There is more new and changed in GalCiv IV: Supernova than all the changes coming from GalCiv II through GalCiv IV (base game) combined.
The chart below doesn’t really do justice to the magnitude of the changes. This journal entry will talk about it.
First, let me introduce myself. I’m Brad Wardell. I designed the original Galactic Civilizations for OS/2 back in 1992 which went into beta in (wait for it) October 1993 which is when I incorporated Stardock from my dorm room in college. Back then, I designed, programmed and did most of the art (poorly).
When our company moved to Microsoft Windows, I designed the Windows versions of Galactic Civilizations I and II.
Then I took a break from GalCiv to go co-found Oxide Games and Mohawk Games with my friends and with the money we had earned selling Impulse to GameStop.
After GalCiv IV was released in April 2022, I began to take a long look at the game. It had been a long time since I’d really looked at GalCiv. During GalCiv III, I designed the Crusade expansion but just didn’t have the opportunity to work on GalCiv much until recently.
I saw what they were going for with GalCiv IV but I really wanted to take the game in a different direction. And the Steam release was the opportunity to do that. So for the past several months, my life has been all GalCiv. If you’re on Discord or the forums you probably see me as Frogboy or Draginol (a character that came from the original GalCiv lore I wrote back in the 1990s). It would not be an exaggeration to say that this game has been my life for the past few months.
If you liked GalCiv II, you will probably like GalCiv IV. If you liked GalCiv III, you…hopefully will like GalCiv IV.
And this isn’t the end. Not by any means. I feel like we’ve just scratched the surface with what this game can do. And with your help, we’re going to do things that no space strategy game has ever done.