Jon Shafer, lead designer and principle gameplay programmer of Civilization V, has been hired by Stardock to work on the Elemental: War of Magic series for PC. This follows the announcement of his departure from Firaxis nearly two weeks ago. Shafer spoke with Gamasutra about his decision to leave Firaxis after nearly five years at the company and what he’ll be doing at Stardock.
Shafer explained that the decision had been brewing for “a couple of months.” He was interested in working for Stardock because the publisher could provide “more flexibility than you would have at a larger company.”
"Stardock is a company I've always been a big fan of," Shafer said. "The thing that really attracted me to Stardock is really the personality of the company, how [CEO] Brad [Wardell] approaches making games, how he approaches the PC platform, how he approaches his community."
Shafer will be working with Derek Paxton, creator of the Fall From Heaven mod for Civilization IV, on the Elemental series, which had a less than successful launch for Stardock in the middle of last year.
Stardock has also hired science fiction writer Dave Stern to focus on the stories surrounding the company’s titles moving forward. Stern previously wrote a lore book for Elemental: War of Magic. The writer is no stranger to genre adaptations, having previously written novels based on properties like Tomb Raider, Star Trek, Fantastic Four, and Wolverine.
