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[EagleV]

Will it be possible to see which side in a conflict is doing well, so you can sell better weapons to the underdog and keep the war going, or alternatively sell to the winning guy if your opponents are making too much money off the war? (Indicating this with a moving front and different side colors on the world map would be great, but may be too much work for what it's worth, and it adds clutter)

On another note, that music is great.

[hemmingjay]

Wait, is it all above board arms trading? I was under the impression that there would be black market trade, and that operates in every country around the world.

Edit: the map is also missing most of the Pacific islands, much of the Caribbean, and the Aleutian islands.

There are three different arms dealing games in one. For the prototype, it will be the illicite trade of weapons between a gun runner and state governments. This type of trade is conducted in roughly 150-160 countries in the world. Small level illegal gun trade such as street level black market gun deals are done in every country and will make up the first phase or game. The third phase is the most legitimate gun trade, which is weapons manufacturing on a global scale. The sales are above board, but the tactics are not. I aim to bring the varying levels of this industry to light for gamers. We always see huge arsenals of weapons in games but we never really explore how they get there. I also don't want to beat the user over the head with social consciousness but the game will display two discrete stats at the end of every game; number of deaths your trade is responsible for and overall economic growth you are responsible for.

Skyrunner, thanks. It's not final, but it's the general direction.

EagleV, I hadn't really thought about it before, but it shouldn't be too hard to employ. I will add it as a feature to be tested and make sure it's additive to play. I definitely won't enable a visible dynamic front. While it's a cool concept it takes focus from the prime design and waters down the style by adding too many elements. I really appreciate you getting me to think about this stuff though!

[hemmingjay]

I hired a composer to create an exclusive soundtrack for the game. The first track is a bit intense and epic, but is for the opening credits/loading. The actual in game music will be less aggressive. www.soundcloud.com/elyssius  It's the 10th track, labeled game music. He is creating at least another 3 songs for rotation.

[MaximumZero]

That is a lot less aggressive than I thought it would be. Then again, I'm a metalhead, and nothing goes together with arms dealing that machine-gunning riffs, amirite?

[hemmingjay]

That is a lot less aggressive than I thought it would be. Then again, I'm a metalhead, and nothing goes together with arms dealing that machine-gunning riffs, amirite?

I listen to Clutch and Tool while play testing, so I am want to agree, but we are in the minority.

[EagleV]

I'm all for rock/metal as well, but I think game music should be non-distracting. Especially strategy game music. Maybe a short but solid guitar solo to celebrate your upgrade from one phase to another?

[hemmingjay]

Don't worry, there won't be any distracting hardcore music in the game. We don't want to distract players from getting sucked into the game for hours.

[hemmingjay]

Here is the current example of our menu style for our black market or buy/sell menu. The weapon graphic and general face are taken from other games and exist just to fill in the blanks right now. The style seems to work well for PC and Mac but will probably need to change to a similar but vertical style and remove some of the extraneous flavor text.

[EagleV]

I like it! Do I smell a bit of Mass Effect?

Something minor: the '1' and '$4000' are closer together than the price and name, and somehow it bugs me a bit. Maybe putting the 1 in a seperate little subsection or making it "1 x $4000" will solve it.

[hemmingjay]

Noted, thanks! I actually think I want to make a clearly defined box around the 1 so the player knows they can click it and manually enter a number.

[WhitiusOpus]

On the idea of the guns - how in-depth are you willing to go once players get to the end phase of manufacturing and selling their own weapons, legitimately?

I for one would absolutely love having the ability to make my own guns. As in, create a collection of weapon parts (scopes, barrels, grips, calibers, frame materials, etc.) and the stats of the weapons determine their success in a conflict, and how well those weapons sell. For example:

I create an expensive, very effective high-quality rifle. Due to its expense, I'm not able to effectively sell it in African civil wars. On the other hand, legitimate governments such as NATO and the US buy them, since they are affordable to them.

I then make a cheap, moderately effective gun, similar to the AK. Due to easy production, I am able to excel in making funds off 3rd world country conflicts. But, I cannot easily sell them to world powers, as the weapons aren't the high quality required.

[hemmingjay]

I went underground for a few weeks because I needed to change the focus of the game. After presenting to the head of Matrix/Slitherine and getting some important feedback we have decided to focus on the buying and selling of weapons exclusively. The player will have a lot of options on how to operate and evade authorities. Further, while there is no win state to the game, there is a lose state. Losing won't be assured though, as there are ways to save yourself by the skin of your teeth, just to salvage your chance to stay in business.

I have also hired a new artist, a veteran of the industry who brings enormous talent and vision. While the art below is just a first draft and the tone is likely to change, hopefully you can see our renewed commitment to delivering a quality product.

This is a game with a lot of variables and a lot of choices. While the overall scope of the game is just arms dealing, it's really addictive because each game plays out so differently.

Other than feedback on the art, how do you feel about playing an open ended game without a win state? A game where you just try to amass more money and survive longer than your last game? We are playing around with an idea for a win state if people really want one.

**For those who were interested in the gun manufacturer idea, we have plans to produce that as a separate game as it's deserving of it's own focus. Once again, keep in mind that this is a $7-15 game that is for business/crime/sim/strategy fans. Rest assured I will be giving away many copies to B12 as usual.

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[Skyrunner]

Many games don't have a win state. Our very own DF, Sim City, the various tycoon games like Game Dev Story (the original by Kairosoft, not the rip'-off), Civ kinda.

That said, all of the above suffer from the problem that because there's no end to a game they also feel kinda unfulfilling once all the things achievable have been achieved. Say, a fortress with 200 dorfs, embellished everything, furniture of platinum, a hundred-stromg army of Legendary+5s and infinite food... there's no way to lose anymore, but you can't win, so you merely exist.

I think having a nominal state where the game declares that you 'won', then letting you keep playing and racking up points would work nicely. Living forever should also become increasingly difficult :v

[hemmingjay]

Thanks for the input! The difficulty does indeed ramp up over time making survival increasingly difficult. We are considering having multiple game modes, one with a win state, another perpetual.

Also, I edited my last post because I forgot the art. Please check it out.

[MaximumZero]

If you want win conditions, you can make a checklist of "win conditions" for players to fulfill, possibly more than one per game. Personal bank account with $X in it without getting caught, crushed all major competition, leader of X country's organized crime, only black market arms dealer to certain country, certain country has a rebellion successfully (and puts one of your puppets in power,) 100% market share/saturation of illegal arms market in X country, max out all upgrades, etc.