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[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Upper-Class Housing

This week’s main project has been on upper-class housing. There will only be one of these districts in each city and will contain three manors for the most important families in that civilization (including your family); a number of smaller manors for the “second tier” of wealthiest family within that nation; then a range of large houses (larger than what any other district offers) for other wealthy families but ones who cannot quite afford one of these ostentatious manors. In this version you will begin the game in the courtyard of the manor for your family, whilst in other versions once the early-game story introduction is in place, you’ll spawn within the manor (though once you know what the introduction is, you will naturally be able to leave right away and begin the game).



For the sake of interest I also put together an image to show the four different levels of housing. Note that this is four screenshots stitched together – hence why the roads do not match up between districts – but remains nicely illustrative of the four different levels. I’m very pleased with the kind of variation between upper class/middle class/lower class/slums and can’t wait until the point where I can put together an entire image of a city in all its glory. Markets as discussed before are finished, recreational and medical districts are being removed (and absorbed into others), and my next district is probably going to be military districts, though that requires quite a bit of thought first about what exactly I want spawning there.



Banks and Currencies

For the most part currencies are scheduled for a few releases hence (at least the generation of their images, exchange rates, etc), but since I came up with an interesting idea for banks on the strategic level of the game, I realized I need to implement at least the names of the currencies now even if their full realization would have to wait. As in the real world, the overwhelming majority of coins are metallic, though there are a very small number made from rather more unusual materials that you may come across (no more than one or two per game). Each currency is termed according to the material of its construction and the image that will be on the coin – you might encounter civilizations that deal in Golden Stags, Silver Wolves, Steel Fires, Bronze Axes, Copper Dragons, etc. Some also break down into lesser denominations like shillings, pence, cents, etc (a quick Google for a large number of these terms proved incredibly helpful).

Now, each civilization (Feudals only) will have a central bank with branches in some of its middle-class districts. I wasn’t sure at first what role these could play, but I had an interesting idea for the strategy layer of the game. As I’ve talked about before, the strategy layer of the game will involve navigating the world map in a range of difference ways. Different terrain types and elevations will take different periods of time to go across; some nations will be friendly, some hostile, some unknown; whilst mountains can only be crossed with a mountain pass, deserts with a caravan, and the ocean by finding a trade route and someone willing to accept you onto their ship. One other aspect of this layer is money – different districts will cost different amounts to enter, some exchange rates will/won’t be in your favour, and as you move around the world, you’ll quickly leave your home civilization far behind. Thus, once the strategy layer is implemented you will be able to invest your money into the bank in any civilization you pass through, and interest will accrue, but only in increments of one month and can only be collected if you pass back through that civilization again. The one-month requirement prevents farming (there is no way you can wait around a full month!) whilst it will raise another interesting strategic decision. Do I leave some money here on the assumption I’ll come back later to collect it? How much currency do I think I’ll need on my journeys before I next return to this city? Etc. It’s just a small aspect, but banks now spawn in middle-class districts, ready to receive future customers.

Special Buildings

Some more work on special buildings. There are going to be roughly twenty-five in total, and whilst they will not all spawn every game, a decent number of them will; they will then be distributed through-out the world’s cities. This means not every city is going to have one, but most cities will, and these special buildings will be especially prominent in world histories. Some will relate to the core quest, some will relate to other things, and they’ll generally add a little more variety. They will also allow me to further explore some of the sociological themes I want to get at in the game, so below is a screenshot of the player walking around the outside of the Panopticon prison (which this time happened to spawn in a near-polar nation):



Next week, I can safely predict (for once) I’ll be talking about nomadic fortresses as I’ve been working on those the past couple of days. They’re starting to come together and have also helped me come to some conclusions about the role of military districts in cities, certain things to do with weapons (coming a few releases hence), and also to think through some other things about the strategy layer I’ll share next time. Until then, hope you enjoy the Ominous White Pentagon and the city districts, and let me know what you think.

[darkflagrance]

I hope that even if you implement a timer, you'll also implement a sand-box mode purely for exploration as well. The patterns your worlds generate make me feel like they need to be explored fully to be appreciated, and there is a kind of fun that can be had by leisurely breaking into mansions and interacting with their gardens and interiors.

