief and military leader Tecumseh, a playable character voiced by Shawnee actor Dillon Dean. It's the seventh release in Sid Meier's Civilization series since its debut in 1991, which encourages players to build empires in a simulation of the real world, but also includes imaginary twists. Game developers began a partnership with the Shawnee Tribe in 2021 to create an authentic, sincere representation of the group's culture and history within the game, according to a news release. Through the partnership, developer Firaxis Games and publisher 2K, invested in building a recording studio in Oklahoma to support the tribe's efforts in preserving its language and culture, which opened its doors this month. Here's what to know: While developing Civilization VII, Firaxis Games approached the Shawnee Tribe in 2021 about a partnership so they could ensure that the inclusion of the Shawnee civilization respectfully represented Tecumseh's vision, according to a news release. In addition to incorporating the Shawnee language in-game as faithfully as possible, the news release states, developers researched archeological material, studied family photographs, and consulted with cultural knowledge-keepers to carefully shape how the tribe was characterized. "Seeing cultures portrayed based on ideologies and not on geographic boundaries, and now to see that translated into Civilization VII, where we have the Shawnee as a standalone civilization, represented in a way that we want to be represented, that is just truly an amazing opportunity," said Ben Barnes, chief of the Shawnee Tribe, in a video on social media. The Shawnee people can only be played by downloading the Tecumseh and Shawnee Pack DLC. Earlier this month, 2K Foundations, a foundation formed by game publisher 2K that gives back to underserved communities in the country, opened the doors to the George 'Fife' Blanchard Yaatakciitonooteeki (Recording Studio) in Miami, Oklahoma. Barnes said the tribe had spent years collecting historical text, and the missing step was finding those who could speak it to preserve the legacy. By opening the studio doors, they plan to record Shawnee history and the spoken language of the Shawnee people further. '[We want] to be able to hear this musical quality that the Shawnee language and all languages have. Without hearing that, you can't get that from text on a page. You can only get that from listening to a fluent speaker,' Barnes said in a video posted on social media. The recording studio is named after Shawnee historian and elder George 'Fife' Blanchard, who attended the ribbon cutting. Tecumseh was born in the Shawnee village of Piqua, Ohio, on March 9, 1768. According to the National Parks Service, his name means The Shooting Star, or Celestial Panther Lying in Wait, named after a meteor that flew through the sky on his birthdate. He grew up to become an orator and warrior for the Shawnee people. He and his brother Tenskwatawa established a new capital on the banks of the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers. Tecumseh sought to form an independent nation for indigenous people officially, so while the U.S. and Great Britain battled in the War of 1812, he allied with the British. This new alliance placed Tecumseh in command of all Native American forces during the war. If the two factions won, the Old Northwest would be a Native American nation under British protection. As the war ended in a victory for America, Tecumseh's dream was never realized. The Shawnee people were forcibly removed from their Ohio home in 1869 to Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Civ 7: Game features tribe, boosts Shawnee language effort in Oklahoma
New York Times
11-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In Civilization VII, Empires Rise and Stereotypes Start to Fall
You awaken on a hexagonal tile. It is the year 4,000 B.C. You can see just a few tiles beyond yours: to the north a desert; to the south a shoreline; to the east, alarmingly, an angry-looking volcano. The tiles beyond are shrouded in shadow. Over the next 6,000 years you will explore tile by tile until you have uncovered the whole globe, expanding your empire, waging war and making peace with your neighbors, inventing hydroelectric dams and space shuttles and nuclear arms. This is the basic structure of every installment in the turn-based strategy game series Sid Meier's Civilization since its debut in 1991 (although in the earliest games, the tiles were square). For each iteration, the designers follow a rough formula: One-third of the game's rules and mechanics are the same as in previous games, one-third are altered, and one-third are new. Sid Meier's Civilization VII, which was released on Tuesday for PCs, Macs and consoles, had the designers struggling to contain the new to just one-third. 'Right out of the gate we had some big, bold ideas,' said Ed Beach, creative director at Firaxis Games. One big change is that the new game is split into three distinct 'ages' — antiquity, exploration and modern — that have their own dynamics and mechanics. The leader characters are also now fully decoupled from their historically accurate homelands; in Civilization VII, you can make Benjamin Franklin lead Meiji Japan, or put Charlemagne in charge of the Shawnee. Previous games in the franchise mostly pit heads of state against each other. Civilization VII broadens that choice to leaders with much wider skills. 'No one explores better than Ibn Battuta,' said Dennis Shirk, the executive producer at Firaxis. 'No one does diplomacy better than Machiavelli. No one can set up a government better than Confucius.' It was important not to change too much, Shirk said, emphasizing that the core game loop always needs to feel like Civilization. The balance between novelty and consistency is important, agreed Nikhil Murthy, an independent game developer who has played the game for as long as he can remember. 