Agenda
Firaxis Feature Workshop: Inviting the Players Into the Design Room
Sarah Engel (Community Manager, Firaxis Games)
Dennis Shirk (Executive Producer, Firaxis Games)
Pass Type:
Academic Pass, Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass, Indie Pass, Start-Up Pass -
Get your pass now!
Track:
Marketing, Production & Team Leadership
Audience Level:
All
Format:
Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
After more than 35 years and seven mainline games, players have strong ideas about what makes Civilization work, and Firaxis has always valued that perspective as part of its studio vision of making the best strategy games possible. With Civilization VII, the team wanted to take that relationship a step further.
In this session, Firaxis invites you into the world of the Firaxis Feature Workshop, a player testing program designed to bring the community directly into the development process. More than 4,000 players have participated across multiple rounds, providing feedback on significant changes to Civilization VII and helping the team refine those features ahead of release.
Firaxis' will discuss how the Workshop was built, how development and community teams worked together to make it effective, and what Firaxis learned from opening up the development process to thousands of Civ players.
In this session, Firaxis invites you into the world of the Firaxis Feature Workshop, a player testing program designed to bring the community directly into the development process. More than 4,000 players have participated across multiple rounds, providing feedback on significant changes to Civilization VII and helping the team refine those features ahead of release.
Firaxis' will discuss how the Workshop was built, how development and community teams worked together to make it effective, and what Firaxis learned from opening up the development process to thousands of Civ players.
Takeaway
Attendees learn how Firaxis structured player testing for a live Civilization game, from recruiting and onboarding thousands of participants to collecting, prioritizing, and communicating feedback across teams. The session shares concrete lessons from the Firaxis Feature Workshop, including what worked, what didn't, and how the Workshop evolved across multiple rounds.
Intended Audience
The session benefits community managers, producers, designers, and other developers working on live games, especially those in established franchises. It's particularly relevant to teams looking to build stronger player feedback loops or evolve existing testing programs. Prior knowledge of Civ VII or the Firaxis Feature Workshop is NOT required.