A portion of a Big Download interview with author Orson Scott Card...

BD: Have you ever talked to Chair Entertainment about your dream game as a possible collaboration?

OSC: Well, they're doing a different kind of game. I don't think they have the slightest interest in doing the kind of game I love to play. I look at what they did using the Unreal Engine from Epic and Shadow Complex is amazing. It's a side-scroller that looks like a 3D game. The artistry in this is gorgeous. And you can explore the world. You don't have to relentlessly play the game. You could wander around and find cool stuff. And they reward you for it. It becomes part of the gameplay if you want it to be. So I'm thrilled with what they've done with that. But I like the turn-based strategy game. And there aren't very many of those made, and most of them are made badly. Really Sid Meier is the only guy who does it reliably. And I wish more people would learn the lessons from the way he does it. Because I've looked at some of the other offerings and they emphasize the tedium and the fog of war. You have to fight these endless battles. And I don't want to play war. I want to play Civilization. And Civilization, you have to be able to fight, you have to be prepared to fight, but the main business of Civilization is being civilized --creating stuff, building. That's what I want to do.