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Shacknews has posted an interview with Bruce Campbell Shelly, one of the designers involved with the creation of Sid Meier's original Civilization. The interview begins with a short Q&A about the game and ends with a list of anecdotes from Shelly's experiences while working on the classic turn-based strategy title.

TG: Game ideas are dropped all the time. Did you ever doubt that Civilization would work?

BCS: No. It was fun and interesting from my very first experience with it. As it started to take shape I remember thinking that it was incredibly cool to be working on this game because we had a strong feeling that it was something really special. I remember being amused by the idea that the leading edge of game development at the time was Hunt Valley, Maryland, but nobody knew but me and a few others. I was convinced that the game would appeal to a wide audience and be a big success. The only major concern was that the president of the company [Microprose] didn’t understand it and had no faith in it. I believe if Sid had been an employee [rather than a partner] it might have been cancelled...

9. At the time we were working on Civilization the company had a bonus plan paid for projects based on sales and meeting milestones. I believe that because Sid was not an employee and the VP of development’s bonus was tied to projects Sid was not working on, it was very hard for us to get artists and other assets as the game started moving to full production. I remember many meetings when I reported we could not meet the production schedule without help. The game shipped late at least partially because other projects were given a higher priority. I thought it was nuts to hold back on what everyone in development agreed was going to be a big hit. I was really incensed when our bonuses were shaved considerably because we slipped, which I thought was management’s decision.

Shacknews: Civilization Retrospective

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