Thanks for the feedback! Like all things game, artistic license is used heavily, which is how Canada ends up looking snow covered. I belive my art director based it off of sat photos which were likely from the winter months. In the Winter, little of Canada is green or even brown. LordSlowpoke, how could we make it more Hollywood-like?
As for speed buttons, they aren't needed. With menus pausing time, things are manageable. You won't need to speed things up because time moves quickly. The whole game is faster paced than a lot of strategy games. It isn't as slow as Shadow President, Supreme Ruler 2020, Hearts of Iron, or that type of game.
I wanted to make a deep strategy game that could be played in 1-1.5 hours and get the entire experience. If you want to sit and really plan your moves, you could drag it out to almost 4 hours, based on the current build of the game.
The next question is, when will I let a few people test it? Very soon. First, I need to find the right people. The first batch of 2-4 people I am looking for have to be the type that really like strategy games and business/trading games. The very first build of the game I am going to share will only have trading in it. Competing arms dealers and the AI enemies/law enforcement agencies will be turned off, as will things like special requests and missions. The RPG/skill elements will also not be active in the first builds. I really want to hammer out the basics first, even if that means just giving access to the most old fashioned, slightly boring aspect. It will play more like Drug Wars/Dope Wars where you just try to trade as much as you can for profit in a set amount of time. Our system involves unlocking new countries to buy and sell to through reputation and bribery systems. By dealing weapons to friends of the supplier, you build reputation with everyone in that alliance. That provides access to new customer nations as well as better deals with that supplier and access to new inventory. It works the other way too, if you are found to be supplying their enemies, your reputation will be damaged and you may find yourself unable to deal with those nations at all. Some nations are prohibited from official trade altogether, making it highly illegal to supply them with weapons from one of the 10 official suppliers. Should you get caught, you will be banned from dealing with them for several years. You hear rumors though of an unaffiliated, black market supplier who has his own reputation rating and rewards loyalty. You just need to find him first.
Anyway, I should be handing out the first build next week, Tues-Weds. If anyone here is interested in giving up 2-4 hours a week to play and write up a little about their experience, please let me know here. Just say what you find interesting about the project and what types of similar games you like. Thanks everyone!
PS, I am trying to get an official record for the video game with the most real guns in it, at 340+. As far as I can find, no game has come even close, with procedural generation not counting.
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Topic: Arms Dealer - Back from the Dead (Read 56405 times)