Unciv - Civ V remake for Android & Desktop
What is this?
An open source, moddability-focused Android and Desktop remake of Civ V, made with LibGDX.
Is this any good?
Depends what you're looking for. If you're in the market for high-res graphics, amazing soundtracks, animations etc, I highly recommend Firaxis's Civ-V-like game, "Civilization V".
If you want a small, fast, moddable, FOSS, in-depth 4X that can still run on a potato, you've come to the right place :)
How do I install?
- Android - Google Play or F-droid
- Linux - itch.io, Flatpak via Flathub, or AUR
- Windows - Grab the MSI, or get from itch.io, Chocolatey, or Scoop
- Raspberry Pi - Pi-apps
- MacOS - Via Brew (
brew update && brew install unciv) or install with this guide - Jars, APKs and Windows/Linux builds also available in Releases (run jar with
java -jar Unciv.jar) - not recommended since we update frequently and you will quickly become out-of-date - Build from scratch if that's your thing
What's the roadmap?
In this order:
- Polish!
- UI+UX improvements (suggestions welcome!)
- Better automation, AI etc. in-game
- G&K mechanics - see #4697
- BNW mechanics - trade routes, world congress, etc.
At the moment, no one is explicitly working to add these mechanics in - you could be the one! :D
Contributing
Programmers start here!
Translators start here! Language completion status here
Modders start here!
You can join us in any of the open issues, or work on improving anything you want - once you're finished, issue a pull request and it'll go into the next version!
If not, you can help by spreading the word - vote for Unciv where you can, mention it on Reddit or Twitter etc, and help us with new ideas of how to get the word out!
FAQ
How about iOS?
I'm not planning on it. It means paying money to Apple, yet another release path, and since I don't have an iOS device it means I can't test it properly.
Steam release?
Steam has decided that they don't want to host Unciv, they probably don't want to risk legal issues with Firaxis (although those should be non-existent, see below).
Will you implement {feature}?
If it's in the original Civ V, then yes!
If not, then the feature won't be added to the base game - possibly it will be added as a way to mod the game, which is constantly expanding.
Why not? This is its own game, why not add features that weren't in Civ V?
Having a clear vision is important for actually getting things done.
Anyone can make a suggestion. Not all are good, viable, or simple. Not many can actually implement stuff.
As an open source project, this stuff is done in our spare time, of which there isn't much.
We need a clear-cut criteria to decide what to work on and what not to work on.
Will you implement Civ VI?
Considering how long it took to get this far, no.
How can I learn to play? Where's the wiki?
All the tutorial information is available in-game at menu > civilopedia > tutorials
All the information is included in the amazing Civ V wiki
Since this is a Civ V clone, you can search Google for how to play Civ V and there are loads of answers =)
Alternatively, you could join us on Discord and ask there =D
Aren't you basically making a Civ V clone? Is that even legal?
According to the US Copyright Office FL-108, intellectual property rights do not apply to mechanics - as I'm sure you know, there are a billion Flappy Bird knockoffs.
It is definitely illegal:
- To use any assets from the original game (images, sound etc) - they belong to Firaxis
It is probably illegal (no solid sources on this):
- To use the Civilization name
- To impersonate the Civ games (so calling yourself civi|zation with a similar logo, for instance)
Interestingly, Civilization is a registered trademark, but it looks like it's only that particular logo which is trademarked, so technically you could make another game called "Civilization" and it'll stick. In any case we're not going there :)
Run with Docker 
docker run -d -p 6901:6901 -p 5901:5901 ghcr.io/yairm210/unciv
Then go to http://localhost:6901/vnc.html?password=headless
For more details, e.g. installing Docker, keeping saves between runs and over image updates, building the image yourself, troubleshooting connection issues, or using a native VNC client instead of a browser, see Building-Locally.
Licensing and credits
Unciv's source code is available under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (see LICENSE), except where otherwise noted. TextureArraySpriteBatch.java, forked from carlislefox/libgdx-texture-array-batch, is available under CC0 1.0 Universal (see LICENSE-TextureArraySpriteBatch).
The media files are authored by many people and are available under a mix of CC BY-SA 4.0, CC BY 3.0/4.0, CC0, and public domain terms (see docs/Credits.md).