Unciv - An Uncivilized But Entertaining Challenge

Introduction

Unciv is an open source remake of Civilization V by Firaxis Games, developed using lightweight code and assets, with Android phones as one of many target platforms. While still under heavy development, a considerable amount of features from Civ V and its first expansion Gods and Kings have been implemented so far, and the extensive modding support has lead to a plethora of additional content created by the community.

Unciv sees the players take on the role of a great historical leader, with the goal of leading their nation to one of five victory conditions - either science, cultural, domination, diplomatic or time.

Creating a mod for Unciv is surprisingly easy - all you need is a working copy of the game, and a GitHub account, and the robust modding tutotials will guide you from there. The modding API supports small additions like custom units or audiovisual changes, all the way up to replacing the entire base ruleset of the game.

Open Source Code And Where To Play

The source code can be found on GitHub, with a special section in the README listing the various ways you can install and play it. It's also available on itch.io, if you'd rather add it to your library there.

Copyright And Video Games

Author's Note: I am not a lawyer, this discussion of copyright laws does not constitute legal advice, and is merely an expression of my understanding of the situation. These opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of the website hosting this article. Please seek professional legal advice for more details.

The legal rights and protections around video games has an extensive history that I won't go into detail about here, but I'd like to draw attention to one specific detail: while video games are automatically protected by copyright, in whole or in part, game mechanics are explicitly not covered by those same laws. This means that a game series like Grand Theft Auto can have driving or racing mechanics without risk of legal action from the publishers of the Forza series.

Yes, that's an odd example, but similarly strange examples have had real consequences in the past. For the time being, as long as Unciv doesn't infringe on this copyright or trade dress, and doesn't generate revenue, it's unlikely that Firaxis or their publishers will take legal action against it.

Tags: Open Source