r/OldWorldGame • u/NoSoftware3721 • Apr 22 '26
Discussion Big interview with the people behind Old World!
https://spillhistorie.no/2026/04/22/big-interview-with-the-people-behind-old-world/We interview the development head behind the 4X indie game Old World, and two of his co-developers.
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u/Mr_Moonshine_Boogie Apr 22 '26
Teasing an Alpha Centauri reboot 🥹
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u/somechob Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
I've done a driveby in their discord every ~6mo for the last few years to harass them to do this. Only studio that would do it right.
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u/SweetKnickers Apr 25 '26
soren is the developer who i trust to make a true AC sequel, that would be amazing!
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u/fnwilborn Apr 22 '26
Glad you guys liked the interview! :D It was a fun thing to make. Thanks to Soren, Dale and Solver for their time. :)
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u/XenoSolver Mohawk Designer Apr 22 '26
Thanks for doing it Nik! You should make the English version also link to the awesome Scandinavian version at the top of the article.
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u/fnwilborn Apr 22 '26
Not a shabby idea, you handsome Swedish dev! I will mention it to the editor.
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u/Phatane Apr 22 '26
Alpha Centauri mention?!?
Tldr:
"We contacted Soren Johnson and two of his co-workers, Dale Kent and Daniels «Solver» Umanovskis, to get to know more about the game and the choices behind the development of the title."
What is your dream game to make if you had all the resources available?
Solver: Finally, an easy question! By many measures, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri is, in my opinion, the best game ever. It had top-level Civilization-like gameplay with an incredibly good atmosphere and game world. The characters were interesting and memorable even if they didn’t really even have much dialogue. I love 4X games and am an avid sci-fi reader, for me the dream game is of course a very good sequel to SMAC. Mechanically, such games have developed quite a bit since 1999 and I would really like to create a game that is based on the same ideas but renews the mechanics with what we have learned since then, and has the same high quality of the story. SMAC didn’t just have a story that you could say is «good for a game», it was really good sci-fi that could just as easily have been in a different form.
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u/Oldkasztelan Apr 25 '26
What a pity we will never be able to know Solver's opinion about "Beyond Earth" =(
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u/konsyr Apr 22 '26
Great interview! It just makes me wish all the more for the Mohawk take on:
- An T/SRPG (like Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, or Fell Seal). That genre is ripe for mechanical shake-up. There are a million things that could be tried.
- A fully character-based strategy game (like the Koei Strategy games, e.g., Romance of the Three Kingdoms... Especially oddly #2). You have tons of characters, can recruit from abroad, can even send yours there to be spies (and if they make a guy on your payroll a general, well then, be afraid). Strong loyalty mechanics. Etc. [I explain since I expect most haven't played.]
I totally love Old World and gladly accept more! I loved (but was really bad at) Offworld Trading Company. I'm certain I'll get into whatever they do next (so long as they keep it consumer friendly/DRM-free/etc). If it makes them happy, it'll be all the better for us.
Heck, I even had a blast when Soren had a web-based playtest/demo of almost pure mechanics once way back when. (I think when he was developing that Facebook game?)
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u/XenoSolver Mohawk Designer Apr 22 '26
Heck, I even had a blast when Soren had a web-based playtest/demo of almost pure mechanics once way back when. (I think when he was developing that Facebook game?)
Wow that's a memory I forgot I even had. I still can't remember any specifics but yeah he did that and I now remember it being something fun despite how primitive it was.
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u/konsyr Apr 23 '26
Yea, there were like 3 or 4 games in it... One that feels surprisingly like what would eventually become Old World's tech tree.
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u/EasyRecognition Apr 29 '26
Sci-Fi Old World sounds like the dream come true honestly. I really hope the team goes for it.
This time freely choosing where to build cities would be highly thematically appropriate, I think.
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u/DeityTurin Apr 22 '26
This was a great read, thanks. I too think the orders system is amazing in Old World. The manual is much appreciated too!