ApolyCon was last weekend here in the Hunt Valley region north of Baltimore. The convention was organized by one of the major Civ fan-sites, Apolyton. It was interesting to find out how far many people had travelled for the event; I believe that we had at least four from Europe (two from the UK, one from the Netherlands, and one from Greece). A number of Firaxians (including Sid, Barry Caudill, Dorian Newcomb, Alex Mantzaris, and Jon Shafer) dropped by to talk with the community. I really enjoyed the event – it is very interesting to meet people who know all about the issues that have been floating around my head for the last five or six years.
Dorian and I gave an extended version of our GDC presentation on prototyping Civ4 – “extended” meaning that we were no longer constrained to fit it into a 50 minute time-frame. I believe it was recorded on video, so I suppose that will probably surface on Apolyton at some point. I’ll post a link when it does… until then, here is a link to the original slides from the GDC site.
You know, it’s fantastic to see that some game companies are moving more towards this sort of fan involvement.
It can only be good for the industry, and leaves fans feeling that their voice is heard.
I firmly believe that if fans believe their voice is heard, they don’t mind so much if their ideas are not implemented.
Kudos to Firaxis and yourself Soren for doing this. Pity I missed it though. Coming to Australia anytime soon? 🙂
Dale