"The PC provides a more detailed and complex set of arrangements," he said. "You can do a whole lot more with a keyboard and a mouse. You're much more limited when you go to console and, as a result, a lot of the games are much quicker, they're much faster, they're much brighter, they're more vibrant, they're louder. There's more instant gratification."
While the look of Civilization was to be retained, it had to be altered to better suit the console audience. This effort was in the hands of art director Seth Spaulding. His art team began work on Civilization Revolution nearly two and half years ago.
"The look and feel of console games [is] different from PC games," he said. "The console games traditionally have been more colorful, more saturated. They're designed to go on a television screen as opposed to a computer screen."
Three teams were formed to work on each iteration of the game. According to Martin, Sony's PlayStation 3 lived up to its notorious nature of being difficult to develop for, while Microsoft's Xbox 360 technology proved to be easier, as its technology is more similar to the computer's. Consultants who had experience with a prior PlayStation 3 title were brought in to improve performance issues and optimize the game code.
The challenges continued throughout the development process, especially at the end of the three years. The completed game was submitted to the individual console companies for certification, a process that Firaxis hadn't experienced with PC games. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would go through their respective versions of the game, checking it against their quality and gameplay standards. According to Martin, the process added unforeseen time onto the development process.
"It can be a long and arduous process, longer so when you don't know it," Martin said. "This was the first time, and it took much longer than we planned for or expected."
But after two tries (as games typically don't pass their first time), Civilization Revolution was completed and ready to be manufactured. And as of this week, it sits on shelves across the globe, waiting to be played.
Fans and the video-gaming press have responded well. On IGN .com, the average reader-submitted rating sits at 9.2/10. with the press average at 8.3/10.
For Martin, it's his "pride and joy": a sign of the success of Firaxis.
"We went through this transition of being a PC house to now being able to develop for nearly every platform," he said. "That sense of success is so exciting for a studio as they now step off."
alex.plimack@baltsun.com
