Designer Notes 86: Anton Strenger

Idle Thumbs

In this episode, Soren interviews Anton Strenger, best known for his work on Civilizations 5 and 6 as well as Beyond Earth. They discuss how he ended up paying Carnegie Mellon so that he could work at Firaxis, why there aren’t many Great People after 1900, and whether Civilization has secretly become a live-service game. This episode was recorded on October 22, 2023. Games discussed: ESPN Extreme Games, Quest for Glory 4, Pokemon series, Suikoden II, Alpha Centauri, Civilization series, Old World, History of the World