'Many players have played the previous version into the ground,' Murthy said. He estimates that his father, who plays no video games other than Civilization, has devoted 3,000 to 4,000 hours to each version. Playing Civilization is a form of meditation for Murthy — 'something to do with your hands while you think' — who said it can be fun to play as a dominant empire. Sometimes, though, Civilization unnerves Murthy. In one version, a slavery option stopped him short. In others, it was the way the game pitted civilizations against 'barbarians.' 'That's a dichotomy that, historically, I know which side I'd be on,' said Murthy, who is Indian. One day, while Murthy was reading the novel 'Ulysses,' he came upon a passage where an Irish nationalist mocks British civilization as 'syphilisation.' That very Joycean pun inspired him to create an elaborate parody-tribute game that he released last year: Nikhil Murthy's Syphilisation, in which a group of Indian students try to collaborate on a group project about Gandhi and Churchill in a world made of hexagonal tiles. The Civilization games have attracted considerable academic and philosophical attention because of their popularity and their attempts to tackle all of human history. Murthy cited a favorite passage about Civilization from the book 'Gamer Theory' by McKenzie Wark, a New School professor of culture and media: 'Whoever wins is America, in that the logic of the game itself is America.' You can play as whomever you like, Murthy said, but the victorious nation always resembles the United States immediately after the Cold War, a moment when pundits spoke of the 'end of history.' It is no coincidence that the first Civilization game came out the same year the Soviet Union fell. Some new features in Civilization VII seem designed to address those types of academic complaints. Barbarians have been reframed as 'independent powers,' and their actions are more nuanced. The game's historical veneer is much more lovingly detailed than in previous installments. There is a palpable and sincere appreciation of the art, music and architectural styles of cultures and societies wherever they originate. If you play as the Chola Empire, you get access to ships specific to South India with names in Tamil. When researching the original Civilization, Sid Meier consulted the children's section of his local library; Civilization VII has two Ph.D. historians on its design team, and they consulted with other experts to incorporate accurate details of each of the game's dozens of nation-states and historical figures. But Murthy said that no matter how many changes are made to character selection and rule sets, the Civilization series maintains a deeply colonialist worldview at its core. 'It's winner take all,' he said. 'It's growth for the sake of growth. And it's history from above, not below. All three of these pillars have remained entirely intact throughout the series.' Those stubborn ideas are right there in the name of the game genre that Civilization originated: 4X, which is an abbreviation for explore, expand, exploit, exterminate. One of the points of Syphilisation, Murthy said, was to demonstrate that a cooperative approach to a 4X game (and, by extension, real-world geopolitics) is entirely possible, if only the developers were willing to try it. When he plays Civilization, though, he feels a certain obligation to play it as designed. 'I want the Giant Death Robot,' he said, referring to a technology that becomes available near the end of Civilization V and VI. 'And if I've unlocked the Giant Death Robot, I want to use the Giant Death Robot.' Civilization VII is an empire-expanding simulator that arrives as President Trump is threatening to annex Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal and Gaza. Some players feel aligned with the game's worldview and real-life parallels; others experience dissonance between what they believe about the world and how the game guides them; still others view Civilization as a math problem that just happens to have a historical surface. A game this complex can be enjoyed in many ways. The philosopher Bernard Suits put gamers in four categories: players, triflers, cheats and spoilsports. 'The one that interests me is trifling, where you don't really care about winning,' Wark, the New School professor, said in an interview. 'You're just interested in exploring the rule set. So your civilization inevitably gets defeated, but you find little affordances as you go along.' Beach and Shirk, the lead developers at Firaxis, said that Civilization VI was the first game in the series for which they got detailed metrics about player patterns. They were shocked to learn that under 40 percent of Civilization players ever finish a single game. For many Civilization players, it seems, winning isn't everything. But maybe winning at Civilization would mean more, Murthy argues, if there were more ways to win — such as an option to work with your neighbors to make a better society for all. 'It doesn't need to eliminate the rest of the win conditions,' he said. 'They could add a cooperative win condition at very little game design cost. And the payoff is still tremendous.'
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Civilization 7 is coming to Meta Quest 3 and 3S this spring
Civilization VII is getting a VR port soon, but it'll be exclusive to Meta's most recent headsets. Meta, 2K and Firaxis Games announced this weekend that the franchise's latest entry will be available on Meta Quest 3 and 3S in Spring 2025. Players will have the option to 'freely switch' between virtual and mixed reality as they wish. Per the release: In virtual reality, players are transported to an ornate museum as they look out onto a vista personalized to their leader; in mixed reality, the Command Table adapts to its placement in a player's physical space. Detailed dioramas can be viewed in The Archives, a room in your museum dedicated to your gameplay achievements displayed in both virtual and mixed reality. There's no exact release date or price just yet, but you can wishlist it on the Meta Horizon Store. Civilization VII became available for Advanced Access buyers on PC and consoles a few days ago, and reviews have so far been pretty rough. It opens up for everyone else on February 11.
