Read insights from the Firaxis developers about the updates and improvements coming to Civilization VII !

Hello Civ fans! Tom Shaw here, Lead Producer at Firaxis Games, and I'm excited to share the first of many updates on our long-term UI/UX efforts. After Civilization VII’s release, we knew we had to improve the game’s UI, so we split that work across two teams. One was focused on faster updates – everything from quality-of-life improvements to bug fixes – mostly focused around moment-to-moment gameplay. Those are the updates you’ve seen so far, and that work continues.

The other team took a more long-term view. We recognize that we missed the mark with UI at launch, and that got us looking at how we develop UI. Since February, we've made major changes to our processes, tools, and tech stack, and we’re excited to share with you the first creation of this effort: the new and improved Loading Screen.

We recognize this one screen is just a small piece of Civ VII's player experience - but we wanted to give you a closer look today, as this inclusion in Update 1.2.2 marks the beginning of a much bigger series of UI updates that our team is actively developing!

WHY THE LOADING SCREEN? 

Great question. A Civilization game’s Loading Screen is so much more than just a curtain to hide the world being built behind the scenes. This is a moment for players to really contextualize the start of a new game or re-engage with an ongoing campaign.  After all the years (and game hours!) I’ve put into Civ VI, the line “From the first stirrings of life beneath water…” still gives me chills, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one. We have high expectations for this revamped loading screen experience, so let’s break them down:

1. Set the Stage. This screen establishes the context and tone for the experience that follows. We want this moment to communicate our visual style and establish a quality bar that lives up to the expectations of ourselves and our fans.
2. Empower the Player. The Loading Screen is an opportunity to arm players with information about what makes a particular leader, civ, or Memento unique. This is where we can provide some guidance and highlight specific information to help you get the most out of your strategic choices.
3. Get Hyped. You are assuming the role of one of history’s most influential people, leading your empire on a centuries-spanning campaign. We want to communicate the magnitude of this journey while still reflecting your specific story through it. The art, music, narrative, and UI all play a role here. When you leave this screen we want you to feel both prepared and excited for what comes next. 

There’s another, more practical reason we tackled the Loading Screen first. Remember how I said we changed how we develop UI? The Loading Screen provided an excellent testing ground for this new development style, given that it’s a standalone screen that doesn’t impact the HUD or the rest of the game. This allowed us to confirm that these long-term development changes met the goal of faster dev cycles with higher-quality output.

SO, WHAT’S CHANGED? 

A lot. The first thing you’ll notice is that the leader portraits are now front and center. Well, right-justified, but you know what I mean. We wanted to spotlight the player’s historical avatar for immediate recognition while gently pulling them out of the beautiful civilization paintings behind them.

Opposite the leader art you’ll find a series of pages dedicated to clearly displaying more gameplay information than ever before. The pages are as follows: 

• Leader
• Civilization
• Unique Buildings or Improvements
• Unique Units
• Traditions
• Equipped Mementos

Above the ‘Begin Game’ button you’ll find our Tips and Hints. This is a space for the design team to speak directly to you, the player, and highlight opportunities to make the most out of your civilization’s toolkit. Basically, this is something we really want you to know about your civ when getting back into the game. 

And finally, (talk about burying the lead here) what you’ll see, and hear, for the leader and civilization introductions has been completely rewritten and rerecorded. Yes, that means more Gwendoline Christie; our illustrious Civilization VII Narrator has returned! Enjoy the sample below: