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[hops]

I assume that there'd be huge ramifications for defiling any sort of tomb connected to a still-existing civilization or religion, and definitely get BadBoy points with any family related to the corpse. I'd like to see the PC eventually able to create works of art. Using Character experiences, historical references, and a random generator dealy to create what the works are specifically.

Unless their cultural values place no value in corpses.
I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't particularly care about any morality attached to dead people; so it's not unimaginable that there could be civilisations where corpses are not treated with any sort of respect. And it's not as though the dead people care.

You would still want to dump corpses in a mound or something unless you like Black Deaths.

[Dutchling]

I think (y)our definition of 'tomb' varies.

[Devling]

Can we agree it's "Dedicated place to store dead people"?

[Edmus]

Can we agree it's "Dedicated place to store dead people"?

Yeah lets go with that.

[coolio678]

Random joke leads to page long discussion on the viability of diamond armor.
Goddamit guys can we talk about something related to the game?

Not when someone is wrong on the internet!

+1 

Sorry guy for starting this nonsense. I'll redeem myself with this video on the subject.

I forgive you. That was quite fun to watch.

[Vrky]

This game sounds like a great idea, I especially like the idea of ruling a kingdom/republic from 'first person', ordering invasions and construction projects, and then being able to visit conquered/built up areas. Also ordering arrests, threatening/bribing senate members etc., all in person.
Kinnda sounds like crusader kings II actually, but with cool factor that you can actually visit any location and person in the world, and also play as adventurer/possibly merchant?

Question for developer: Will there be a trade system, and how will it be handled? Will there be production of resources (supply), i.e. mines, farms, plantations, pastures etc., that can be both visited (and owned!!), and demand for those resources by city populations? Will there be import/export of resources from other civs - trade system that influences both economy and diplomacy?

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

How much of the game is there though?

Solar system generation, world generation sans civs, some of the visual effects, and you can walk around and look at the game (which does look beautiful).

That's pretty fair (and thank you!).

It's the first ASCII game I've ever thought genuinely looked good. I especially like how the shading is done, especially where there are lotsa trees around.

Thanks! This week's update (bottom of this post) has some more graphics I've been working on.

'Kay
Can we pick up the mummies in tombs, I wanna throw them about and stuff. You could create a mummy collection and get angry protesters peasants without enough work calling you a grave defiler.
(That was worryingly the first thing that came to mind.)

Yes! I hope so. You won't be able to 'wield' anything effectively like in DF, but I'd like to in the future have a lot of context-specific attacks involving different terrain, objects, etc.

I assume that there'd be huge ramifications for defiling any sort of tomb connected to a still-existing civilization or religion, and definitely get BadBoy points with any family related to the corpse. I'd like to see the PC eventually able to create works of art. Using Character experiences, historical references, and a random generator dealy to create what the works are specifically.

Definitely, but only if they know about you, of course. I really like the family idea - that would be a good reason for feuds, bounties etc, if a family discovers you've been messing about in their tomb. As for CREATING works of art... that's interesting. Again, see this week's blog entry for a bit of early "art" in ziggurats. But the player creating art... I'll have to think about that. Existing art works will be generated from myth, history, blah blah, but I'll have to think about how the player could go about it...

Unless their cultural values place no value in corpses.
I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't particularly care about any morality attached to dead people; so it's not unimaginable that there could be civilisations where corpses are not treated with any sort of respect. And it's not as though the dead people care.

Why would there be a tomb if they didn't care about the bodies?

Nobody ever specified how elaborate the tomb would be.
It could just be a place to put bodies without them uglying up the scenery.

I suppose I could vary how civilizations choose to bury their dead. Or at least dispose of them. I have different methods of execution, so I see no reason why I couldn't do the same for burial. At sea, burning, tomb, graveyard, etc etc...

This game sounds like a great idea, I especially like the idea of ruling a kingdom/republic from 'first person', ordering invasions and construction projects, and then being able to visit conquered/built up areas. Also ordering arrests, threatening/bribing senate members etc., all in person.
Kinnda sounds like crusader kings II actually, but with cool factor that you can actually visit any location and person in the world, and also play as adventurer/possibly merchant?

Question for developer: Will there be a trade system, and how will it be handled? Will there be production of resources (supply), i.e. mines, farms, plantations, pastures etc., that can be both visited (and owned!!), and demand for those resources by city populations? Will there be import/export of resources from other civs - trade system that influences both economy and diplomacy?

Thank you! Yes, that's the eventual goal. I'm working on the "exploration" aspects first, in gameplay terms, before I then start working on cities, NPCs, etc. Trade I intend to split into barter, and trade - bartering being just exchanging items, trade being money for items, or money for money (I'd like to implement some kind of system for exchange rates between currencies, etc). I don't know if resource areas can be owned yet, as I want to abstract out some of the "construction" aspects (as DF does that kind of thing) but resources will contribute to how many people an empire can support, what armies it can field, etc. Importing and exporting is something I need to work on in history generation relatively soon, so I might do a blog entry about that when I've got it implemented. Pretty much everything will go into history generation first, and then into the 'real' game .

