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AFAIK they don't cooperate with Firaxis, but the interface looks very similar indeed, I hope they won't get sued for that...
That's more than similar.

As much as I respect Paradox Interactive, I'd be upset if I am a Firaxis developer since this is practically plagiarism.

Warlock:
warlock_10-39-44-20.jpg


Civilization 5:
attachment.php


Edit: I will make a more resembling image using my copy of Civilization 5 tonight.

Edit 2: My friend told me the developer team got the Civ 5 engine license from Firaxis. So I guess there's no plagiarism after all.
 
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It is not the Civ5 engine, the game is based on the engine used for Elven Legacy and Fantasy Wars. A lot in the interface has been changed since it was placeholder graphics up until beta. If you look at Fantasy Wars, you can also see that a lot of the details were in this game as well (released 2007, well before Civ5)
 
I agree With Fredrik: as Fantasy Wars and Elven Legacy veteran I have to damit that Warlock looks more to that style than to the one of Civ5.
Unfortunately most people only know Civ5 and will compare Warlock with it.....
 
Warlock looks better actually.
 
IT HAS HEXES LIKE CIV5!!!

Although round icons may make you think about Civ5, they were in Fantasy Wars (which is exelent game and you have to go and buy it right now). On some other good ideas... If windows would borrowed some good ideas from Macs everybody would benefit. I don't see why good interface ideas shouldn't be used as long as gameplay itself is original.
 
It's hexagonal, has message icons on the side, has a possible minimap in the bottom right, and has info in the top left. That's really not specific to Civ 5. Really, most RTS games have remarkably similar interfaces, and you don't see people complaining there.
 
How is it "plagiarism"?

Firaxis (or whoever owns Civilization) doesnt own right to all turn based games, nor do they own right to specific graphics solutions (3D map, hexagonal representation of fields, interface bits placed at certain screen locations etc).

Like Ruanek said almost all strategy games have some elements exactly the same, specially interface stuff like minimap, thats not "plagiarism" its simply using the well established industry standards.

Like most of the first person shooters today come with F5/F6 key being quick save, F9 quick load.
 
Game looks nothing like Elven Legacy or Fantasy Wars in any way, not even close. I can't begin to imagine how anyone can make that claim.

The similarities to Civ5 are far more numerous than a few UI elements. There's map/terrain elements and styling, scaling, positioning of icons and overlays, unit formations and movement timing, etc. etc. There's also gameplay elements like cities being able to fire on nearby enemies, and the round icon in the middle of the city that lets you do that, plus the way the round unit icons change to a shield shape when they fortify. You'll also notice a lot of the things that were identical to Civ5 have been changing over the weeks, like the round unit icons I just mentioned are now hexes (but still change to shields), the old two-color border line has become a glowing veil, and the Civ5 style unit selection ring has become a glowy ring. It's kind of suspicious that they would create all these elements that look exactly like Civ5, and then turn around and redo them so late in development, and for what reason?

I would be shocked if the Civ5 engine and core assets weren't used.
 
I would be shocked if the Civ5 engine and core assets weren't used.

I don't think so, it seems they used the Civ5 interface as a reference (but without any code from Firaxis used), and now they realized it's too similar, so they're changing it.

I hope the engine is better optimized, and will run faster on my machine than Civ5...
 
I would be shocked if the Civ5 engine and core assets weren't used.

I've played Medal of Honour once... There was WW2, regenerating health and I've shooted guns. Sometimes stationary machinegun. They've stole everything from Call of Duty. They may have even steal code to make the same game. Too bad CoD creators don't know and can't sue those bastards.
 
I would be shocked if the Civ5 engine and core assets weren't used.

Then prepare to be SHOCKED.

Even if people do not want to see it there are things that has obvious similarities between Fantasy Wars/Eleven Legacy and Civ5. I remember a conversation with InoCo when Civ5 came out where we had a great time discussing the many similar gameplay and UI elements.

This game is not Civ5 and does not try to be, it works perfectly well on it's own merits.

Feel free to email me if you have more questions.
 
I've played Fantasy Wars and it looks nothing like Civ 5 or the screenshots of Warlocks. Maybe I am blind.

Let's say we have different opinions, you say EL/FW "looks nothing like Civ5" while we (Paradox and InoCo) thought there were enough similarities to warrant a Skype conversation about it and being a bit amused. On the other hand we are easily amused so that might be part of the explanation.
 
Game looks nothing like Elven Legacy or Fantasy Wars in any way, not even close. I can't begin to imagine how anyone can make that claim.

Why would he bother lying? IF you were right, then Paradox would have felt they had a right to do so, and Fred's response would have been "Yeah, and?"

I do see similaries between Legacy and the Warlock screenshot. Again, even if I granted you the games don't look alike then that proves nothing. CK II, Vicky II, EU III and EU: Rome all use the Clausewitz engine, but they look substantially different.

Anyway, I disagree with you regarding the similarity to Civ5. Other than hexagons and cities - both which have been in wargames since before I was born - I don't see it.
 
Even if people do not want to see it there are things that has obvious similarities between Fantasy Wars/Eleven Legacy and Civ5.

I'm not talking about similarities, gameplay related or thematic. I'm talking about elements that are in exactly the same place, that are the same shape, color, appearance and scale. There are a lot of TBS strategy games out there, they all have similarities, I have never seen another TBS game where people have from the moment the first screens come out been so confused about it looking like another game. This is far from the first thread on the subject.

This game is not Civ5 and does not try to be, it works perfectly well on it's own merits.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying the game is going to play anything like Civ5 or isn't "it's own game." Nearly every game released these days is built on a third party engine, it's normal. I'm being positive here, I don't care if it uses the Civ5 engine, good for them, it's stable and worked well in Civ5.

If it's not built on the Civ5 engine, well then I actually would feel quite a bit less about the game. Imitation to this extent isn't really flattery anymore. Being built on the same engine is a valid excuse for these elements being identical, otherwise....
 
I'm not talking about similarities, gameplay related or thematic. I'm talking about elements that are in exactly the same place, that are the same shape, color, appearance and scale. There are a lot of TBS strategy games out there, they all have similarities, I have never seen another TBS game where people have from the moment the first screens come out been so confused about it looking like another game. This is far from the first thread on the subject.

Maybe I'm too accustomed to discussions on the Internet, but I've actually seen more posts on the inclusion or exclusion of a Naval Attack value for Stukas in the Hearts of Iron series than on this particular topic (I know the topic has come up but haven't realized some people see it as a major thing); that said I respect your opinion and you are free to email me the feedback on elements, shape, color, appearance and scale that you think is inappropriate and I'll make sure to get the feedback to the team. We are always positive to feedback and that is the main reason I have my email address in my forum signature.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying the game is going to play anything like Civ5 or isn't "it's own game." Nearly every game released these days is built on a third party engine, it's normal. I'm being positive here, I don't care if it uses the Civ5 engine, good for them, it's stable and worked well in Civ5.

If it's not built on the Civ5 engine, well then I actually would feel quite a bit less about the game. Imitation to this extent isn't really flattery anymore. Being built on the same engine is a valid excuse for these elements being identical, otherwise....

I am enjoying the game a lot and I hope you'll give it a chance, it's a really good game.

Edit: It would be great to get your comments on Elven Legacy / Fantasy Wars as well, some people in this thread seem to say they are also similar to Civ5/Warlock, while some people see no similarity whatsoever (Edit 2: You already commented and thought there was no similarity at all, ok)