[Man of Paper]

I just want to kick things into a volcano when all is said and done.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

I hope that even if you implement a timer, you'll also implement a sand-box mode purely for exploration as well. The patterns your worlds generate make me feel like they need to be explored fully to be appreciated, and there is a kind of fun that can be had by leisurely breaking into mansions and interacting with their gardens and interiors.

I confess, I have no particular plans to do that. If I did, it would be like wizard mode in most roguelikes, i.e. a mode that is very explicitly just for testing/experimenting, but even that's unlikely (since so much of the game will be focused on exploration, secrets and figuring out what to do, any kind of wizmode would really ruin that).

I just want to kick things into a volcano when all is said and done.

One day, my friend. One day.

[Retropunch]

I hope that even if you implement a timer, you'll also implement a sand-box mode purely for exploration as well. The patterns your worlds generate make me feel like they need to be explored fully to be appreciated, and there is a kind of fun that can be had by leisurely breaking into mansions and interacting with their gardens and interiors.

I confess, I have no particular plans to do that. If I did, it would be like wizard mode in most roguelikes, i.e. a mode that is very explicitly just for testing/experimenting, but even that's unlikely (since so much of the game will be focused on exploration, secrets and figuring out what to do, any kind of wizmode would really ruin that).

I definitely think it's best not to have a mode like that - I find with a lot of games that have that mode it quickly becomes boring for the people who use it, and that creates tension with people saying that they've 'done everything' and want more. This is especially true with a game that is mostly exploration, as after you've explored everything the fun probably diminishes a lot.

[coolio678]

I'd rather just have a way to export the world map upon completion or death before the save gets removed, so then you can commemorate/share a particularly cool city or something without breaking the gameplay challenge.

[Retropunch]

I'd rather just have a way to export the world map upon completion or death before the save gets removed, so then you can commemorate/share a particularly cool city or something without breaking the gameplay challenge.

That sounds like a really awesome reward for completion actually!! 

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

I definitely think it's best not to have a mode like that - I find with a lot of games that have that mode it quickly becomes boring for the people who use it, and that creates tension with people saying that they've 'done everything' and want more. This is especially true with a game that is mostly exploration, as after you've explored everything the fun probably diminishes a lot.

Agreed, the impact of the actual discovery is totally lessened if you can just press Ctrl+Z and wander around and see everything anyway :\

I'd rather just have a way to export the world map upon completion or death before the save gets removed, so then you can commemorate/share a particularly cool city or something without breaking the gameplay challenge.

This is a great idea! Maybe something like the Civ "replay" map at the end of the game where it shows you every nation spreading, maybe something similar that gives you a mini-replay of your actions and you can save/export parts of the world you'd like to share?

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

For the first time in living memory, my prediction about this week’s update was spot on - fortresses. Where hunter-gatherers dwell in settlements and feudal civilizations dot the landscape with cities and towns, their nomadic brethren survival via a combination of caravans (which will be implemented later, probably in 0.8 ) and fortresses. These are dotted throughout the deserts of the world along what will later be major trade routes the caravans pass through. Whilst they are home to some people, the population count of nomadic civilizations is small compared to feudal nations, and many of their people live “in” the caravans anyway. Aside from some homes within these fortresses, however, much of their land is given over to military barracks and facilities, and open-air markets – yes, that’s right, open air markets will exist! Several people have asked for these, and whilst I felt I wanted everything in feudal nations to be focused in distinct shops (black markets, once implemented, will still roughly follow the “shop” model), open-air markets and bazaars seem very appropriate for nomads. For now, these markets are shown by the white %s in the images in this post; these stands will display items with a shopkeeper “patrolling” the area around them. Whilst each fortress has a lot, not all fortresses will spawn with markets (though most will), and some “stalls” might be shut, or unused, whilst others will contain useful things. My intention is for most stalls to be akin to general stores in feudal cities – almost any item may spawn – but possibly a few specialists in the mix as well.

