Civilisation VII studio Firaxis has brought on board prolific modder Sukritact as a tech artist, as announced in the grand strategy game’s Discord. Sukritact has a rich history of creating Civilisation VI mods on Steam dating back to 2017, including fully-animated wonders and rebalances. Their recent ‘Sukritact’s Simple UI Adjustments’ mod has been well-received by Civ 7 players.
The user interface has been a point of contention since release, with Greg Costikyan mentioning “real issues” in his review for RPS. A patch was released yesterday to address some of these issues, with another planned for March 25th. Additionally, the update introduced the Bermuda Triangle wonder, ensuring that nobody gets lost there anymore.
The recognition and hiring of modders in the gaming industry is undoubtedly positive news. However, it does mean aligning with a company’s schedule rather than a personal one, as highlighted in a Reddit thread. Nevertheless, it is heartening to see. Recently, Bethesda hired Fallout: London writer Stephanie Zachariadis as an associate quest designer, while CD Projekt enlisted an Australian beetroot farmer known for mod-making to work on The Witcher 4. Valve also has a track record of recruiting external talent for their projects.
Firaxis seems to be in need of extra support at the moment. Despite the game being released less than a month ago (or slightly earlier for those who purchased the deluxe edition), they are already rolling out DLC.