MEANWHILE, this fortnight's blog entry, with some more art, and a first generated creation myth:

http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2013/02/19/inside-ziggurats/

[Graknorke]

I'm not sure if it's just me, but there looks to be something up with your website's formatting. There's a big but empty banner on the top of the page.

I did like that generated creation story though. It feels like the flow is a little odd, but it's a really big achievement to make something that can generate a story that coherent.

[Glloyd]

This game is so consistently beautiful. Hurrah!

[PanH]

I suppose I could vary how civilizations choose to bury their dead. Or at least dispose of them. I have different methods of execution, so I see no reason why I couldn't do the same for burial. At sea, burning, tomb, graveyard, etc etc...

But that would also influence their reaction to defiling. I'm sure people that throw their relatives' corpses to dog dont mind if I borrow it.

[Vrky]

This game sounds like a great idea, I especially like the idea of ruling a kingdom/republic from 'first person', ordering invasions and construction projects, and then being able to visit conquered/built up areas. Also ordering arrests, threatening/bribing senate members etc., all in person.
Kinnda sounds like crusader kings II actually, but with cool factor that you can actually visit any location and person in the world, and also play as adventurer/possibly merchant?

Question for developer: Will there be a trade system, and how will it be handled? Will there be production of resources (supply), i.e. mines, farms, plantations, pastures etc., that can be both visited (and owned!!), and demand for those resources by city populations? Will there be import/export of resources from other civs - trade system that influences both economy and diplomacy?

Thank you! Yes, that's the eventual goal. I'm working on the "exploration" aspects first, in gameplay terms, before I then start working on cities, NPCs, etc. Trade I intend to split into barter, and trade - bartering being just exchanging items, trade being money for items, or money for money (I'd like to implement some kind of system for exchange rates between currencies, etc). I don't know if resource areas can be owned yet, as I want to abstract out some of the "construction" aspects (as DF does that kind of thing) but resources will contribute to how many people an empire can support, what armies it can field, etc. Importing and exporting is something I need to work on in history generation relatively soon, so I might do a blog entry about that when I've got it implemented. Pretty much everything will go into history generation first, and then into the 'real' game .

Thanks for reply
What I meant by owning resource areas was simply owning them as a source of income/materials to sell, while still leaving actual construction of such sites abstracted out. I think it would be interesting to play as a wealthy merchant and owner of many mines/plantations through kingdom, eventually being so rich that you can field own armies of mercenaries and influencing policies of the kingdom from the shadows.

[Man of Paper]

On this forkknife's blog entry: That sun looks beautiful. This is proof that a roguelike can look stunning.

On player-created art: I know you've been dipping into the fast-forwarding time concept, and think this'd be another great thing to implement it with should you decide to. Say, for example, I have a skilled sculptor. Once I get all the materials and somesuch, I decide on the amount of time I want to dedicate to working on it, as well as the general subject (I'll also expand on this idea in a second). The overall quality would depend on the character's skill, the content on their choice, and the size and/or detail on the time dedicated.

To elaborate on the choosing of a general subject, I don't know if it'd be easy, since events would have to be neatly sorted, but have  multiple categories with subcategories to choose from. For example:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

History: People
History: Battles
History: Places
Personal: Battles
Personal: Accolades
Lore: Civilization X Legends
Lore: Civilization Y Legends
Lore: Civilization Z Legends
Lore: Artifacts

Of course that'd need to be heavily worked on. In the example list Personal: Battles would just be a more specific area of History: Battles. Unless of course "History" would include only the time before the character was splatted out into the world.

[Devling]

Can we have realtic weapon strength?
Not just "You can use this weapon 45 times before it shatters", but weapons chipping, losing their edge, and straight up breaking. I would also probably solve one of DFs silleier "problems" (If you don't like Fun), where a corpse is more effective then a sword.

Side note: Actually fighting involves very little parrying, because weapons lose their edge and break much easier then you would expect. The only weapon I can think of that is meant to be consistently used to block a blow is the rapier, and that works because it has no edge and is very flexible.

[Flare]

Name one culture that places no value what so ever on corpses.
As Civilization taught us, Cerminoal burial is important.

I think they may have a negative value for them, corpses being magnets of disease and putrid elements what with the rotting and the gases and such. Getting rid of them for purely practical reasons for instance. I do not think that it is too far fetched to say that there are some groups of people out there that place no value on dead bodies. The person you're addressing, as well as I, are two examples of individuals that do not put much worth into corpses.

A better argument against his position though, is that people like he and I tend to just cremate the bodies for practical reasons and disperse the ash somewhere or general dispose of the body instead of building elaborate temples and dungeons for them. A nice tomb filled with valuables is generally indicative of a group of people who really, really care about the corpses of their members.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

even though you don't place much value in other people's, and even your own corpse, you'd probable be somewhat attached to those of your loved ones. even if the society doesn't care about you playing with johnny corpse, their parents\children\lover might be a bit upset