Chapter 157: Perfect Theme

Sogno di Volare (Dream of Flight).

A masterpiece forever etched into the minds of every Civilization VI player, it was a grand epic brought to life by a full orchestra and choir

Its composer Christopher Tin was indeed living in California at this point in time, but he was still young and far from becoming the Grammy Award-winning composer he would one day be.

Whether it was Baba Yetu from Civilization IV or Sogno di Volare from Civilization VI, both deserved to be remembered as immortal monuments in the history of video game music.

"So... what do you think?"

Ethan slowly lifted his hands from the keys, letting the final notes linger in the room.

Although a single piano couldn't reproduce the grandeur of the original orchestral arrangement, its melody alone was enough to leave the room full of engineers speechless.

"Bravo! Ethan, you absolutely have to make this the theme song for Civilization!"

Sid's reaction was, unsurprisingly, the strongest.

The piece felt as though it had been written specifically for Civilization, and although the lyrics were in Italian, Sid could still feel the emotions they conveyed through the melody alone, just as the title suggested: Dream of Flight.

It was a hymn celebrating humanity, a song that openly praised mankind's spirit of exploration, telling the story of humanity's endless attempts to reach the unattainable sky.

It perfectly embodied the core theme of Civilization.

"You've been hiding this from us all this time?"

Sam stared at Ethan as if he were some kind of monster, completely stunned by the piano skills he had kept secret until now.

"But this piece is supposed to be performed by an orchestra, isn't it? How are you planning to pull that off? NovaMusic doesn't exactly have that kind of setup."

"An orchestra..."

Ethan smiled as he thought about the newly established European branch.

"That's something the Europeans happen to excel at."

Whether it was Britain's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra or one of the many excellent European choirs, either would be an excellent choice.

The days that followed would become unforgettable for everyone in the development department.

Because of the "Man-Made Wonders" and "Natural Wonders" concepts proposed by Ethan, everyone except Ethan and Carmack, who were responsible for the algorithm design, buried themselves in books and archives, trying to gather as much historical information as possible.

"Wonders doom the empire?"

Not at all.

Civilization couldn't exist without wonders, just as no great empire could have been built without monuments to its greatness.

"Sid, look at this, the Venetian Arsenal. This should fit, right?"

"That's too late in the timeline. Didn't we agree to start with the Ancient Era? Oh, this one's perfect, the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World."

Sid's eyes lit up as he read the description and immediately began taking notes.

Although the game's numerical systems were still being worked out, they could already start planning the effects each wonder would have.

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The Hanging Gardens sounded almost unbelievable in the legends surrounding them, so its in-game bonus obviously had to be just as impressive.

Sid stole a glance at Ethan, who was locked in an intense discussion with Carmack, and a strange gleam appeared in his eyes.

From a game designer's perspective, the entire concept of man-made wonders was pure genius. Whether you looked at it from the standpoint of strategic depth or simply immersion, it was an astonishing mechanic.

Sid looked down at the illustration in his book, depicting the magnificent Hanging Gardens as later generations imagined them.

If a player managed to build it in the game, then watching it rise from the map before their eyes would create an incredible sense of accomplishment.

Even more brilliant was Ethan's idea of making each wonder "globally unique." So, only one civilization in the entire world could ever build a particular wonder.

Should you spend ten, twenty, or even dozens of turns racing to complete a wonder before another civilization claims it? Or should you focus instead on expanding your military and developing your empire?

Every decision could send the game down an entirely different path.

"Oh, Sid. Make sure you also compile a quote for every technology and wonder."

Noticing Sid's gaze, Ethan added the suggestion without looking up from his notes.

"For example…" Ethan paused, thinking. "'I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.' That might work as the quote for the Animal Husbandry technology."

The quote came from Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister Ethan remembered studying in history class.

It was a simple joke about the way people viewed different animals. Dogs looked up to humans, cats seemed to look down on them, while pigs were humorously said to treat people as equals. It was hardly a profound piece of wisdom, but that was precisely why Ethan liked it.

He thought it fit Animal Husbandry rather well. After all, the technology represented one of humanity's earliest attempts to domesticate and raise animals. The quote captured that relationship in a humorous and memorable way, reminding players that these animals had been living alongside humanity for thousands of years.

More importantly, it was the kind of quote that could make a technology feel like more than just another entry on a research tree.

"Of course! Of course!"

Sid didn't need the reminder. He had already started doing exactly that, as this was all part of immersion.

Civilization was going to become an epic chronicle of humanity's progress, with every detail contributing to the feeling that players were witnessing history unfold.

"Good, that's important. So, we need to do it properly."

Ethan nodded in satisfaction.

With 700 MB of storage space at their disposal, they were finally free from many of the limitations that had shackled game development for so long. They could afford to include all kinds of details and flourishes that would once have been dismissed as an extravagant waste of resources.

Back in an era where every single byte mattered, filling a game with text that had no direct impact on gameplay would have been considered an absurd luxury.

Just as Ethan was about to return to work, he caught sight of Gerald coming downstairs with a small device in his hands.

It was the modem Ethan had requested, a device designed to connect to household telephone lines.

The moment Ethan saw it, he stopped what he was doing.

Gerald was an exceptionally proactive genius. Unless he encountered a problem he genuinely couldn't solve, he almost never came looking for help on his own.

"What's the issue?" Ethan asked immediately.

"The same problems as before. Latency and bandwidth."

Gerald sighed as he placed the modem on the table.

"I ran a simple test. Based on the current design for Civilization, a game in the mid to late stages could easily have dozens, maybe even more than a hundred, units and cities. With the bandwidth available through telephone lines, the waiting time between turns will become unbearable."

Gerald might not have had as much experience with game design as the others, but he understood one thing perfectly: if players had to sit around for several minutes after every turn in a turn-based game, they could forget about immersion altogether.

Breaking the flow of gameplay was one of the worst things that could happen in a video game.

"Oh, the data transmission problem? Then you came at exactly the right time." Ethan said with a smile.

"I just solved it."

"...Huh?"

Ethan suddenly realized how easy it was to fall into a misconception when looking at the problem from the perspective of an era when online gaming technology was only beginning to emerge.

While throwing better hardware at the problem was certainly the simplest and most direct solution to reducing latency and improving online play, that didn't mean software had no answers.

On the contrary, the smoothness of online multiplayer depended largely on optimization and synchronization algorithms.

After all, a responsive online game didn't actually need anything close to the bandwidth provided by modern fiber-optic connections, the real bottleneck was often how efficiently the available bandwidth was being used.

"We don't need to transmit the entire game state every turn," Ethan explained. "We only need to transmit what's changed."

"I call it incremental synchronization."

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