The Galactic Civilizations games series is almost undoubtedly the best PC space strategy 4x gaming experience currently available. Galactic Civilizations I and II were the games I bought that I played the most in the past few years (among with Sid Meier’s Civilization IV). Find a small synopsis I did about the GalCiv games in my very first article here<\/a>. Although I did not yet made a review of Galactic Civilization games in my site I plan to do it in the near future, meanwhile I recommend you the reviews<\/a> made by Gamespot.<\/p>\n The Galactic Civilizations game series already account with two games (GalCiv and GalCivII) and several expansions. I played both games including its expansion packs (the GalCiv2 expansion packs include Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor). Although I could recommend you all the individual products I specially recommend you the Galactic Civilizations II Ultimate Edition pack<\/a> which already includes the Dark Avatar<\/a> and Twilight of the Arnor<\/a> expansions. Although more expensive than the Galactic Civilziations II: Dread Lords original<\/a> I think the ultimate pack provides more value in the long run since the expansion packs really enhanced the original game with lots of improvements (which can be proved by the excellent reviews all expansion packs have, not so common for expansion packs).<\/p>\n As I mentioned in my article Master of Orion 2: The Formula behind the Success<\/a>, this is the current 4x space strategy game reference classic.\u00a0 I recommend you read the article to know more about this great game and to find the way to install and play it (using DOSBox) in modern operating systems: Windows, Mac or Linux. If you’re a big fan of space strategy you cannot afford to miss Master of Orion II. For the hardcore space strategy fan I also recommend Master of Orion original game.<\/p>\n How to play in Windows XP\/Vista, MacOS and Linux:<\/strong><\/p>\n Download the DOSBox<\/a> DOS operating system emulator. The installation is simple and the games run smoothly, exactly as they did more than 13 years ago.<\/p>\n You can get the demo and read the game reviews here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The book is brilliantly structured and since Game Design is far from being a science, maybe more close to an Art, the Author presents the reader with Lenses (or Perspectives) instead of strict processes that allow you to question your creative process from a set of 100 different points of view.<\/p>\n If you’re planning on developing your own games, if you’re a game design student or simply you’re curious and want to learn how games are designed them I highly recommend you The Art of Game Design: A book of Lenses<\/a> They come very handy when you you’re in the process of brainstorming your ideas. You can spread your cards in the table and then you can sort them or group them in meaningful ways. It’s a very nice way to keep control of things and to make sure you don’t miss any step.<\/p>\n I recently decided to start designing games as a hobby. I’m happy to have found The Art of Game Design: A book of Lenses<\/a> In this page you will find products that I personally recommend after playing strategy games for many years.<\/p>\n In this short list you will find only products I truly recommend. I will provide you with links where you can find…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1668,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-223","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Other Galatic Civilization Products I recommend:<\/h4>\n
\nGalCiv I: Ultimate Edition (Download)<\/a><\/div>\n
\nGalactic Civ II: Dread Lords (Download)<\/a><\/div>\n
\nGalactic Civ II:\u00a0 Dark Avatar (Download)<\/a><\/div>\n
\nGalactic Civ II: Twilight of the Arnor (Download)<\/a><\/div>\nMaster of Orion II: Battle at Antares<\/h2>\n
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses<\/h2>\n
![\"the_art_of_game_design_book\"](\"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/art_of_game_design_book.jpg\" "\\"the_art_of_game_design_book\\"")
<\/a>This is probably one of the best books I’ve read in years.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=spstgawhsne-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0123694965\")
The Art of Game Design: A Deck of Lenses (Cards)<\/h3>\n
![\"art_of_game_design_cards\"](\"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/art_of_game_design_cards.jpg\" "\\"art_of_game_design_cards\\"")
<\/a>If you’re serious about going ahead with your game project or if you’re a student of game design I also highly recommend you the 100 (physical) cards that are sold as a separate product: The Art of Game Design: A Deck of Lenses<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=spstgawhsne-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0615218288\")