amiga-news.de - Amiga Blitz Basic Game Jam: Introduction of the game "Settle the World"

11.Aug.2022

Amiga Blitz Basic Game Jam: Introduction of the game "Settle the World"
At the beginning of June, indie game developer Dan 'zooperdan' Thoresen had started the Amiga Blitz Basic Game Jam, which is running - deadline was extended - until November 1, 2022 (amiga-news.de reported).

In our first article we had introduced the two projects of 'pixelplop'. Today we are talking about "Settle the World" (YouTube video), developed by 'TheoTheoderich'. About his game he tells us the following:

Basically, the game is a turn-based building and trading game in which the goal is to colonize several islands and stay in power for a long period of time. The game is similar to the old DOS/Amiga game Colonization, but has a slightly different approach.

"Settle the World" is a pure multiplayer game without AI, which you play together with up to three other players, one after the other, on one (Amiga) computer. A single player mode is also planned, but it will be even more difficult because then there are no trading partners.

What is "Settle the World" about? The game begins roughly in time with the conquest of the new world. Background of the story:

Two (or up to four) experienced captains feel oppressed in their home country and want more freedom. Without further ado, they organize several ships and gather like-minded people around them to seek their happiness and freedom across the ocean.
he king, however, suspects that his best captains want to defect to his hostile neighboring countries and sends soldiers to arrest the captains and hang them as traitors. Thus, secretly and by night and fog, the group immediately decides to leave the kingdom, knowing full well that they can never return.

After weeks of hardship at sea, the ships reach uninhabited land. Immediately, a dispute breaks out about how to proceed. The group is unable to agree on a leader. Each of the captains involved asserts his claim to leadership. There are heated arguments, and to prevent bloodshed, the captains each decide to find a good place to settle with their ships on their own.

At this point, the gameplay begins:
In order to play at all, the game needs a map. This is calculated using Perlin noise and then provided with (more or less) randomly generated features (bonus fields, such as sheep, gold, wood, etc. and also shipwrecks or abandoned settlements where you can find something). The map is of course not yet revealed to the players!

The map generation takes between 20 and 30 minutes on an unaccelerated Amiga 500. Therefore there will be some included "presets" with appealing maps.

Players can build settlements and field improvements with pioneer units. Settlements serve the production of raw materials and their processing into finished goods. In contrast to "Colonization", the workers of a city are not its inhabitants at the same time. Inhabitants belong to a city. If the food supply is good, the number of inhabitants increases. Increasing population generates additional workers, who can be used on the fields or factory buildings of any own city.
If a city has certain important buildings and "luxury goods", the population can advance in three levels (settler/pioneer class --> worker class --> noble). With each class and a certain number of citizens, higher quality buildings or improved production facilities can be unlocked.

The goal of the whole game is to remain the head of the government for as long as possible. As soon as the first inhabitants of a city have reached the level of the worker class, the citizens demand the establishment of a republic. If you don't set up an electable government, the inhabitants become more dissatisfied with each round until they eventually send the player packing.

The satisfaction of the citizens depends on the ("luxury") buildings available in the cities, such as tavern, theater, marketplace, etc.. And above all according to the availability of ("luxury") goods. Here the settlers/pioneers have the least demand and aristocrats the highest. These satisfaction values are the basic values. In addition, there is how much the citizens trust the president (the players). Trust builds up very slowly, but can be destroyed quickly.

Free elections are held every four years. In each election, there is a competitor who runs against the president. The latter also gains the trust of the citizens with each round. If, for example, the delivery of goods to the city with the most aristocrats falters shortly before an election that was thought to be safe, this has a strong effect on their satisfaction and can be decisive for the election of the competitor. In such a case, it is possible to eliminate the competitor before the election. A new candidate then takes his place, but of course he does not yet enjoy the trust of the population.

Thus, it is still possible to turn the tide shortly before an election. However, eliminating an opposing candidate also has a strong effect on the population's trust in its own president.

Scouts can explore the surrounding area. Abandoned settlements and shipwrecks can be found all over the world. Bandits can be a problem: if they are not defeated, they can roam the land and become a danger to the transport of goods. This whole system is currently still under development. Sound effects or music are missing at the moment, but are planned.

The game is developed under WinUAE with AmiBlitz 3.8 and temporarily on a real Amiga 500+ with FireBird accelerator card. The developer has been working his way into AmiBlitz for about two years. The goal is that "Settle the World" works well on an A1200 with hard disk and 2 MB RAM. As he writes, currently many things are still programmed very simply in the game and therefore very slow. The graphics are all created with PPaint on the Amiga or in WinUAE itself. (dr)

[News message: 11. Aug. 2022, 05:26] [Comments: 1 - 12. Aug. 2022, 08:14]
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