Galactic Civilizationier!

Whilst morning forum browsing I discover Stardock have announced there will be a third incarnation of GalCiv . Just not soon.

"The good news is that there will be a Galactic Civilizations III. The bad news is that it won't be out this decade."

Ooh. The teases. Details about what they're up to follows.

It's an example of Stardock's usual open-development procedure, where they're very clear about what they're doing even enormously ahead of time. What they're up to first is and "unnamed fantasy strategy" which is internally known as "not-MOM". As in, not Master of Magic, presumably because it totally is, at heart. The beta of which will start early next year, with a release depending on how much the testers like it, as is Stardock's wont. The technology for that game will be used to power the eventual Galactic Civilizations III. What does that mean for the eventual game?

That means GalCiv III will have features like tactical battles (as an option), multiplayer, more sophisticated planetary development, and much more.

"Much-more" is actually an industry codeword which means "Platforming elements". GalCiv3 will feature not only multiplayer and optional tactical battles but platforming. You heard it here first.

In other GalCiv news, Tom Francis, author of a previous splendid GalCiv diary is serialising his PCG-coverbook on the PC Gamer blog. It's him trying to take over the galaxy as a pacifist via cultural convincing. How's it going? "The killed-instantly camp eventually left to form a new society called the Korath Clan. My first contact was with these guys, a race whose special ability is an unstoppable chemical weapon that can instantaneously exterminate twenty-billion people. I just hope they know good TV when they see it."

He may be in trouble.