s I write, it's a wonderful Summer's day – a holiday, here in London. And, yet again, developing a game has come to consume the core team's life for the last few months. Has it been worthwhile?

It should be the case that every game I design is better than those that have gone before. Together with the rest of the team, I've had a chance to learn from feedback to previous products, and to play more games from other people also. But with CaesarIII, I feel especially excited.

When we first began the project, we were somewhat nervous. CaesarII had been so well received that we didn't know quite where we could take it. To be sure, there were a host of sundry points that we had considered and discarded for CaesarII that we could add, but they certainly wouldn't amount to a new product.

So we began working on “Caesar in Space,” where new technology would allow us freedom to take the game in whole new directions. Six months in, though, we returned to Rome. There is something special about the entire Roman period, something special about the congruence of elements which fit together beautifully to make a wonderfully compelling game. Elements such as the core color palette, simple and seemingly innocuous, but somehow warm and inviting; or the range of entertainments and the Roman pantheon of gods, or the way their Empire expansion took place, coupled with the nature of their enemies – the Goths and Hannibal, to name but two.

Our foray into space had developed several core systems which transferred remarkably well to the Roman setting, and which, though they may seem minor to you as a player, have totally transformed the way the game works. I have read one magazine describing CaesarIII in a preview as “more evolution than revolution,” which is in some ways true: the core premise of the game remains identical. But the reality is that CaesarIII is very much a revolution compared to its predecessors.

The way the farming and industry work, for example, is wonderfully simple for players, but completely accurate and real (there ought to be a better word for the opposite of abstract), and in fact allows the game enormous depth that CaesarII never came close to. The combat system is truly simple, yet recreates ancient battles far better than the system used before, and adds more to the game by allowing street-to-street fighting.

I love the representation the game now provides of a busy ancient city. At the time, I loved the way CaesarII brought ancient cities somehow to life. Yet to go back today and look at it, and compare it to a bustling city in CaesarIII, shows just how big a leap we've made. The variety and pace of a city are what I hoped we might be able to capture, and we've exceeded the goals for that that I had hoped we'd meet. Again, I hope you'll agree.

Probably the most satisfying thing of all is the way that the game is on the surface wonderfully simple, yet under the surface, offers lots and lots of depth and replayability. I believe (and certainly hope you agree) that we have added enough elements to later stages of the game for it to continue to provide surprise and changes in strategies right to the end.

Above all, though, I feel as though we've created a game which will provide you with hours of fun. I do hope you agree.