Feudalism
Use drinking water to make beer
Unemployment? No problem!
Beta participants update.
Thanks for your interest in the beta over at the announcement here
http://steamcommunity.com/games/382880/announcements/detail/798641222252309692
We will pick participants at random and we will send you a friend request so we can send over a beta key to you.
Thanks again for the support!
Advantages of a new Great Plague
Modern worker vs feudal worker
Feudalism Beta
Thanks for all the support and engaging conversations on the community hub, we love all of the history discussion. :)
Because of all of your great support, we're offering exclusive beta access to a random pick of anyone interested in taking part.
Comment below to show your interest. Follow the game page and we'll post an announcement tomorrow as we begin reaching out to participants!
Thanks again everyone.
A Quick Look at Multiplayer Mode
Basic Configuration
The configuration of multiplayer in Feudalism is very simple. The server computer (Host), which configures the game and the players who take part, start the game and create a savegame file which then has to be shared with other players. Players upload the file and play their turn normally and when they finish, a new file with all player actions is generated. This file must return to the Host, which then processes them generating a new savegame. At this point the cycle begins again.
It may sound old-fashioned as a solution, but offers two clear advantages:
- Anyone can act as a server and they do not need anything except the game itself. There is no need for fancy hardware or expensive dedicated server or hosting services.
- The match can be played asynchronously. It is not necessary that players play all at the same time.
If you use any shared network folder (local or in the cloud), just give the game this folder and you have completed the work to be done. Using any free service for sharing and synchronization, like Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive, you can play multiplayer games with friends around the world very easily, no need to worry about sending files to anyone.
In addition, if a player forgets or can not perform his turn for some reason, the AI of the game can take over and prevent the player losing their turn.
Keep in mind the only one thing with this type of approach to the game: When the Host processes their turn, all your units move at the same time of your enemy. You must plan your strategy based on the fact that you can move to a target, while this is moving somewhere else (perhaps toward you!). The game solves this situation, for which the Attack command causes the enemy to be “chased”.
Starting Multiplayer Games
The multiplayer game is created exactly like a single player game, except it should be specified that it is a multiplayer game, and shall provide a folder in which data is exchanged. Optionally (but highly recommended) a password can be set. Each player can set a password (and change it at any time), to protect their data.
Here's how to create a multiplayer game using Dropbox as a synchronization tool.
First, in the options of the initial game menu we need to set the shared folder.
The special tag %userpath automatically takes the user profile location on hard drive, for example C:/Users/UserName/.
It should be done only once, unless you decide to change the folder, of course.
In this case it shoulld point to a subfolder of Dropbox installed on your computer.
The next step is to create a New Game and configure it as you prefer.
In this case, each family added manually, will then be controlled by a different human player, so do not forget to enter all your friends! :-)
From the Multiplayer Settings panel, then you must set the correct modes of play, precisely Multiplayer.
From here it is possible to override the shared folder, if desired (output path). It is useful if you want to make more games simultaneously, for example, and break them down by sub folders.
In addition, the password of the Game Master would always be a good idea to set it (default is master).
These are the basic settings for the Multiplayer. Then there are lots of options that relate to the game itself, but these ones we leave you to discover! :-)
Point 1
After the configuration, starting the game, the host creats the first savegame. The game is created!
A simple message informs us that everything is ready.
The file name has a unique id for each game.
Once the message is closed, the game will automatically return to the main menu.
Point 2
Now, all the other players, who have the shared folder set to the Dropbox folder, will gather the files on their computer. From the game menu, Load Game, Multiplayer tab, the file must be loaded.
(If the file is not there, make sure you have active sync on that folder!).
A new window prompts you to select your family and eventually, password.
Point 3
At this point, each player plays as they see fit, and when ready, press the End Turn command, closes his turn and the data end up in a special file created in the shared folder.
The new message tells us that the file was created.
Point 4
The host player, will find in his shared folder the files of everything. In agreement with the other players, he will decide when to run the new turn and start again from step 1.
Conclusions
As you can see the mechanism is quite simple (just play one turn to figure out how it works) and using any free file sharing service like Dropbox, you then do not have to worry about sending or moving files (normally play, finish the turn, end ... you not to do anything else).
And if you are anti-file sharing services, you can always exchange your files as you wish, by email or floppy if you prefer! :-)
And if you are a programming geek and want to create your automated data exchange service...you can do it because the host can be run from the command line!
Developer Diary
Thanks for taking a look at Feudalism!
The concept for Feudalism was born during Svilupparty, an event that brings together Italian Indie developers to exchange ideas, experiences, show their projects and... drink beer!
The goal was to develop an old-school strategic 4X videogame for the lovers of the genre, set in the European feudal period. The game would be structured like a tabletop game.
The Feudal environment was chosen for two main reasons:
- Within the team that gave birth to the idea of Feudalism are: Feudalism and Freedom, a satirical "political movement and thought”, they’re very funny :-) , the group proposes the return to feudalism, to that society, to the customs of the medieval and Renaissance traditions.
- This period allows some interesting mechanics for the genre, such as the lineage, strategic marriages and clashes for power between different warring families.
Development has taken almost two years by our small team, the most interesting aspects of the development cycle for us were:
1) Procedural Terrain Generation
To have the environment change from game to game along with lighting etc. Height maps are generated with perlin noise, where 0 is below the sea level. Perlin Noise has the great merit of always generating the same result in terms of coordinates and scale. In this way it is not necessary to save the data of the map (which saves space making data transfer more efficient multiplayer for example).
2) Climate
The game employs all 4 seasons to show the transition of time through the years, of the seasons, the most interesting technically is winter. Two shaders were created to simulate snow:
- One shader to handle the lands of the villages, it’s very simple to mix together different textures for different seasons.
- The second, more complex, calculates the amount of snow by the incidence angle of the normal map, densities to be obtained, relative Y to the world of the object to be covered by snow and other black magic calculations :-) The result is much more accurate and beautiful to see.
3) The Management of the Succession, Children and Weddings
No one lives forever. A key element of the game is the management of the player ancestry and their heritage. The Head of House is a mere mortal! If they are unable to ensure a successor through a son, there will be little chance to dominate! Male children, daughters, grandchildren, everyone can contribute to better manage their feud. Every child is born with bonus potential and if assigned to the appropriate role, you can benefit greatly. They can get married and strengthen alliances or even secure the control of the other family! Traits are inherited, the union of two descendants of various families with similar characteristics, improve their effectiveness.
Follow the medievolution!
Youngster: be a rebel!