Now on to the layouts of these fortresses. There are twelve different presets for fortress shapes, as shown in this illustrative and highly detailed diagram I created in the leading contemporary graphical software package, MS Paint:



Most of these are self-explanatory – the ones with dots are ones where the entire fortress is not “enclosed” within walls, but many of the buildings surround the main towers of the settlement instead. It’s a rare variant, but one that I thought would add some nice variety. At time of writing five of these have been coded, and I hope to have the remaining ones finished in the next fortnight, then probably moving back to cities for a while. Below is one example of the “concentric circles” archetype. In the outer layer we see housing, and in the inner layer one region of barracks and military buildings with a second region of open-air markets. Gates in this case happen to have spawned in the west and east, and there are bridges for crossing the rivers, making sure every region of the fortress can be reached on foot. In all fortresses areas near the core are likely to be of soil or even have some plantlife, whilst the outer areas will remain covered in sand. Bear in mind, as ever, that screenshots of an entire map grid always look wildly different from a close-up (which you’ll have at the end of this post). Nevertheless:



As you can see from that picture, the web of bridges and gates ensures that every area of the fortress can be accessed. In future versions once caravans are implemented there will be buildings and encampments around the fortress which will come and go as caravans and seasons pass, but these are the “stationary” parts that will remain constant.

Lastly, here’s two more screenshots, one from me entering a “square” archetype fortress, and one from a square fortress which had a river running through it, and its inhabitants had evidently decided to use it as a form of extra defence or a way to separate the different areas of the fortress, rather than just considering it something that had to be built around like those who crafted the circular fortress above.





TWO FINAL VERY IMPORTANT THINGS

Firstly, I’m going to be submitting my thesis within, I hope, a month (or at the most, perhaps a month and a half). This means the next 4-6 weeks are going to be very academically busy whilst I do the final edits to my hundred-thousand-word abomination masterpiece. I don’t yet know how many edits my supervisors will want (we’re meeting on the 4th of July to discuss this) and how long these will take to do, but whilst weekly updates will continue as ever, they may be shorter, or I may deploy some non-URR pieces I’ve had in the works for a little while. I think August remains a realistic target for 0.6, but we’re probably looking at the end of August, though it must be said this is the biggest release in some time. 0.7, by contrast, I would expect to be significantly shorter in duration.

Secondly, some absolutely incredible news has just come through regarding the next year of URR’s development (starting in two months once my thesis is submitted). I’m not really allowed to say any more on this topic yet, but by next week (or if not, definitely the week after) I should be able to make the appropriate announcement. GET HYPE.

[darkflagrance]

I definitely think it's best not to have a mode like that - I find with a lot of games that have that mode it quickly becomes boring for the people who use it, and that creates tension with people saying that they've 'done everything' and want more. This is especially true with a game that is mostly exploration, as after you've explored everything the fun probably diminishes a lot.

Agreed, the impact of the actual discovery is totally lessened if you can just press Ctrl+Z and wander around and see everything anyway :\

I'd rather just have a way to export the world map upon completion or death before the save gets removed, so then you can commemorate/share a particularly cool city or something without breaking the gameplay challenge.

This is a great idea! Maybe something like the Civ "replay" map at the end of the game where it shows you every nation spreading, maybe something similar that gives you a mini-replay of your actions and you can save/export parts of the world you'd like to share?

I suspect that people will constantly clamor for a feature that removes time restrictions or allows some form of greater world access, and the fan base may become divided on this issue in the future. I tend to distrust examples of people seemingly growing bored with games after using "that mode" simply because a counterfactual where that same person was never exposed to "too much content" does not exist. I find it more convincing that people already bored with a game seek novelty by removing prior restrictions, and actually extend the game's lifespan for themselves.

Please don't take this as criticism. I just want to offer an alternate outlook to ensure that you are keeping your design goals well-thought out. 

[Retropunch]

I suspect that people will constantly clamor for a feature that removes time restrictions or allows some form of greater world access, and the fan base may become divided on this issue in the future. I tend to distrust examples of people seemingly growing bored with games after using "that mode" simply because a counterfactual where that same person was never exposed to "too much content" does not exist. I find it more convincing that people already bored with a game seek novelty by removing prior restrictions, and actually extend the game's lifespan for themselves.

Please don't take this as criticism. I just want to offer an alternate outlook to ensure that you are keeping your design goals well-thought out. 

I certainly agree that with some games sandbox modes are absolutely a good addition and I love such features. The only issue with URR is that it's primarily (from what I gather) an exploration game, or at least that's a huge part of it. If you allow the player to see pretty much everything in one sitting, that part of the game is pretty much over. Sure you might want to go back over cool stuff again as a new character and whatever, but why bother when you can just load up your old save (or the version with an alive, hard as nails character) and just see everything using that.

