While companies like Zynga are making tons of money creating games for Facebook, one of the most well known game developers of all time has been working for nearly two years on a Facebook game based on one of the biggest PC franchises of all time. The game designer is Sid Meier and the game is Civilization World, the next game in the long running strategy game franchise. First announced way back in October 2009 by publisher 2K Games, the game's development has been under a dome of silence for much of that time.
That changed a few months ago when the Civilization World Facebook page asked for people to sign up for an alpha test. Now it appears that the game is getting closer to completion. According to a VentureBeat story, Civilization World should enter closed beta testing "soon" with open beta testing planned for sometime this summer.
The preview goes into more detail on the gameplay of Civilization World, which Sid Meier himself has been "hand coding". The game itself can have a beginning, middle and end like regular games in the Civilization turn-based strategy franchise. The difference is that players will be competing with friends in a persistent world as they and you build up your civilization. Up to 200 players can participate in a game and you can take on allies to battle against other teams of players. And yes, like in other Facebook games you can purchase item via an in-game store. However the prices of items can change due to normal economic factors like supply and demand. Since most Facebook games take only a few months to develop and release we hope the long wait for Civilization World will be worth it.
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