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9 months ago
Civ 5 designer Jon Shafer is returning to At The Gates with new ideas
Jon Shafer and Paradox’s recent break up was sad news, even though we never found out what the Civilization 5 designer was working on, but if there’s a silver lining, it’s that he’s now able to invest more time into his Kickstarted 4X game: At The Gates. Yesterday, Shafer posted the first update since May, revealing a slight change in direction and promising more consistent…
Civ V designer Jon Shafer parts with Paradox, “creative differences” blamed
Jon Shafer, the lead designer of Firaxis's Civilization V and his own strategy game At the Gates, is gone from strategy specialists Paradox only six months after joining. Paradox say neither that he ditched the company nor that they fired him, rather that they have all "decided to part ways due to creative differences." How enigmatic! We didn't even know what he was working on.
1 year ago
Feature: Make it different every time
At The Gates is a 4X game that learns from RimWorld and Spelunky
Jon Shafer has joined Paradox to found and lead a new team and make a new strategy game, but work continues on At The Gates, the project Shafer has been developing independently for years now. It's a 4X game that casts off many of the recognisable patterns of the genre. Instead of building an empire, you control a barbarian tribe trying to tear down an…
4 years ago
At The Gates somehow feels like a lifetime ago, and I've never even played it. It's the turn-based strategy game that Civilization V lead Jon Shafer turned his hand to after parting ways with Firaxis, and it turned up at the tail-end of the Great Kickstarter Gold Rush of 2012-13. I'm quietly relieved that his Conifer Games are taking their sweet time over it. That…
5 years ago
At The Gates is the Kickstarted strategy game from Civilization V designer Jon Shafer. It's been delayed into 2015. In a backer update, Shafer spoke openly about the reasons for the delay. "Most of the planned big gameplay features are in, but what does it all add up to while you're playing? Sure, you can explore the map, survey and harvest resources, migrate from one…
6 years ago
Feature: Friend Or Foe?
RPS chum Joe Robinson talked to Jon "Civ V" Shafer about the formation of his new studio, Conifer Games, and his new game: At The Gates. As you'll see below, Shafer has renewed his mission to bring vigour and innovation to the 4X world. Read on to find out why At The Gates is the first step in his mighty quest.
8 years ago
(EDIT: OK, missed this. Fallen Enchantress will also be free to anyone who purchased Elemental before 2010 (Surely you mean 2011, Quinns? - Jim). That's a Hell of a thing.) Couple of things. First of all, Big Download's assembled the information on Elemental: War of Magic's upcoming expansion pack, Fallen Enchantress. Who is the Enchantress? Why did she fall down? Was she drunk? We don't…
BigDownload scooped the news, using their giant info-bagger (which gnaws endlessly at the heart of the ever-growing internet), that Civilization V designer Jon Shafer has been hired by Stardock to work on Elemental, the turn-by-turn strategy game that appeared last year to a chorus of mixed frowns, but is now probably fine after a bunch of patching, we still haven't had time to check. Apparently…
Feature:
Jon Shafer is a gamer who did the impossible. In January 2005 he was a modder and an active member of the Civilization fan community. Today, he's the Lead Designer on Civilization V, out on the 24th of this month. I met up with Jon today to ask him about boardgames, how he managed to reach this position in just a few years, what alternatives…
