Commander X16

So I sat down and played Civilization #1 a few times last weekend, for the first time in 20 years or more.  And, I found out this:

1. I got bored once I had to manage more than a dozen active units -- including cities.

2. I liked Exploration, and initial city-settling (early Expansion). 

3. Exploitation became little more than a checklist.  Jumping through hoops.

4. And conquest is ... tiresome.  Period.



Frankly, Seven Cities of Gold appealed more to me in these areas:



1. The map is just enormous in comparison to Civ.  And that's the way I like it.  Because it's not about conquering the world.  Not Risk.  It's about NOT conquering the world...

2. Conquest is a LOT more fun with Seven Cities of Gold.  You buy ships, hire an army, and swarm the natives -- nicely or brutally.  Grab the gold.  Maybe pay the price later.



So I started to develop a theory.  

It sounds like I want to write a more plunder-based game.  You gain more by pillaging than development and conquest... your depredations could even potentially benefit some, at the expense of others (the Robin Hood argument).

In other words, like Dwarven Fortress turned on its head.  You are an agent of chaos.  Not order, not entropy, but somewhere in between.  You're one of the forces attacking the Fortress, Village, or What Have You.  Chipping away at it.  As other Fortresses spring up.

Your roving hordes.  Your wild tribe.   Your exiled army.  Your pirate crew.

Can it be compelling?  Apparently my hindbrain finds it attractive.  I'll see what I can do.  I started gathering sprite images of ancient sailing ships.  And started thinking about using sprites as map tiles.

And how to scroll.  I've never done scrolling maps before.

If I tiled a map with sprites, how much of the screen could I cover?

A sprite tile could cover up to 64 x 64, and the screen is 640 x 480.   So, a grid of 80 sprites ( 10 x 8 ) could cover the screen.

Scale that back to leave room for information and player control.  Call it 7 x 7, like 7 Cities did but with smaller tiles.  That's a 448 x 448 map view.

 

With as few as three images at 4 bpp , I could represent the outline of islands or continents.

Add a batch of 16 x 16 and 32 x 32 sprite sheets for land features.

 

OK, it's very doable.

 

 

 

 

 

Your game should be centered around Vikings.  Crops failing at home due to cold weather several years in a row, the only way to survive is by viking along the coastlines and up rivers.  Then over time you find England, and France, and Iceland and Greenland and Vinland, maybe go all the way to Minnesota or the Middle East.  You have lots of source material from history and TV and movies.

Nice one, Ed.  I think that's a good place for me to start.