I think a balance can be reached with a relaxed time frame which doesn't make the player feel rushed but that they don't have time to go to on extremely long trips that aren't on their path. I would suggest though that any timelimits need to be very well worked into the game, as nothing drives people more crazy than arbitrary time limits.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

I suspect that people will constantly clamor for a feature that removes time restrictions or allows some form of greater world access, and the fan base may become divided on this issue in the future. I tend to distrust examples of people seemingly growing bored with games after using "that mode" simply because a counterfactual where that same person was never exposed to "too much content" does not exist. I find it more convincing that people already bored with a game seek novelty by removing prior restrictions, and actually extend the game's lifespan for themselves.

Please don't take this as criticism. I just want to offer an alternate outlook to ensure that you are keeping your design goals well-thought out. 

I certainly agree that with some games sandbox modes are absolutely a good addition and I love such features. The only issue with URR is that it's primarily (from what I gather) an exploration game, or at least that's a huge part of it. If you allow the player to see pretty much everything in one sitting, that part of the game is pretty much over. Sure you might want to go back over cool stuff again as a new character and whatever, but why bother when you can just load up your old save (or the version with an alive, hard as nails character) and just see everything using that.

I think a balance can be reached with a relaxed time frame which doesn't make the player feel rushed but that they don't have time to go to on extremely long trips that aren't on their path. I would suggest though that any timelimits need to be very well worked into the game, as nothing drives people more crazy than arbitrary time limits.

Dark, not at all! I really appreciate all feedback . I understand that is a possibility, but I think I'm trying to be very clear that it's never going to happen. If people want an open-world proc-gen game, I will happily recommend DF, but I am creating something slightly different. Giving URR a non-story mode would be as crippling as an invincibility option or similar in a Souls game (to my mind). When you can instantly see everything in a game that is focused around uncovering stuff, then...

To lead onto what Retro said: you are right Retro, it is a very exploration-focused game (or will be). So much will rest on exploration and figuring out where to go next, and that would be smashed by allowing something of this sort in the future (though all 0.x releases will naturally be restriction-free, just since I want you to see the world and the story isn't there yet!). As for your final paragraph, I totally agree. It's going to be a very challenging but very interesting balance issue when I come to it to figure out the exact values. The timer is intricately linked to the story and the quest, though, so I think it should feel anything but arbitrary.

[Ivefan]

This is just my gaming habits or opinions and I might not be the intended audience,
but i can say that I am one that dislike timers because i put an effort into building a character and just the possibility of not being able to use something i have put an effort into annoys me.
And just because i tend to build my character I also tend to do as much as I can with it because I do not play a second time just to find the lesser percentage of the things I did not find.
The times I play a game again, often months or years after the first time. tends to be because I liked what I did the first time and kinda want to do it again.

[Dutchling]

I generally dislike timers too, but I know far too little about the story mode to really justify having an opinion about it.

I'm mostly just looking forward to a more finished version of the game! I know there's some alpha versions or whatever on your site but I can wait, for now...

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

This is just my gaming habits or opinions and I might not be the intended audience,
but i can say that I am one that dislike timers because i put an effort into building a character and just the possibility of not being able to use something i have put an effort into annoys me.
And just because i tend to build my character I also tend to do as much as I can with it because I do not play a second time just to find the lesser percentage of the things I did not find.
The times I play a game again, often months or years after the first time. tends to be because I liked what I did the first time and kinda want to do it again.

This is interesting, but I'm not quite sure I've fully got what you mean. Surely by this logic - do you only play sandbox games? An FPS, say, with different levels is in the way you've described it no different from a food/corruption/whatever timer - you have to move forward, you cannot do everything/whatever you want. As I read it, you're basically saying you dislike non-sandbox games? Which is obviously totally fine! I'm just interested in whether I'm reading that correctly.

I generally dislike timers too, but I know far too little about the story mode to really justify having an opinion about it.

I'm mostly just looking forward to a more finished version of the game! I know there's some alpha versions or whatever on your site but I can wait, for now...

Again, as above, I would ask - I don't think a clock in a roguelike is really any different from any non-sandbox game, in many ways; you have to "move forward" to complete the game. Also, "Or whatever"? That's three years of work, matey! Rest assured I am coding as fast as my hands can code (which is actually pretty damned fast). I anticipate finishing the entire worldbuilding block in under a year from now!

HOWEVER, as mentioned in my last update, something pretty awesome should be announced on this week's update (or possibly the week after next, depending on a few things). Development is going to speed up big-time (and it's not a Kickstarter).